D.G. Driver's Blog

When My Real Life and Fictional Worlds Combine

Photo credit: Tyler Mitchell Photography For the past couple months I’ve been directing Beautiful, The Carole King Musical at The Keeton theatre in Nashville. It closed yesterday. This show is about the first decade of Carole King’s illustrious songwriting career and chronicles the relationship she had with her first husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin.

In the scene where Goffin and King meet, they are both in college. She wants to compose pop songs, and he is an aspiring playwright. They decide to help each other out creatively, but then Gerry suggests that they could do “more than just work together.” Next thing you know, they’re kissing. It’s a cute scene, even if it does read a little predatory in modern context. ​The scene always makes me think of a scene in my romantic women's fiction novel Anything but Graceful . This book centers around a 50-year-old woman who gave up on her dreams of being a professional actress while still in college and lives with the regret of that decision. The story goes back and forth from her current life to the events of her past that created her fears and doubts.  Early on in the backstory, when Grace is still 18, she meets Tyler, a fellow theatre major, who is handsome, talented and already popular. Out of all the girls in their drama class, he chooses her to do a scene with him.

​Wouldn’t you know it? They’re doing a scene from Barefoot in the Park (which just happens to be the next play we’re doing at The Keeton.) When the two of them are rehearsing, well… we get a little of the same Carole King/Gerry Goffin kind of moment. A lot of this book draws from my experiences as a theatre major in college. I did in fact date a very cute, very talented actor. We did in fact do a scene together from Barefoot in the Park. Although, in real life our rehearsals weren't as smoochy as this scene in my book gets.
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We actually performed the scene while attending master classes for a half-semester in New York City, with the one and only Uta Hagen as our Drama coach. Yes, doing a scene in front of one of the foremost theatre coaches in the world was intimidating to say the least.
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Uta Hagen asked us to add an element to our scene to help us work on our “fourth wall” skills (where you imagine what exists in the part of the room where the audience is sitting). To prepare, we were to notice three things we stared at in the room while talking on the phone at home and remember that for the scene. This was back in 1988, so this meant using a landline phone where you stay still. Well, this was hard for me to do, because we were staying in a sublet in New York, and we didn't have a phone. I had to use the pay phone down the block, which was outside and didn't have a "fourth wall". I also, realized that I didn't tend to stare at things when I talk on the phone. I doodled. This exercise wasn't working for me, and I ultimately had to imagine the wall and pick three things to look at during our scene.

Surprise, surprise! That didn't go well for me at all. Uta Hagen saw right through me and made sure that I, and everyone in the class, knew it. I adapted this experience and added it to the book as well.
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So, here’s a little excerpt from this section of the novel to enjoy! Anything But Graceful - an excerpt from Chapter Three “Grace! Grace!” I opened my eyes to find Tyler standing in front of me waving two stapled scenes. “I got it. Barefoot in the Park. It’s the best scene up there. I knew the second Dr. Williams described it that I had to do this scene with you.”

What was happening? Tyler, Mr. Hotshot, had emerged from the battle with spoils for me?

“With me?” I clarified. I knew he couldn’t do another scene with Kei. No repeat partners allowed. There were plenty of other talented girls in this class. Cuter girls.

“Yes, you,” he said sweetly. He handed me a script. “I decided on the first day of this class I had to do at least one scene with you this semester, and I’ve been waiting for the perfect one.”

I met his eager blue eyes. “I’d love to do a scene with you. If you think I’d be good enough.”

He wriggled his nose like he tasted something sour. “Come on, Graceful. You’re one of the best in this class, and you know it.”

“I don’t know that.”

“Well, I do.”

I accepted his vote of confidence.

“Besides,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to get to know you better, but we’re both so busy. This’ll force us to spend at least a little time together over the next week or so.”

How could I resist? I caught the glares of six different girls as Tyler and I sat down together and did a quick read-through. I was proud as hell.

Even though Tyler told me not to, I rented the movie from Blockbuster and watched it at home with my mom before the next time he and I got together to rehearse. It was cute and helpful.

Tyler totally noticed that I had adapted my acting style to match what Jane Fonda did and scolded me gently for it.

“Knock that off and get back to acting,” he said. “You won’t impress anybody by being a copycat.”

Only, this is what I’d always done before. I mimicked the actors in the movies. I figured they had mastered the roles and why not borrow their style? In high school, I was praised for my impersonation ability. Tyler said he never watched the movie versions of plays or musicals he was in. He wanted to have his own unique stamp on it. He wanted his opinions to be fresh. He told me that some actors don’t even read the novels that a movie is based on because they don’t want to be biased by anything.

We got together to rehearse in the commons area at his dorm. The room was designed to have a home family room appeal to it for the kids who wanted to gather and watch a movie together or hang out. It wasn’t as inviting as it might have been a decade or two earlier when the sofa had been less ratty, the end tables less wobbly, the coffee table absent of stains and scratches, and the armchairs less worn. The boxy TV in the corner had broken antennas, and I suspected it didn’t have a cable connection. I did see a VCR on the shelf below it, so that was something.

Tyler and I rearranged the furniture to be set like it would be in an apartment. When it came time to perform the scene in class, all we’d have at our disposal would be folding chairs, but we both liked the idea of doing the scene in a realistic setting to see how it felt. Tyler said it would give us “affective memory” that we could call on when we performed the scene in class. When I asked where he learned that, he told me about Method Acting and Stanislovsky. He was excited to share this knowledge with me and didn’t patronize me for not knowing it. Still, I felt dumb being a theatre major in college never having heard of this style of acting or this great theatre guru. My high school drama teacher didn’t have us learn stuff like that. We just had fun. Before I started college, I thought doing theatre was supposed to be fun.

The only thing we couldn’t avoid or incorporate into our acting were the constant intrusions. This was the main passthrough for everyone living in this dorm building. Girls entered and headed to the halls on the right, boys to the left. It was four in the afternoon, so lots of kids were coming in from finishing their classes. A couple of students had the decency to hush up as they passed. Most didn’t even notice us and kept chatting nonstop.

We’d been assigned the biggest scene in the play between the two main characters, newlyweds who had moved into a problematic apartment. It was a big fight between them when they realized they didn’t have as much in common as they had once thought. Every time Tyler and I got deep into our acting, someone would walk through and check to see if we were okay. The fifth time broke Tyler. It was the campus security guard. The man strolled into the room, his thumbs in his pockets, and said, “Is this boy bothering you, miss?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “He won’t stop picking on the way I deliver my lines.”

Tyler collapsed on the sofa and started laughing. It was infectious, and giggles bubbled up in me, too. Confusion washed over the security guard’s features, which only made us both laugh harder. Finally, he figured out that everything was on the up and up, even if it didn’t make sense to him, and he exited the building.

I plopped down next to Tyler. The uneven cushions forced me to roll slightly into him so that our shoulders and legs touched. “I guess we’re getting it right,” I said, as I struggled in vain to get more centered on the cushion. “People think we’re really fighting.”

Tyler ran a hand over his face in a poor attempt to calm himself. “Well, I guess that’s something. This is a terrible place to practice.”

“It is,” I agreed. We both turned our heads to face each other, our noses practically touching, and we burst out laughing again.
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His laugh was high and light, matching his tenor voice. If it was possible, the blue of his eyes brightened when he laughed, like his laughter blew away the clouds in the sky. Our shoulders bobbed up and down against each other, and it was everything I could do to not lean forward a bit more and press my lips to his. “Can we rehearse in your room?”

Tyler shook his head, sighing. “It’s too small, and Terrance is probably studying in there right now. Could we go to your place?”

“I don’t live on campus. It’s a good thirty minutes from here.”

He groaned. “I’ve got rehearsal in an hour, so that won’t work.”

“Yeah, I have to work later, too.”

I picked up my script from the coffee table and fiddled with it in my lap. Tyler had stopped laughing. I’m sure his thoughts were consumed with finding a quieter place to go. On the contrary, I wasn’t much interested in moving at all. Our upper arms were still touching. He made no effort to get away from me, and I certainly wasn’t going to make an attempt to get away from him.

After a long minute, he put a hand on my leg. The warmth of it went right through my jeans. Why hadn’t I worn a skirt or shorts? Tyler squeezed my leg softly, conciliatory, then gave it a quick pat before standing up. “I guess we’ll have to practice quietly. We’ll definitely have to get together again at least once more before we have to present this so we can practice full out.”

“Sure.” I folded the script long-ways along the same leg he’d touched as if protecting the spot from any other sensation. “It’s a good thing we didn’t do the first scene in the show. We’d really get a reaction around here.”

“What do you mean?”

I tapped the script to my chin, barely touching my lower lip as I debated whether or not to continue with my thought. “Have you seen the movie? Ever, I mean?”

“I don’t think so. My mom likes it. She got jazzed when I called and told her I was doing a scene from it. She’s a big Jane Fonda fan. Does her workout video every day.”

I nodded, tilting my head a little and offering my best flirty smile. “Well, I don’t know if it’s in the play, but in the movie there’s this scene right at the beginning, right after their first nigh as newlyweds, when she won’t let her husband leave for work without giving her a big, juicy kiss right there in the hallway. It’s romantic.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. And she’s only wearing a robe.”

Tyler sat on the coffee table in front of me, his knees on both sides of mine, his elbows resting on his knees. “That sounds like a way more fun scene than this one.”

