About
I spent over 30 years in corporate and academic marketing before moving to Sedona, Arizona, and launching Red Rock Mountain Press and self-publishing a picture book Shade: a Story About a Very Smart Raven followed by The Un-Common Raven: One Smart Bird, a middle grade nonfiction title.
With this experience I wrote a DIY book for authors on self-publishing and marketing, The Author’s Concise Guide to Marketing. I present many school programs, raven talks, and self-publishing workshops in my home state.
I am currently about to publish Dear Hubby of Mine: Home Front Wives in World War II using letters my parents exchanged during the war.
I was able to weave a loving romantic story using abridged versions of the letters with actual events occurring on the home front and the battlefront.
The letters are also brought to life through original family photographs and remembrances.
Featured Work
Dear Hubby of Mine: Home Front Wives in World War II
I am currently about to publish Dear Hubby of Mine: Home Front Wives in World War II using letters my parents exchanged during the war.
I was able to weave a loving romantic story using abridged versions of the letters with actual events occurring on the home front and the battlefront.
The letters are also brought to life through original family photographs and remembrances.
While many readers may see the story as a touching romance, and it is, others may appreciate the snapshot of the country in the 1940s under wartime conditions and how that culture influenced America in the decades to come. Women charted new roles during the war that led to new freedoms in the 1960s. My parents’ immigrant experiences shed light on the experiences of other minority groups and refugees that came before and after them.
Other Works
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The Un-Common Raven: One Smart Bird
2013
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The Author's Concise Guide to Marketing: How to Jumpstart Sales for Your Self-published Book
2011
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Shade: A Story About a Very Smart Raven
2010
Awards and Recognition
- The Un-Common Raven: One Smart Bird 2013 Southwest Books of the Year A well researched and well written children's book about ravens. This book includes facts about where ravens live - the Sonoran desert, their flight patterns, intelligence, curiosity. We learn about raven's characteristics including. Written for school age children and includes index, glossary, and bibliography. Excellent choice for student research and grade school homework assignments. (Ann Dickinson) 2013 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award—One of five Finalists in the Juvenile Book category Midwest Book Review The Un-Common Raven: One Smart Bird is a softcover, nonfiction picture book about the natural life cycle of these extraordinary and intelligent birds. A brief glossary, an index, and a list of resources young people can investigate to learn more about ravens rounds out this immensely fascinating profile of this species. (James Cox, Midwest Book Reviews)
Press and Media Mentions
- ★★★★★When we think of World War II what most often comes to mind are vicious battles, concentration camps, bombs raining down from the sky, Pearl Harbor and the like. Rarely do we give more than a passing thought to the more mundane aspects of wartime in that day and age, such as what went on at home. There were millions of war wives all over the world and this biography, Dear Hubby of Mine: Home Front Wives in War II by Diane Phelps Budden, tells their story. The names and circumstances might vary but the experience was generally the same everywhere. Waiting, worrying, rationing, child-rearing and worrying about money were common to most wives. Diane Phelps Budden tells her parents’ story in Dear Hubby of Mine: Home Front Wives in War II. Irma and Lou were separated by the war, but they kept in touch by writing and the occasional phone call. Budden has included excerpts from the hundreds of letters her parents exchanged over the course of World War II.
- Dear Hubby of Mine: Home Front Wives in World War II is a true story based on loving letters between Diane Phelps Budden's parents during the war...Under Budden's hand, her parents' experiences and love comes to life with hard-earned lessons for others who may be struggling with separation, social change, and the demands of being war wives and husbands committed to both country and each other. Dear Hubby of Mine is not just the story of one husband and wife. It's a snapshot of the experiences of a nation under siege on the battlefields of social change. No World War II, feminist, or social history collection should be without this vibrant, enlightening survey that seamlessly puts the personal touch back into social, political, and military issues. It should also be noted that while the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II will be celebrated in 2020, most participants of that era have since passed, making works like these letters some of the only eyewitness legacies of the times.