My Maritime Homesteader Journal

2013 04 Cover for BlogAs many might know, I’m a garden fanatic. I’ve been gardening for decades, and my favourite job of all time was working at a large garden centre. If I ever get the chance to work in a place like that again or in a green house, I’ll skip all the way there.

I also enjoy history, genealogy, books, raising animals to generate my own food, baking, cooking, the outdoors and being self-sufficient.

With all these interests, there’s no surprise I need an outlet for it…so Maritime Homesteader Journal was born. The inspiration to create the mini magazine comes from the many searches I’ve done over the years to find information. Many times it was easy to find, but other times, it was like looking for that proverbial needle in the hay stack. Knowing hay like I do, I understand the comparison.

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Who are you writing for? The publisher or the reader?

Diane Lynn McGyverNot so long ago, I scoured publisher’s websites for guidelines to see what they were looking for in a book. I kept all the advice in mind as I wrote. Were they looking for young adult stories about specific sports? Did they need books for teenaged girls who battled with self-image? Or books geared towards reluctant readers? What about the adults? Were they reading more romance or mystery or western?

Many publishers dictated structure. Books need to be between this word count and that. They couldn’t contain content about this or the other thing, and definitely no rhyming books for kids. Many times I felt confined by these regulations, that I couldn’t write the story I really wanted to tell.

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Introducing Miss Tuttle’s Lemon Tarts

Miss Tuttle's Lemon Tarts - Diane Lynn McGyverMiss Tuttle’s Lemon Tarts is a short story. It’s just over 6,600 words long. If it had taken me a few weeks to write or even a few months, it would seem only natural. Except it didn’t take me a few weeks or a few months or a few years. It took me about six years. That’s 1,100 words a year.

That’s slow writing.

But each journey starts with the first footfall, right? And each story begins with the first word.

Miss Tuttle and Rita began their journey over a sack of potatoes. It wasn’t Rita’s intentions to help or stick around afterwards, but she did.

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All Aboard for Word on the Street

Word on the StreetI had a busy yesterday. It started early. Shower, eat, kids fed, animals fed and watered, flooding from heavy overnight rain dealt with and I was out the door, headed for downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The forty-five minute drive gave me plenty of time to wonder about where I might park. It had been a while since I had taken the Dartmouth ferry across the harbour to Halifax, and I wasn’t sure if I could still park in its lot or if it cost anything to do so.

I was lucky on both accounts: I could park in the same lot I used to leave my old truck while I caught the ferry to hockey games and concerts many years ago, and parking was free on Sunday (yeah!).

The cost for one adult to cross on the ferry one way is $2.25.

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Today is the last day of the Summer Sale

Diane Lynn McGyverToday is the last day of my Short Story Summer Sale. Throughout the months of July and August Mutated Blood Lines and Dancing in the Shine have been free to download at Smashwords.

To download the short stories before they return to their price of 99 cents at midnight tonight, visit my author page on Smashwords .

They are available in all ereader formats, including Kindle, Epub, Kobo and Apple.

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Publishing On a Budget

The Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing has a wonder post by Gemma Halliday about publishing on a budget. You can check it out here .

Making of a Book Trailer

Book Trailer - Shadows in the StoneOver the past few months, I’ve been gathering pictures and ideas to create a book trailer for my fantasy novel, Shadows in the Stone. I’ve watched about two dozen trailers of various degrees of quality to get an idea of what others are doing. Even the poorest was interesting and held my attention, which meant they worked. The high quality trailers were elaborate with a cast, unique music and played like a movie trailer.

My hope is my trailer falls somewhere in the middle; it’s my first, and although I see a few things that need to be changed, I don’t have the experience to fix the problems…yet.

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A New Facebook Group for Writers of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia WritersI started a group. Not just any group but one for writers who live in Nova Scotia. Writers born in the province and live elsewhere can also join. After all, once a Bluenoser, always a Bluenoser.

It’s a Facebook group. Here’s the low-down.

Goal: To bring together Nova Scotia writers to share information about their writing experience, to promote their work and that of others in the province.

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Sunday Morning Blog Read

Diane Lynn McGyverMy Sunday morning ritual is simple. Rise early—a few hours before the kids roll out of bed—make a bowl of Steel-cut Scottish Oatmeal, add blueberries and raspberries to the mix and pour myself a large mug of tea. Then I surf the Internet, catching up on different blogs I follow and seeing what’s new and exciting out there.

This morning, I came across a post that lists several other interesting blog posts for writers. The topics include:

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Making the Biggest Impact in the Shortest Amount of Time

Social networksA friend of mine is a little overwhelmed by all the things writers need to do to market a book in this ever-expanding, ever-changing publishing world. To be honest, I am too most days. It seems each month there is a new social media being toted as the next best place to…to find readers who will buy your book. Blogging, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Shelfari…and the list goes on

My advice to her was to choose two social media platforms and do a great job on them, instead of exhausting her time and energy promoting herself poorly through six different venues. Aim for quality not quantity. This is particularly important if you have never used a social medium before. Start small and slowly build a web presence.

When writers feel comfortable on two networks, they can branch out into a third if they feel it’s right for them.

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