Continuing with my March challenge, today I’m to write a six-word story.
Six-Word Story
Silently he spoke his true intentions.
Tag: challenges
March Challenge – Book Haul
Continuing with my March challenge, today I’m to write about my best book haul.
Book Haul
The best book haul was at Word on the Street, Halifax, about five years ago. I bought more than 20 books, some for me, some for my kids. The most recent book haul was bought at Dartmouth Book Exchange, Cole Harbour. It’s a wonderful story. If you live near it, visit.
March Challenge – Currently Reading
Continuing with my March challenge, today I’m to write about what I’m currently reading.
Currently Reading
Since January 1st, my mind has been preoccupied 80% of the day with events that happened decades ago, leaving me little time to focus on work and the list of tasks to complete the novel I am writing, Mystical Series, book 2, and the one I’m editing, Scattered Stones. This leaves no time for reading for enjoyment.
However, I read blogs almost daily, and when I need a five minute break, I pull The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks from its spot next to my laptop and read a page or two.
March Challenge – Writing Tools
Continuing with my March challenge, today I’m to write about my writing tools.
Writing Tools
My main writing tool is my laptop. It’s all I really need. Supporting tools include scrap paper, pens, pencils, coloured pencils and various dictionaries.
March Challenge – March Writing Goals
Continuing with my March challenge, today I’m to write about my March Goals.
March Writing Goals
- Complete the March Challenge
- Complete reading the proof for Scattered Stones, book 2 in the Castle Keepers series and release it.
- Begin editing Beyond the Myst, book 1 of the Mystical series
- Continue to write every day. Currently, I’m writing book 2 in the Mystical series. As of yet, I haven’t found a title for it. Perhaps that will happen this month.
March Challenge – Introduce Yourself
I’ve accepted a March Challenge on Instagram, but I’m not on there often, only once-a-month often, so I thought I’d do the challenge here on my blog. The challenge is to write on a particular subject each day. On March 1st, I’m to introduce myself.
Introduce Yourself
I’m Diane Lynn McGyver. I’m a fantasy writer. I was a teen in the 80s, so I’m a fan of 80s rock, but I also love country music, Newfoundland music (yes, it’s a thing), Scottish music and Gaelic music. What is my favourite song? That’s a tough one. There are many. At the moment, my favourite slow song is “Heaven” by Bryan Adams. My favourite fast song is “Drinking Again” by Luke Bryan.
I can’t remember when I started writing; I’ve always done it. In elementary, I filled Campfire Notebooks with stories. I wrote my first full novel in my late teens by pencil in a coil notebook. I still have it. It was horrible, so I pulled it out about 15 years ago and did major rewrites. Not much of it survived. It turned into Shadows in the Stone, book 1 of the Castle Keepers series.
Why do I write fantasy novels? Fantasy contains many elements I admire: magic, swords, sorcery, thieves, honour, castles, horses, dwarfs, hauflins, quests, travel. Anything can happen in a fantasy story, and I get to control it.
My books contain many elements and my characters meet many challenges, but the overall theme of all my novels can be boiled down to two things: home and true love.
Home has always been special to me, and while I sometimes live where it doesn’t feel like home, I always know where true home is.
I don’t want to believe in true love, but my soul mate keeps reminding me he’s there, regardless if we are together or not.
Besides writing, my favourite pastime activities are hiking, boating, fishing, camping, playing cards, and hanging out with family and friends just shooting the … breeze.
Where would I like to be in ten years? Living near the ocean with my soul mate, writing a little each day and admiring the completed Castle Keepers and Mystical series sitting on my book shelf. Yeah, that sounds like a good destination.
NaNoWriMo Saturday Word Count Update
This is the 4th of 5 Saturday updates to share my writing progress for NaNoWriMo.
This week, I passed three milestones:
- 100,000 words in the Revelation Stones novel
- 50,000 words in the Beyond the Myst novel
- 100,000 words written for NaNoWriMo
For book 3 in the Castle Keepers series, Revelation Stones, the number of words written between November 17th and 23rd was 22,978. The book now sits at 112,669 words.
Book 1 of a new series, nicknamed Project M [official name Beyond the Myst], now contains 52,059. I’ve added 12,646 words between November 17th and the 23rd.
In total, I’ve written 35,624 words in 7 days and drank countless cups of tea and hot chocolate.
Good luck to everyone who accepted the NaNoWriMo challenge.
NaNoWriMo Word Count Update
This is the 2nd of 5 Saturday updates to share my writing progress for NaNoWriMo. So far, I’m ecstatic with my progress.
For book 3 in the Castle Keepers series, Revelation Stones, the number of words written between November 3rd and 9th was 20,347. At this rate, I’ll reach the intended goal of 130,000 words in about 20 days. This means, the book will be completed by the end of the month.
Book 1 of a new series, nicknamed Project M [official name Beyond the Myst], now contains 27,004. I’ve added 11,981 words between November 3rd and the 9th. I plan to finish this 100,000-word novel in mid-December.
In total, I’ve written 32,328 words in 7 days.
Good luck to everyone who accepted the NaNoWriMo challenge.
NaNoWriMo Word Count Update
This is the first of five Saturday updates to share my progress writing for NaNoWriMo. So far, I’m happy with my progress. The two novels I’m writing, Revelation Stones and Project M, were already works in progress, so I wasn’t starting cold.
For book 3 in the Castle Keepers series, Revelation Stones, the number of words written in the first three days of November was 9,004. I’m putting extra effort into getting the words down now because I have a 3-day craft show next weekend, and I doubt I’ll reach my daily writing goals.
Book 1 of a new series, nicknamed Project M, had 4,864 words added since November 1st. This is second in priority, so my daily goal is only 1,500 words.
In total, I’ve written 13,868 words for NaNoWriMo and drank 11 cups of tea.
At this rate, Revelation Stones will be almost completed by the end of November. I may have to add an extra 10,000 words, but I’m aiming for around 115,000 words.
Project M will only have 57,000 words. I am aiming for 100,000 words for that story, so it won’t be finished until mid-December.
I plan to write book 4, Healing Stones, in January, then I’ll self-edit Revelation Stones and Project M. My totally insane goal is to release Project M in April, Revelation Stones in May and Healing Stones in June.
Good luck to everyone who accepted the NaNoWriMo challenge.
Insane November Challenge NaNoWriMo
I’m tempted to answer a challenge I’ve never had before: to write 102,000 in 30 days. That’s 52,000 words more than called for in the NaNoWriMo challenge. My personal goal had been 60,000 words in the month of November.
Regardless of the goal I choose, I will post my word count daily in the right margin, and I’ll post a weekly round up every Saturday.
Also in the margin is the total word count for each of the novels I’m actively writing.
Since October 17th, I’ve written a total of 28,223 words. That includes
- 11,827 for Project M
- 16,396 for Revelation Stones
That’s an average of 1,882 words a day. I need to up that to 2,000 words a day to reach 60,000 words and 3,400 words to reach 102,000 words in November.
Participating in this challenge means I won’t be able to do any other writing except that which is vital to my writing career. This means my Tuesday Character Introduction series will be on hold until December.
Diane McGyver 