A fiction novel about a woman coming to age. Life has not been kind to Georgette. Growing up with an alcoholic father and an enabling mother, she clings to the loving memory of a childhood trip to Martha's Vineyard to help see her through the bad times; and now, as an adult, she returns to the island to start her life over. Soon she becomes the private nurse for a prize-winning novelist. As the two become friends, he opens her mind to new possibilities.

Hey everybody, this is Travis from Author Echo.

Today I have Diane, and she's gonna tell you a little bit, maybe a lot

about herself and her book or books and just to kinda get to know her

and her writing style and what she likes to do and talk about her book.

Diane, take it away.

Hi everyone.

I am Diane c Braley.

That's where you can find me everywhere.

That's what I go by.

So I just, first of all, thank you for having me, Travis.

I appreciate it your time.

Thank you.

What you're doing is really cool cuz I think, you know so many of us.

My book, The Silence and the Sound, it's women's fiction coming of

age novel is my first novel and.

Wish that I had more podcasts.

There's a good amount there's not enough.

I wish that I had more podcasts to listen to about first time authors and

the mistakes you make and all kinds of things of what to do, what not to do.

the laundry list.

A lot of us end up teaching ourselves along the way with all kinds of

errors and failures and successes.

And there's a lot of work.

I think, and I'm sure you can attest to this, that you put in.

Wow.

I really probably, even though it takes an incredible amount of work to write a

book, just getting it out there and then the marketing and all of this and getting

it published is just it's so difficult, but then I think when you don't know

things, it makes it 50 times difficult.

Yeah I would agree.

I tell people that the easy part was writing the book.

To me, imagine the marketing.

And just getting it out there is because there's just so much out there right now.

Getting it out there seems tough to me.

So how do you, what do you find is the best approach to marketing?

What have you found the most success?

I'm a, an animal.

I'm a very disciplined person.

I am to a fault.

I'm exhausted, really.

But I , I.

Market.

I just, it's almost like I throw something at the wall

just to see if it sticks.

And I do a ton of marketing.

I do face Facebook ads, which I'm not.

The thing about marketing though is you have to really be good with

like kind of graphs and numbers too.

Cause you can't really tell exactly what's working if you Yeah.

It's hard to keep track of.

So if I have Amazon ads running and Facebook ads running, actually Amazon, you

can see from what you spent to the sales.

So how many clicks?

But Facebook ads, it'll just tell you how many clicks to the link.

But that doesn't mean they bought.

Yeah, that to get into that point.

So I I started my own company a few years ago and that's why I ran some

Facebook ads and LinkedIn ads and some other things, Twitter and everything.

What I found out that some people just like to click on stuff.

The people that just that, they don't understand that's actually costing

you money every time they just click on it because they're click happy.

I really thought when I mean I've had so many link clicks,

like it's just unreal and.

The problem is, and I think a lot of authors have said this, is I think you'll

get a lot of people that'll put it in their shopping cart, but how do you get

them to pull the plug to buy the book?

Sat wonderfully.

And sadly, I have found the best approach is to connect with people directly.

So just putting a post somewhere, no one cares.

Messaging people directly, book clubs, things like that, which

is so tedious and especially I work, I'm a nurse, I also work as a

nurse and to connect with everyone.

I would love to connect with individually.

It takes so much time.

I'm on TikTok, I'm on Twitter I'm on all of it.

And so if Diane has to run out real quick, she'll be right back.

She just have to tend to a patient.

So if she runs out real quick.

actually, I gave up Brun Delta patient Care quite a while ago,

but I do more of an administrative stuff now, but I'm still working.

I'm still a nurse and I still I love people in this kind of genre now,

and I wish I could connect with them more.

I just, who has the time to individually connect with every

single person that you love to.

That's tough.

It's really tough.

So you do Facebook.

So tell us about your book.

I am curious cuz I had some other female authors on and each one was.

From a perspective of writing or their books.

So I'd love to hear about your book and I know I should hope so.

We're all, we're not all the same.

Oh, I know.

Isn't that everybody when you stereotype ? So my book is, it's coming of Age story,

upmarket, women's fiction actually.

And it's about a young nurse.

