A LESSON IN TRUST

There are days we need tougher coffee!

My guest is romance author, Diane Kelly. She's a sassy Texan, and a Bandita, who writes laugh out loud adventures of an IRS Special Agent, Tara. I think she and Diane grew up together, lol! But I do appreciate her topic on trust and especially learning to trust yourself and your instincts. It came at just the right time for me and the whole trust issue resonated with me. I hope you enjoy it as well.

            My road to publication has been a long lesson in trust.  I’ve learned that trust can be misplaced, that learning to trust again after a breach can be hard, and that finding people whom you trust and who trust you back is essential.

            As a girl, I ventured into bookstores and saw those beautiful, cloth-bound journals on the racks.  But I was just a flat-chested adolescent with acne and braces who lived in a cookie-cutter suburb.  Who was I to think I had anything worthy of writing in such a pretty journal?  Instead, I went to Eckerd’s and bought cheap spiral notebooks to write in.  They were less intimidating.  If I messed up, I could just rip the page out.  Though I loved writing and my teachers often complimented me on my talents, I was too insecure then to trust in myself.  So when it came time to pick a major for college, I took the safe route and chose accounting.  I enjoyed my undergraduate government class and decided why not go to law school?

My first job was working as an assistant state attorney general.  What a naïve thing I was back then!  Fifteen pounds lighter, too, but let’s not go there.  Because of my accounting background, my boss assigned me to represent the board of accountancy in disciplinary actions against CPAs.  What an eye opener it was to face CPAs who had assisted clients in defrauding investors, lenders, or the IRS.  My innocence was already in jeopardy when the attorney general was arrested for illegally diverting settlement funds from the tobacco company lawsuits to his cronies’ law firms.  The person who was supposed to be the ultimate symbol of justice for the state couldn’t be trusted.  Sheesh!  I then took a job with an international accounting firm and worked with a partner who appeared squeaky clean on the surface.  To my shock, he was arrested for tax shelter fraud.

 

If I didn’t learn to better choose employers, I feared I’d get swept up in a scandal and end up in an orange jumpsuit awaiting a conjugal visit.  Self employment seemed like a good idea.  At the same time, my muse kept nagging me to get my butt in a chair and write something, dammit!  My brushes with white-collar crime had not only led me to be intrigued by these complicated offenses and the untrustworthy people who commit them, but also provided perfect fodder for a novel.  I’d matured by this point, had some successes that gave me confidence, and figured what did I have to lose?

            When I finished the manuscript, I was thrilled when an agent presented me with a contract for representation.  Some of the revisions the agent suggested didn’t ring true to me, but I figured she knew better than me so I did everything she asked rather than trusting my instincts.  After two rounds of revisions, she said my manuscript still needed more work than she had time for.  I’d been dumped!  I later worked with another agent who led me through a round of helpful revisions but didn’t offer representation because she didn’t believe my work was marketable yet.

 

As difficult as these experiences were, they taught me a valuable lesson – that I needed to trust myself more.  Frankly, at that point, the only person I still trusted was myself.  I hustled, entering contests, attending conferences, anything to get my work in front of editors.  It paid off.  I sold to a major publisher on my own, a coup that is pretty much unheard of. 

            Now?  Things are awesome!  I have wonderful people on my team, whom I trust completely.  My critique partners have my back, catching unintended blunders in my drafts and offering valuable suggestions.  My agent is a straight shooter and works incredibly hard for me.  I couldn’t ask for a better editor, either.  She believes in my work.  There’s no better feeling than that!   In return, my agent and editor trust me to work diligently and write the best books I can.

 

• Has someone you trusted let you down?  
• Have you had an experience when you should have trusted yourself more? 
  

  Share your thoughts!
  
  

Death, Taxes, and a Skinny No-Whip Latte AVAILABLE IN PRINT AND EBOOK.

IRS Special Agent Tara Holloway is at work again.  This time, she and her partner, Eddie, are after Marcos Mendoza, a financial expert and suspected loan shark with cross-border ties to questionable businesses and people in Mexico. Mendoza hasn’t just cheated the U.S and Mexican governments, he may have left a trail of bodies, too. Neither the Texas Rangers nor the FBI could prove a link between Mendoza and the suspicious deaths of his employees and associates, but the sheer number of bodies indicates the deaths aren’t mere coincidence.  What’s more, Mendoza bought off Special Agent Nick Pratt, who’d earlier been assigned to the investigation, and set the traitor up in a luxury condominium in Cancún, Mexico.

He must be stopped.

Unfortunately, Mendoza is as elusive as his activities are illegal. Tracking down this tax cheat proves much more difficult, and more dangerous, than Tara anticipated.  Given the highly sensitive nature of the case, Tara is forbidden to disclose the details to anyone, including her boyfriend, Brett Ellington. Secrets nearly tore the two apart in the past and history seems destined to repeat itself.

As Tara and Eddie delve deeper into Mendoza’s business enterprises, they realize his illegal activities extend far beyond high-interest finance. They also learn Mendoza will do anything to protect the profitable illegal empire he has created.

When Tara receives an unexpected call from a surprising source, she must decide whether to follow orders or follow through. Tara must risk it all—her relationship with Brett, her job, and her life itself—to put Mendoza out of business for good. Excerpt 

“PREPARE TO LAUGH YOUR ASSETS OFF.”—Jana DeLeon, author of the Ghost-in-Law mysteries 

BUY: AMAZON. BARNES and NOBLE, BOOKS A MILLION

A CPA and tax attorney, Diane spent several years at an international accounting firm where she had the pleasure of working with a partner later indicted for tax shelter fraud. She also served a stint as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas under an AG who pled guilty to criminal charges related to the tobacco company lawsuits. Given this work history, Diane decided self-employment might be a good idea. She also realized her experiences with white-collar crime made excellent fodder for a novel. Her fingers hit the keyboard and thus began her "Death and Taxes" mystery series.

Diane won the prestigious Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® Award in 2009 and has earned over two dozen RWA chapter awards.

Diane lives in Texas with her very own sexy leading man, two talented teenage kids,  and enough cats and dogs to violate several city ordinances.

Diane loves to hear from readers! Visit Diane at www.dianekelly.com. While you're there, sign up for her quarterly newsletter. 

You can find Diane: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Website.