About

Okay, you asked for it….

Lane Diamond is my pseudonym.  My real name is Dave Lane, and I’m a writer, editor, writing coach, and publisher currently living in Transylvania (in the northern part of Romania) with my wife Maria, enjoying 2 new stepkids and 2 new grandchildren.

I freelance edited from 2007-2011, but since then I’ve focused most of my energy on our Evolved Publishing venture, which I co-founded, and where I now serve as CEO and Managing Publisher/Editor.

My novels are concentrated on the psychological thriller genre, but my short stories cross over many genres and focus on diverse subjects, ranging from the mysteries of the human mind, with its fragile psychological and emotional states, to the everyday joy and anguish of life on Earth. I love a good story, of course, a compelling plot and a satisfying conclusion, yet as a reader, I’ve always been drawn to great characters. The characters bring me back to an author time and time again. This shows in my writing, where I attempt to create authentic, complex, real characters you can come to love, and in whose company you feel at home. Or maybe you’ll despise a character and want to stick a fork in his eye. Hey, bad guys are fun too.

As part of our Evolved Publishing launch, I started releasing my short stories (available on the Books page) in 2011. My debut novel, Forgive Me, Alex released late in 2011 and is available at most eBook retailers and formats. The sequel, The Devil’s Bane, will be out sometime before I die… I hope. I’ve also written many poems, and even played around with song lyrics. Not sure what I’ll do with those.

When not writing, I edit the work of other authors on the Evolved Publishing team, and work to build out the business through online forums, social media sites, and whatever marketing venues make sense for our business model. We’ve run contests and giveaways, formed and edited anthologies, hammered out marketing and advertising challenges, and chased our dreams together. I love the team we’ve put together there, and though they keep me busier than a one-legged pack mule in an ass-kicking contest, I’m thrilled about the future.

I’ve done my tours in both the U.S. Air Force and the business world, where I’ve been everything from a Forklift Operator to an Operations Manager, a Bartender to a Business Services Manager, a Salesman to a Project Manager. I even “played around” for a few years as the Lead Singer for a couple of Rock-N-Roll bands.

INTERESTS: Family, Literature, Music, Sports

Why do I write?

Because I must, because the alternative is unthinkable. The act of writing is for me a psychological imperative. I write of my thoughts and dreams, joy and anger, fears and aspirations. The process relaxes me. I pour out my angels and demons onto the page, and thus refresh my soul. It’s been that way since 1972, when I first started writing short stories and poetry at the age of 12. It was all quite juvenile, of course, but it started a process to which I’ve clung desperately in the years since.

Hey, this is hard!

Okay, so this thing we call writing is not the easiest thing in the world. Hey, if it were, everyone would be doing it. Actually, since the advent of the eBook self-publishing revolution, I think everyone is doing it. The real trick, in my opinion, is to produce high quality work that meets professional standards. This will give us our best chance of rising above all that white noise out there. In modern times, the marketing folks at Nike said it succinctly: “Just do it.” Larry the Cable Guy simplified even that: “Git’r done!”

Great advice, but I prefer Shakespeare’s rather more eloquent version: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, and all the voyage of their lives is bound in shallows and miseries.” The flood now rises, and I’m riding that wave. How about you?

Why do I read?

Like all writers, I developed my love of words through reading. Who can write that does not read? Would you ask someone to sing who’s never heard a song?  Impossible! I’ve suffered large gaps in my life during which I read precious little for pleasure. Life has a way of catching up with us, and I called on all the usual excuses: insane work schedules, incredible stress levels, relationship problems, blah blah blah. As I look back on those gaps now, I wonder how I survived without books. I must have books — and music (you can keep the television).

My earliest influences were Stephen King and Robert Ludlum, though I quickly added Frederick Forsyth, John LeCarre, and the singular J.R.R. Tolkien. I particularly loved a good espionage thriller in those heady Cold War days. I soon found inspiration in the works of Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Jack London, Charles Dickens, Harper Lee, John Irving, Tom Clancy, Harlan Coben, Lee Child, Dean Koontz… (I could go on and on).

One of my favorite authors is Mark Helprin, whose gifts of language and extraordinary characters raise me up. If you haven’t read A Soldier of the Great War, Memoir from Antproof Case, or Winter’s Tale, you’ve missed a wonderful experience. And if I could step into the shoes of one character, it would be Lee Child’s enigmatic Jack Reacher. Man, that guy intrigues me.

Now that I’m running Evolved Publishing, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with some truly talented authors, and enjoyed some really great books. I hope you’ll discover them, too. You’ll be glad you did.