Hi, my name's Diana (pronounced Die-Anna), I'm Canadian (whoohoo!), and I spend my time writing novels. I am working on a four book series to be called PTSD - Promise, Treason, Sacrifice, and Death. I have finished Promise (64,000 words) and Treason (51,500 words) and I am now working on drafting Sacrifice. Follow me on Twitter @DiannaK_books
I'd tell you where I am right now, but I have no clue. All I know is that we're on a high way in the lovely province of Nova Scotia. We're on the move though, never spending two nights in the same city. We spent a night in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, a night in Chocolate Lake, Nova Scotia, and now, we're heading towards Moncton, New Brunswick. Tomorrow we'll be in Alma, New Brunswick. It's right in the middle of Fundy National Park. We booked a night on a ranch and we're scheduled for four hours of horse back riding tomorrow. On Friday, we'll be leaving the maritimes and spending the night in Quebec City, followed by Montreal on Saturday before heading home.
Well, as of today, I can say that I've touched the Atlantic Ocean! Another thing to cross off of my bucket list. And might I say, boy was it cold!
Monday was a pretty exciting day, too, because we got to have three meals in the same day but in three different provinces. Casselman, Ontario, Lévis, Québec, and Grand Falls, New Brunswick.
Here's a list of things that I've learned so far on this trip:
1) When forced to travel with younger siblings, giving them lots and lots of Gravol is your best hope for survival.
2) New Brunswick is Canada's only bilingual province; watch what you say and who's around when you say it.
3) Halifax has many pubs that are open late, even after most other restaurants are closed. When looking for food, remember that their liquor license prohibits them from seating minors after 9PM - if you're hungry, don't bring your younger siblings.
4) The Appalachian Mountain Range is on of the most beautiful parts on New Brunswick.
5) When traveling to a busy city, make hotel reservations in advance if you have a big family. If you don't, someone might have to sleep on the floor, and that someone might be you.
6) Leaving your knee brace in the car when you know that you have a knee injury is never a good idea, especially when walking through the Halifax Harbour.
7) Also, don't wear skirts in the Harbour; it's windy.
8) It rains a lot in the Maritimes, so don't decide to go for a walk.
9) When you cross the border into New Brunswick, you enter a new time zone. Don't panic when you get into the hotel room an hour later than it was when you left your car five minutes ago.
10) Writing a book is impossible to do on a road trip.
I have made no progress at all. As much as I hate to admit it, it's true. All of my time has been spent on the road, in restaurants, or asleep. Today was the only day that I got a break from that, and I spent it touring Halifax and visiting gift shops.
Well, I must go before I start getting car sick. Just kidding, I need to go before I fall asleep and drop my iPhone. Thanks for stopping in. Remember to follow me on Twitter @DianaK_books for more frequent updates. It's back to business on Sunday for the final stretch. I'll see you all back here next Tuesday!
Hello readers!
Diana here, live from Chocolate Lake, Nova Scotia! Unfortunately, I'm too tired to blog tonight, so I'll leave you with a picture of what the weather's like here, and I'll post more tomorrow when I'm actually awake!
Goodnight lovelies!
Xoxo
Diana
Well, here it is: my weekly post. I don't even know where to start this one. So much has happened, and yet I've gotten so little done. Let's start with an easy subject. We're still in a draught. It hasn't rained since June 19, and you can't even call the river a river anymore. There's only ankle-deep water, and, to be honest, it's kind of scaring me. People go on and on about global warming, but it's like we're finally seeing the proof. The average daily temperature has stayed above 30 degrees Celsius this summer. For you Americans, that's 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
That being said, I have no energy to do anything. I am doing my best to get as much work as I can done on Treason, but it seems like my best isn't going to be good enough this time around. It's a good thing that I gave myself a one-month buffer. I wanted to have the first draft done before leaving for Nova Scotia, but I highly doubt that it is going to happen. I am working on card number fifteen out of twenty-eight (I dropped one idea), and in the next five days leading up to our departure, I am scheduled to work thirty-five hours at my waitressing job. It may not seem like much, but work starts at 7 in the morning every day, and in this heat, running around leaves me dead by the time three o'clock rolls around.