It's inspired by actual events.

It's about a young nurse who leaves her life and her family's

dysfunction on the mainland behind.

And heads to Martha's Vineyard Island.

But sometimes the past isn't so easy to escape.

It's a small what?

It's a small world . Oh, really?

It's a small world.

Why I run into my neighbors at the airport in Chicago.

I run into people all the time.

So it's just look around.

Oh, I know that person.

It's always crazy.

So I I had the honor the book is, it's funny cuz the book I, when I wrote it,

I had the story in my head for a very long time and when I started writing I

didn't realize what the book was gonna become and the book actually became and

actually a reader told me, This after a beta reader, one of the initial readers

of the book surmised the book for me.

And it's funny cuz I was looking for an elevator pitch and I couldn't quite

grasp it's the hard, an elevator pitch is one of the hardest things cuz

you have to just tell about your book in one sentence, as I'm sure yes.

And a beta reader has said to me your book is really about, the premise of

your book is really about the devastating effects of growing up in addiction.

And I was like, boom, that's.

It really is, even though that wasn't my intention when I set out to write

it, I grew up in an alcoholic home and I don't like I always say,

I don't, I say this now, I don't wear this as a badge of honor, but Right.

I ended up writing about Joette, my protagonist, she has a relationship

with our father who is an alcoholic, and when I started writing, I

really just meant to touch on that, but I could really just tap.

My feelings of growing up with my father who suffered from alcoholism and I just

kind all of my young, being a young adult and a child is my anger and my

toughness and all this stuff just came out through the page and I just went with it.

So it ended up being a book about, really the premise of growing up

in addiction and the choices, the cause and effect, and the choices

you make in life because of that.

But it also is a beautiful setting.

It has some celebrity friendship, and I also features a relationship between a

young nurse and a patient who is a famous Pulitzer Prize winning author, which I.

Honor of living on Martha Vineyard and caring for Pulitzer Prize winner,

William Styron, who arguably is best known for his book, Sophie's

Choice among many others.

Who actually became my motivator in writing.

I, it was always my dream I wrote as a kid, but growing up blue collar and how I

did, and a tough town outside of Boston.

I followed of in my blue collar roots and my mom and became a nurse just like her.

And I'm very proud to be a nurse and nursing actually led me back

to my real, like my real passion.

Oh, cool.

Interestingly enough.

So it's really inspired by a lot of actual events.

That is fiction, but it's inspiring at just, it's very

emotional and it's been a journey.

, was it was it therapeutic?

Yes.

I just was talking about this.

It's funny cuz I I'm a big advocate for therapy, but in therapy you're

talking to someone about your problems and in writing, and I'm not sure if

you can relate to this in writing.

I, you can actually be reliving things on the page of, even if the, even if it's

fiction, it's I write from feelings.

Places I've been and people that I know, and even if I compile,

like if I combine them in one character or that's how I write.

So it's almost like I was reliving so much a, this a love affair, my relationship,

my father, my time with William Tyron.

So it definitely was.

Cathartic and I, it took it was pretty exhausted by

Yeah.

I try to, or when I write, I can visualize it.

So I write what I'm visualizing to the point where I talked to somebody

the other day she read the book she goes, Travis, love how you put it.

Cause I can actually read it and close my eyes and I'm doing it, or I'm there.

Me too.

Something else.

I, and I like to do that.

I like to, A lot of detail in there where I think detail is needed to

be able to, for the reader to say, Oh I can see myself doing

that, or or I've been there.

I do that and my, and I write my novels in the first person and my

second novel that I'm working right on right now is in the first person,

which is really difficult to do.

But I, I don't, and I'd to try another way, maybe my next

book, but I have to almost feel.

The, what the characters are feeling, what that protagonist is feeling.

So I tap into feelings I've had or feelings that I've seen others have.

And I have felt from that.

And that's of how I have to do it.

And I'd love, I'd like to experiment another way, but I'm scared.

, don't be scared.

So I can read sideways and I see where that says New York City.

Oh, nyc.

that's the Empire State Building.

So tell us about that.

That's pretty.

