Author Insight: Diana M. Raab

Tell our readers about your background: where are you from, and what led you to write for a living?

I was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1954. I am an only child. Before my first birthday, we moved to Queens, New York where I lived until leaving for college at the age of eighteen. Both my parents worked full-time and my maternal grandmother was my caretaker. When I was ten years old, my beloved grandmother committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills in her bedroom beside mine. It was Labor Day Weekend in 1964 and my parents were at work when I found her. In a desperate attempt to help me cope with my loss, my mother bought me a journal to express my grief. My journal became my best friend. Little did I know that that seemingly benign gesture set the stage for my life as a professional writer. I found solace in the written word.

Many years after she died, we were cleaning out my grandmother’s closet and found her journal depicting her life as an orphan during World War I in Poland. I used the contents of this journal as the foundation for my first memoir, Regina’s Closet:Finding My Grandmother’s Secret Journal which was published in 2007.

We know about Healing With Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey, but what else have you written that we may not be as familiar with?

I am a multi-genre author of eight books, including poetry, health and self-help books. In university I studied health administration, journalism and nursing. After graduation I became a medical journalist. My first book was entitled, Getting Pregnant and Staying Pregnant: A Guide to Infertility and High Risk Pregnancy. The book began in 1983 as a journal of my first pregnancy which summoned me to bed rest. Eventually the book evolved into a self-help book for other women. Last year the book was updated in collaboration with Dr. Errol Norwitz of Yale University Medical School and it was released under the title Your High Risk Pregnancy: A Practical and Supportive Guide.

What inspired you to tell the story in your second memoir, Healing With Words?

This story began as my creative thesis in nonfiction writing at Spalding University in 2001 just after my breast cancer diagnosis. I kept a journal of my experience and this was the basis of my book. Similar to the pregnancy book I turned it into a self-help book for others undergoing similar experiences. This book actually includes journaling prompts and some blank pages, plus extensive appendices which include support organizations and suggested readings.

Tell us about your writing process: how do you write? How do you approach a book? Where do you do your best writing?

My writing process depends upon my mood, but I can tell you that I work every day. I live to write. My best writing is done either early in the morning or late at night. Typically I write all of my first drafts in my journal and then transcribe them onto my computer. I love writing on the airplane – I do much of my creative work there. I am never short of material to write about. When working on full-length books I use my table of contents as my guide. I rarely use outlines unless forced to by my agent or publisher. I tend to be a perfectionist and edit a lot. It has been said that writers don’t necessarily want to write, but they have to write; they have a story which yearns to be told.

Many of our readers are creative types, but struggle with balancing time for creative pursuits with the mundane tasks required to live life. Walk us through a typical day in your life.

There is always time to do what you really want to do. Passions are like that. I am the mother of three adult children, and have been writing since they were all in diapers. I used to wake up in the early morning and write for 2-3 hours before they woke up, wrote during their naptime and after they went to bed at night. Now that they are all grown and living on their own, I have the luxury to write whenever I want.

In what ways did your childhood influence you as a writer? As a person?

Very much so. It has been said that the best writers have endured tumultuous childhoods and in fact to be a good writer, you need to have suffered a traumatic childhood. Also, good readers tend to make good writers. My mother was an avid reader and used to take me to the library. Every summer, before leaving for sleep away camp, she also bought me a new journal. She would also buy me a new box of stationary and encourage me to write a lot of letters. Today, letters are one of my favorite forms of writing.

What authors did you read as a child? What authors do you read today? Do you have a favorite book or author?

As a child I read a lot of biographies and some Nancy Drew books. As a teenager I read a lot of self-help books. My favorite author is typically the author I am reading at the time. However, there are a few authors who over the years I have either read over and over again or tried to emulate their style in my own writing. They include: Anaïs Nin, Gustave Flaubert, Tobias Wolf and J.D. Salinger.

Connect with Diana online at her website: DianaRaab.com or blog: DianaRaab.com/blog/.