You have questions. I have answers. It’s what I do.
1. When will the next book be published in the Bellingwood series?
I hate to admit how systematic my life is. Things are always better when a plan is in place. At least for me. I often envy those who take life as it is thrown at them and are thrilled at the crazy ride. I’ve spent a lifetime learning to embrace spontaneity. It isn’t my natural behavior.
Consequently, I set organization in place and work toward my goals. Books are published regularly on the twenty-fifth day of the third month of each quarter. You can be (nearly) guaranteed that a new Bellingwood book will publish on March 25, June 25, September 25, and December 25 each year. A holiday / winter / Christmas short story is published on January first.
2. Talk to me about the newsletter. When does it come out?
On the twenty-fifth of each month, I send an email newsletter to readers who signed up at nammynools.com. It will always include a short vignette (around 1500 words). Newsletter readers are the first to learn the title of the next book and see the newest book cover. Each book release is announced first in the newsletter and later to the rest of the world. The newsletter is where all things new and interesting will be found.
If you signed up for the newsletter and don’t see it in your email on the 25th, please check your spam folder or the “promo” folder in Gmail. If you still can’t find it and have an old newsletter available, click “View this email in your browser” and you will be taken to a site where you can access all issues. If, at that point, you still haven’t read the newsletter, send me a message and I’ll give you the link.
As for why I use that specific date, when I owned a business in Nebraska, the twenty-fifth of the month was always the day sales tax forms were due to the state. It was one of those dates that anchored in my mind, so why mess with a good thing?
3. I’m reading about so-and-so and don’t remember them. Did I miss a book or short story?
Probably. There is a full list of published books and stories on my website at: https://nammynools.com/bellingwood-series/the-books/
Check there to make sure you’ve read everything.
4. Oh yeah. Nammynools? What in the world?
Blame my mother’s love of words and the subsequent messing up of them. Instead of bunny rabbits, they were bun-rabs. Canines were pupper-dogs, rhinoceros was pronounced rhino-sore-ass (imagine how that has messed with my head over the years); the list goes on and on.
Consequently, her animals (including children) were naminals. I appropriated the word and tweaked it for my own use to nammynools. No one else uses that word for a website, FB page, email address, on and on. I get to be my own person.
5. Your book is missing chapters and pages. Did you mess something up when you published it to Kindle?
Well, no. First of all, hundreds and hundreds of people have already downloaded the book and it is fine. Secondly, I’ve been doing this for years now. I’ve got this.
The data between your Kindle and Amazon has been corrupted. Please delete the download and try again. If you have further issues, please reach out to Amazon for assistance.
6. Oh no! I found an error! Do you want to know about it?
Absolutely. Please email me at nammynools@gmail.com with your list.
Be sure it is really an error and you aren’t running into something I’ve chosen to write incorrectly. Like my mother, I believe that messing with words is fun. Messing with punctuation, word order, spelling, and sentence structure is also fun, but evidently, not everyone believes that. Good thing Shakespeare didn’t have to deal with Amazon reviews.
I do make errors (don’t we all?) and they drive me nuts. I have incredible editors and proofreaders who help me get through each book, but even still we miss things. Don’t fret. We can fix this. Contacting me via email rather than calling me out publicly goes a long way. Being helpful and polite is also a bonus. You can’t imagine some of the insulting things people think are appropriate to say publicly and privately to me.
7. Can I be a beta reader or an ARC (Advanced Review Copy) reader?
Thank you for offering, but right now I don’t use ARC readers and I have a full slate of beta readers / proofreaders / editors. The point at which these readers receive my manuscript is when I bare my soul to expose my story before it is polished. It feels risky and worrisome, so the trust I build with these people is a big deal.
8. When will the pre-order be available?
I don’t actually do pre-orders on Amazon. Because I publish so many books during the year, my tight publishing schedule doesn’t allow time to follow Amazon’s rule-set regarding pre-orders. They require a completed manuscript to be in their hands long before the publication date. I ain’t got time for that. The moment I publish a book, it is available to you.