I had a little bit of reorganizing to do in terms of story chronology, which is one of the perks of having everything written out on individual cards. It was not helped, however, by my open window and ceiling fan. Ceiling fans and open windows like to make cards flutter around.
Do any of you have a Wreck This Journal? I saw something about it as I was browsing last night, and I was curious enough to go out and buy one today. It's probably one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen. The title says it all; it's a journal that is made for you to destroy. Each page has a different prompt on it to get you to do crazy things with your journal. Some of them are things like "Tie a string to this journal. Go for a walk, drag it.", "Infuse this page with a smell of your choosing.", "Find a way to wear the journal.", and "Take a shower with this journal." I don't know if I'll be able to complete it, seeing as I'm such a perfectionist and that I absolutely need to keep all of my books in the condition that I bought them in. It'll be a challenge.
As a special treat for you all this week, I'll leave you with a bit from Treason!
“Nick, if there was some other girl, would you tell me?” “What do you mean?” “I mean if you met someone else that lived closer to you, would you tell me, or stay the same?” “What the hell? What kind of question is that?” “Why are you getting so defensive?” “Are you accusing me of cheating on you?” “No, I never said that. It’s funny that you brought it up, though.” “What is that supposed to mean?” “It’s supposed to mean that maybe you’re going to lose interest in me because when we see each other, we don’t sleep together.” “You think that I just want you for sex? When did you be come so fake, Sara? I really didn’t think that you were that type of girl when I met you.” “I’m just saying that it’s a possibility.” “What’s a possibility? Me cheating on you? Sara, do you even know me at all? When the hell did this stupid idea pop into your head?” “It’s been there for a while, actually.”
I had a really great idea for this week's post, you know, after I realized that it was Wednesday. Now, I can't even think of a title, and I'm a day late.
Have any of you used StumbleUpon? I just started using it last week, and I find some of the craziest things on there. I guess that's what it's for, though, right? I came across this one site that would show you a different picture of a cat every time you wrote one hundred words. It made me laugh. There's a whole bunch of interesting sites that I saw with writing tips and ideas, so I'm pretty happy that I created an account.
How is your summer going? Enjoying the nice weather? Here in my home town in Ontario, we are in a draught, people aren't allowed to water their lawns, and there is a no-burn policy. No one can have fires, even if they have a permit and a fire pit to do it in. Someone flicked a cigarette butt out of their car window without thinking twice, and a fire started. The grass is so dry that it hurts to walk around in your bare feet. It hasn't rained since early June, and everything is dying. For those of you who still think that global warming isn't an issue: look around you. Signs of negative change are everywhere.
The countdown continues until I leave for Nova Scotia. Ten more days! I'm hoping to get all caught up in my Treason work before leaving (yes, I have fallen behind) so that I won't be too busy working while we're on the road. I really want to go out and explore the different places that we're going to be visiting along the way. It would really help if I wasn't working like a crazy person, though. This week coming up, I have over forty hours of work. That's more than a full-time employee gets to work, and the only difference is that I don't get the benefits. Sometimes, I don't like my job.
I read somewhere online that in order to make sure that your book is really what you want it to be, you need to put it away and not look at it for six months. I thought that I might have a problem doing that, but it really hasn't been that hard. A friend of mine is still looking over Promise for typos and grammar mistakes - for some reason, I have a habit of typing it instead of the or vis-versa when I'm tired- and she still hasn't given it back to me. She's a pretty slow reader when you take into consideration the fact that it has all ready been three months and the book is only three hundred pages long. Oh well, the more time she spends working on it, the less time I have to have it with me and force myself not to correct it.