Yeah, so I I, the book came out and it got some great reviews and blah,

blah, blah, and I submitted my book to a couple of different awards and

initially it won a Firebird book award in women's fiction, which was really cool.

And then it became a, Honorable mention in the Hollywood Book Festival.

So that was really exciting.

That's quite nice.

Yeah.

And then I just, I entered the New York City big book award, which

I had, I didn't think at all.

I had a shot at this because the New York City Big Book award takes books from.

Indie every book out there, Indie authors, university presses traditional

the big five publishing houses.

Sure.

And I won, I I got the notification that I won for women's fiction

and I just was That's amazing.

I was blown away.

I was blown away.

. That's amazing.

Good for you.

So I find it, you go out and find these different awards.

Our competition or whatever, you go out and find them and put your

book submit your book to 'em.

It's pretty good.

Yeah.

And people think I have to be on people who don't know anything and about and

why would they lay people not in the literary world or any of this.

They, everyone will say, Oh my God, how did they find out about you?

Look, how did ? And it's, No, I sent them something.

You, Yes.

My, my own family would say, God, how did you get.

Library talk.

This book event though.

How did you get this restaurant event?

I'm like, I hustle like nobody's, no one's coming to me.

I have, not only do I have to email once, I have to literally stock

them, hunt them down and circle.

Oh, I do too.

I, So actually, I'm going to a signing of a book event in on next Saturday, the 22nd

in Manas, Virginia, and I live in Dallas.

Oh.

Oh.

Wow.

My son lives, and we were there April and I started to finish up my first

book and we went to this beer garden.

And you ever been somewhere where you're like, I love this place?

Oh yeah.

I love I I felt of course bricking beer, what?

Can't go wrong with that.

Yeah.

Yes.

But just the atmosphere.

I just said, I love this.

So I said, I'm gonna put this in my book.

So I actually put it in my book where the team goes after a mission to.

Oh wow.

And so I got ahold of the folks said, Hey, I put y'all in my book.

I'd like to do a book signing.

They were like, Love that.

Let's do it.

Yeah.

So we got, they're, we're doing it next next Saturday.

And That's awesome.

Yeah.

Every, everything in my book is a real place.

Yeah.

Mine is too.

Yeah.

Some of closed, but I actually.

I have found personally and I've told a couple of authors this and

I don't like giving away too many of my secrets, but I'll mute this.

Just go ahead and move your mouth and I'll mute it.

Oh, it's fine.

. But I have found that people the library events, which are so important

and, but it's such touch and go.

It's so touch and go.

I've had nobody show up.

I've had a good amount of people show up.

It's really right.

It's really, you just don't know.

But I had a couple of events at different restaurants.

They would just stuck me in a corner.

One gave me a beautiful tape table and I set my books up and the customers, I

had people come and the press came to one and they'd come and it's almost,

the customers are so excited cuz it's something for them to talk about and

do and it's just been so successful.

So like rest To me, restaurants are just a great, and it's so unusual

you go for it's read something.

So anywhere you, anywhere your book takes place.

Like my book takes place in Martha's Vineyard is in, It also takes place

on the north shore of Massachusetts.

Hit them because wherever your book I and you know what, hit wherever.

I just came back from Ireland.

I brought books with me and I'm hustling it.

I dropped some off at the Irish Writer's Center.

I went into a bookstore.

I said, Hey, do.

Can I, would you wanna sell these books?

And I did a little signing there, I, everywhere, anywhere

you go bring your book.

Oh, I just bought a trench coat and I'm gonna put hard cover,

soft cover and open it up.

That's a hundred what it is.

And then the reviews, I feel like I'm the mafia.

I'm like, Did you review my book?

You need to review, Please review.

Did you I swear like I.

I'm shaking people down.

I'm like, You need to review.

Then I keep track of, I'm like, Really?

That's supposed to be my friend.

Then she's done.

I know she didn't review it.

I'm like, My family.

I'm like, Did she review it?

, . I'll say I Facebook, Hey if you guys, Cause I know pretty

much some folks that bought, Hey, make sure that give a review.

Cause those are important.

Or whether they're, Oh my god, Amazon, or Good Reads or whatever.

They're, everything is so important.

