Diana Orgain is the USA TODAY bestselling author of several mystery series including the Maternal Instincts Mystery Series, For Love or Money, and the Roundup Crew Mysteries. She is the co-author of Gilt Trip in the New York Times Bestselling Scrapbooking Mystery series by Laura Childs. Diana’s books have been published in hardcover and mass market paperback by Macmillan and Penguin.
Diana has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from SFSU where she studied under Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun). After completing her first book, Diana received five offers of representation from large literary agencies. Her debut book was sold in under a week in a three-book deal to Penguin.
Diana has edited hundreds of manuscripts, helping writers to polish their craft. Her mentorship has been instrumental in assisting her clients with landing representation and becoming published authors.
Diana is fluent in Spanish and loves to travel. She is super excited to host the lemonlit writing retreats with Traci Andrighetti where they can fulfill some joint interests in traveling and helping other writers reach their dreams.
Visit her website at http://dianaorgain.com. Also follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/dianaorgain and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DianaOrgainAuthor to stay informed on her latest release and writing retreat schedules.
Traci Andrighetti is the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Franki Amato mysteries and the Danger Cove Hair Salon mysteries. Her debut novel, Limoncello Yellow, has been optioned for television, and she is a multiple finalist for the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense, the Mystery & Mayhem Award, and the Silver Falchion Award. In 2017, her third Franki Amato novel, Amaretto Amber, won Killer Nashville’s Readers Choice Award for Best Mystery.
Before becoming an author, Traci earned a PhD in Foreign Language Education/Applied Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin where she taught Italian language and culture for eleven years. Her dissertation research on Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Salvo Montalbano mysteries inspired her to abandon a career as an award-winning translator of Italian literature to try her hand at mystery. She landed her first publishing contract, a two-book deal, when she entered a writing contest.
In a fit of nostalgia for the classroom, Traci recently returned to teaching with Master the Mystery Novel!, a three-month online mentoring course she created for Savvy Authors that guides writers through the processes of brainstorming, planning, and outlining a mystery novel. She also edits for private clients and coaches writers in craft, goal setting, and navigating the publishing industry.
Traci has traveled throughout Italy since 1991. In fact, she’s working on an Italian professor mystery series loosely based on her hilarious (and sometimes harrowing) experiences taking students on study abroad trips to Italy. With her extensive knowledge of the Italian language and culture, she provides writers with a one-of-a-kind experience in the country.
Visit her website at http://traciandrighetti.com and follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/TAndrighetti and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/traciandrighettiauthor/ to stay informed of her releases and retreats.
LemonLit was borne of a chance encounter through a writer mastermind group. Although Diana’s a Californian and Traci’s in Texas, the organizer paired them up because they each write mystery. A suggested monthly meeting soon turned into weekly phone calls to brainstorm solutions to writing and marketing problems and encourage one another to achieve their objectives. During these conversations, they discovered they have similar backgrounds in teaching and editing, as well as personal connections to foreign countries (Diana to Spain and Traci to Italy). Both also admitted to having aspirations beyond their own books; specifically, teaching their skills and methods to other writers. Since they love to travel, Diana suggested they start with retreats to somewhere inspiring like Italy, and for Traci it was a natural fit.
Drawing inspiration from Italy’s large, sweet lemons, our goal with LemonLit is to teach you how to work through the difficult processes of writing to produce your best book and get it published. Along the way, we hope to create a community of writers, a.k.a. lemonistas, who will help one another to grow.