I leaned forward so that our faces were only an inch apart. “I think so, too.”

He’d been looking me in the eyes, but his gaze drifted to my lips. “Wanna switch and try that scene instead?”

“We probably shouldn’t.”

“No, not for class, anyway. But maybe… Just for fun, you know.”

“Yeah. For fun.”

Tyler closed the gap between us, pressing his lips to mine. His arms reached for me, wrapping around my back and pulling me even closer. I opened my legs so that one of his knees slipped between mine, and I scooted to the edge of the couch. The script fluttered to the floor as I snuck my arms up his chest, over his shoulders, and then intertwined my fingers behind his neck. The kiss intensified. Our mouths opened and our tongues met. A soft moan escaped me as his hands ran up my back, pressing my chest against his.

The coffee table creaked dangerously. Tyler’s eyes widened in alarm. He put his hands on my shoulders to steady me so I didn’t fall into him as he abruptly stopped kissing me. “This could be dangerous.”

“I know,” I said with a giggle. We were both talking about the rickety table—and maybe a little bit more than that. “You sure you don’t want to come over to my house? My mom won’t be home.”

Tyler got off the table and sat beside me on the couch again. He reclined into the cushions and draped an arm over the back. I took that as an invitation and leaned into him, putting my head on his shoulder. “You live with your mom?” I nodded. “Just the two of you?” I nodded again. “Cool.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. It didn’t feel judgmental, but, honestly, he was a good actor. Maybe he liked the idea of having somewhere to go off campus.

“I can’t go now,” Tyler said. He put a finger to my chin and turned my face to his. His blue eyes twinkled. Those natural upward curls of his lips were pronounced. “But I really want to.”

He kissed me again, his fingers brushing my cheek and finding their way to my hair. We heard some whistles from people walking through the common room. He didn’t pause to look up or respond. I put a leg across his. He lowered his hand to my hip and hooked one finger through the belt loop of my jeans and tickled my exposed skin above it with another. A tingle ran through my body, and I gasped from the sensation.

The kisses stopped, and Tyler’s expression grew serious. “I didn’t expect this to happen, Grace. Is this okay?”

I nodded eagerly. “Yes. It’s okay. It’s awesome.”

Tyler smiled. He didn’t take his hand away from my hip. I didn’t move my legs. We were practically nose to nose. “We can’t do this here,” he said. “I want to so much. Wow. You have no idea. But not right here. You know what I mean?”

I gave him my best pout.

“God, you’re so cute.”

I put a finger to my dimple and said in my best Betty Boop voice, “Thank you.”

He gave me one more light kiss and then got up, scooping up my script from the floor and grabbing his from the table. As if nothing had happened, we were right back to rehearsing.

Oh, but something had happened. Our chemistry was lightning now. The scene was brilliant. It was the best acting I’d ever felt come out of me. I decided I might be good at this after all.
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We got together to practice twice more, both times at my house. Both times ending in passionate make-out sessions in my bedroom. Acting turned him on. While I thought of little else but wanting to kiss him while we practiced, he was all business and didn’t get frisky until we’d hit the desired level of passion within the confines of the scene. It was as if our kissing each other was our reward for great work. I hope you enjoyed that little snippet. If you’re curious to know if their scene goes over well when they present it in class, how this relationship between Grace and Tyler will wind up, or how this memory affects Grace now that she’s much older and looking back on it, then you’ll need to read Anything but Graceful to find out. Click on the picture to learn more about the book and find links to purchase a copy.

I'd love to hear from you, so please leave a comment.

2024 In the Books!

It’s time once again for my annual end of the year post about my career and favorite books I’ve read.
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Last year, I wrote a pretty long and gloomy post about how and why I was quitting my writing career. I have not changed my mind over the past twelve months. All I’ve done for my writing career in 2024 has been to continue to make posts on my social media accounts for my existing published books.  Click on the image to read the story! The only writing I did was to take a thirty-year-old old fantasy novel manuscript that I wrote back in my twenties that I only have one copy of – on paper – and slowly began to type it into my computer. I revised it as I went, so I guess that counts for some creative writing. Then, I uploaded 10 “episodes” of it onto Kindle Vella, with the intention of putting the whole thing up there. ​Alas, after getting those episodes up, and before I could enter the first episode that would actually require purchased tokens to read, Amazon made the decision to cancel Kindle Vella. So, I quickly gave up that activity, and the book still lingers mostly unfinished on my computer and dangerously in a stack of paper. Will I ever go back to it? Probably not any time soon. If you’re curious, you can still read this story until February. Where I stopped leaves it on a happy, if unresolved ending. While I’ve had some moments over the past year where I longed to go back to finish writing projects I abandoned or start new ideas, I haven’t regretted my decision to quit writing. That world is over-saturated with indie authors now, and I hate the AI influence on the book world. Also, I simply don’t have the energy to constantly make TikTok videos to sell myself to the world, because it’s clear that authors have to be pretty entertaining and/or fascinating people to get readers interested in buying their book. And now TikTok is probably going away, and I'd have to start all over on another app? No thanks. ​I did have a few new friends discover my writing this year and champion it. That is always lovely. I also had a lot of people sign up to review my 2023 YA fantasy novel release  Dragon Surf  for the upcoming January 2025 Multicultural Children’s Book Day event, so hopefully I’ll have some new good reviews to share.
​Anything but Graceful, my women's fiction/second chance romance novel, continues to have only one review on Amazon. I can’t get anyone to read or review it, and it has broken my heart. ​On the happy side of things, the theater where I serve as Managing Administrator has had a wonderful year! The Keeton celebrated it’s 20th anniversary in May, and we are halfway through our 21st season. Our shows The Music Man, Footloose, and A Christmas Story the Musical sold out every single performance. In October, we found out that we were voted 3rd Place in “Best Place to See a Play” in the Nashville Scene Best of Nashville 2024 Awards. That was super exciting.

I worked directly with every show this calendar year either directing, costuming or performing - except for A Christmas Story, where I was able to be hands off. My daughter and her fiancé directed Noises Off for us back in April, and it was absolutely hilarious. I was so proud of them! My husband continues to build us gorgeous sets for the shows, and my stepdaughter has choreographed at least one show a year to great raves. ​I’ve just gotten my choices for the 2025-26 season approved by our Board of Directors, so I’m working on getting rights secured. I’m also just at the start of rehearsals for Beautiful, The Carole King Musical, which I’m directing. It goes on in February. So much to do. I got a new job this year. I left my teaching position, where I had been for almost 19 years, and took a new position as Program Manager for FiftyForward LaVergne Senior Center. I love it! Although, between this job and managing the theater, I feel like I spend all my time planning. I never know what day it is anymore, because my brain is a month or two in the future already.
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Looking ahead, it’s going to be a big year for my family. My daughter is getting married in May! We’ll be getting in the thick of planning all of that soon, too! 





​And now! The question you've been waiting for...

​What have I been reading? According to Goodreads, I read 46 books this year. As usual, the majority of books I consumed were audiobooks. My work commute is shorter, so it’s taken me a bit longer to get through some of the long ones. I haven’t had as much energy or time to physically read this year. I keep falling asleep holding my Kindle.
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I found myself still moving away from young adult titles. I read a few, but there were only a couple I thoroughly enjoyed. Although, I did read my own Juniper Sawfeather Trilogy series all the way through, which was fun. I hadn’t read them all in row like that before, and I haven’t read Cry of the Sea from beginning to end since 2014, the year it was published. (My previous post is all about that series, I why I was revisiting them.)

