With second novel on the shelves, Sidney author Diane Nielsen plots third book

For local author, Diane

Nielsen, writing is a family

affair.

So far Nielsen has published

two books in what

she plans to be a five part

series through Trafford

publishing. Her latest book,

entitled "Dark Whispers"

came out in February of

this year while her first

book, "Wish Me Dead" hit

the shelves in 2011.

She considers her books

to be paranormal romances

because they include supernatural

elements.

"I have immortal guardians

in them," Nielsen said.

"Not vampires, not werewolves.

They're more like

angels."

Her writing is packed

with drama, suspense,

romance and murder.

"I kind of have a little bit

of everything in them," she

noted

Many locals have h elped

out with "Dark Whispers."

Lori Borchert designed the

cover, which pictures Sarah

Ford, Nielsen 's niece.

"We kind of keep it h ere

in Sidney wher e everyone

kind of takes pride in it,"

Nielsen said.

Nielsen's sister, Cyndi

Heilbrun serves as her editor.

"She trusts me with the

punctuation and other boring

stuff," Heilbrun r eported.

Although Nielsen and

Heilbrun like to brainstorm

together, they don't always

see eye to eye.

"She's more into the

straight romances, where I like to have a little more

supernatural 1n mine,"

Nielsen said.

Nielsen always liked

things that had to do with

make believe She is sort

of a free spirit, Heilbrun

observed.

Nielsen started writing

in 2010 and finished the

first book in three months

because she wasn't working.

The second book took

about a year to write and

she thinks the third, which

she's working on now, will

require around a year as

well.

The Sidney author has

a background in a different

kind of writing. She

used to compose emergency

procedure manuals when

she worked in casinos in

Golden, Colorado.

"I've always liked to

write," she said. "I like to

read so it was kind of a

natural progression to go

into writing."

She imagines the scenes

in her book playing out like

movies and then writes

them down.

"I have a really vivid imagination," Nielsen added. "It's scary."

Nielsen writes very short

chapters. They're only five

or six pages long

"I like to read at night

before I go to bed and it

just drives me crazy to stop

in the middle of a chapter,"

she explained .

Nielsen spends her days

working at the Sidney

Salvation Army and helps

her father care for her mother,

who has Alzheimer's disease

after work. She finds

time to write at night

"This is my escape,"Nielsen said. "I can get into

somebody else's life instead

of my own''

Although the books are

all fiction , sometimes the

tone of the chapter she's

writing is based on h er

mood.

"The books have a lot of

me in it," she said.

If Nielsen is having a bad

day she might kill off all

of her characters. Then she

has to go back the next day

and decide who gets to live.

Nielsen thinks picking

out names for the characters is one of the hardest

parts of writing, so she

u sually names them after

her friends and family Her

dad's namesake was h er

first murder victim.

"Everybody gets a little

kick out of seeing their

names in there," she said.

Nielsen grew up in the

panhandle area and lived in

Potter as a young girl She

moved back to the Sidney

area five years ago after

the casino industry took a

downturn.

Her dad said he could use

some h elp with h er mother,

so she moved back to Sidney

to live with them

"It was nice to be back

with family," she said.

Although Nielsen does

signings in other states, she

likes to k eep things local .

"When the new books

come out, I always do my

first book signings here in

Sidney," she said.

Her boss at sa l vation

army, Sherry Torres,

i s always the first one to

r e ceive a book.

"Oh , they'rejustfastreading,"

Torres said. "They've

got a little bit of everything.

They're fun to r ead "

Nielsen also travels to

Wyoming and Colorado to

do signings.

Once at a signing, she

was asked if h er books were

like "50 shades of Grey"

"I had to laugh ," she said.

"I have romance in mine,

but I think it's t a stefully

done. It doesn't embarrass

me to write it, so I hope it

doesn't embarrass anyone

to r ead it."