reported by Libby Jordan, FictionFanatic.com

To get where you want to go, sometimes you have to change course. That message was driven home for Texas author and newspaper columnist Diana Estill when she vacationed in Grand Cayman, where cars keep left?and tourists frequently forget.

In her first book, Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road: Humorous Views on Love, Lust, and Lawn Care (Brown Books Publishing Group, Inc.), the author shares her admittedly skewed views on everything from foreign car rentals to designer dogs and toilet repairs. The book, which hilariously details the experience of driving a British "Beanmobile" in the left lane, is scheduled for release June 10, 2006.

Ms. Estill?s "near-death" vacation episode introduces a collection of tales that form a fun-filled literary road trip, one that ForeWord Clarion Reviews says is "worthy of a screen adaptation starring Chevy Chase. . . ."

"I?ve never taken the traditional approach to anything," said Ms. Estill. This includes her path to writing. A former tenth-grade dropout, she completed her college degree at age 35 and didn?t begin writing professionally until age 40. "For me, writing humor has always been a coping skill," she explained. "Sometimes I just have to laugh at life?s absurdities and my reactions to new experiences."

Editor Kathryn Grant, Brown Books Publishing Group, says Ms. Estill?s stories are funny, realistic, and easy to relate to. "There?s been a void of this type humor since Erma [Bombeck died," she said, referring to the late author whose columns were once syndicated in 900 newspapers.

Tim Bete, director of the Erma Bombeck Writers? Workshop at the University of Dayton, in Ohio, endorsed Ms. Estill?s book by saying, "Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road will have you cracking up, so please buckle your safety belt before reading."

Author Diana Estill, a finalist in the August 2005 America?s Funniest Humor Contest, writes a self-syndicated column and has, for ten years, been a contributor to The Dallas Morning News. Her articles have been featured in The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, Road & Travel Magazine, and many other national publications.

Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road contains 55 short stories of misadventure that appeal to readers from ages 30 to 70 and older.

About the Author: Diana Estill has been a Texas freelance writer and humor columnist for ten years. To see more of her work, visit Diana Estill's homepage.