​Here’s this year’s list! Favorite Big Publisher Book of the Year: The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson. This book skirts the edge of being a young adult and new adult novel, as one of the main characters is in high school, while the other is in college. It’s a historical novel set in the early 1950s where two young black women are living very different lives that become connected through a facility that takes unwed teenagers and houses them until they give birth. It was a powerful story that had me following every word. Two different narrators read the audiobook as the chapters bounced back and forth between them. I highly recommend this book. ​Runner up would be Bluebird by Sharon Cameron. This is also a historical fiction YA novel. Cameron never ceases to disappoint me, and this story about a German immigrant girl who was the daughter of a man who was a doctor at a concentration camp at the end of WWII is absolutely thrilling. ​ Favorite Indie or Small Press Book of the Year : The Power of Three by Teri Polen. This is by far my favorite book by this author yet. It is also YA, and it’s a great ghost story. It’s absolutely perfect for Halloween season, and I think anyone who likes a solid haunted house story will enjoy it. I also loved that the main characters are three brothers with very different personalities who all come together like a team to fight off the evil spirit cursing their family. ​Runner up would be Blindsided by D.E. White. I’ve also read several of White’s books. This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I thought the main character’s feelings and motivations were very believable. ​ Most Surprising Book : The Long Walk by Stephen King. Okay, don’t  come at me. I know that you know Stephen King has long been one of my absolute favorite authors. BUT I didn’t know this book existed. I got it on a super sale, and I devoured it. I simply couldn’t put it down. The concept of boys volunteering to walk for days on end without stopping, and the last survivor winning riches is so intense. This book was one of the first stories King ever wrote, and it reads like that. However, you can see the great writer he would become. In our world of reality shows getting ever darker, this dystopian book written nearly 50 years ago was pretty powerful. ​ Best Audiobook : Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I’m sure reading the book would be good too, but the full cast of narrators on this novel made it perfect. I simply don’t think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much if I hadn’t listened to this audiobook. I haven’t watched the TV show yet. I loved loved loved this book! ​Runner up: The Best Man’s Ghostwriter by Glen Powell. This is an Audible only audiobook, and one of those that I get free with my membership. I enjoyed it so much, I insisted my daughter listen to it too. It is read by a full cast of well-known actors. It’s a comedy that will have you laughing out loud, but it has some real things to say about the nature of friendship that hit me hard. ​ Best Non-Fiction Book : I read a number of biographies this year. I want to say that the one by my favorite singer of all time Barbra Streisand was the best. It was fascinating but really long. I want to say that the one about Carole King was my favorite, because I’m about to direct a musical about her. Alas, it got a little dull in the second half. The one I enjoyed the most was As You Wish by Cary Elwes. His stories about the making of The Princess Bride were delightful. I enjoyed every second of this. And of course, since I love a full cast audiobook, I delighted in all the guest appearances from other actors and people involved with the film. ​Favorite Thriller/Horror Book of the Year : Sorry Stephen King. I know I read three of your books this year, but I’m going to have to give this one to The Housemaid by Freida McFadden. Yep, this one had me. Twisty and turny to the point where I was holding my breath and gritting my teeth. I will definitely be picking up more of her books. Book that Didn’t Live Up to the Hype : Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross. I really wanted to like this. I may go on to read the sequel, but I just couldn’t get into it. The characters were great, but it felt like a jumble of genres. It didn’t move me like everyone said it would. ​Runner up: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. Come on, people. Why do you all like these books?  ​ Favorite Book of the Year : Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. If you go by the description, this books sounds like nonsense. And yet, it is so beautiful. I’m not much of a crier, but this book got me. So. Many. Feelings. If you haven’t read it yet, please go get it right now. The audiobook was narrated brilliantly. I'd love to know what you've been up to and what your favorite books of the year were. Please leave a comment! And I hope you find some amazing books to escape into for the new year!

Should I Save the Mermaids?

I read three of my own books this year. Published ones. Older ones. And it was fun.
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Like all authors, I’ve read and re-read my own novels countless times before publication. The drafts while writing. The editing rounds. The proofreading rounds. However, after the books come out, I don’t need to read them all the way through again. I know where the “good parts” are or where to find quotes or excerpts for posts or articles. I don’t have a reason to read my own work. I’ve moved on to writing new stuff. Back in February, my young adult fantasy novel Cry of the Sea turned 10 years old. Wild. It’s hard to believe that it was published that long ago. This is not only the first book of a trilogy, but it was the first novel of mine to be published under the name D. G. Driver. All my published work prior to that was as Donna Getzinger. I was reinventing myself, writing YA fantasy and moving away from the nonfiction and historical fiction work I had been doing previously. Since Cry came out, I’ve published 16 books (some traditionally, some independently) and have had short stories featured in six anthologies. My two latest books Dragon Surf (YA) and Anything but Graceful (romance) came out last year.
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To celebrate this anniversary, I decided to read Cry of the Sea from cover to cover for the first time since 2014. I occasionally posted about my progress on my TikTok account and tried to be as objective as I could as I reviewed what I was reading. When I finished it, I thought, “What the heck?” and went on to read the other two books in the trilogy: Whisper of the Woods and Echo of the Cliffs.  ​Aside from doing this purely from nostalgia, I had a purpose for reading these three books. They’re all currently still in print with Fire and Ice YA Books. The thing that’s nice about small presses that use print on demand technology is that the books don’t have to go out of print unless the publisher or author want them to. Each book was contracted for three years. The last one came out in 2017, so neither F&I or myself are required to keep the books alive. I’ve been toying with three options.  Just let them be. It takes the least effort to let them exist with F&I and just do occasional promos for them like I have been all along. I sell a copy once in a while when I make a little effort. I’d keep sharing the royalties for the privilege of not having to do work to change anything about them.Take the rights back and republish them independently. I’d need to give each book a solid edit, as I did find a number of errors or things I would write differently now. Get new covers designed. (Well, I play with that all the time. These are my latest ideas.) Format them. All things that require a monetary investment. Then I’d have to see if I can breathe new life into them with marketing and keep all the royalties. But will anyone buy them? Is there still a market for them? Or is this a waste of time?     3. Pull the rights and let them disappear into the ether and never have to work at marketing these stories ever again. 

​The laziest side of me, and the part that has basically walked away from my writing career this past year says to do nothing. It isn’t worth the effort. If I’m going to work on a writing project, it should be something new, not something old. ​BUT having just re-read the books, I remembered how much I like the stories and the characters within them. I love Juniper. She’s so bold and brassy and brave. Carter is so loveable and kind. June’s activist parents are difficult, but they come around to supporting her wholeheartedly as this series moves along. Even her bestie, Haley, goes from being a whiny teen to a strong-willed gal with a backbone by the end. There are mermaids, an enchanted tree, a selkie, people being magically transformed into orcas or waterfalls, a monstrous man made of stone, and bratty teen girls who have no idea how little Juniper cares about their opinions. Juniper encounters all of it and somehow manages to help environmental causes along the way. ​Each book is a little different. Cry of the Sea is the least fantasy of the three. I see it more as a mystery with some science fiction elements. I’ve always said it’s more X-Files and less Little Mermaid. Juniper and her father discover three mermaids washed ashore when they go to document damage on a beach after an oil spill. They try to revive the mermaids by taking them to a facility for marine animal research. Only one survives. Unlike other mermaid novels, this mermaid doesn’t talk and she doesn’t grow legs. She doesn’t look like a fairytale creature. She can communicate to Juniper through gestures, feelings and some slightly tuned in telepathy. Eventually, word gets out about the mermaid, and then she goes missing. Juniper, with the help of the love interest of the story, Carter, and several others go on a mission to find her. And boy, do they! The corrupt oil company has known about the mermaids all along, and their plans for the creatures are diabolical! ​In Whisper of the Woods, Juniper’s parents are staging a protest against the deforestation of old growth trees on reservation land run by June’s uncle. June has no interest in this cause until one of the trees seems to call to her and entice her up into its branches. Soon, she’s 150 feet in the air on a branch, and the tree has no intention of letting her go. This book has a lot more fantasy to it than the first. Also, for a book where most of the action takes place on and around one massive tree, it’s got a lot of danger and thrills. I forgot how much happens in this story. This is also the part of the trilogy when the mythology is introduced that will tie all three books together. After all, what do enchanted trees and mermaids have to do with each other? You’d be surprised. ​Finally, the busiest and most action-packed of the books is the final story Echo of the Cliffs. The parents are now fighting construction run-off pollution in the ocean. June and Carter tag along to help collect samples. A killer whale knocks their boat over – seemingly on purpose – and Carter disappears. Everyone is certain Carter has drowned, but Juniper believes with her whole heart that he’s been carried away by mermaids. She is determined to find him and figure out if his disappearance is tied to visions she’s having and the mythology she’s become part of. Trying to be as objective about my writing as possible, I can say that of the three books, Cry of the Sea is the clunkiest. Each book was edited and proofread through the publishing company. Still, I found a number of things that I’d want to fix or rewrite. It’s very 2014, too. I don’t know if the stories would benefit from being updated ten years, but if not, I think making sure it’s clear what year the books take place needs to be more obvious to explain some things. In Whisper of the Woods, there are a weird couple pages in the final third of the book that seem to have been overlooked by the whole team when it came to proofreading (LOL). Echo of the Cliffs has the fewest errors; I just think I’d tighten it a bit for pace.
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Also, with regard to the market for Young Adult Fantasy right now, these aren't very sexy books. They were written very much with teens and tweeens in mind as the target audience, and they are "clean" books, far from the popular "Romantasy" trend right now. I could consider adding that layer to them, but while that might help sales, I don't think it would make for better stories. ​And I haven’t even addressed the whole part about Juniper being biracial: half American Indian, half white. Yeah. There’s that. The first book came out a couple months before the We Need Diverse Books campaign began in 2014. At first, I was excited to be included in the ranks of books that featured diverse leading characters, especially with there being so few that featured American Indian protagonists. The books were supported with incredible reviews from Multicultural Children’s Book Day bloggers, and they won awards. I made a great effort with the sequels to do tons of research to be respectful of Juniper’s heritage as it features heavily in the story.  ​Over the past 10 years, however, the call has moved from needing diverse books to needing diverse books by diverse authors or #ownvoices. And I totally respect that. It is for that reason I invited my friend Jeni Bautista Richard to come on board as co-author of my newest YA fantasy novel Dragon Surf. I knew my idea for a book centered around a Chinese American boy, his family, and a Chinese dragon legacy would never be authentic without her assistance. I’m so grateful she came on board. So, if I were to republish these books, I’d need to find a sensitivity reader if not a collaborator to help me rework the stories to make sure they aren’t doing any unintentional harm. The last time I added to my latest work in progress, a romance novel called The Cabin Plan, was over a year ago. I did some writing as I cleaned up my play Songwriter Night for production last fall, and I did release two novels last year. However, with my career changes, I haven’t had time to write at all. I have found myself missing it of late and am planning to take some time this weekend to look at my unfinished projects and see where I’d like to put my attention. Should republishing these old books be on that list?
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So, I open this up to you, friends. I’d love to know your opinions, suggestions, ideas. If you’re reading this blog and you still haven’t read the Juniper Sawfeather books, the ebook versions are half off all month at Smashwords (Cry of the Sea is actually free), but they aren’t ever very expensive. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

2023 In the Books!

Here we are, the end of 2023, and time for my annual blog post about my creative pursuits from the past year, my plans for the year ahead, and listing favorite books I read.
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In many ways, 2023 was a wonderful year for me as a creative person. I had a lot of experiences and opportunities that gave me joy. I started the year as an author with two books scheduled for release and ended the year running a large community theater.