I think that the thing that I am really unexcited for is reading the whole thing out loud. To make sure that everything sounds right and that I'm not missing any words anywhere, I'm going to need to take a few days to just sit down and read the whole book out loud to myself. One thing is for sure: I'm going to need a lot of water because I'm going to get really thirsty.
How am I doing on Treason? Well, like I said, I've fallen behind. As of today, I am four cards behind, and as of tomorrow, I'll be five cards behind. I know that I really need to step it up, but I've just been so busy. I've started to work eight hour shifts, and on top of the fact that it's a lot more than what I'm used to working, the shift also starts at seven in the morning. When I get home, I'm tired. And then I have this whole debate with myself on if I want to work so that I don't fall behind, or if I want to wait until I'm not tired so that I don't end up writing garbage. I end up pushing it off to the next day, and then the whole thing starts over. I have made progress, though. I am a third of the way through in terms of the estimated number of words. In terms of cards, I've finished nine out of twenty-nine.
I should be off. I have had the last few days off, so I want to use the fact that I'm well rested to get some more work done. Just because you are all the best readers, though, I'm going to leave you with a little treat. They say that to see if a book is good or not, you should read the fifteenth page; so, here's the fifteenth page of Promise. Leave me a comment below to tell me what you think!
“I love it! It makes you look even more ready for summer. This year is going to be our best one yet. I can’t believe they let us come back as campers again.”
“I know! How did you even manage that? The age limit was fifteen.”
“I just told them about Emily and how she wouldn’t be allowed to come to Canada if she would have to pay to be a counsellor in training because she couldn’t get a job in Germany. They’re pretty understanding, but it took me almost an hour of persuasion. After they agreed, they told me that we weren’t the first ones to call and ask the same thing. Apparently a lot of people our age wanted to come back again. They told me that they were thinking of changing the age limit to seventeen and that it was great that we wanted to come back so bad because they want to use our cabin to try out a new thing they were planning for next year.
“If they bring the age limit up to seventeen, they figure that those of us who are sixteen and seventeen can take care of ourselves, and that we don’t need counsellors since most of them are our age anyway. They figure we can take care of ourselves, so they want to see how well we do this year if there’s no one with us every minute of every day. If it works out well, they might use it for next year.”
“Anna?”
“Yes?”
“How exactly is it that you can ask someone a simple question and have them telling you their entire life story within a minute? I mean, come on! You called to ask the directors if we could all come back this year and you end up getting all of the camp’s plans for next year and everything that they want to try and do. Did they happen to tell you what was going to be on the menu while they were at it?” I teased.
“Hey, you know how I am. I can sweet-talk anybody into anything. Hey, do you think I could be a spy after I graduate? I mean, I’d do a really good job of persuading people not to do bad things and give me the secret intelligence instead. Okay, moving along now, can we please change the subject?” she asked, trying to direct the attention away from herself.
“Okay, fine. Any cute guys yet?” I asked, and we both broke into a fit of laughter.
“You’re in my cabin, I’ll walk you to it and when we walk past the lodge, look on the front porch; he is gorgeous,” she said, giggling slightly.
“All right,” I agreed, sharing with her a sideways glance, which was all it took to start us laughing again.
Alright, well, I'm off. I am going to get some work done on Treason. Check back in next week because it'll be my last post before leaving for Nova Scotia! I will keep you all posted on my progress!
Love you all,
Diana!
This week's song is Long Hot Summer by Keith Urban. This summer is bringing out the country in me. Enjoy!
