Dianna Hardy's Blog, page 2

Blood Surge is on Goodreads!

 And here's a second short excerpt for you all:

>> Add it on Goodreads <<I'm pleased to say we are well ahead of schedule for publication.

Vampires Never Died

The last time I wrote about vampires on this blog was in September, 2012. I was all ready to get started on a book and series I was calling Project Veil. It never got off the ground because both The Witching Pen and Eye of the Storm series took off. Well – vampires are back! They never died for me, they just had to wait a long time (just as well they're undead).

Project Veil is well and truly buried. In fact, I mixed a bit of its mythology into the last two books of The Witching Pen series. But I...

Cover Reveal for Blood Surge

For those who are no longer on my Facebook page or group, or following me on Substack, you may not have seen news about my new novel that’s underway. This idea came to unexpectedly on the tail of a sketch. All information about it is below, but buy links will not be available until nearer the time (another newsletter will go out with the links 2 to 4 weeks before release). Until then, all updates and and excerpts are posted on FB and Substack, and you can keep abreast of all other news about the book on its website page.

It’s due for release by end of August, 2025.

Blood Surge

A beautiful library in a historic, sleepy town in Hampshire is the perfect place for Sophia to settle away from a fraught childhood and forgotten past. So forgotten, she hadn’t thought about it in over two decades until an old, unpleasant lover borrows a book and an innocent chat over coffee stirs long-buried emotions.

And once those gates open, they’re not so easily shut – the crazy keeps on coming in the form of a dead woman, a ridiculously gorgeous (and annoying) man who keeps turning up around every corner, and a party at a stately home that’s to die for. Literally.

Sophia’s forgotten history is going to have to be remembered in a race against time if she wants to save her own life. Unfortunately, Sophia’s discovering her life isn’t what she thought it was – at all. In fact, her life might not even be hers, but indebted to a twisted, dark world made up of ancient vows and blood ties ... ones she can feel surging through her veins...

I can’ wait to bring this one to you—I’ve wanted to write a vampire book since 2011 (I was very much a “vampire girl” as a teen—not a wolf girl), but the idea for Releasing the Wolf came first and that book and series took off along with the rest of The Witching Pen series, so vampires didn’t happen. It was all fine because I loved my wolves, but vampires are happening now!

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Have a brilliant spring season and you’ll be hearing from me soon :)

Dianna xxx

Introducing Messy Swan Clothing

It’s a small shop but it’s growing. Check it out at messyswan.com

Visit Messy Swan

In other news, if you haven’t been on my Insta or FB and seen these already, here are two photographs courtesy of my sister of my small part in World’s most Evil Killers (the TV series mentioned in my last newsletter). I still haven’t watched it! But I will get round to doing so soon. (Obviously, this is acting, I am not involved in the real case in any way!) This was fun to do — it was a very chilled out filming day.

That’s all for now, folks. More weird and wonderful things next time.

Dianna xx

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2025 updates

Happy New Year! I hope it’s treating you well so far. I’m going to launch straight into updates — most of which are the result of me reevaluating my life all of last year and deciding what I want to happen over the next twenty years before I’m too old and achy to do anything! Here’s what’s going on…

Acting

Check into Sky Crime on 14th January, 2025 to watch World's Most Evil Killers, season 9, ep. 2, to see if you can spot me.

Any further acting work I get, I will send you when I am able to.

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Writing

Having written over 25 publications (including novels and novellas) in the span of 13 years (from 2010-2023), writing fiction is now something I do "as and when". All the projects listed below have no dates. The Eye of the Storm series can be considered complete — only one side story novelette still needs to be written. The Witching Pen series was complete a long time ago, and the Once Times Thrice novels are fairly complete within each book. I am very thankful for all my long-time readers still sharing my books, and all the new readers finding my books — I hope they inspire you, and I hope you'll agree they are unique in some way. They can be enjoyed for decades to come and I am so glad about that.

Art

In 2025, I am focusing on TV and film work, and also beginning an MA degree in Illustration at the end of January. Most of my time is spent illustrating at the moment; anyone who is interested can view my work here and there is a separate Substack for art news.

Home Life

In more personal news, our daughter is going to turn 16 in a few months and is taking her GCSE school exams this year — we’re doing the whole ‘6th form college interviews’ thing. Our two cats, Indigo and Green are still with us — they’ll be 10 years old in summer this year and are as cheeky and lovable as ever (but also starting to get that middle-aged grumpiness!).

Things still to do that will get done at some point:

Audiobook of A Silver Kiss (Vampire Poetry) — I may also create sketches for this compilation and bring out a whole new illustrated edition; same with ‘Til Death Do Us Part.

The Witching Pen series new paperback covers (this series has been missing paperbacks for quite a while). Read about the complete series.

Jewels of the Crown — the final novelette in the After the Storm novelette series.

The final novel of the Once Times Thrice series - this is 37% completed (of an estimated 80,000 word novel).

Dianna's Writing Desk Podcast — this podcast is halted, but there are plans to restart it as an overarching audio newsletter that covers ALL of what I do from art, to acting, to writing, with interviews and such.

So there it is. I apologise it’s not news of a new book to read, but as you can see, a lot has been and is happening in other areas, and at some point my books will get another look in — but they are available and still there doing their awesome thing :)

Big love to you all — keep well and be happy.

