And welcome to the Daily with Silstein. Today we have the amazing author, Diane Tilly, on our show and let's begin. Welcome to the Daily with Silstein here on Anchor. Tonight's guest is author, amazing, and talented author, Diane Tilly.
Welcome, welcome to the Daily with Silstein here on Anchor. I am Sylvia Stein, or Silstein, and welcome to the show. Tonight I have an amazing and talented guest by the name of she's Diane Tilly. She's an author.
She's going to tell us all about herself and her other author title that she holds. And without further ado, here's Diane. Welcome, Diane. Hello, Sylvia.
How are you this evening? I'm doing great. How about you? I'm great.
Thank you for this opportunity. Oh, any time you've been an amazing poet, but I'll let you share more about that. And I just, you know, I've worked with you. You've been an editor.
You've been a mentor. You've been so many things. So I'm a fellow author. So, you know, anytime I can do that, I'm more than happy to do it.
Thank you, Sylvia. Thanks a lot. No problem. So for those that are tuning in, so they can get to know you more, Diane, tell us yourself.
Okay. I'm Diane Tilly. I have been writing since, gosh, as long as I can remember, I was first published with a poem at the age of 15. Wow.
I've been writing ever since. I am now writing books and stories and anthologies under another name, as well as my own name. I'm working on different things. I've got another poetry coming out, hopefully, first of next year.
Wow. So you're one busy lady right now. It seems like, you know, you're like a busy bee. I try to always working on something.
Yes. Words are always there. Exactly. Exactly.
You're really good with that. So tell us about your books or book. Can you share about first on whatever side you want to start with your Diane Tilly author or your other, if you want to talk about your other author name and the books that you write, whatever you want to talk about first. Okay.
First of all, I am Diane Tilly. So I'll talk about my poetry first. Okay. That's where I started.
I basically, I just write my feelings and it doesn't have to be about myself. It could be something that I've seen without other people, or I feel when I'm around other people. Yes. And it could be, I could just be watching a movie and one word out of the whole dialogue catches me and I have to write it.
And you have to write it down. You just love words, right? You're kind of like a wordsmith. You like to write, but you know, but yes, they're correct.
I'm a lover of words. Yes. A lover of words. And that's what you said.
That's true. So I'll be sure, because there's always things I take out of every author. Like yesterday, I had James Matthew Byers shout out to him. And I noticed he said, press arrearance and confidence.
And now you're the lover of words. Yes. And I just named my podcast, by the way. And it's for the love of words.
Oh, amazing. So she just, she hasn't done a show yet, guys, but she is on her. It's called for the love of words. Make sure to check out her podcast and on anchor whenever she becomes available.
Make sure to share that update with you guys. Thank you. No problem. And go ahead and continue.
I didn't mean to interrupt. You were talking about your books about first, the poetry book, which is pieces of meat. Can you share about your book? And, you know, I know you shared about how you write it, but how did that come about?
Well, it's actually a collection of my feelings from my life, which the word, you know, the title pieces of me and mess up words for my wants, mess up lives. And it's basically, that's what it is. It's about my life. It's just like a little piece of you is in every part of that point, correct?
Yes. And that's actually my opening poem in my book. It's called pieces of me. Yes.
That is a wonderful book. If you don't have it, pieces of me is available. Where do you have it available? Amazon Amazon?
Yes, Amazon. You can look up pieces of me or my name, Diane Tilly. Okay. And as far as, so make sure to check that one out.
So what other, like, what can you, like, as far as your poetry, I know you write them about you, but do you find yourself being more of a, of a verse person? Like yesterday James talked about being more of a verse man than a prose man. Do you find yourself inspired by prose and verse? Or is there any type of, of, of exercise or do you kind of define it into exercises when you write or you just let the feelings take over?
I just let the feelings take over. I don't really rhyme. Mine is more prose. Okay.
And so it's just, I find that I do like three lines, then five lines, then back to three lines. But yeah, I've tried. It's a variation, right? You're not really, you don't structure it, right?
No. No. I don't like long sentences. And well, as you know, but I try to break it down so that it sounds the way you would read it, you know, the way you would hear it in your head.
