We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Diane Bator a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Diane, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had started sooner?

I’ve been writing since I was a kid but was never taken seriously by anyone except my teachers. At university, I took English courses but found them overwhelming. I wanted to learn to write, not examine the classics! My boyfriend at the time suggested I study something more relevant. Like business. To please him, I got my business diploma before we got married. The entire time, I still wrote. I even took a couple courses on writing for kids after having my oldest but I didn’t have the confidence in myself or my writing.
It wasn’t until 2007 that I joined a writing group in Orangeville, Ontario and got serious. While I was serious, I faced numerous rejections. I wished repeatedly that I’d started to create my writing career earlier. That I had taken more classes and learned a lot more.
The year I turned 40, I gave myself an ultimatum. If I was still unpublished by the time I turned 45, I would quit writing. Looking back, I think that was more to appease my significant other at the time who never approved of me wasting my time like that.
Two years later, I won a contest and had my first novella published. I also had an agent and a polished manuscript. Before I turned 45, I had my first book in my hands – plus the novella. The kick came when my I was asked, “What are you going to try now?”
Fast forward nearly 20 years and 18 books later! I’m not only a writer, but an editor and set up my own publishing company after leaving my traditional publisher of 10 years. Older and wiser, as they say. Turns out, I was on track the entire time and wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything! Suddenly finding myself retired at 57, I’m leaning into becoming a full time writer for the first time in my life!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a kid. I even have short stories and poetry I wrote forever ago in pencil! To this day, I still prefer to write novel drafts in long hand. I started my very first novel in high school. A romantic mystery called Fantasy, which is still on my shelves. It needs a huge edit, but I haven’t revived it yet.
Long after high school, I hadn’t figured out which genre suited me best. I had kids and wrote some poetry and short stories for them, but hadn’t fallen in love with any one thing.
Flash forward to 2010 when I discovered a contest called Murder in Ink presented by a small publisher in North Bay, Ontario. The premise was to take the clues from an old murder mystery party game and turn it into a 16,000 word novella.
I WON!
That was the turning point for me. The book I was working on at the time, I rewrote and it became my first cozy mystery novel, The Bookstore Lady, book 1 in my Wild Blue Mystery series. Before long, I suddenly had an agent, a publisher, and a book series! Then I got another publisher with another book series. Before long, all of my books and series became condensed with one publisher. We worked together for 10 years and publishing 15 books with them until a falling out caused my to make a tough decision.
With the help of several writing friends, I established Escape With a Writer Publishing in January of 2024.
I chose not to publish other authors until I felt comfortable with my process and actually running my own company, which has been a lengthy learning process! As of my company’s second anniversary, I had published three new books as well as three that I’ve relaunched. 2026 I’m publishing a book I’ve co-authored with a friend as well as a couple more relaunches and… who knows what the future will bring? Now that I’m retired (not my intention so early) I can spend more time doing what I love! I even appeared in a local magazine this spring with an article I called “Blue Skies and Alibis”. What a great way to sum up my writing so far!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative person is the comments I get from readers about how much they enjoyed my books.
But I’m not just in it for the praise! I love helping budding authors follow their passions and love the connections I’ve made no matter where I go. Writing Conferences are amazing for meeting new people and I’ve discovered some great ones after moving from Ontario to Alberta a few years ago.
The great thing about moving to a new area is finding ways to meet and connect with others. When I lost my day job in January of this year, I realized that although most of my friends were at work, I did have several others in the community. I joined the local writing group again since I hadn’t been able to attend due to work shifts.
Being a writer and creative, I have a whole new community that supports me in many ways. It’s tough to feel alone once you find your group and share.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I truly believe there is no such thing as a non-creative person. Whether we paint, write, or problem solve, all of those things require creativity in some form. I’ve been fortunate to take a writing course with Natalie Goldberg who instructs people to write the mundane. The every day things that appear in our lives. Although these days more people are apt to post photos on social media!
Goldberg starts us out with writing about things like our breakfast, or what’s on our desk. To use our senses. What do the eggs taste like? What do they remind you of? Why do you have that picture of your grandmother in your office? Focus on the things you know are there, but rarely pay attention to.
Creative people definitely do think differently, as I am always reminded!
We have multiple stories or study patterns in the ice on a puddle. We don’t always think in a linear fashion, but our thoughts can squiggle around from A to D to Z, then back to B and somehow come up with a solution to a problem or a story that works.
My favorite story about this is when my daughter was in a high school math class. Her teacher couldn’t understand how she could take the same math problem and come up with the same answer – only in a completely different way! She would show her work and was always right!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dianebator.ca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dianebatorauthor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Diane-Bator-Author/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-bator-35b63418/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DianeBator