Long, Tall Texans: Calhoun

Sometimes, there are those people who have interests in several fields. Such are the interests of American author Diana Palmer (AKA Susan Spaeth Kyle). Susan Spaeth was born in Cuthbert, Georgia in 1946 to parents who both had busy careers. She and her younger sister Dannis were raised in Chamblee, Georgia, where they graduated from Chamblee High School. However, it was their move to Cornelia, Georgia where Susan met her future husband, James Kyle. They married in 1972, and had two children, Blayne and Selena.

Susan returned to college when she was 54, and graduated from Piedmont College Summa Cum Laude in 1995. By that time, she had written many novels, with her first novel having been written in 1979 under the pseudonym, Diana Palmer. With over 150 novels in print, and even more being translated to different languages, she continued to work on her Master's Degree as her time permitted. Even before her novel writing career began in earnest, she was a journalist for several years. Her interests are so varied that it serves to expand her writing subjects. A major in history with a double minor in Archaeology and Spanish gave her great credentials for her historical romance novels. Her Masters work includes History, with an emphasis on Native American Studies.

How can you lose when your interests include, first of all, being a wife and mother, then a writer, followed by gardening, knitting, crocheting, astronomy, archaeology, and animals, of which she has dogs, cats, birds, and lizards!! There should be a lot of good writing material in there somewhere.