Yes. Yes. And I remember you helping me because I, I'm not a big poet. I write poems, but I've never really took the time to go back and, and, and, and I noticed when you used to edit them, they would sound so much better because they were more clear.
It was more of a clear feeling than, than actual a lot of words put together. Right. Cause if you read it, you always have to stop and read it out loud. And then if you're reading straight through, then you know, it's not broken up to make it impact on the person reading it.
Yes. Exactly. Exactly. So do you, because we're talking about pieces of meat.
Could you share some of your poems, like maybe a couple that you could feel comfortable sharing with us? Would that be okay? Oh, that's fine. I actually will share the first one, which is the title of my book, Pieces of Me.
Okay. Pieces of Me are found on these pages, like the blood blowing through my veins, my words flow through ink, leaving bits and pieces of me behind, sharing with you my life, my feelings, my dreams, me. You read my words coming from my heart, spoken through the motions of writing. I sing to you with written words instead of spoken ones.
You still have pieces of me. Oh, that's beautiful. Thank you. I love it.
I love that one. Go ahead. Continue. Okay.
Um, this one, I'm a lover of nature. I absolutely love rain. So I have a lot to do in my book about rain and nature. Okay.
Um, this one is called the rain. Okay. The rain has stopped. Drops are falling from the leaves reminding me of the lovers tears, falling from eyes of rain.
Cheers of passion spent tears of passion yet to be seen. A breeze drips by. Oh, what a caress like moist lips upon my skin gently kissing my flesh. Shivers run along my spine waiting for more.
What is this? The rain returns. It quenches the heat. The lover is satisfied.
Passion is spent until next time. Oh my gosh. That's like I said, so when I first read your book, it was so, it was so, you know, it was so intense at times, pushing it. And so, so, you know, so many feelings all at once.
So you really captured it. Like you said, pieces of me is exactly what it is. So it is. And that last one, that last one actually had some rhyme to it.
Just not my go to, but it does sometimes. It does. If it comes, if your muse, would you say that your muse, because I know James talked about muse, he has a muse that guides him. Would you say that your muse is there to tell you to rhyme, you do, or is it just more of a, you know, you just go with it.
I think all writers, whether it's poetry, but basically poetry, but I think all writers have a muse. And so my muse is whatever mood she's in. Exactly, right? Exactly.
I hear you. I hear you on that. That's perfect. And that was beautiful Dan.
Thank you for sharing that. I know you said you were nervous, but you're doing great. So keep it up. Don't tell people I'm nervous.
But no, you sound fine. Actually, you sound really good. So, so what can you tell us about your writing and your, like, now, I don't know if you want to share about your other author name and what you write. Oh, that's fine.
Yes. I'm so busy with that other author name. Yes. My alter ego.
Yes. She's the one that's less shy, I would say. Her name is Alexis R. Craig, and you can find, I had, it's my website is the Alexis Craig dot com.
Okay. And I have, she writes romance, adult romance. Okay. And she's really busy at the moment.
Very busy. Very busy. So what tell us what you're working on? Like, what kind of, what is your writing, your, those as adult romance.
What, what kind of characters do you have on your, in your, in your, with the Alexis Craig alter ego that you have. I have strong women and alpha males. Very strong women. I think that's my major goal is to uplift women with my writing.
Okay. And that my male characters are always tender. I mean, they're strong men, but they're tender towards their women. So tender to.
Okay. Okay. Wait, wait, wait, the strong women, but the man is strong, but tender, like they're, they're, they're, it's more about the right. Right.
Yeah. It's, it's, you know, it's a more romance. I always, there has to be a story to lead to other. And I'm not just writing the adult part.
It's got to have a storyline behind it. Okay. So, so even though it has adult content on it, you, you like to make it more relevant about the romance with the characters, right? Yes, I do.
That guiding, guiding point for your story. Yes. Okay. You share some of the stories like the names and the, or the characters that you're writing about.
Is that more secret right now? You don't really want to go into too much. No, actually, we, I had one come out in an anthology with a couple of other writers that you know, and that was the parlor all access. Okay.
