Meet the Author: DiVoran Lites

1.   Describe yourself.

My name is DiVoran Lites. I’m a mother of grown children and the grandmother of a college age young man and a young woman. I’ve been reading avidly and writing since I was a child and now I have two books published in my Florida Springs Trilogy: Sacred Spring and Living Spring.

2.    What is your favourite fruit flavour?

My favorite fruit flavor is orange, good thing I live in Florida, eh?

3.   What is your favourite day of the week?

I’ve had so much fun and adventure on Saturdays that now it is automatically my favorite day of the week whether I’m at home or out on an adventure.

4. Which is your favourite time of the day?

  Mornings are the best time of day for me. I go to bed early and get up when the birds start their songs. I usually journal and sometimes do a bit of art while my husband is finishing off his night’s slumber.

5.  Are you a morning person or a night person?

 I guess I just answered this one.

6. What is your favourite breakfast meal?

  Whether I have breakfast at home or at Waffle House, I like eggs, bacon and pecan waffles, but just because it’s my favorite way to eat doesn’t mean I do it every day. Oh, and don’t forget a nice cup of coffee with Agave syrup and powdered creamer.

7. What is your favourite colour and why?

  I’ve just been going through my colored pencils. I found at least eight different shades of orange, so I’d have to say orange is my favorite color, but I love them all, except I’m not terribly fond of gray.

8. Which is your most favourite book ever?

   I’d have to say my favorite book is the best one I most recently read, which in this case is Sufficient Grace, by Darnell Arnoult. Why hasn’t that down home woman written more novels?

9.  What kind of music do you like?

As for music, I like many different kinds of music, but if I had to choose one type it would have to be classical-not too heavy, though, and with a great deal of variety.

10. Which is your favourite genre of films?

        Films: Romantic Comedy

11.  Which is your most favourite place in this Earth?

      My favorite place on earth is right here where I am sitting now. My computer is situated so that I can look out over my screened porch to my backyard bird bath with scrub jays dunking and flapping, and beyond to the Diceranda Sanctuary.

12. Which animal would you want to be and why?

        If I were an animal, I’d have to be a cat. A cat is independent, but loving, so that is that.

13. If you could have a luncheon with any 3 people (real or fictitious), who would you choose and why?

         I can’t answer this one because for one thing I’d be too nervous to have lunch with any famous people and for another I’d find it hard to leave out anyone in my family or my small group of dear friends.

14. If you were granted 3 wishes, what would you ask for?

         The old toast, “Health, Wealth, and Happiness” pretty well says it all for me.

15.  If you were stranded on a lonely beach, what are the 5 things that you would want to survive?

      I loved this question. I wondered whether food and water would be provided or would I need to waste a couple of items on seeing that my basic needs were met? Other than that, I’d want a warm blanket, a good book, a drum, paper, and a pencil. How long will I be there?

16. If you could be anyone, who would you be?

        If I could be anyone, anyone at all? Me.

17.   What is the one thing you wish you could change in yourself?

      With help I could change most things, and I am aware that I can use some changing, but it’s hard to pick out one thing. Try? Well, fears and anxieties would be in that list somewhere near the top.

18.  What is the one thing you wish you could do if given the chance?

       I don’t yearn or long for anything. I’m grateful for what I have. Now if I lacked love, books, food, or well, you know, then you’d probably hear some complaining.

19.  What would you do if you won the lottery?

       I would invest all the money and take my time figuring out how I wanted to use it.

20. If you knew that this was your last day on Earth, how would you spend it?

        Gather the dearest ones in my life and have a lovely day together. They would need not to know it was my last day. I’d rather not know it either.

21. Were you a naughty kid or a nice kid?

        Nursery rhyme:“There was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead, and when she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad, she was horrid.” That was me.

22.  What was the happiest moment in your life?

       I make it a habit to be happy, so this one would be impossible to answer.

23.  Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

       Right here.

24. What is the weirdest/craziest thing you have ever done?

        It was sort of crazy to jump out of the car I was in and run over to the car next to us and jump in to stop it from rolling over a cliff in New Mexico. In case you’re wondering the brakes worked fine. Oh I guess you figured that, since I’m still here.

25. What is your definition of an incredible weekend?

        Again, I’d have to say time with the family.

26. Which is the best holidays you have ever had?

        Lately I’ve liked Christmas because of… you guessed it, the family.

27.  Have you got a phobia you want to share?

       I hate to be cold. Maybe it’s a phobia because where I came from you could freeze to death. Is that why I live in Florida?

28. What makes you angry?

        When I say something and people invalidate it (or me).

29.  What do you do when you feel sad?

       Write in a journal about whatever is bothering me.

30.  Who or what inspires you?

       The Holy Spirit.

31. Congratulations! Now you can freely rant about your book(s) and/or projects.

        Okay, thanks.

I’ve just published my second book, Living Spring the second in the Florida Springs Trilogy after, Sacred Spring.I am very thankful for all the people who helped me in so many different ways. I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.

 

Interested readers may find the books on eBooks at Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. You may order print paperbacks from http://www.Amazon.com

 

 

This is what Sacred Spring is about:. Elaine Donovan’s forebears have owned the Sacred Spring campground in Central Florida for generations, and Elaine has become an environmentalist because of her love of nature and of the property. Duty weighs heavily on the twenty-three year old Elaine, as she now finds herself responsible not only for the decrepit campground, but for her young brother, and aging Grandfather as well. When she meets developer, Hank Schaefer, she senses he may have answers for her, but discovers that his scheming female partner, Reva North, has other plans for the property. Elaine, is compelled then, to find her own inspiration that will preserve and fulfill her hopes and dreams.

 

My friend and fellow blogger, Onisha, on http://www.oldthingsrnew posted these words from Sacred Spring on FB, saying, “I could picture and feel every word:”

 

“Rays of sunlight penetrated the azure water, fracturing it into golden-rimmed squares of teal that undulated on the sandy bottom. She looked up to check on the eagles and there they were, enjoying a thermal above the tall trees. The leaves on the oaks were every conceivable color of green interspersed with red maple buds and silvery moss; they made a picture any artist would love to paint. If she ever prayed, it was to thank God for placing her here and to beg him to let her stay for as long as she lived.”

 

 

Living Spring is about Jean Schaefer who, when she met Richard Luskin, tennis pro, might have escaped entanglement with him if it had not been for the death of her parents. Now Jean has moved to Living Spring with her four-year-old daughter, to be near her brother, Hank. When Richard shows up at Living Spring Jean wonders whether his presence may be an answer to her prayers for a family of her own. Elaine’s cousin, Nick, a wildlife officer has his own tragic story. As they work on the old house together and try to solve some mysterious dealings connected with Nick’s job and the drugs that are passing through Florida Jean begins to see herself and her life in a new light.

Thanks a lot, DiVoran, for being a guest on my blog. I am sure my readers will find your interview very interesting. Good luck with your books!