Cause some people determine.

What they buy based on a rating where I typically don't.

I just, if it looks good, I'll read it.

Cause some people like stuff, some people don't.

Someone made a good point to me.

Two things.

Amazon, if you get a certain amount of reviews, Amazon will

start promoting your book, right?

So you, it's so important.

The way to thank an author for their book is to please leave a review.

And then the second thing, it was funny cuz someone I read something and.

I found, I find this to be true of myself.

If someone has completely five star ratings or the reviews are just all

so good, I almost don't trust it.

I'd rather, Yeah.

If a book is a totally five star, I, you almost want be like a foreign change.

There has to be some negative reviews because it's, I don't trust it.

I'm like, Oh, they're paying people . I tell you, go out and to verify that.

Go out and look at some of Dan Brown's.

Oh, two, 2% ones in some of them.

Really?

He's a great author.

Look at some of these other authors.

There are.

Everybody gets a bad review.

Nothing personal.

Oh, everyone I the best, the classics that understood the

test of time have bad reviews.

Yeah.

So if a book doesn't have many a handful of bad reviews good god.

There's and so you are not self-published.

You found a publisher.

Yeah.

Is that correct?

Yeah.

And just why and why did you decide that route I went, I exhausted I

think like a lot of us I knew that it's very hard to get an agent and get.

The whole in the top publishing houses.

But I think we all write our book and we, even though and you send it off

and I send it off to the first like 10, bat 10 agents and you really think

once they see my book, they're gonna, there's it's gonna be like nothing

they've ever seen before, . Oh yeah.

And that doesn't happen often.

So I wrote my book.

I sense agent the first 10 knows I was just gutted.

And then it just gets easier.

Just keep keep it up.

It's just, and actually some of the feedback that I got, if

I got any, was very helpful.

And I made I changed some things, right?

I got so many great responses from agents too that where they said they

loved the book and very sincere.

But, , it's in the market.

So high concept right now that we didn't, they didn't know

if they could sell it, right?

So I appreciated the honesty, but I knew that I had my book is an alternating

timelines, and it wasn't at for us.

I wrote it linear, and I, after I, I knew that it would be better

in the alternating timeline.

I knew it.

But I didn't know it till I finished it, which of

course the hardest way possible.

So I, yeah, I, after a hundred or so rejections, I re ripped the book apart

and did the alternating timeline.

Kept sending it out in great response, but it just wa wasn't happening.

But, so in the interim I sent it, Oh, sorry.

I sent it to a bunch of publishers too, like medium

presses, small presses, all that.

Yeah.

And I had an acquisitions editor that messaged me back and just

so got the book like, It was, I just really felt a connection

with how he felt about the book.

And I went through the whole process of being then it went through the next

set on the next, and they they took it.

So I was just, I just felt like it found its home.

So that's, that, That's And who do you publish through, if

you don't mind saying Kohler.

Okay.

That's what I, so I did my, my book is linear, but in multiple

occasions at the same time.

Oh.

Interesting.

Like I get, Oh, did I need, did I remember the name of that person?

, There's different characters in different places at the same time.

Yeah.

Like at the same time, some people are in Russia.

The, there's things going on in DC interesting things going

on somewhere at the same time.

So I switched back and forth.

Yeah.

Location.

But I, Yeah, that's difficult too.

That's I really I writing just a linear book about a weekend just seems

like a dream to me now, it's just doing the alternating timeline of every

chapter of my book starts off with the Georgia, the protagonist journal and

tree, like the date right in a little.

She's Ari she likes to journal, so there's a little quote that

she writes, and it lets you in on what's gonna happen in the chapter

a little bit, what her thoughts are.

So that kind of helps the reader keep track.

But readers are fairly, I think for the most part, readers are

fairly they're really fairly intelligent and I think sometimes

we don't give them enough credit.

I've seen books right now where they're, they've gotten rid of dialogue quote.

And I've, and I just reviewed, Yeah.

And I just, My book would never work without those You

would know who's talking.

I don't think some would, I don't think mine would either.

There's a lot of inner thought in my book too.

Yeah.

But this book, it was I actually found it easier to read.