And it was set in New Orleans. And my story is called this Rose has Florence. These, those storms. Okay.
And you can get that anthology on Amazon. Okay. And it's called the parlor. Is that the parlor?
Yes, the parlor. All access. All access. Okay.
And it's a little BDSM, I guess you would say. Yes. Oh, that's as far as I'll go into that one. Yeah.
These are adult themes, a more erotic, correct? Yes, correct. I have a story. So, and I have a new characters without giving away the story.
Sorry. Okay. Well, her name is Rose. And she was, let's see, how can I put this?
She worked for the parlor, which is set in New Orleans. Okay. And she no longer works there because she had a scandal with one of the clients. Okay.
And her and her roommate gets revenge on, on the client. Okay. Okay. And that says, that's all I can say without getting the story away.
No, no, that's fine. So what inspires your characters like in that type of where you're writing as Alexis Craig, because you different, you differentiate, obviously, because you're right. Is Diane Tilly more of the poet? Is that more where you're going with that?
And Alexis is more of the, where you're going to write your novels, your more adult novels or type of fiction novels that you're, you're focusing on. Well, Diane Tilly is more of the mainstream and poet mainstream. Yes, because I am writing a novel under her name, under my name. Okay.
That is not romance. It's more of a crime suspense. Okay. And Alexis is more into the romance erotic type.
Yeah. Yeah, it basically brings another side to you. Like a, the side that you may not want to share with everyone, right? That's where Alexis comes in.
Yes. It's just basically for me to keep the genres separate. I don't keep it secret that I'm Alexis Craig. So, yeah, it's just the genre is separate.
No, and that's normal. Oh, that's, that's awesome. So what are you currently working on in any of your books? Like the characters or something else that you might want to share on this on your writing journey.
Okay. Right now I am happy to say that I just finished a story for another anthology that will be released on July 4th. Yay. And my story is a Rangers heart and yes, and it's anthology alpha males in uniform.
Alpha males in uniform though that sounds interesting. And it's being published by avant garde publishing. Oh, wow, congratulations. Thank you.
And it will be released on July 4th. Yay. Yay. And you can get that at Amazon Barnes and Noble.
And you can go to my web page and all the links are listed there. Okay, so, so, and that's you've got a lot like I said, like a lot of you're starting your repertoire of things that you have. And that's so far, it's going to keep you busy. I'll tell you that.
I am very busy. I already have another anthology I have to have done with some, some of the same authors that you know. And it will be released. I think it's October.
And I'm also writing on my book. So, which is under Alexis Craig also that one's called finding grace. What is it called? I'm sorry.
Finding Grace. Finding Grace. Is that the suspense crime that you were talking about? No, this one is under Alexis Craig.
Alexis Craig. And it is. Yes, and it is about a woman who has lost her husband after nearly 30 years of marriage. And she has to find herself, which her name is Grace.
Because she's devoted her life to her family. And now her family is grown and she's on home. It's like basically rediscovering herself. So she's finding herself correct.
Finding Grace. Yes. Go ahead. Sorry.
I don't mean to interrupting. Okay. It's okay. It's going to be the first of two books.
And then the next one is I've actually started both books. The next one is called saving grace. Okay. So breaking grace and then saving grace.
So that's like a series. Yes. Okay. Yes.
Wow. That's that's a lot of interesting stories that I look forward to watching. I can picture them on on screen too. That would be fantastic.
Yes, it would. And it, like I said, there's a will. There's always a way, you know that. Yes, I found this out.
I've been doing trying my best. All my life. And now it's finally coming true. So I've always told people if you have a dream, chase after it.
Keep chasing it. Exactly. You, you keep doing it. You will and you'll get it done.
It's just a matter of never giving up because that's, that's where a lot of people don't realize that you've got to keep chasing it. And it'll, it'll come to you. Exactly. Exactly.
So, so what can you tell us about your writing? Like as far as your process, do you have a process when you write or does it like do you get a schedule that you have to set or. Or do you just keep a journal whenever you can? You jot things down.
Yes, that's what I do. I keep a journal everywhere. My husband hates it. I like journals.
