When Diane Gaston was a little girl, she learned all the words to popular
love songs. When she played, her dolls acted out tragic love affairs with
the current TV or movie heartthrob. She thought everyone in the world made
up romantic stories in their heads to get to sleep at night.
The third daughter of a U.S. army colonel, Diane moved often as a child,
as far away as Japan one year. But mostly she lived in the Washington,
D.C. area, where she now resides. The life of an “army brat” bred
strong values of duty and honor and discipline, but it also meant
many moves, many new houses, but also new friends. Until new
friends could be made, reading books passed the time.
It was always the romance in books that Diane liked best. She read Nancy
Drew more to see what Nancy and Ned were up to than caring how
the mystery was solved. She will never forgive Louisa May Alcott for not
letting Jo wind up with Laurie in Little Women. The happy ending
of Jane Eyre was
more to her liking than the tragic one of Wuthering Heights.
Diane in High School
Diane's Wedding day
When Diane attended Ohio University, she majored in English literature.
There she again read Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, and also DH Lawrence’s Lady
Chatterley’s Lover, bringing her closer to the romance fiction she soon learned to love. Susan Howatch’s Cashelmara and Penmarric were early favorites, but when Diane discovered Georgette
Heyer and then a whole genre of Regency romance, she felt like she’d found the world where she truly belonged.
Diane’s real life career, however, consisted of helping others craft their own happy endings. She’d earned master’s degrees in both psychology and social work and became a county mental health therapist. She also married and raised a daughter and son, now grown and on their own.
At the county mental health center where Diane worked, she and her colleagues
would sometimes fantasize about what job they dreamed of having. Diane always
said her dream job would be writing romance novels. When her life settled
down enough, that’s exactly what Diane set out to do. It took years, but finally the dream came true with a phone call from Mills & Boon. Diane soon put her mental health career behind her and became a full-time writer of Regency romance. Her books have gone on to win prestigious romance awards such as the National Readers Choice Awards, the Orange Rose, and, the biggest award of all, Romance Writers of America’s RITA.
Before ever selling a book, though, Diane reaped a world of friendships
through her romance writing, a wonderful bonus to living her dream. When
not writing, Diane enjoys emailing with her friends and traveling to England
for research. But no more moving. She’s lived in the same house for over 20 years now, shared with her husband and three very ordinary house cats.
Diane loves to hear from readers and friends. Email her at
.
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:: Diane
received the 2008 Nancy Richards-Akers Mentoring Award at
the Washington Romance Writers Spring Retreat on April 26. Each
year this award recognizes one WRW member who most generously
mentors her fellow writers, encourages them, and shares writing
and industry wisdom.
A Reputable Rake, The
Wagering Widow, and A Twelfth Night
Tale from Mistletoe
Kisses :: Finalists
in the 2006
National Readers Choice Awards for Best Regency
A Reputable Rake :: Winner
of the 2007 eHarlequin Readers Choice Awards for Favorite Historical
Mistletoe Kisses :: Winner
of the 2007 of the eHarlequin Readers Choice Awards for Favorite
Anthology
A Reputable Rake :: Winner
of the Romance Writers
of America's 2006 RITA award for Best Regency
Romance
The
Mysterious Miss M :: Winner
of the 2005 National
Readers Choice award for Best Regency
The
Improper Wife - Winner of Best Book in the
2005 Orange
Rose Contest for Published Authors (now called the Book Buyers
Best contest).
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In
addition to her Diane Gaston books, Diane wrote two Regency-set
historicals under the name Diane Perkins: The
Improper Wife (Warner, 2004) and The
Marriage Bargain (Warner, 2005), but being two authors made it
more difficult to reach readers who would love all of her
books, so she’s
morphing into one person again, writing Regency historical
romance as Diane Gaston.
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