It wasn't as distracting, like it wasn't so broken up.

And so I think it just depends on the book.

But some readers though too you, I don't know the alternating

timeline, How you have it too.

Some, sometimes I think it has to.

You really wanna make it clear, but sometimes I think, I don't

wanna be, you don't wanna be too much of showing telling and

not showing we're right here.

They can figure it out.

So what else is anything else you're stewing on or started on or,

Yeah, so I God, it would, whoever thought like you'd have to market

so much because I haven't even touched anything in my next book.

For a month, and it's bothering me so much because I've been just marketing.

But I have to writer's write, You have to write.

So I'm Nano Rhino is coming up in November, so I have to get on it.

But I'm about halfway nano writer, Rhino Nano Nano Rhino.

It's like the month of November.

It's it's a contest and they have it all over the place where you have to

write a novel in about a month or 50,000.

In a month, and then there's contests and all that stuff.

It's pretty cool.

And it's a goal, right?

It's a it's a lot.

But my next book, I'm about a little, almost halfway

through and just so excited.

I it's wasn't I wasn't, I was writing something else and something happened

on the outskirts of my life that there was a trial, there was a conviction.

And I found it fascinating and tragic and it was horrible.

But the trial was fascinating.

It was fascinating.

The characters were fascinating, and the subject was fascinating.

So I just, Sorry, I keep saying fascinating.

. . So I, I started inspired by this and I'm trying to do this justice, like

my book, The Silence and the Sound now is, I've had personal experience with

this growing up in addiction and all.

What's going on there?

This book, I have not what's it's about and I'm gonna be, I'm being cryptic.

I know.

I apologize.

But I'm excited.

I'm doing a ton of research.

I wanna do this justice and it's, I gotta get on it.

. Yeah.

I do a lot of research for my books.

I want it to be, mine is like realistic fiction, so Yeah.

I want it to be believ.

Yeah, me too, actually.

It makes sense, right?

So I do a lot of that research and but I enjoy it and sometimes

I just get on a roll and I'll just start writing and it just flows.

Yeah.

I really I wouldn't say writing is such an art and a craft, and I don't

think you can ever really master it.

I think it's always a learn.

You're always learning.

And I always say I'm not the best writer, but I'm.

I'm a great, a good or great.

I've been told.

I didn't say it, someone else said it, but I'm a great storyteller.

I can tap in.

I like writing about the human experience.

I like writing about humans and the multilayers of them, and I feel

like I can really grasp that well.

With a good editor and good Baer readers.

I can hope, hopefully nail this book, . Well, Good.

Yeah, that's, I'm excited.

So I already finished my second one.

It's called Cobalt and the editors or the, my publisher's looking

at it or hopefully start that process here next couple weeks or

whatever out by March or whatever.

Cause I have a library thing I'm doing in.

What genre is it?

What kind of fiction?

It's realistic fiction.

It's a espionage military thriller.

Okay.

Sort of book.

It's, but I put humor in it too, right?

Cause there's humor in everyday life.

Everybody doesn't have to be like, all bummer.

All I do too.

I have, I put humor in it.

Mine is, so my book and the way I write being around one of the

greatest writers of all time, Mr.

Styron.

I remember talking about writing one time and he, I was tell, I had the

gall to tell him I, I was writing, or I had written a book a little, I

started a book about a Virginia bar.

Let read, let me read that book.

. He said, I said, I, he said, Why are you writing about Virginia?

Do you know anything about Virginia?

And I said, No.

And he said, Why are you ri, do you know anything about horses?

I said, No.

And he said why are you writing?

This write about the steeled adage right.

About what you know and if I write how I speak a little, or I'm New

England, I'm Boston I'm snarky, I'm sarcastic, I'm like all these things as

a real New England voice to my writing.

Oh, yeah.

I oh, I grew up in New York and California, Spain, Arkansas.

I've been all the, Oh wow.

I dunno if you even have an accent, but I did do some work in.

Mention Jesus Boston Scientific long time ago.

Oh, nice.

Yeah.

I used to go there every week for about four months.

That's interesting.

My publisher, my pub, you what you write?

My publisher write.

So they publish a lot of military books, espionage mil, a lot of military people.