I keep a journal everywhere because I never know when, you know, dialogue hits and I have to write it down word for word. Or there's a scene that I can put in in a later chapter, but I've got to get it down now. Yes. So I don't, I don't outline really anything.
I do it in my head and it just blows that way. I'm, I'm not sure. Was it a pants there? I think it's what they.
I don't, I don't outline anything. Yeah, you just kind of, you're just kind of, you're not structured. Like you said, your poetry, you're more of you go. You just go on the, on the fly, you could say, right?
Yes. You write like without, without any schedule. You just, if it's, you keep a journal and when you write it down, correct? Correct.
Unless, of course, with these anthologies, there is a deadline, but I know that I have to have it finished by this date. And so I just keep working at it until then. Yeah, exactly. And that's, and that's important.
So the inspiration, does it, like I said, does it come to you in different times of the day? And like when you, like when you started, for example, the idea of saving grace or finding grace, did you have something that you saw or where did I did? Was it something part of you that you wanted to write about the more, more of a, like a little bit of even though it's fiction was based on events that happened. It is.
Yes. Um, it's fiction, but it is based a little bit loosely on, you know, my life. So, um, because I did, I did lose a husband to cancer. And basically I had to find myself again.
So I can't imagine, I can't imagine that that was any easy. That's why I never tried to tell people how they feel. You know, how you feel when your own losses happen. But I'm glad that from, from you, it looks like you found happiness again, correct?
I did. I found a wonderful man and he helped me find myself. He's very supportive. And that is key anytime, you know, like I said, you know, you don't know what, when those things are going to happen, but you know, you take them and you, and you hold on to them because it's a blessing that that comes to you and you don't know what's coming.
You know, that's why I had not planned on, you know, finding someone and I did. So he saved me. Sorry, I didn't mean to make you emotional. I just always like to ask on stories and stuff.
And I'm overstepping. Let me know. Oh, you're not. I'm happy to tell everybody.
That's beautiful. It always, like I said, when someone, because a lot of times that question was asked to me of my stories and I hadn't really thought about how much some of it might might come from my own life. And when that question is asked, you're like, wow, it was about that. You know, and the way you just shared that about some of it was based on loosely on your own life.
It always kind of hits like, wow, you know, it's kind of like an aha moment type of thing, right? Yes. But I knew starting out with this with this novel. It woke me up like a 230 in the morning.
And I just knew it was the title just came to me. And it's like finding grace. And that was the best way to describe it. Wow.
I just want to hear, you know, how the creativity came and how all of a sudden the title came and they start writing. And I can't wait to read all of your books because I know I need to catch up on your anthologies and stuff. But I love the fact that I got to read your poetry book and then I look forward to more books from you because you're, like I said, I think you're an amazing and talented lady, as well as a writer. You are a lover of words.
And you just do such amazing stuff. So. Oh, thank you, Sylvia. You're wonderful yourself.
Oh, I try it. It's like I said, I, like I said, we authors and we artists got to stick together. Yes, nobody else understands us. Right.
Exactly. You know, but it's key is to have a supportive spouse. I have the best spouse also because he's also very supportive. So shout out to him as well.
But I was going to say, so what do you, if authors or anyone else wants to contact you? I know you shared a bit about your pages. Where can they find you. I'm on Facebook, of course.
It's a Diane Tilly or I'm not sure. Author Diane Tilly, I think. Yeah, I'm really author. I think it says on Facebook.
Yeah. And I'm in E T I double ley and then author on Facebook. Yes. And also Diane Tilly calm.
Okay. That's your website. Yes. And I am also Alexis the Alexis Craig on Facebook.
The Alexis. Can you spell that out for everybody? If you don't mind. Yes, it's D P H E.
Alexis A L E X I S Craig C R A I G dot com. Okay. And and go on Twitter or Instagram. Both of those names.
Yes. Dye Tilly on Twitter. Okay. And the Alexis Craig on Twitter and Instagram.
The Alexis Craig. So Dye Tilly on Twitter and the Craig on Twitter and Instagram. Yes. So because you've been on both sides, Diane, before you started writing and wanting to write what advice or piece of advice would you want to give to those listening into your podcast.