I was never really good at following rules, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that a week after I came up with all of the rules that I need to follow, I break one. Well, actually, it was more like two... Technically, though, one isn't even my fault. Let's start with the one that is. Rule number ten says sleep. I tried, I really did, but then one thing happened after another and I ended up going to bed at around four, four-thirty twice in a week. No one can write anything coherent when they're that tired, so I lost a bit of my lead. The one that isn't my fault though, is breaking rule number eight. I'm not supposed to lie in bed while writing, but I have a good explanation as to why I've been doing it for the past five days. Do any of you know what a meniscus is? No? Okay, well, here's a little lesson. Everyone has two menisci per knee. They're little pieces of cartilage at the top and bottom of your knee that help distribute weight evenly down your leg so that you don't crush your knee when you walk. Well, I tore one of my menisci on my left knee. What does that mean? It means that the little piece of cartilage that is ripped is getting caught in the bones that make up my knee when I walk. It hurts. A lot. It also means that I can't walk and I have to keep my leg elevated and iced. Hence why I am lying in bed.
I'm doing my best not to get too distracted, and I am staying on track. I have to admit, though, that I'm pretty sure that I'm going to fall behind schedule. I have a section that's due tomorrow, and I don't think that I gave myself enough time to complete it. I thought that I had a part of it all ready typed up that I could just alter a little bit to fit into the story, but it's too different, so I have to write the thing all over again. It's an idea that promises to be over six thousand words long, too.
How am I doing with Treason? I am on part eight out of twenty-nine, I have sixty-one pages, and 14,575 words. How's that for progress? As soon as I can get over the bump that this little part here is making, then I should be good to get back on track. How is it coming along in terms of the plot? I just finished the introduction, and I'm about to start the rising action. The climax isn't until idea number twenty, so we've still got some ways to go. It's so hard to stay focused! This weather is so nice, and there's so many things that I could be doing. I guess it helps that I can't walk, or else I'd be outside all day long.
For all of my Canadian readers: how was your Canada Day? Did you do anything interesting? I worked from 7:30AM to 7:15PM and then I was so tired and sore that I fell asleep to the sound of fireworks. On the bright side, I made 190$. For all of my American readers: happy early Independence Day! Do you have any plans for tomorrow? I hope that everyone had a safe Canada Day, and that everyone will have a safe Fourth of July tomorrow. Remember: if you drink, don't drive. And anyway, beer is cheaper than gas in today's economy, so drink, don't drive. That was my joke for you all, today. There's actually a sign in town that says that, I'm pretty sure.
Can you believe that it's already July? This year is going by so fast! Are you doing anything interesting this month? I am leaving in twenty days to roadtrip to Nova Scotia with my family. We are spending three nights in Quebec city, one night in Montreal, one night on a ranch in New Brunswick by the Bay of Fundy, and one night in Halifax. I'm sure that it will be entertaining, to say that least.
Well, I'm off. I really need to get this little bit done. Thank you all for stopping by, and welcome once again to my new followers on Twitter, and my new blog readers! It's great to know that I have your support! I'll have more for you next week!
xox,
Diana
This week's song is something that I found while I was browsing YouTube to pass the time. Have a listen to Our Song Comes On by Kristina Maria!
I feel the need to make this post extra special because I've gained over forty new readers this week, so here it goes! For my new readers, here's what you need to know: I'm an aspiring author. I have finished my first novel titled Promise, and it's part of a four book series. I am looking for a publisher who would be willing to publish my work, and I hope that by getting enough readers on my blog and enough Twitter followers will help prove that people actually want to read my work. That being said, please feel free to tweet my blog and share it with your friends. You can also follow me on Twitter @DianaK_books. I try to make my weekly blog posts as interesting as possible, although that's not always easy.
So, what have I been up to this week? A lot, to sum it up. One of our servers at work got hurt and she'll be off for 4-6 weeks and so I've got her shifts to work, which leaves me with one day off every week. Other than that, I have been working a lot on trying to get my second novel done. Treason is, as of today, 13.33% done. I have a whole system in place now to get the first draft done by Labour Day weekend! I have broken down the novel in 29 major parts, and I wrote each of these parts down on cue cards.
The front has the number of the idea (I am currently at number 6) and a short summary of what it is (sorry, no spoilers here!)
