Category: News Flash

Sugar in the Salt

by Diane, posted in News Flash

The other day, I was talking to a friend about food and health. Sugar came into the conversation, and I remembered a shocking fact.

“Did you know Windsor table salt has sugar in it?”

He gave me a confused look. “No.”

“Someone told me about it a few years ago. I didn’t believe them.”

Perhaps one reason I didn’t know this fact was because I had stopped using regular table salt a few years earlier. I had switched to sea salt for all my baking and cooking needs. Sceptical of the claim, the next time I visited the supermarket, I found a box of Windsor salt and looked at the ingredients. Well, I was shocked all over again.

My friend said he used this salt and would check the box when he got home. I think he was sceptical of my claim. I don’t blame him. It’s shocking. When you sprinkle salt on your food, you don’t think you’re also sprinkling sugar.

Continue reading “Sugar in the Salt” →

I was interviewed by Allan Hudson at South Branch Scribbler

by Diane, posted in News Flash

First Question

When we visit your website, we find a wonderful collection of fantasy novels. What inspired Northern Survival and the other romance titles?

My Answer

Northern Survival

While I’m a fantasy-writer at heart, there were several stories begging to be told that didn’t fit that genre. Some stories nagged at me for years before I wrote them down. Others, such as Northern Survival, came to me in mere seconds, and the need to record them was stronger than writing my fantasy series.

I also believe stories that include romance as an added feature appeal to me greatly. I enjoy seeing the interaction between would-be couples and their struggles to become one. While my fantasy novels are all about forces trying to conquer one another, mystical creatures, magic and adventure, there’s a lot of romance going on. The attraction (or lack of) between characters often drives them to do things they wouldn’t otherwise.

This romance weaving through stories is what I loved most about Star Wars and the Indiana Jones movies. It kept me turning the pages of The Wizard’s Ward by Deborah Hale and Under the Same Sky by Genevieve Graham.

To read the rest of the interview where I share a memory from my childhood and answer questions about my fantasy novels, go here: Author Diane McGyver of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Practise makes progress; there is not such thing as perfection.

“Seeds of Life” Draft Complete

by Diane, posted in News Flash, Seeds of Life

On December 21st, I put the final touches on the first draft for Seeds of Life. It contains 110,733 words, which breaks down to 25 chapters that contain three scenes each, except for the last one, which has one scene, the wrap-up scene. This translates to 73 scenes.

The story is told through three points of view: Eloise of Larkspur, Hadwin the Wander and King James Proctor of Ravencroft. The scenes are fairly equally distributed, though I believe Eloise has 2 more than Hadwin and James. The novel opens and closes with her.

There was no purpose for crude language or sex scenes, so there are no F-bombs or intimate scenes. I don’t even think a character called someone a jackass. In fact, there may be no cursing at all. While I had planned to avoid using the F-bomb, the rest I hadn’t planned for. That’s the way some stories roll.

Rating this novel, I’d put it for ages 14 and up because there is some non-graphic violence. There’s no petting only a little kissing. The only time butt is used is when someone lands on it.

The year is 2050, and the major part of the story spans from spring to fall.

The first chapter in its raw form is posted to the book’s page, here: Seeds of Life.

My goal is to release the novel on October 3, 2021.

COVER: I’m working on it. The one posted here is a mock-up. I still have loads of work to do to it. This is where I finished last night before turning out the lights.

The Details for the Romance Novel “A December Knight”

by Diane, posted in News Flash

The next book in the Romance Collection, a true romance novel, is A December Knight. Written more than seven years ago, the story takes place in the late 1990s when digital cameras were all the rage and before cell phones became the camera of choice for the general population.

The main character, Jan Cooper, lives in Cole Harbour, Halifax County, Nova Scotia. She works at Mic Mac Mall in the nearby city of Dartmouth.

Here’s the description for the novel.

When Santa fails to deliver, a knight bestows the perfect gift.

It’s two weeks until Christmas, and all Jan Cooper can think about is surviving the rush of holiday shoppers. As the manager of a camera shop, she’s obligated to put on a happy face and wish her customers a merry Christmas.

What the single mother wants to do is curl up in a warm chair with a cup of hot cocoa, read a book and let the season pass without her. When a handsome customer crashes into her well-organised life, she discovers what she really wants for Christmas.

A Guest of Down Under Author Rita Lee Chapman

by Diane, posted in News Flash

Today, which is Sunday in Australia, I’m a guest of author Rita Lee Chapman. She interviewed me a few weeks ago for her website.