Don't. It's okay to listen to what people have to say about your work and just take it in. But don't let that define your work. Okay.
Because what your writing is coming from you. And nobody can tell you how to write that. Oh, wow. Exactly.
Exactly. Like, yeah, listen to it. But don't let it determine everything you do. You know, right.
Keep on. Keep on. Like I said, keep on swimming. Keep on writing.
Right. Exactly. And the people say, well, I don't get that. Well, it wasn't for them to get.
I mean, yeah, a lot of people do like it. Exactly. Yeah. Because if you if you're reading my poems and you don't get it, then you don't know what it's about.
I mean, it's wasn't for you to get it. But other people can read it and it just hits them and they're like, wow, you put that into words. Yeah. Exactly.
And see, there you have it. Exactly. Now, do you mind reading another excerpt of something, whether it's your poem or from Alexis Craig that you can share that you feel comfortable sharing for us. I think I'll read a poem.
Okay. Okay. This one is called me. Okay.
I am two separate entities of one being. I am the me. I let you see. And the me that is me.
One lives with all of her regrets. The other paints on a smile for the world to see a disguise and disguise. How do you know when you've seen me or when you've seen the me I want you to see? This is, I suppose, as with everyone.
So how do you know you love me or I you when it may be the other us in love. Once, excuse me, one me keeps in check. The other doesn't care. One cries in her sleep.
The other never sheds a tear, which me is me and which me is the one I let you see. I don't know anymore. Wow. That's powerful.
And I remember reading that when I was like, my goodness, Diane, it's like, I just want to think I love this one. No, I love the other one. No, I love the book. I have a copy of it.
It was signed by Diane. Do you have paperback copies that people can get from you signed copies? I do. And they can email me or they can go to my website and email me from there.
Okay. They can DM me on Facebook. DM her on Facebook, Diane Tilly author, and then you also did you share your email because I don't think I heard that. I did not, but you can get that a poet A P O E T O N C O N C E a poet once at gmail.com.
A poet once at gmail.com and then in her website. Diane Tilly.com, right? You said it was correct. Yes.
And Tilly.com and you can also purchase them from there or order them. And like I said, I got my copy. It's beautiful. It's wonderful.
And like I said, Diane, you've been phenomenal. It's been a pleasure having you on the show. And is there something that we don't know already know about you that you like to add to this interesting interview tonight. I think I've told about everything.
I guess I need to shout out to my kids. I have in January, this coming January, I will have from role 12. I will have 12 grandchildren. Let me play a sound effect.
I got to do that now. Hold on. That's just amazing to you and your 12. I can't believe you have 12 grandchildren.
That is wow. You don't look like a grandma. Oh, thank you. I'm not.
I'm actually a Nana. So there's this. Exactly. You're what you want to call yourself.
I'm Nana. So I'm not grandma. I'm Nana. That's awesome.
It's like I said, it's been a pleasure. You, like I said, we have to get together because we're not that far from each other. You know, we are not. So I keep saying that, but hopefully one of these days.
We'll get it right. We'll get ourselves with Lisa Milden. If she's listening, shout out to her because she's also in the Raleigh, North Carolina area or in the North Carolina area. So, but no, Diane, it's been a pleasure having you.
Please check out her books and I wish you nothing, nothing but the best of luck and I appreciate you being here here on the daily with so Stein. I'm going to play the music. Don't leave yet because I got a cue that and then I'll finish recording our interview, but it's been just a pleasure having you today. Thank you, Sylvia.
And shout out to you here. It's been, it's been amazing. I love garage band. I get all my music from garage band on my iMac and I get to do my show.
So thank you for making another amazing interview tonight on the daily with so Stein and I hope you have a great evening. You too, Sylvia. Thank you so much. Thank you.
You're welcome. Thank you so much everyone for joining us on the daily with so Stein. This has been an amazing interview with Diane Tilly and AKA also Alexis Craig. It's been amazing.
And we look forward to more interviews. Please join us again for the daily stay tuned and find all the interviews on anchor. We'll see you. This has been the daily with so Stein here on anchor with the amazing and talented Diane Tilly.
I hope y'all have a great evening.