Interview with mystery author Denise Dietz

SUITE: Tell me a little about your books and what genre they are

DENI: Throw Darts at a Cheesecake and Beat Up a Cookie star diet club leader Ellie Bernstein. Ellie is owned by a black Persian cat named Jackie Robinson. My dogs were upset. "What are we?" they whoofed. "Chopped liver?" So I wrote Footprints in the Butter - an Ingrid Beaumont Mystery co-starring Hitchcock the Dog - and promised to donate a portion of the profits to Canine Companions. I also write historical romances (Dream Dancer, Dream Angel, A Highwayman Comes Riding). And...the "book of my heart" (The Rainbow's Foot), a generational saga (1893-1925) that encompasses the Cripple Creek gold rush, the Ludlow Massacre and Colorado's silent film industry.

SUITE: When did you first start writing? First start publishing?(short stories, books,etc)

DENI: I started writing in the third grade, with a story called The Pencil Who Grew Up To Be a Stub. I was published with short stories (and poetry) by the age of 12. In high school I wrote and illustrated a children's book, Herbert the Giant...about a giant who lives in a town of near-sighted people who don't know he's a giant until they buy glasses from a peddler. In college, I majored in art, English and drama.

SUITE: Why do you write?

DENI: I couldn't NOT write. I truly love words. To me, the computer screen is a canvas, and I paint it with words. I want my books to be read...what author doesn't?...but I'd write anyway.

SUITE: I’ve found that to be a common thread in the interviews I’ve done-it seems we all write because we have to. Do you have a day job?

DENI: I used to have a "day-night job." I waited tables for 15 years. In May 2000 I became self-supporting with my writing.

SUITE: Do you have something you wish to accomplish with the things you write? i.e. enjoyment, challenging, fear...what do you want people to take away with them when they read your writing? Do you ever have a message?

DENI: The Rainbow's Foot addressed issues, i.e. women's rights and racism, but my mysteries have no socially redeeming value whatsoever . While murder isn't funny, I want to make people smile, laugh, maybe even say, "Holy cow, that character reminds me of my Aunt Shirley!"

SUITE: What time of day do you find you are most creative?

DENI: Mornings. I begin writing between 6 and 7 a.m., every day, 7 days a week. I give myself optional Sundays off...during football season.

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