The back of the card has the deadline for the completed idea (Treason is due by September first) along with the date I started working on whatever is on the front of the card, the date I finished it, along with an estimated word count. Treason has an estimated 60,000 words, but I think that it might be higher. Each card has a minimum 2,000 words, and someone them can go up to eight or even nine thousand words. You can do the math.
I have also put together a list of fourteen rules that I will need to follow in order to have everything done on time, although I think I should add a fifteenth, being "Get blog updated on time". Here's the new regime that I'll have to follow over the next three months.
1. Keep room clean - This is simply so that I won't end up spinning on my office chair looking for anything cool that I haven't seen in a few years to use as an excuse for procrastinating. I'm bad for that.
2. Leave all electronics in basket - I have a basket on a table right by my door to drop in any form of electronics, mostly my cell phone and iPod, so that I won't be tempted to use them while working.
3. Disable Internet connection while working - I found that I was often going on Facebook or updating my Twitter account while writing, and that was costing me valuable time. For that reason, I am forcing myself to disable my Internet connection every time that I want to write.
4. No text messages - This goes along with rule number two, but I wanted to be specific about it. Sometimes I'll come up with what I think is a great idea, and I want to text someone about it right away to get their input, and it ends up turning into an hour-long conversation. Now, I'll have to text them only when I'll have finished putting the idea into words.
5. No food in room - I like food. Food distracts me from writing because I don't want to touch my MacBook while I'm eating in case I get it dirty.
6. No drinks other than water on desk - This is for the simple reason that anything other than water will make me thirsty, and I don't want to be wasting writing time by running back and forth between my office and my kitchen to get more to drink.
7. Take 30-minute breaks every hour - Have you ever just said something and realized that it made absolutely no sense the minute that it left your mouth? Well, that happens to me when I write, except that I don't notice it right away, and I have to suffer the embarrassment of someone else finding my mistake. By forcing myself to take breaks, that doesn't happen. I have also found that it helps keep me motivated to write for a full hour at a time.
8. No lying in bed while writing - this is a big one. I often find myself unconsciously ending up in my bed when I want to write because it's comfortable. This is bad because it makes me feel lazy and makes me want to do something other than write. For that reason, it is forbidden.
9. Try to do two hours of work per day - try being the key word, because sometimes I don't have a lot of inspiration. Some days I'll write more, some days less.
10. Sleep - Writing a novel while sleep deprived is never a good idea. I would know. That's how I tried to finish Promise.
11. Eat three meals - A well fed author is a happy author.
12. Listen only to music from iTunes while working - I need music to concentrate. This is just to discourage me from enabling my Internet connection to go on YouTube.
13. Stick to deadlines - This one pretty much explains itself.
14. Have fun!
Well, I must be off because I haven't done my two hours of work today. Thank you for stopping by and a warm welcome to my new readers! Check back in next week for more!
Love,
Di
This week's song is Give Your Heart a Break by Demi Lovato. I came on when I turned on the radio the other day while driving to work and I found it really catchy. Take a listen!
I recently had to do an activity where I was given a very simple sentence and my task was to turn it into the longest sentence possible, ensuring that it was grammatically correct. I thought that I'd share what I came up with. It's pretty long, but I'm sure that if I had really put my mind to it, I could have made it a lot longer.
The original sentence was The child kicked the cat.
Here's my embellished sentence: While running wildly around the small city apartment, the child, who was still very young in both age and mind, decided that it would be an excellent idea to kick his mother's tabby, which she had found in a back alley and brought home to nurture back to health, and, in doing so, sent the poor, gentle cat sailing across the room and through an open window, falling down into the crowded street, filled with rush-hour traffic, below before his mother, who came running quickly around the corner, sliding across the recently polished hardwood floor in her sock feet, could do anything to stop him; the child, who was now crying abundantly with tears steadily flowing down his cheeks, was promptly punished by his angry mother who was now leaning over the edge of the balcony to verify the fate of her poor feline friend.
And not one part of that is a run-on or a comma splice error.