​While on the outside, the year seems full of nothing but triumphs, it was challenging in many ways and has led me to a very difficult decision.  I'm quitting writing. ​If you want to know the whole story, read this post. It's a little long-winded, as I have a lot to share. If you’re only interested in knowing the books I enjoyed and recommend, skip ahead.
As many of you who read my blog (or know me personally) are aware, I divide my life between four things: my writing, my theater, my teaching job, and my family. I’ve been doing theater all my life and majored in Theatre Arts in college. I started writing seriously right after college and have been pursuing that career since my first published story in 1995 and my first produced play in 1994 (that I got paid for, anyway.) I have occasionally taken breaks from performing to focus on my writing. That was my plan for the first half of this year.
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I had finished directing a play in October 2022 and decided not to be part of any theater productions for the next six months. This was so I could be available for the editing process for both my books that were going to be released, do publicity on them, focus on making TikTok promo videos every single day, and work on writing my second romantic women’s fiction novel.

It was working out great at first. I got three quarters of the way through that novel. It felt like I was getting some excitement building about my upcoming releases. The only thing I stepped in to help with at the theater was doing costuming for Arsenic and Old Lace, which didn’t take too much time. And then Dragon Surf came out in late February from Fire and Ice YA Books. I was excited about the beautiful ocean sunrise cover design by Caroline Andrus. My co-author Jeni Bautista Richard was thrilled. People were liking and commenting on my posts. I know full well that this younger YA contemporary fantasy novel that has boy characters and nary a hint of romance isn’t exactly the kind of book that hits bestseller lists. Still, I hadn’t put out a book like this in a few years and thought fans of my earlier novels like Cry of the Sea would be eager to read it. It was Jeni’s first novel, and therefore I figured we'd get a lot of her friends supporting her. The story is a load of fun. I really thought it would find an audience.
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It has not.

Even at a permanently discounted price, I can’t seem to get much interest in this story – not with dragon books like Fourth Wing coming out in the same year. It has been very difficult to find people to review it (although the people who have really enjoyed it). I know there is an audience for this story, but I’m not sure how to reach them. It’s been incredibly frustrating. I’ve worked on this novel for years, and I was thrilled to see it finally get published. I knew that this would be my last attempt at writing a YA novel. It’s simply too hard of a market to penetrate, and I don’t write fantasy romance plots that everyone wants. 
​ Soon after Dragon Surf came out, I got cast in the musical Memphis in a bucket-list role. It was an incredible experience! One of my best friends directed it, my stepdaughter choreographed it brilliantly, the cast was phenomenal (my husband and son-in-law were both in the show too). Honestly, one of the best shows I’ve ever been part of. I had planned for this break from writing. When I wasn’t at rehearsals, I continued to do work for my upcoming book release in July and publicity for Dragon Surf. The show ran throughout June, and my next book released the second week of July.
​ ​I had been putting all my hopes into Anything but Graceful to revive my writing career. It's my first full-length romantic women’s fiction novel. My first book with some spicy scenes. Between this book and the two Nashville Songwriter Romances, my plan has been to turn my writing career toward romance and away from writing for young readers.

​I thought this was the kind of book more of my friends would be interested in reading, so I really believed more of them would pick it up. The main character is my age. She’s a dancer. There’s a lot of theater and dance in the book. It’s about second chances in romance and career. It’s about friendship. It’s about courage and inner strength. I’m incredibly proud of this book published by Satin Romance Books, and I LOVE the cover (also by Caroline Andrus). I had over 150 people agree to read it on NetGalley, TikTok, and Instagram. Most have not left reviews. The ones who did leave reviews on NetGalley or Goodreads didn’t always give it high star ratings, but the verbiage of their reviews was mostly complimentary. Romance readers are picky about things and don’t give out those 5 stars easily, I’ve learned. So far, only one person has left a review on Amazon. One. The book came out in July. To my knowledge, not a single friend of mine has read it. At least they haven’t told me if they did.
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To say I’m disheartened is an understatement. To realize that after all these years of writing and publishing books that I don't have a following at all, is a tough pill to swallow. ​Thankfully, I had something to look forward to. My musical Songwriter Night (originally written to be a full cast audiobook entertainment during the height of the pandemic) was being produced at The Keeton theatre in Nashville in September.

​So, right after Anything but Graceful came out, I was directing rehearsals for that. The show couldn’t have come out any better. The cast was incredible. We sold our goal in tickets, and everyone seemed to enjoy this sweet romantic comedy. I’ve rarely been more elated in my life than I was for those two weeks in September. I was especially thrilled that Caleb Dinger, who wrote the music and edited the audiobook was able to take leave from his position with the Navy Band Northeast surprise me at a performance. My friend Jane Thompson was music director and helped write the additional songs we put in the stage version. My daughter and husband were both in the cast. ​The ping-ponging of my emotions as I struggled with the failure of my books while reveling in the success of my original musical was intense, folks. I hid it from most people, but it was (and still is) difficult to see the work of my heart both ignored and lauded at the same exact time.
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​And it didn’t help that sales of my sequel to Songwriter Night: Songwriter Showcase, didn’t go up. Very few people who saw or were part of the show felt any curiosity to read what happens next to these characters.
​ ​My plan for the year had originally been to take another break from theater after Songwriter Night closed and get back to writing, but those plans changed.

First of all, I hadn’t written a word on my new romance novel since the dismal release of Anything but Graceful. While I thought the story was super cute, and I loved where it was going, my motivation to write it was gone. And something else unexpected happened.

In August, the position of Managing Administrator opened at the theater where I do most of my work as an actress/director. The current production, Singin’ in the Rain, was in need of assistance to get back on track. My husband (tech director for the theater) and I were called in to help get that show’s set built and to assistant direct. Right after Singin’ closed, and while I was still in rehearsals for Songwriter Night, I was hired into the MA position. Now I was running a community theater that produces six shows a year, and I had a LOT to do to get caught up!
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I have been at that theater nearly every single day since September 2nd, helping with the shows in rehearsal or production. Directing, assistant directing, assisting my husband with the sets, looking into rights for the 2024-2025 season, hiring people for production teams, doing marketing for the social media pages, attending board meetings, presenting at events, and understudying a role for a weekend. It’s a lot of work. Zero time for writing. Even getting this blog post written feels a little like I’m stealing time from other things I should be doing.

​At any rate, here I am on December 30th with no plans to continue doing any writing at all for the time being. My heart isn’t in it, and I don’t know how to make the time to do it anyway. I haven’t even been making my TikToks. I went from one a day to maybe one a week or less. My focus for now will be on theater, and I’m okay with that choice. I’m passionate about theater, and I want to make The Keeton a place where people know they can count on a quality experience, whether they are part of the crew, performing, or in the audience. I’m currently directing Evita, which will go up in February. I’ve chosen the shows that will take us through to June 2025. In other words, my blog post this time next year will look a little different.
​And now, at last! My favorite reads of the year! This year I got through 43 books. As usual, the majority of the Big 5 published, well known titles on my list were audiobooks. I tend to read more indie and small press published books on my Kindle. My tastes are all over the place, and I read what appeals to me at the moment. That said, I read a lot more women’s fiction this year because I had my own women’s fiction novel published. I have discovered I absolutely adore this genre and liked most of the books I read. I didn’t read nearly as much YA – so little that I don’t have a category for it this year. 
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​Favorite book from a big publisher: Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes
Runner up: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

My mom recommended Someone Else’s Shoes to me, and I’m so glad she did. It was an absolutely charming novel with a complicated plot that never got boring. I was completely entertained by this story and was sad when it was over. Brilliant.

