Jackie Diamond Hyman

From the age of four or five, I sensed I was born to be a writer. Starting with a few scribbled sentences, I continued writing as I grew up in Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee. Luckily, my parents—my father was a doctor and my mother an artist—encouraged me to pursue my passion. There were successes, including winning a Thomas Watson Fellowship in writing to spend a year in Europe post-college (Brandeis University). But I also collected many rejection slips back in that era before self-publishing was a realistic option. After returning from a year in Italy and France, I moved to Southern California. There, I worked for a year in public relations, following by several years with local newspapers and three years full time with The Associated Press in Los Angeles. My early fiction writing focused on fantasy, but I often bit off more than I could chew. Then I fell in love with the works of Jane Austen and discovered a genre, Regency romance, inspired by her. The first novel I sold, the Regency Lady in Disguise, was contracted in 1982 to Walker and Co. Writing in an established genre with clear reader expectations helped me develop my craft and my voice. As my skills grew, I attended conferences and read about writing to better understand story structure and character arcs. Another important influence was belonging to a critique group, the Orange County Fictionaires, which is more than fifty years old (although the membership has changed greatly). Receiving feedback from fellow authors and, later, from Beta readers contributes to refining and polishing my works. Although I do research as needed, they catch quite a few mistakes, for which I’m grateful. More sales followed, for a total of six Regencies. By then, I had acquired an agent, the late Jane Jordan Browne, and begun writing contemporary romances. Over the next few decades, I sold a paranormal suspense novel (Echoes), a fantasy novel (Shadowlight), several mysteries, a paranormal romantic suspense and romances in subgenres ranging from medical romance to screwball comedy. My publishers included William Morrow, St. Martin's Press, Berkley, Five Star, Walker and Co., and Harlequin. Over the years, I've written under several pen names, but now use only Jacqueline Diamond. During the decades when I wrote primarily for Harlequin Books, my most popular series had medical settings. These series included Downhome Doctors and Safe Harbor Medical ®. Eventually, eager for creative independence, I decided to self-publish a mystery series featuring a doctor. Why not base it in Safe Harbor, where I felt at home? This four-book series, Safe Harbor Medical Mysteries, launched with The Case of the Questionable Quadruplet. Next, a handful of other Fictionaires authors and I created plan for loosely related romances featuring older couples, called Better Late. My contribution, Really? At Your Age?, turned into a four-book series of my own, called Sisters, Lovers & Second Chances. Just when I doubted I still had the creative energy to return to my first love of fantasy, I was inspired to begin a paranormal cozy mystery series, the Forgotten Village Magical Mysteries. And I love writing them! The books are brimming with fresh twists, original storylines, and quirky characters, including talking cats. The first book is A Cat’s Garden of Secrets, to be followed by A Cat's Nose for Murder. On the personal side, my husband and I have been happily married for more than forty years. We have two sons, two daughters-in-law, and two grandchildren. Meanwhile, I’ve regained the contractual rights to most of my books, and have reissued them as ebooks and in audio. Several are permanently free, as you’ll see on my website, jacquelinediamond.net. Happy reading!