One of the questions she asked was if I had any funny animals stories to share. Since I’ve own many animals during my life time — chickens, dogs, cats, fish, rabbits, turkeys, guinea fowl, sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, ducks, meat birds–I have my fair share of animal stories.

For this guest visit, I shared the one about the guinea fowl. If you’ve never owned these birds, you’ve never had the experience of their weird behaviour. Let’s just say, of all the animals I’ve owned, these were the strangest. I tolerated them until they fell in love with my truck.

You can read this story and the rest of my interview at Rita Lee Chapman’s website.

Guinea Fowl – one of the weirdest looking and acting animal I owned.

I’m a Guest at D. G. Kaye, Writer

by Diane, posted in News Flash

Today, I am a guest with D. G. Kaye on her website, D. G. Kaye, Writer.

Northern Survival

Debby is the author of several wonderful memoirs, including Conflicted Hearts: A Daughter’s Quest for Solace from Emotional Guilt and Twenty Years: After “I Do”: Reflections on Love and Changes Through Aging. She’s a fellow Canadian, an amazing writer and a lovely person.

I talk about my most recent release, Northern Survival. I also share a little advice for writers.

I write books I want to read. I encourage every writer to do that because after reading, revising, editing and reading that manuscript again, you better love that story or you’re going to take a walk on a long wharf and throw it into the water before it’s done.

So love the stories you write. Others who enjoy reading the same stories will find yours and be happy you did.

To read the guest post at D. G. Kaye, click here: Q & A With D.G. Kaye – Featuring Diane McGyver – Northern Survival.

Sneak Peak at My Next Project: The Salvation of Mary Lola Barnes

by Diane, posted in News Flash

I’m brainstorming to find a catch-phrase to capture the essence of The Salvation of Mary Lola Barnes, my next book. Here are the ones I’ve written so far.

  • She’d sacrificed everything for her family, including her identity
  • She didn’t recognise the person in the mirror
  • Who she was had disappeared with the years
  • The stranger in the mirror begged for more from life
  • She equally had it all and nothing after decades of marriage
  • Sometimes we tell ourselves the biggest lies
  • She reserved the most convenient lies for herself

More on The Salvation of Mary Lola Barnes soon.

Book Launch: “Revelation Stones” June 15th

by Diane, posted in Book Launch, News Flash

On Saturday June 15th between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm, I will launch the 3rd book in the Castle Keepers series, Revelation Stones, at Dartmouth Book Exchange in Cole Harbour, the community in which I spent the first 29 years of my life.

I will also have copies of Book 1: Shadows in the Stone and Book 2: Scattered Stones of the Castle Keepers series as well as Book 1 in the Mystical series, a series within a series, Beyond the Stone.

Paperback Copies

Shadows in the Stone: $20.00

Scattered Stones: $24.00

Revelation Stones: $24.00

Beyond the Myst: $20.00

Some must get lost to find themselves.

After five years in prison, Isla of Maura is rescued when mercenaries break in to the dungeon. Burdened with guilt, she flirts with death while she learns to trust her newfound companions. When she’s caught in a feud between two ancient dwarf families, she must sort truths from lies, friends from enemies. If she fails, she may kill the wrong person.

If you love stories of adventure mixed with magic and romance set in archaic landscapes, you’ll love McGyver’s Revelation Stones. Unlike many fantasy novels, family plays a central part in this story, so be prepared for the hero to have her heart strings plucked by the song of home.

Revelation Stones continues to share the tales of the characters introduced in Shadows in the Stone and takes readers on a journey across Ath-o’Lea as Isla, now a young woman, struggles to find herself and make peace with the past.

The eBook is available at Amazon.

FREE Short Story

by Diane, posted in News Flash

This Saturday and Sunday (May 11th and 12th), the short story “Destiny Governed their Lives” will be free at Amazon. Download the eBook today; read it whenever.

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Amazon.uk

Destiny Governed Their Lives: Tale 01

Staring Catriona Wheatcroft, age 17

When a young woman casts a Sight Visitation Spell, it changes her life forever.

Catriona Wheatcroft is an apprentice who aspires to be an impressive sorceress.

When she discovers a scroll for a powerful spell, she hopes to prove to her teacher she is ready to take advanced lessons.

The spell is cast, and the unexpected brings tragedy to her life.