​Lessons in Chemistry was fascinating. I thought the writing was superb and the story was fascinating. I hope to watch the TV show at some point. ​Favorite indie or small pub book: Twice Cursed by Zemi Morris
Runner up: The Girl Before Me by Laura Wolfe

This author is so adorable on TikTok. I accepted one of her ARCs for this clever take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. It’s a “what happens after” which I enjoy so much more than actual retellings. I think she has a sequel in the works which I look forward to reading. You know I always have Laura Wolfe somewhere on my list. She writes a good mystery, that gal. ​Most surprising book of the year: And Then She Vanished by Nick Jones

I picked this out as a freebie on Audible. Time travel books aren’t usually my thing, but this one had me hooked. The main character finds he can travel back in time, but he has to learn how to do it and master the skill so he can go back and save his sister from being killed as a child. Great fun. The second book wasn’t as good, and I’m not sure if I’ll go on to the third book or not. It gave a lot of the same vibe as Stephen King’s 11/22/63.
​ ​Favorite thriller/horror book: Holly by Stephen King
Runner up: The Haunted Forest Tour by James A. Moore and Jeff Strand

Speaking of Stephen King. He can write as many books starring Holly as he wants to. I will keep reading them. I love this character. This book is the most chilling book of his that I’ve read in a while, which is interesting because it didn't have anything supernatural about it. I legitimately got scared listening to this and was sincerely concerned about several characters getting killed and eaten. The Haunted Forest Tour might not actually be a good book. It was wild and full of monsters and monstrous things. I listened to this right around Halloween and it hit the mark. Completely absurd horror fun. ​Favorite series: The Last She and The Last City by H. J. Nelson

​I pick a favorite series based on if I want to keep reading it. So far, there are only two books of this apocalyptic tale about a world after a virus killed all the women (but one). I liked them both. I don’t know that they were the most original stories, but they were told really well, and I’m eager to know what happens next. I also enjoyed Julie Kagawa’s Talon series, although I did skip a whole book and didn’t actually realize it until halfway through the final novel, if that says something. ​Books that didn't live up to the hype: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Runner Up: Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

​There are those books that everyone raves about, you know. Well, I thought Fourth Wing was good. It wasn’t anything worth gushing about. Frankly, I thought the romance part everyone raves about kind of ruined the dragon riding/war training plot of the story. Hello Beautiful had great moments, but I just didn’t like the characters very much and found myself not caring what happened to them. ​Favorite Book of the Year: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Runner up: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
              
I recommended The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo to my mom, so we're even with good book recs. It's lush, romantic and full of Hollywood. I enjoyed every syllable of this book. It made it happy, angry, sad - all the feelings. I may read it again sometime, and I never do that. I listened to the audiobook of Tom Lake which was read by Meryl Streep, and I recommend doing that for anyone who want to pump up their experience of this sleepy novel. This book had a back-and-forth-in-time story similar in flow to my own novel, ABG, and that was fun to discover. All the acting, theater, and specifically Our Town references went straight to my theater heart. Lovely book.
​ ​Well, there you are! More than I’ve written at one time in months! I’d love to hear from you and what books you enjoyed or recommend for me to put on my TBR for 2024. Please leave a comment. I wish you a very happy new year!

Is it Women's Fiction or Romance?

You know that feeling when you think you’re about to drink a soda and instead it’s a glass of tea? Both drinks are tasty, but if you’re in the mood for one and get the other, it can be disappointing. Well, that’s what can happen to a reader if they pick up a book thinking it’s one kind of story and it winds up being a different kind of story. Sometimes that’s what happens when the genres of “women’s fiction” and “romance” get tangled together. The reader is unsure what they’re tasting, and doesn’t quite know if they like it or not.
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To be vulnerable with you two days before my newest book Anything but Graceful comes out, I’m going to share that it’s not getting the love from NetGalley reviewers I’d hoped for. NetGalley is a service where authors and publishers pay to make their advanced reader copies of upcoming books available for people to request to read for review. A lot of avid readers have found that signing up as ARC readers is a great way to get free books and discover new authors. For authors and publishers, it’s a good way to launch a book with a handful of reviews already posted. People request to review the book, and the author or publisher gets to accept or decline recipients. Naturally, we want to give it to as many people as possible to up the results, as many people will never leave a review. I’ve only used this service once before, back in 2019 when my YA romance novel All the Love You Write was released. It was recommended to me because I always struggle to get organic reviews from friends or readers who purchase my books. Unfortunately, the worst reviews I got for All the Love You Write came from NetGalley. They didn’t like my male protagonist at all, and some said very harsh things about it. As an author, I have to let it go, but it does hurt to know that people didn’t “get” my story or love Mark the way I do.
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I didn’t bother with this service for the release of the Songwriter Romance novellas in 2021 or my latest YA release, Dragon Surf. But I thought a full length, traditionally published, women’s fiction, second chance romance like Anything but Graceful might get a different response, so I decided to brave it again. It has gotten LOTS of requests. ​It is getting some nice reviews, but nearly all the reviews seem confused that the book leans toward women’s fiction and not romance. While none of the reviews are saying anything unkind or overly critical, many are giving the book a lower star ranking because it’s not the book they expected. Tea instead of soda. I am confused by their confusion, because in every social media post I’ve done about the book I have said or written that it is a “women’s fiction, second chance romance” novel. It’s listed under women’s fiction and romance on the NetGalley site. And I think the blurb makes it pretty clear that this is a woman’s journey of self-discovery and resilience = women’s fiction. (Click here to read the blurb and see what you think.) *I will admit that the cover does have a banner with “a second chance romance novel” on it. ​And that’s why I want to discuss the difference between “women’s fiction” and “romance” genres.

Because the marketing world likes to put things under specific labels to make them easier to find, books that are written by women, feature a woman as the main protagonist, deal with women-centered issues, and are read primarily by women are called “women’s fiction.” The same kind of book that is lighter in content or leans into humor might be called “chick lit”. (There are no “men’s fiction” or “dude’s lit” categories, but that is a subject for another time.) Women’s fiction does not have to feature romance. It can be about a woman’s psychological, spiritual, or physical journey. The relationships can be between friends or family. Women’s fiction novels aren’t required to have happy endings. Some recent women’s fiction titles I’ve enjoyed were Lessons in Chemistry, Someone Else’s Shoes, Hello Beautiful, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. A lot of these stories have love interests, but the stories center around the journey of the main female protagonist(s). WF is also either contemporary or historical fiction and considered literary fiction. You don’t see it matched with speculative genres like: scifi women’s fiction, thriller women’s fiction, or fantasy women’s fiction. ​How does this differ from romance? Many ways. First of all, romance must have a satisfying happy ending: either “happy ever after” or “happy for now”. There are tropes that romance readers require such as “enemies to lovers”, “friends to lovers”, “fake marriage”, “hidden identity”, “second chances” and so on. There are a lot of them to choose from, some more popular than others. There must be an identifiable love interest, and the story needs to primarily be about that relationship. How do they meet? How do they fall for each other? What are the problems that might keep them apart? How do they surmount them? Often, a romance novel will have more than one point of view, going back and forth between both of the main characters. Some publishers have very specific genres, word counts, and spice levels for their romance novels, and the books must fit those parameters. Romance novels are often paired with speculative fiction genres like: fantasy romance, time travel romance, mystery romance, etc.  I always knew that Anything but Graceful leaned more into women’s fiction territory. It shows her journey from a timid college student overwhelmed by rejection growing and changing into a fifty-year-old woman finding a way to believe in herself and her talent. The love interest, Tyler, breaks her heart when they are 19 and shows up again in her life 30 years later. Can that relationship be rekindled, or is Grace unable to see that he might be different than he was as a teenager?
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When I queried this book to agents and publishers, I did call it a women’s fiction novel with romance. It finally got accepted by Satin Romance Books. They liked that this was a story with a middle-aged protagonist, as there aren’t many of those in the romance book world. My editor, proofreader and I reworked a number of things, but no one asked me to increase the amount of romance in the book or change the ending. For a lot of the final act, Tyler is absent from the story while Grace goes through a journey of self-discovery and decides what she values and needs from life.  ​I won’t write any more about how it ends, because I do want you to read it. All I want to say is that Anything but Graceful is a “women’s fiction” novel, AND it is also a “second chance romance” novel. It is not one or the other. So, don’t be surprised. And if you do read it, please leave a review.
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I’d love to hear from you. What are your opinions about these genres? Do you have any women’s fiction titles you’ve enjoyed and can recommend? I’m always looking for good books to read. Please leave a comment below.

I've Been an Author the Whole Time

I’ve been a writer longer than most people think. Most of my friends, the ones I communicate with primarily through Facebook, know me as a theatre person. That makes sense. I did theatre all through school and got my college degree in Theatre Arts. I have been a performer in some capacity for most of my 54 years of existence. The vast majority of my friends, whether close or in passing, met me in a theatre setting. We have done shows together or have mutuals who have done shows together. ​Some of my friends know me as a teacher. This is also true. I have taught and taken care of children since 1988 when I got my first job in a summer daycare program. I’ve been a teaching assistant in special education classrooms, taught dance and drama as an artist in residence, and I’ve worked in a variety of preschools, finally landing in my current job where I’ve cared for infants for nearly 18 years now. I do love teaching. As day jobs go, I’m pretty content with what I’ve chosen. Helping a child actor get ready for a children's theatre performance in 1989. But all this time I’ve been a writer. Yep. The whole time while I’ve been performing and teaching, I’ve also been a writer. My first book signing for Cry of the Sea, at the SCBWI Midsouth Conference 2014. They set me next to Ruta Sepetys! ​I think because I didn’t join FB until 2010 that people don’t remember, or know much about, my life before that. When my first book as D. G. Driver released in 2014 ( Cry of the Sea ), a lot of people thought it was my first book ever. It wasn’t. I’d actually had 10 books published already. ​I started writing as a child. I was passionate about writing stories, poetry and song lyrics. I illustrated my stories, stapled them together and gave them as gifts to my parents. Any time I could get near a piano, I’d tap out notes to figure out the tunes for songs in my head. I can still sing a couple of them to this day. ​My freshman year in college, I wrote two one-act plays. As a fundraiser for a trip I was taking to New York, I was allowed to direct them at my former high school. I called the show Life, Death, and… Trains. It was a strange show where I contemplated life after death. People seemed to dig it. I also spent most of my college years attempting to write my first novel. It was a horror novel called Completing the Moon. It’s pretty bad.
A kind review in the local paper of my play at the high school in 1988. My senior year, I took a creative writing class, a playwriting class, and a literature course about fairy tales, and all three inspired me to write a series of original fairy tales over the next few years. Several of those eventually got published either in anthologies or as novellas. After college, I had two original children’s musicals of mine produced by Imagination Theatre Company in California called A Pirate Tale and Who Stole the Circus? Those plays got me excited to write children’s books. I wrote Saving Christmas Spirit (a fantasy that I ultimately self-published) and three middle grade novels that were published by a small press that went out of business in 2008.
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I had several stories and articles published in magazines, books, and on websites in the 90s and early 2000s. Then I got a contract to co-author five nonfiction books about classical composers for Morgan Reynolds Publishers. After those came out (to great reviews and a couple awards), I was asked to write another book for them about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. That publisher, sadly, is also no longer operating. I’m very proud of these books, however. ​I moved to Tennessee during this time, and I got an opportunity to direct my play A Pirate Tale again and revived my one-woman show Donna’s Day (a music-filled biography about Doris Day that I originally performed in Los Angeles in 1996). ​I had the opportunity to write and direct another play called Don Coyote: A New Western Musical for Kids at the Larry Keeton Theatre in 2012, and I got a contract to ghostwrite a series of romance novellas that same year. ​Around that time, I decided to abandon writing under the name Donna Getzinger. With my books under that name all out of print, I felt like it was time to take on a new name and start fresh.

