diannasbooks.com
Papa and Gracie 2017
My Writing
My pen name is Dianna George Batts. I have been writing poetry since 1965 at the age of 12. I never thought that any of my poems were good enough to publish but friends kept telling me that I should.
Chris and I have been married since 1973 (over 50 years now), have two adult children, and in 2013, God blessed us with our granddaughter Grace. The picture at the top of this page is of Papa and Grace on one of our many outings. Those two love each other very much and she is the love of my life.
You will also find on this website, a page of introduction for Grace who has become a published writer at the age of 8. Her first published book, ‘A Failed Summer’, her second published book, ‘The Imagination Tree’, her third published book, ‘Oh No, Stuck In School’ and her fourth published book, ‘Clara The Scientist’, are all available. They are completely her words, and I (Grandma) just helped her get them published. She illustrated ‘A Failed Summer’. She is presently working on more books, and is considering a part two to ‘The Imagination Tree’.
Of the books that I have published, two are books of poetry that I have written over the years. ‘My Collection of Words’ and ‘My Second Collection of Words’. Occasionally I will use portions of my poetry in the books that I write.
From my poetry, I also published two children’s story books, ‘Grandma’s Stories’ and ‘Grandma’s Second Storybook’. I illustrated ‘Grandma’s Stories’.
I wrote and published ‘Essie’s Story’ which is a fictional story about a bitter old woman. Having been born into a family that showed no love or affection, Essie grew into a hateful bitter woman.
I wrote and published ‘Innocence Lost’. The story about three generations all living the same kind of lives. Grandmother, daughter and granddaughter.
I originally wrote and published ‘The Secret Room’. It is a fictional story about a young family’s move to a home that opens up so many adventures for daughter, Katie. It is a warm yet adventurous story. Then I wrote two more books which continued the story, (2) ‘Yesterdays Dream’ and (3) ‘The Last Page’. It turned out to be more costly to buy all three books so I combined the three books into one, ‘The Secret Room Trilogy’ which is 660 pages of a warm and loving story of the family who befriended an old man. It may bring back some old memories and possibly a tear to your eye. While the three individual books are still available, ‘The Secret Room Trilogy’ puts the three books all into one making it less expensive than buying the three separately.
My last published book is titled, “Papa, Where Are You”. The story of a little girl and her Papa. I am presently working on a third book of poetry.
While I didn’t write the poems in my maternal Grandfathers book, ‘Words of Papa Fields’, they are his words and I published it in his memory. He was blind and couldn’t write them down so over 60 years ago, he told them to my aunt who wrote them down. Many years later, she gave them to me because she knew that I would do something wonderful with them.
Grace and I are proud to be Cherokee citizens and of our Cherokee heritage from my Grandfathers side. I am proud of the poetry that my Grandfather wrote all those years ago. I wanted to make sure that those who never knew of Papa’s words and future family would be able to know Papa Fields a little better.
I also published ‘The Children of Mama and Papa Fields’. Mama and Papa Fields are my maternal grandparents. It took me two years to gather up photographs and information but I included the children, grandchildren, great grand, gggrand, and so on of Mama and Papa Fields. I have such wonderful memories of them. The book has tons of information, over 300 pages, and I am very proud of that book. I did it so that future family would know of our family history.
Besides loving to write, I have always loved to sing gospel music having been raised in Chris’s grandparents church, The Church In The Barn, in El Monte, California, a Non Denominational church. Our family sang together on the radio broadcasts from that church for many years and many other places. I also sang in a group called The Ensemble and a group called The Harmony Four. Eventually, with the help of Chris, we made cassette tapes of my singing and my sisters and I singing. I also enjoy crafting, sewing, quilting, and in 2001, I became a gourd artist. In March 2006, I was diagnosed with Nasopharyngeal cancer and while it took six years, I won that battle. Gourd crafting was and still is, my therapy. My gourd site is https://www.nativegourds.com
Many of my poems that I’ve written were for friends and many of them have a special meaning for me. Having met so many friends at the online community of Delphiforums.com, many of my poems were written for or about them.
Any of our books can be purchased online at amazon.com by searching my pen name . Barnes and Noble can also order them for you. I am attempting to make it possible for purchases to be made on this website once I figure out how to do it. It’s not an easy thing to build a website and keep it updated. (At least for me anyway). You can also purchase our books directly from me and by purchasing directly from me, Grace or I would be honored to ‘autograph’ your book if you would like.
If you have purchased any of our books, thank you very much. I hope that they spark a good memory or at least make your heart smile.
I would love to hear your feedback. My email address is ninee9er@hotmail.com.
Wado, thank you and God Bless,
Dianna and Grace