Dianna xx

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Audiobook Release!

Hi, Everyone,

Please take a look at the video below for all information about my first audiobook and what comes next. Below the video you’ll find links to Audible and Amazon, with iTunes being added when the link goes live. It will be added to other platforms, too, in due course.

Thanks for reading Dianna's Writing Desk! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

A Silver Kiss (Vampire Poetry) audiobook will be created throughout September, as well as finalisation of The Witching Pen series paperbacks.

Finally, I will be restarting my podcast in December — it’ll be published monthly (not weekly) and will include acting pursuits.

Please note this audiobook deals with dark themes that listeners may find disturbing, and also contains some sexual explicitness.

BUY FROM:

Audible UK: https://www.audible.co.uk/ac/Til-Deat...

Audible US: https://www.audible.com/ac/Til-Death-...

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Til-Death-Do...

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Til-Death-Do-P...

iTunes: coming up

Thanks so much! Have a great August.

Bright wishes,

Dianna xx

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Six Months of the Unexpected

Dear All,

There is lots to update you on — in fact, there is so much I’m going to bullet point it and not really go into too much detail, as much of it is personal:

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The Eye of the Storm paperbacks are all out and available for sale. The best places to order them from are Amazon.com, Amazon UK, and The Great British Bookshop (they accept international orders and it’s easy to purchase from them).

The Witching Pen paperbacks are currently due out mid-June.

This Substack newsletter from me is now completely free to all (there is no paid option).

My podcast has been paused indefinitely. Whether I start it up again is dependent on a structure I’m happy with that is sustainable — maybe monthly or bi-monthly.

I’m in the process of moving my author website to a different host. The digital certificate shows as not working and it is not supposed to do that, and I cannot seem to change it with the current host. So, please bear with me, the change will take a week or so. In the mean time, all books can be viewed with very safe and secure purchase links to all stores via Book2Read.

All publications for 2024 are on hold or delayed until further notice (but not cancelled — I want to write the last Eye of the Storm novelette).

The reason for most of the above: I’ve been dealing with a medical diagnosis since just before Christmas. This diagnosis has now been cleared up, but it was a bit of a wake up call and has mentally and emotionally redirected my life towards questions like, “If you only had a year left to live, how would you live life?”. I’m still in the process of trying to answer these questions — I’ve asked myself these questions before, throughout my life, in a flyaway sort of way; I’ve WRITTEN about these questions and my characters have actioned them, and I have also personally always strived to live whatever I think my answers are … but it’s not the same at all as having the situation in front of your face in “real life”. You’d think it would be easy to answer these questions when push comes to shove, but it isn’t. In itself, I find this quite fascinating and have learnt a lot over the past six months. I’ve been taking it as easy as I can and reducing stress on all levels as much as possible. This is ultimately why all publishing dates have been postponed and I’m not giving firm dates going forward — just know that I am working on completing stories when I feel it’s right to do so given the above. In terms of my health, I am “back to normal” or “back to pre-diagnosis” (or whatever you want to call it), but I don’t want a repeat of any of the last six months if I can help it.

And perhaps I’ll end this post by saying, enjoy the sunshine as summer comes around — every day is new and a chance to start again, and in many ways, no day-to-day challenge matters as much as you think it does — not really.

Thanks for your support and love of my stories, as always. I will be posting back on Facebook and social media if and when the urge takes me.

Much love,

Dianna xx

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The New Edition of the Eye of the Storm Paperbacks

Dark fantasy werewolf romance series which explores the boundaries of man and beast within. For adults.

Released on 19th February, 2024. Pre-order from the usual places, or contact me for copies at diannahardy.com

Changes to Future Subscriptions

Good evening (from the UK)! This is a quick email, everyone. I have changed the way I do Substack (the first few months were always going to be about experimenting with this platform). If you are a subscriber already, nothing will change for you. If you are on a complimentary paid subscription, nothing will immediately change for you. If you are thinking of subscribing, or of renewing in 3 months time, take a look at the About Page which has ALL the details: in a nutshell, all my posts are now free and you pay if you want to, as support for my work, because writers generally make £0 profit after all bills are paid unless they go all E. L. James (i.e. viral / overnight success). But you won’t miss out if you don’t pay anything.

Doing it this way feels a lot better for me.

Dianna's Writing Desk is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

If you do support with payment, I’ll be sending you a free signed paperback as a thank you. (In 3 months time, that will include the new edition paperbacks coming out in February.)

That is it in a hazelnut-sized shell. Like I said, read the About Page for full details.

Oh, lastly, I have restarted by very, very old blogger blog that I had way back in 2011. This will be used in alignment with Substack and I’ll be cross-posting those posts into the Notes Page on here. (Notes is where I post things I don’t send to your email, otherwise I would bombard you).

Thanks so much :)

Have a wonderful evening.

Dianna x

Digital Boxed Sets and Omnibus Editions – Are They Worth It?

I've taken the Eye of the Storm Omnibus Edition offline with the intention of updating it, however, I checked my stats for the edition and ... almost no one buys it. Over the past year (and 3 years) there have been maybe two or three sales of it per year, if that, even at the lower price of £9.99. Most people tend to go for the individual series volumes instead – then you can buy at leisure every month when you have the money, I guess ... or you can decide to stop the series if you reach halfway...