There's all kinds of books that I, It's I'm cur Who's your publisher?

Defiance Press and Publishing.

Oh, okay.

Out of, they're out of Houston.

Area north of Houston.

Okay.

Yeah.

So it's interesting.

I never thought I would do it, to be honest with you.

No.

Nor anybody that I know whatever thought I would do.

I was saying to they, in a, in every, almost every interview I've had

someone people have said what advice would you give to other writers?

And my number one advice is, you ha a hundred percent

have to believe in yourself.

Be disciplined, believe in.

because writing is the loneliest journey.

Yes.

Everyone's writing a book or everyone wants to write a book.

There's so many people that just wanna write a book.

And so when you say to someone, especially your first novel, and I can

only speak to that's what I shouldn't say especially, but when you say to

someone, I'm writing a book, even my own mother's Oh, that's nice.

The same thing my friends, so I already told 'em, so I had to.

Oh Yeah.

It motivates you.

And no even even talking about the marketing.

So I was on a podcast a couple weeks ago, and so I created a team in the

book, and it's gonna have a series of, in this book, in, in the, in this team.

And we're talking, he goes how how are you gonna market that?

And I go he said what about branding said, So I'm like, Darn.

So what I did, I went out there and secured a website called teams tech.com.

Oh, My team is gonna have an online presence of their own.

So the team in the book.

Yes, will have their own online presence.

Yes.

What will you do with it though?

To have like their profiles, mission profiles Oh yeah.

What's the next mission?

They can, There's even an email address, a video that I put in the book that

people can email that and it come, it goes to that email address and get replies.

Oh, that's kinda cool.

That's different.

Yeah.

So it's kinda, I think, what the heck get, buy a website for pennies on the.

Yeah.

Yeah, I like that.

That's different.

Yeah.

But you have to try so many things.

Like you just have to see.

Oh, no.

And I, you know what I do believe, Someone said to me don't I

think you can get lost in feeling like you have to be everywhere.

Like you have to be on every social media site.

Yeah.

But Really do the some of you like better than others or if

there's a I prefer Instagram.

It's easier for me to do.

I can't even get into TikTok.

I'm like, Oh God, I'm, Oh my God.

No, I can't do that.

I'm on there and I'm old and I just, I'd rather go on there

and make fun of my husband.

Then talk about the . Maybe they should have TikTok for seniors.

They should, Yeah.

Yeah.

You know what that is?

Don't, No one goes on it.

. We're napping.

Boomer talk.

They're called a boomer talk.

Yeah.

. No.

The social media presence is.

And I'll tell you, it's true to get an agent.

And I've heard from so many sources, agents themselves that have said, If

you don't have a social media presence, then they don't, They're not gonna

take you if you, cuz they don't even, it's it's not 50 years ago where

they marketed the hell outta you.

You have to market yourself and if you're not gonna, they're not taking you.

No I agree.

So I, when I had my own company, I had online presence, but then

I decided not to have one anymore.

Then I have to get back into.

And so I, I'm getting anything where I can schedule.

Tweets and different things where I don't have to do it every day.

I can schedule it in advance where unless something cool happens, then

I can go out and send a tweet or Facebook and things like that.

So it, it's all marketing and marketing background.

Anyways, I do that too.

And I, and then someone said I had a, this gal that I was, did a library

event with, she's an author too.

She said, God, you're everywhere.

I'd love to hire you from my book.

And I'm like I don't have time for that.

But the only way be everywhere.

How much?

How much What are you gonna pay me?

? Yeah, you'd have to pay me a fortune because the actually, when you go to hire

someone, like even my publicist they have a separate cost and department that does

like social media and there's tons of people that'll manage your social media.

They charge you a fortune to just do four posts a week?

Yes.

I'm a beast on there because it's my book.

So if you are not, if I'm gonna pay, I'm gonna pay someone all

this may do four posts a week, It's not gonna amount to anything.

I can do that.

That's, But some people can't do that, but I'm just like, you're

not really gonna get much traction.

Like you have to engage a little, which.

You gotta take breaks from it though, because I get Oh God, you're, Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

I try not do anything on the weekends.