I decided on D. G. Driver because Driver was my new last name. I chose to use initials because at the time I was working on a couple middle grade books that had boys as the leading characters. Funny enough, the main character of what was On the Water, was ultimately changed to a girl, and that book Lost on the Water , was published in 2018. The other book, No Lifeguard on Duty, is finally being published as a YA novel called Dragon Surf . (Preorder the ebook today!) ​If you’ve made it this far through my little autobiography, I think you’ll understand why it always seems odd to me that my friends seem surprised that I am a writer. Reactions to my posts about my books or writing career are often met with indifference in comparison to posts about theatre. (Also, TBH, I think FB hides a lot of my posts about my books.)  In person, I’m often asked if I’m “still writing”, even though I feel like I’m constantly posting updates about my writing progress. Under the name D. G. Driver, I have 14 books published and stories in 7 anthologies. It's been a busy 9 years, as I've done all of this while still teaching full time and doing theatre.  ​I’m aware that I’m not with a major publisher. I haven’t had that kind of luck. You’re not finding my hardcovers at the big bookstores when you’re browsing the shelves. My publishing life is similar to my theatre life: small but satisfying. I mostly do community theatre here in Nashville. I get paid a little for directing and nothing for performing. The reward is getting to perform and delighting in the finished project. My writing career is kind of like that.

​All of my YA books and my upcoming women’s fiction novel Anything but Graceful are with a traditional, small publisher. I do get royalties from them based on the sales of my books. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s some. I have a few self-published works as well for which royalties trickle in. Knowing I won’t get rich at this means that I do it a lot for the joy of creating. Getting the books published and available for others to enjoy is the reward. I've also met so many authors in person or online that I now consider friends. ​I get a lot of rejection as a writer from agents, major publishers, and sometimes book bloggers or influencers. The seeming disinterest from friends does hurt. I often think about quitting and using my weekends to do other things besides sitting at my computer. After all, I have friends who make a lot more money babysitting than I do pouring my heart into a manuscript. Only, right when I think I can’t write another sentence is when my characters will call out to me, or a reader writes something encouraging to me. Then I’m back at it, struggling to find the right words for the ideas in my head. And I have so many stories to tell. ​I get enough yesses and good reviews to keep me going. This year, in particular, is an exciting year for me. I’m releasing two books: Dragon Surf (a YA urban fantasy co-authored with Jeni Bautista Richard) with Fire and Ice YA Books on March 28th; Anything but Graceful (my first full length women’s fiction romance novel) with Satin Romance Books in June; and I’m having my original musical Songwriter Night produced at The Larry Keeton Theatre in September. I’m revved up and working on a new romance story right now! So, as you now see, I’ve been writing all along. It’s not a secret thing I do. It just feels like a secret. If you asked me to define myself, though, I think I’d say I am an author before I call myself anything else.
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I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment or scroll through the pages of my website and see if something I’ve written appeals to you. Then go order it and let me surprise you!

2022 In the Books!

​I’ll be honest, I’m about to write my yearly creative wrap-up, and I’m not sure how it’s going to come out. There’s a part of me that feels like I was super busy all year, and there’s a part of me that feels like I didn’t accomplish much. Let’s dig in and remember, shall we?
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As a writer, I didn’t publish anything new this year. This is the first time I haven’t released a new book or at least a story in an anthology since the publication of Cry of the Sea, my first book as D. G. Driver, in 2014.  ​I finally gave up querying agents for both my middle grade fantasy novel Dragon Surf and my women’s fiction novel Attitude of Grace. A quick Facebook interaction with one of the women who runs Fire and Ice YA Books (publisher of my other Young Adult novels) where she asked me “When are you going to write another book for us?” made me re-evaluate Dragon Surf. After a conversation with my co-author Jeni Bautista Richard, I spent all of January revising the novel so that our main character Eric would be 15 instead of 12. I submitted it to F&I, and they accepted it! Dragon Surf, now a younger YA (similar to my novel Lost on the Water) is scheduled to be published in spring of 2023.  I submitted my women’s fiction novel directly to small press publisher Satin Romance Books, and it also was accepted! Woo-hoo! It will be released in summer 2023 under its new title Anything but Graceful.
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I’m very proud of Dragon Surf. It’s a fun story that has taken a long journey of rewrites over the years. However, I am planning on this being my last YA or children’s book. Unless something changes wildly for me this coming year, I don’t intend to write anymore books for younger readers. That said, I have great hopes for my first full-length women’s fiction/Gen-X/second chance romance novel Anything but Graceful. I’m hoping that it will finally be the book and genre that finds a steady audience, and I have several ideas for other books in this genre.  As far as new writing goes, I did step back into the novel I abandoned in 2021, and then I abandoned it again. It may never be completed. I got a new, fresher idea that I feel is more complimentary to Anything but Graceful. For the moment, I’m calling it The Cabin Plan, and I 'm about half-way through the first draft and hope to finish it early in 2023.
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The other writing project I did this year was to adapt my audiobook musical Songwriter Night into a script for a staged production. The story is the same, but I’ve added three new songs. Caleb Dinger, who composed the music for the audiobook, is now a member of the U.S. NAVY band. We thank him for his service and wish him well. Due to that, I've asked another friend of mine to assist me with finishing up the music for the new numbers. I’ve got a meeting set up in January to pitch the musical to a local theatre here in Nashville. Cross your fingers that it goes well! It would be so exciting to see it performed! ​Speaking of theatre. I didn’t manage to get on stage at all this year (except singing two songs in a fundraiser cabaret). However, I did direct two wonderful shows at The Larry Keeton Theatre here in Nashville. In the spring, I directed the silly musical Once Upon a Mattress, and in October I directed the classic Noel Coward comedy Blithe Spirit. Both shows were a delight, and I had so much fun! My husband builds all the sets for this theatre and created brilliant sets for my shows. I also had the added delight of featuring my daughter in a prominent role in Mattress. She was so lovely, and I was very proud of her. ​I’m not sure what 2023 will bring theatrically. I’ve chosen to take the first part of the year off to deal with writing career stuff and my daughter’s final semester of college. I’m hoping the second half of the year is full of theater. ​My other big creative pursuit all year was joining TikTok, or more accurately, Booktok. I started making posts at the end of January and have tried to post at least one video a day. It took nearly the whole year, but I’m now close to 600 followers. I also had my first video go viral last week. It’s at 23K right now! I know that I’ve sold a couple books through doing this, mostly my fairy tale novellas that are on Kindle Unlimited, but not enough to say it’s the foolproof way to sell books. When I get over 1000 followers, I can finally add a link to my webpage, and I hope that’ll make a difference. So, go follow me! ​Now it’s time to write about all the wonderful books I read or listened to this year! According to my Goodreads Challenge, I got through 49 books, which is a record for me and 9 over my goal. Yay me! It is once again an eclectic mix of all kinds of genres, but I definitely read a lot more romance and women’s fiction this year than I have in the past. If you want to see all the books I read, go to this link. Otherwise, here comes my list of faves. ​Most Surprising: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. Okay, I shouldn’t be surprised that a Libba Bray book is good, but this is such a wild departure from the gothic fantasies I love so much. It’s an absurd, hilarious story that packs a whole lot of punch about a group of beauty queen contestants that crash land on a deserted island. I can’t express how ridiculous this book is, and yet I laughed out loud more than I ever have from a book before. I listened to the audiobook book, and it is narrated by Libba herself. She does a brilliant job. As an extra bonus, there was an interview with her at the end. Complete fun! ​Runner up: Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven. I picked this up because it was free on Audible. This creepy horror story about amusement park employees stranded for nearly two months after a hurricane sounded like it might be too outlandish to hold up, but it wound up being riveting until the bitter end. It’s told through a series of interviews, with two actors narrating the audiobook and doing different voices for each character. Very clever writing that made me think a lot about the nature of people under pressure.  ​Best Self-Published or Small Press Book: This is a tough one. As promised, I read more indie books this year. I think I’m going with Fae’s Ascent by Nicole Kilpatrick published by Fire and Ice YA Books. I was really looking forward to this follow up to her clever YA leprechaun fantasy Clover, and it didn’t disappoint. It was full of action and had a lot going on with it. I highly recommend this series if you like romantic fantasy books with FAE (but maybe don’t want all the smut). Also, isn't this cover art GORGEOUS? ​Runner up: Her Best Friend’s Lie by Laura Wolfe published by Bookouture. I’m a big fan of Laura Wolfe’s thrillers. This one was especially spooky, about a group of women who were friends in high school going on a retreat together at a secluded cabin. And then people start dying! It was scary, and it kept me guessing until the end. If you haven’t read her books, put them on your radar. ​Best Audiobook: Playing with Myself by Randy Rainbow. I know, it’s not fiction. This is an autobiography by the famous YouTube star, obviously read by him. It made me laugh, but it also made me cry multiple times while driving around in my car. It is wildly funny, irreverent, and very moving.   ​If you want me to pick a novel, well, I’ll choose Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I'm not a big scifi fan. I don’t think I would have liked this book as much if I’d read it. Listening to the amazing narration of this audiobook made it work for me. I loved Rocky so much. IYKYK. ​Best Big Publisher Book: The Recruit by Alan Drew. This is a sequel to his mystery novel Shadow Man set Orange County, CA in the 1980s. This one was about the rise of neo-nazis in Southern California and a series of murders and terrorist activities caused by them. Do not read this book if you are squeamish about these issues because it is very disturbing at times when the author gets into the head of the villain. It was well done and incredibly thought-provoking. I’m proud to say that I knew this author as a teenager when we both grew up in that area.  ​Runner up: Fairy Tale by Stephen King. You know I can’t do one of these lists without mentioning my favorite author. Loved his new book. It’s more fantasy than horror, takes a moment to get to it, and is really a young adult novel. That said, I enjoyed every word. ​Best book I read in 2022! City of Flickering Light by Juliette Fay. Didn’t I say last year that this spot always winds up being historical fiction? I read a slew of books set in the 1920s and '30s last year, and this one was so compelling. It was about three friends trying to make it in silent films in Hollywood in the 1930s. Everything about it was fascinating, and I adored the characters. I found out that Fay’s novel The Tumbling Turner Sisters actually takes place before this story (about vaudeville) and promptly read it next. It was also great, but not as great. I highly recommend both books though – and maybe read them in order. ​Well, that’s it for my year. How was yours? What books did you devour this year? I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment.

