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Local writer Diane Mapes grew up picking strawberries, climbing trees, playing the piano, reading everything from Nancy Drew to The Godfather and seeing way too many animals die on a bucolic but dysfunctional family farm about an hour north of Seattle in rural Skagit Valley, Washington. Perfect beginnings for a writer, right?

Love those sunsets. San Diego 2016.

At 20, I moved to Seattle and went on to marry, stepmom, start writing fiction, divorce, grow up, travel, start writing essays, date, make great friends, lose others, eventually lose parents, get cancer and somehow stumble into the world of science.

And I’ve written about all of it along the way. Feel free to dig into the site or explore these handy links.

* Books on dating and the single life (also, my zombie parody, 50 Shades of Brains)

* My Seattle P-I humor column, Single Shot

* Oddball medical writing (think cutaneous horns and stone babies) and lots of other odds and ends.

If you’re interested in current work, check out my reporting on cancer prevention and research at Fred Hutch.

Want to hire me for some freelance writing? There should be an email address around here somewhere. ; )

Looking for my breast cancer blog? Check out doublewhammied.com.

Wondering why there aren’t any new posts? Me too! No worries, you can also always find me at my #BC Twitter feed, @double_whammied or @single_shot. 

Thanks for stopping by and as always, enjoy the ride, including those bumps. Sun goes down for good before you know it. ; )