But the key is market and then market again.

But you know what, too though?

You're your first book.

It's my first book.

Yeah.

I feel like even though I'm exhausted and we're establishing our writing career,

we're establishing our author presence.

It's a ton of, usually people, it's a ton of work at first and hopefully then

the more you know, we'll put out another book and it might be a little easier.

We already have a good amount of follows.

We have some people that have read our first book and all those things,

so I'm just hope you know, it's an investment in our, and everyone

else should think of it like that.

It's kill yourself grind, hustle because it's an investment in your

writing career and if that's what you want, no, I agree that, yeah.

I never would've funk it six, eight months, 10 months

ago, I said, You're crazy.

Have another beer.

You're crazy.

Yeah.

But, so it's great.

No.

Okay, so tell us about your book, a little bit, about your book

again, because I want everybody to understand and what it's about.

Where they can get it, where they can contact you and 1, 1, 1 bit of.

Bullet point, a one bit of advice.

You can give either a new author or somebody that's been

an author that's struggling.

As I said, my books are coming of age story inspired by actual

events and I, and to me, the most beautiful setting there is.

And yeah, I've heard so many people feel like Marthas Vineyard is, a lot

of people's, I've heard dreams bought.

They're interested by it.

They're intrigued by it, and there's.

It's hon, it's honestly one of the most beautiful places ever and I can't

tell you that it, the magic there.

It's just I fell in love the moment I landed there and I really worked very

hard to cap to try and capture that cuz I, if I didn't, I knew a lot of island.

Folks would be very upset.

So kick you off the island, like Gilligan's Island, they kick you off?

I think so, maybe.

But yeah, they could be a tough could be a tough audience.

But , it's really a journey.

It's a young woman's journey of self discovery.

I'm not trying to sound cliche, but it's she, her cause and effect life

of growing up on addiction that's she doesn't even tend to really

realize And a spiraling love affair, friendship this relationship.

Author that is subtle, but he, and he really is her grounding

force, which she never really had.

So there's, it's really a story about this three men in her life that have affected

her life greatly and her relationship with them and coming out the other

side and really figuring out herself.

And the ending will surprise you as she has to make a heart rendering choice.

With the help of her patient's most famous novel, she does this.

So I hope that intrigued you, . Awesome.

So where can everybody find you if they wanna connect?

So I'm Diane c Braley, everywhere.

Two Ns, d i a n e c.

Braley, B R A L E Y.

Twitter, Instagram.

We already discussed this.

Good reason everywhere.

I'm sorry.

You probably have seen me and you're probably sick of me and I apologize, but

you know how know how you don't get sick of me if you buy my book, Take it off the.

And Yes, I until you do a review, Until you do a review, until you do a

review, then I will leave you alone.

Otherwise, I'm the I'm the gustapo.

I'm gonna show up at your door.

. So where can everybody find your book at?

Oh, it's an Amazon, all the sellers, Barn and Noble, that's on all the sellers.

And if you can't find you can find it there, but you could

also just support local, Always.

Your local bookstore can order it if they're not carrying it.

Beggar Town Books, it's all on the vineyard, obviously,

and stores in Massachusetts.

A good, I just I just saw this morning I'm in Flagstaff, Arizona

Library, so that was really cool.

Awesome.

Yeah, and I'm in Ireland now too.

There's a Conley's books in Ireland.

now you can go and write it off.

I know.

And I just found out you can write off cuz I go the vineyard every summer

and I shouldn't talk about all this stuff, but I do a lot of book events.

This year I did a ton of book events and I can write the trip off.

I'm like, Oh my God, I can write the.

As long as it's legal.

Yeah, my taxes.

My taxes this year aren't gonna be fun cuz I have to go through so much.

Cuz honestly, guys, it you.

It takes money to make money and invest in yourself because you it

costs I will vouch for that.

Yeah.

that.

Oh, and a of advice.

Yeah, you told me.

So I said earlier, believe in yourself and I can't stress that enough.

Please believe in yourself.

If this is your dream, you have one life.

You have one life to live, do it.

Slow and steady wins the race.

You are not gonna write a book, a first novel in a week, six week.