Oh, and if you’re looking for something good to read, try one of the ones that I’ve suggested or bop around my website and see if I’ve written anything that would appeal to you.

And sign up for my newsletter. I'm going to try to actually start sending them out next year.

How Do You Value Entertainment?

Over the past couple days, friends of mine have been posting pictures of their Taylor Swift concert ticket purchases. They waited patiently and eagerly to get them and shelled out the money. This was important to them and worth the price.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what gives entertainment value. Why will people pay high prices for some forms of entertainment but not others? Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand why people want to see Taylor Swift perform. However, if there were a new singer playing at a venue downtown, would these same music lovers hesitate to spend any money at all to go see her? Even if she was a friend?
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To be fair, I’m not a person who pays high ticket prices. I have a modest income and a family to support. I’m a teacher, indie author, and community theatre performer. What little extra money I have – and it is VERY little – usually goes back into my books or shows or goes toward buying my friends’ books or seeing my friends’ shows. I didn’t even think about getting Taylor Swift tickets. Didn’t cross my mind as an option. I'm always amused when new self-published authors on the scene do the standard complaint: “People will pay five dollars for a Starbucks coffee but won’t pay ninety-nine cents for my book.” It makes no sense to compare those things. Food/drink verses entertainment? No. You have to pit similar things against each other.

Here’s an example. I have a friend who devours young adult novels. She posts about them frequently on her social media pages. We’re Goodreads friends as well, so I see her reviews. She’s often asking for suggestions for her next read. She buys hardcovers of the newest hit books as soon as they are released.

She has never bought one of my young adult books. She’s never asked about them. She’s never talked to me about them. If she has a Kindle, she could get all five of my YA books for less than the price of one of her big name hardcover novels. Doesn’t matter. I could offer them for free, and she still won’t get them. She doesn’t see small press published books as worthy of her time. ​Another friend of mine has spent a fortune on air fare, hotel rooms in Chicago and New York, along with hefty ticket prices to see Hamilton MULTIPLE times. She has season tickets to the Broadway shows that tour into town. The only times she’s ever come to see shows I was in or directed was when I’ve given her free tickets, and even then has turned me down a couple times. To my knowledge, she’s never paid to see a community theater play. She doesn’t see amateur productions as worthy of her time. ​Okay, I’m whining a little.

Still, the point is (whether about my work or not) that some people have a definite idea of what has value to them. With regard to entertainment, value is often weighed more against time spent than cost. They will spend good money on something that is guaranteed to be good. There’s no question Taylor’s concert will be great, Hamilton will amaze, and the newest novel by a favorite famous author will be riveting.

People are less likely to spend money, even if the price is dramatically lower, on entertainment that isn't guaranteed to be good. That new singer at the small venue might have a few clunky songs. The community theatre play might be poorly acted or have bad costumes. The book by that indie author might be full of grammatical errors or fail to make sense. So, even if all it costs is a cover charge and a beer, a low ticket price, or a dollar at Amazon, it feels like a risk to spend money and time on something that might not be good. But what if it is.

It takes people who are perhaps more generous with how they use their time to trust or even seek out entertainment that isn’t a guarantee. Often this starts as a favor. Your friend is singing in a band or acting in a show. She’s asked you to come many times, and you finally have a free night and decide, “what the heck, I’ll go check it out.”

​Or someone you work with has written a book. You know it’s not the kind of thing you usually read, or maybe you don’t read much at all. Still, she’s been talking about it for a while, and over your summer vacation you choose it to read it while you suntan at the beach.
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And maybe the show is great. And maybe the book is fun. Now you know you can trust this person to entertain you, and their entertainment value goes up. At least a little. Of course, the opposite may happen. The show isn’t good. The book doesn’t grab you. Unfortunately, this confirms your conviction that local shows (or artists or talent or writers) aren’t good enough for your time or money. This is too bad, because they aren’t all equal. There’s no way to know. It’ll always be a bit of a risk.
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There’s a bias that most people have that if you know the person who wrote the play, book, or song, then it probably isn’t very good. We don’t trust it. These normal people that we work with or are friends with couldn't possibly be that talented or they'd be making a living with their art. Right?

I have definitely been to some original plays that were boring or weird. I’ve been in a couple that were bad. However, I’ve also seen some that were absolutely brilliant, and I’ve had the privilege of performing in a couple that were extremely well written.

We're taking a risk when we go see something new. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t.

How daring are you with your time and money? I’ve discovered authors who had their books on sale or free, and now I read every book they put out. I’ve tried other authors this way and was not impressed enough to read more of their work. I know which theaters in town put on plays that knock it out of the park each time. I know which ones are unpredictable. I also know when I’m going just to support a friend regardless of the quality of the show. Because sometimes it’s cool to do that. It gives the entertainment a different kind of value. 

It gives your friendship a different kind of value too.

All right, I’ve spent too much time ruminating about this when I should have been writing my novel. I’m curious about your thoughts on the subject. How and where do you prefer to spend your entertainment dollars? What do you value? Is it saving up for big concerts, professional theatre, or the next New York Times bestseller? Is it discovering the unknown gems? Or do you do a little of both?
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I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment.

My Author #TikTok Experiment (so far)

In my last post, I hinted that to ramp up my marketing strategy for my books, I might get brave and start doing some TikToks. Well, I did. I’ve been at it for two solid months now and have done 35 posts. I wanted to share with you how this experiment is going so far and what I’ve learned. I avoided using this app for a long time for a couple reasons: it seemed to be mostly for young people, and I knew it would be a big time-suck. My daughter and a friend of mine at work insisted that there was much more to it than teens lip-syncing songs and dancing, so I finally gave it a chance and put the app on my phone. It took a moment, but the algorithm discovered the stuff that entertains me. I was wrong about it just being for young people. I was right about it being a time-suck. It’s really easy to get trapped on that app and not even notice how much time is passing.

As for making my own content, that’s a whole different story. I have a couple friends who are doing tremendously well on TikTok, but they aren’t authors. They’re doing well because of the persona or message they're putting across.

What on earth would anyone want to see this middle-aged indie author doing or saying? Obviously, I’m on there to promote my books, but so are thousands of other writers. No one wants to see outright sales pitches, so I had to find my way of expressing myself. In addition to writing, I’m also an actress/singer with a huge love a musical theater. I decided to combine my passions and create content where I would sing showtunes that either go thematically with a book of mine or that reflect things that happen in an author’s life.  Honestly, I thought this gimmick would be cuter than it is, but it’s only getting a lukewarm response. This is actually my most viewed and liked one where I'm singing. I have one that only has eleven views (sigh) and most have less than ten likes. (Oh, and did I mention my book Songwriter Night won an award? Yay!)