Release information is everywhere. Blogposts, the newsletter, and Facebook. If you follow me, you will be told. Again, keep an eye out on March 25, June 25, September 25, December 25, and January 1.
9. Have you written anything else?
Yes. The Abide With Me series has three short stories published: Abiding Love, Abiding Grace, and Abiding Hope. One or two others will be written and when I am finished, the entire series will be compiled into a paperback.
There are three paperback (only) journals available. Capture Your Memories – A Journal, Books are Life: A Reading Journal, and Find Joy: A Gratitude Journal. You can find them on Amazon.
10. I prefer holding actual books in my hands. Can I buy hardback books? How about paperbacks?
Yes and no. Hardbound books are not available at this time for any of my books.
Paperbacks, however, are available for all of the Bellingwood books except the vignettes. You can find them all on Amazon. If you don’t see them through your Kindle app, please check using a different browser. They are there. I promise.
Each short story is included in the closest paperback book title with a few exceptions: “Hidden in the Trees,” the short story by Andrew Donovan, is included in Book 4 – Secrets and Revelations. “One Perfect Honeymoon (#8.5) is included with Book 9 – Pages of the Past. Alistair Greyson’s background short story “Break Through the Clouds” is included with Book 19 – Boundless Dreams.
11. I can’t keep up with so many characters. Tell me you have a list of them somewhere.
Haha. Well, of course I do, but I haven’t found the perfect way to transmit that list to the world. I have received MANY ideas that seem perfect to you for making these lists available. Each perfect idea has a flaw that sends me back to the drawing board. I’m not going to go into it all with you, but suffice it to say, this isn’t as easy as you might think it should be.
For now, you can find a ‘Notes and Characters’ PDF file for each of the first six books on the book list page of my website. As time allows, I will create more of these.
12. What’s this Trivia Night that I’ve heard about?
What a fun evening this is. I host a trivia night on the Facebook Bellingwood page three times a year – in March, June, and September. It’s always on a Friday from 6-11 pm Central Time. I ask questions, you answer them, I choose random winners and send out prizes. Everyone is invited. The questions all come from the first three books so there are no spoilers.
13. I want to know more about Bellingwood. What have you got for me?
Awesome. It’s my favorite place in the world. If you go to my website at nammynools.com, you will find a map of the town, hand-drawn sketches of Sycamore House and environs, as well as a sketch of the Bell House.
I’d love to tell you that more is coming. I always have big plans. But, as with so many things, writing the books always takes precedence.
14. I have more questions. Will you respond to my emails personally?
I can not begin to express how much I love this community. I am part of it with you. If you send an email to me at nammynools@gmail.com, I will respond as soon as possible.
There have been a (very) few instances when trolls, nasties, and bitterness come at me both on Facebook and through email. I rarely respond to those. Getting into a battle of words in an attempt to justify what I do or write only creates more problems, none of which adds to anyone’s peace of mind.
15. When do you sleep?
Funny you should ask. If you can’t reach me in the morning when you wake up, that’s because I’m sound asleep. The life of a hermit / writer is perfection for me. I am NOT a morning person. When I was in high school, my mother yelled at me for not smiling when I came down to breakfast. I learned to smile, even though I was still sound asleep on the inside.
My most productive time of the day happens after the rest of the world goes to bed. I write between nine o’clock and three the next morning. Editing, work-type stuff, communication, on and on all happens during the afternoon and early evening. That’s when you might see me online. I’ll be honest, though. I spend a great deal of my day working and to keep my head in the right place, I have to keep my focus away from Facebook. Admitting that it’s a distraction is the first step toward healing, right?
I sleep well. Every night when I lie down and stretch out, I tell my bed how much I love it.
16. Anything else?
I’m sure there are many things I haven’t answered for you. C’est la vie, right? Know that you mean the world to me. All of you. I am so grateful that you are part of this journey with me.
~ Diane