I don't care what people say.

I guess you can, but I got up at, I have a son, a husband.

I don't even think their life became affected because why would it ? Yeah.

I got up at five o'clock a every day and made sure I wrote, even if

it was a sentence every single day.

Yeah.

Then my live, my life had to do what I had to do.

And before you knew it, a book, Some Shape Way was formed.

And now I really was like, okay, I ha wow, I have something here.

And then I have to really crack down.

And once you're, once, I know for me, once I'm like halfway to the finish line

of something, I, there's no going back.

I have.

I've talked about it and talk about it and who cares If people

don't listen, talk about it.

Say why?

Cuz it's a motivator for you.

Talk, say you're writing a book, do whatever you need to do, but

it's your journey, it's your life.

Do it.

You'll, I'm telling you, just do it.

Yeah.

You need to conquer.

I'm an extrovert.

I'm an extrovert.

So a lot of authors are introverts.

I'm an extrovert, so I will talk to anybody.

My wife says I have never met a.

So I grew, That's because I grew up in Air Force family moving every three years.

You gotta make new friends all the time.

Oh, you had to.

Yeah.

So it's easy.

So I can shoot I can talk.

I'm both like, I'm that like introvert, extrovert, even though

I hate that I can't stand on people like these trend trendy terms.

I don't know.

But yeah, I can put myself out there, like I'm doing so many events, but then

I really just get I need to rest from talking and whoever knew you, this is

perfect for you because when you write a.

you don't realize.

I'm doing so much public speaking, which I have anxiety.

I suffered from anxiety my whole life and it don't love public speaking.

So now all of a sudden I'm in all these talks and libraries, I'm getting emails

to do these other things and talk and I'm like, and if I collapse,

so be it, whatever, but it's my book.

I know the book.

It's not like I'm giving a lecture like I had to study.

That's why you can do it.

I used to I do public speaking.

I used to do public speaking and speak at conferences all over the world.

And if you are confident in the subject that you're talking about,

yes, it's, you'll have not, you will not have a problem if you don't.

That's when it becomes problem.

Yes.

Cause people, and it gets easier.

I get I get nervous and, but then it just gets easier and I just

keep throwing yourself out there.

Who cares?

No one cares because you just do the best you can and it's your book.

They don't know.

Yeah, they don't know they're looking to you.

So it's hard for some people and I don't love it,

but I'm getting better at it.

Yeah, I agree.

It had been great convers.

Can I just interrupt?

Can I just say one thing I forgot.

I apologize.

Course.

Yes.

So part of the proceeds of my book go to the Robert F.

Kennedy Community Alliance here in Massachusetts.

And they have a division that helps kids affected by addiction, kids and families.

And they help almost a thousand families in Massachusetts.

They have a camp, they also have a juvenile justice program nationally,

they're amazing organization.

We're also working with the In the name of the book, we've,

I've donated a experience.

Mata Vineyard is a camp called The Fuel Program, and the kids go out on, there's

a restaurant called the Black Dog.

There's two tall ships, and they go out for a week on one of these

ships, the Shenandoah, and they learn to sail and are taught all this.

It's a, it's an experience of a lifetime.

Cool.

So cool.

And we're donating an experience to one of the RFK kids in the name of the book.

So just you're supporting a great cause too.

And it's just there's often, there's so much funding and there's so

much help for people suffering from addiction and there's nearly, not

nearly enough, but there's rarely, there's hardly any help for the kids.

And these kids have a higher tendency.

They're.

Have a higher tendency to be addicts themselves or live a life of dysfunction

and anxiety, despair, all these things.

And helping the kids to me is a huge deal.

I'd love your support.

So you helped out Diane and she a philanthropist, so also there

philanthropist, so that's awesome.

No, that'd be great.

And.

Again, folks, go out there and support her charity that

she very strongly believes in.

And if you know any any other authors wanna be on the podcast,

please reach back out here to meet Travis at Random Thoughts Fight llc.

But it's been fabulous and I wish you all the most success.

Next time I wanna see some more of those awards in backing, I

wanna see like a, Oh, think it's crossed . Thank you, Travis.

Thank you.

We'll see.