​My daughter told me I’d be more successful following the trends on the app, doing some lip-synching, and using trending sounds. That makes sense, and while I’ve done a couple of those, I feel like I’m just one of a million when I do them. It's fun but feels insincere. This one of me hearing favorite songs from the 80s was fun to make, but it needed 7 different locations in my house! Ack! I’m also still figuring out how to make these videos. I have a small house that doesn’t have a lot of great places to shoot anything with a good background. I get embarrassed to shoot these when other members of my family are home.

I don’t wear makeup regularly, but I have to put some on for these or I look like death warmed over. So, I try to shoot a couple at a time.

​Editing them together is challenging and takes more time than I thought. Most of the effects don’t work unless you record directly onto the app. I’ve edited a couple longer videos on Canva and uploaded them. It’s taking an enormous amount of time to put these things together, and some of them are literally only a few seconds long. The pro tip is that people should be putting content up at least 4-6 times PER DAY to grow a following. I’m lucky if I can do 4 a week. It’s honestly so much to do even the small amount of content I’ve created. I’m absolutely enjoying the challenge and happy with what I’ve done, but I can’t sustain this pace, not with a full-time job and other commitments. Making TikTok content has stolen away a lot of my writing time and attention to other forms of marketing. A month from now, I start directing a big musical that goes up in June. I will have zero free time on my hands for making silly videos of me singing or lip-synching.
​ And is it even working? Not yet. I’m still new on there, but in two months I’ve only gained 40 followers. I haven’t topped 250 views on a video. The likes are going up for each video, but the most I’ve gotten is 24. That was for one of the “trending” style ones that has nothing to do with my writing, and I think most of those people liking it were creepers. As far as I can tell, I haven’t sold any books due to these videos.

I’ve shared some as reels on Instagram, and it’s interesting how different the responses are to these videos from one app to the other. I can tell that my Instagram followers are more interested in my singing/personal ones than the TikTok community. Also, it’s very clear that short, punchy videos do so much better than long, talky ones no matter which app I use.  I’m not done with my experiment. I’m still at the start of it, and I’m curious to see where it will go. I’m not convinced, however, that this is ultimately the best way to spend my precious creative time. But hey, I am posting a lot more on there than here on this blog, so please come follow me. I’d love to know what your experiences are on TikTok, either as a consumer or a content creator. Leave a comment below.

2021 In the Books

It’s time once again for my annual wrap up of the year: what I’ve been doing creatively and what I’ve been reading. It feels like I just wrote this post for the end of 2020, and if you scroll back through my very inactive blog, it sure looks like I just wrote it. Nevertheless, a whole year has indeed gone by, one filled with ups and downs.

The year began on a big high as I figured out how to publish the sweet romantic Nashville inspired audiobook I’d worked on so hard with songwriter Caleb Dinger and a cast of talented Nashville actors. We chose to go through Findaway Voices, and that made Songwriter Night: A Musical Romance available on every audiobook platform, the biggies being GooglePlay, Apple Books, Chirp, Kobo, Audiobooks.com and Audible. Yes, you can even borrow it from your public library.  Caleb and I got to do an interview on Today in Nashville, a local daytime news show, with a song from the show sung by our leading actors Jack Forte and Caylin Maguire. We got some wonderful reviews, and it was all very exciting.

​We even did a “Listening Dinner Theatre” event in the spring where people bought tickets to enjoy a nice meal while listening to the 3-hour story. It was a blast, and I loved watching people react to everything and sing along to the song at the end.

Next, I worked on releasing Songwriter Night in ebook and print. It took a little revising because the story had originally been written in script format. I did a guest blog post about that process for Stacy Juba’s Shortcuts for Writers. The book version got some lovely reviews as well. Once that came out, I took some time trying to figure out what to write next. I started and stopped three different novels. I liked the ideas behind all of them, but I was struggling with what my next steps as an author should be. The women’s fiction novel I wrote in 2020, Attitude of Grace, has gotten a couple full requests from agents and one publisher, but it hasn’t passed through the gatekeepers yet. I feel like that book will eventually find a home, and I want to have some solid foundation on another novel in the same genre to follow it.

In the end, however, my heart urged me to continue the love stories I started with my Nashville songwriters. So, I wrote a sequel called Songwriter Showcase. It was a blast to write because I had the voices of the actors from the audiobook in my head, and I could hear how they would read the lines. I also mined through the collection of songs I’d written in my twenties and used several of them in the story.

I released Songwriter Showcase with little fanfare in October and haven’t had much time to do any marketing for it. I’m hoping to fix that once we get past the holidays. (If you’re interested in review copies of either book, please let me know.) I also hope to record some of the new songs that I wrote for this story. It is a tremendous amount of work to record a full cast, musical audiobook, and this story is almost twice as long as the last one. I’m still trying to figure out a way to do it that will work. I’m toying with the idea of recording a staged reading of it, but I haven’t run that by Caleb or my actors yet. I’ll definitely let y’all know what happens.

In the new year I plan to revisit these characters once again to adapt Songwriter Night so that we can perform it as a live stage show. After that, I think I will go back to one of the novels I deserted last spring.  All of that seems exciting creatively, but I'll confess that my sales for all my books have been especially low this year. Nothing is working, and I’ve considered hanging it all up multiple times. I’m going to have to explore new ways to get attention to these titles. I’ve been trying to avoid it, but a TikTok account may be in my near future. The theater side of me got to wake up once again after a long, long 18 months. My husband and I were asked to be in an original musical written by composer Michael Kurek called Dear Miss Barrett back in June. We were very proud to be part of this world premiere performance here in Tennessee. Immediately after that show, we FINALLY started rehearsals for the long-awaited Mamma Mia. We performed in August at The Larry Keeton Theatre, and it was SO MUCH FUN! I have never had so much fun doing a show, and there were so many tears at the end.

The woman playing Rosie to my Tanya in Mamma Mia was slated to direct the Christmas show, and she asked me to assistant direct and choreograph Miracle in Bedford Falls (a musical based on the film It’s a Wonderful Life). That turned out to be another magical experience that again left me in tears on closing night (only one week ago as I write this). I loved the show so much, and the cast was so delightful.

I’m not entirely sure what my theater plans are for 2022 at this point, but I have my fingers crossed for more opportunities to direct and at least one chance to perform.
And now for my 2021 Books of the Year list.

According to my Goodreads Challenge, I read 39 books, and I have two more I should finish before the new year. Once again, my reading genres were all over the place. I can’t help it. I like stories of all kinds. My list is heavier on audiobooks because I listen during my long commutes. I read a little YA, romance, women's fiction, some thrillers, and a couple non-fiction works. 
Biggest Surprise: Girls with No Names by Sandra Burdick. Like usual, my biggest surprise came from plucking a book out of a Bookbub sale notice. This historical novel about the condition of life for wayward girls in 1910 was fascinating. It’s a heart-wrenching tale, and it had me captured from beginning to end. I listened to the audiobook for this, and it was expertly read by 3 different actresses. I highly recommend it if you like historical fiction. Best Self-Published or Small Press Book: Okay, I deserve a little slap on the wrist for this, but I didn’t read many self-published or small press books this year. I know. As an indie, I should be ashamed. I will do better next year. The one I enjoyed the most was A36 by Teri Polen. It’s a YA science fiction/dystopian novel about a society that farms genetic codes from people and sells them. It’s very exciting with great fight scenes and a cast of characters that is multi-cultural and inclusive of LGBT characters. I am definitely looking forward to the sequel.
Best Audiobook: This is hard. I’ve listened to so many good audiobooks this year. I’m going with Stephen King’s Billy Summers. I always love a good King novel, and I read 3 of them this year. The narration in this is fantastic, and the story zips along. It is not a horror novel at all but more of a suspense story. It’s interesting caring so much for a character who is also a hired assassin. If you love the TV show Barry, you will love this book. As a runner up, though, I’m going to have to say the nonfiction book All About All About Eve by Sam Staggs. If you are a fan of this classic movie or classic films at all, you will get a kick out of it. You have to listen to it – not read it, because the narrator Donald Corren’s impressions of Betty Davis, Marilyn Monroe, et all are a kick.
And best made-only-for-audiobook book (besides Songwriter Night *wink*) was Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone. I laughed out loud multiple times listening to this fun romantic comedy and its sequel Sweet Talk.
Best Large Press Book: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. This book is a prequel to The Hunger Games series and the origin story of President Snow. I know that a lot of people didn’t like it as much as I did, but I found it riveting. I also love when Santino Fontana narrates books. He’s amazing. I just wish he’d sung the songs instead of reciting them.
Best Book of the Year: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. I suppose one of these years my favorite book won’t be historical fiction, but that genre always seems to score highest with me. It’s not often an audiobook has me weeping all the way to and from work while I drive. This one did it. This story about a family striving to survive the Great Depression tore my heart out and left it raw. Beautifully written and so epic. I can’t recommend it enough.
Have you read or listened to any of these books? What did you think? What were your favorite books of the year? I’d love to hear from you, so leave a comment. And, of course, if you’re looking for something fun to read to start off 2022, pop around my website and see if any of my books appeal to you.
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Happy New Year! Let’s hope it’s a happier, healthier one!