Inspirational -

29Sep 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

Why I’m NOT nervous to submit my novel to publishers

This past weekend I finished my most recent edit of Moonshadow's Guardian, a YA fantasy originally written as a Nanowrimo novel. I've already edited this novel several times--it's faced the most drastic changes of anything I've ever edited--and am mostly finished my query letter and synopsis. As I told my best friend the other day, it's time to send this novel out to publishers. And then she asked me the question: "Are you nervous? I might have stared into the phone like it was an alien for a while, because here's the thing: I'm not nervous. I already know some of the publishers I send my novel to will reject it. In fact, I know most of them will reject it. That's part of the gig. They might all reject…

19May 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

Stories of Scotland

Inspirational

[caption id="attachment_2141" align="alignleft" width="300"] One angle of the view from our bay window at the Bed and Breakfast in Wick[/caption] I talked last week about how this trip changed my life. Now it's time to go into a little more detail--and of course show off some of the 500 pictures I took while I was in the UK. I could turn this into a big series--you'd be amazed at how many things a person can fit into three weeks when they really try--but to be honest I'm already eager to start a completely different series of posts. So while you can be sure you'll hear about this trip again, it certainly won't be in the next couple of weeks. Anyway, let's get started! Travelling Alone No pictures at this point…

12May 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

The End of a Chapter

Inspirational

[caption id="attachment_2136" align="alignleft" width="625"] The Clan Gunn Heritage Museum, where we spread the ashes[/caption] If a person's life consists of chapters in the same way books do, a chapter of my life has certainly just ended, and I am beginning a new one even as I write this. Ten years ago when my dad was diagnosed with cancer my aunt raised the money to take him and I to Scotland, to what used to be Clan Gunn territory. On that trip my dad decided that he wanted his ashes to be scattered near the Clan Gunn museum, in the graveyard surrounding it, a graveyard full of Gunns. He died later that year. This year my aunt and I finally went back to spread his ashes in Clan Gunn country. My…

10Mar 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

Do you have to wake up early to be successful?

Inspirational, Writing

I follow a number of blogs and newsletters, and lately I've been noticing a trend: a number of my favourite newsletters and blogs recommend waking up an hour earlier to get your writing done. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, especially because it was one of the key recommendations in COMMIT, the self-help book recently published by Linda Formichelli of The Renegade Writer. I know this strategy works for a lot of people, but I resent the idea that in order to be successful, I have to wake up earlier. Instead, I believe in a concept introduced to me by DIY MFA: magic time. Magic time is the time of day when you are at your best. It is the time when you can accomplish all your work in half the…

03Feb 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

Passing it forward — at every level of success

Inspirational, Writing

Have you successfully finished the first draft of a novel? Gotten your first short story, poem or even a novel published? Built a solid network of writer friends to help propel you towards success? If you've accomplished any or all of these things, you're ahead of thousands of other writers. You might not feel like a success--it's hard to feel successful in writing if you're still relying on that day job--but you've actually already achieved something or potentially several things thousands of other writers are struggling to achieve. And along the way you probably learned something that can help other writers achieve the same thing. Now, I'm not suggesting you try to help all of those writers. I'm not even suggesting that you start a blog about writing. There are already thousands…

30Dec 2014 by dlgunn

What have you accomplished this year? (Giveaway Included)

Inspirational, Writing

Tomorrow is all about celebrating the new year and the opportunity to spend another 365 days improving your life, but today is about celebrating what you accomplished this year. Today I'd like you to take 10 minutes to write down everything you've accomplished this year. Write down anything and everything you think of, writing related or not. After 10 minutes, take a look at your list. Is it longer than you expected? Are there a few big accomplishments that you'll be proud of for years to come? Have you made big strides towards a successful writing career? Lost weight? Stopped smoking cigarettes or eating so much fast food? In 2014 I edited two novels, blogged regularly, created a booklet of 110 free novel planning resources for anyone who subscribes to my…

25Nov 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

5 Reasons Not to Give Up

Inspirational, Nanowrimo, Writing

The month is almost over and hopefully you're close to hitting your goals for the month, whether that means 50K, 100K or a finished novel. Of course, life has many different ways of preventing you from reaching your goals, so there's a pretty good chance that you're nowhere near your goals and wondering what made you think it was a good idea to pursue them in the first place. If you're far behind where you wanted to be at this time of the month, you're not alone. There are thousands of other Wrimos struggling through the same things right now, and you can find a great many of them on the forums. More importantly, having fallen behind doesn't mean you should give up. No matter what your word count is,…

14Aug 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

3 Ways you can change the world with your talents

Inspirational, Writing

This summer I've talked a lot about the power each individual has to create change in the world. I've even pointed out some awesome non-profits you can donate to or volunteer with to support literacy and creativity. But what if you don't have any money? What if you're already struggling to find time in your schedule for writing, let alone volunteering? Or maybe you just want to find a way your talent for writing can make the world a better place before you get rich and famous(which you totally will, OBVIOUSLY). Having a creative talent drastically increases the amount of influence you can have on the world around you. Believe it or not, you don't need a lot of time or money to change the world. In fact, I've already…

16Jun 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

What Does Sustainability Mean for Writers?

Inspirational

Everybody knows that there is a massive environmental crisis going on. We also know that pollution and the extreme weather patterns caused by climate change are extremely disastrous to our health, to our infrastructure and even to our continued existence as a species. Moving towards sustainable lifestyles and sustainable cities is the only way to preserve our way of life and the earth itself. It has to start with individual changes throughout the industrialized world. Changes in how we live, how we view the world. It begins with acknowledging that we as individuals do have the power to change the world and taking daily steps to do so. What is a Sustainable Lifestyle? A sustainable lifestyle looks different for everyone. While it might be cool if we all built our…

02Jun 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

You Have the Power to Change the World

Inspirational, Writing

If you're actually paying attention to what's going on in the world it can be easy to get overwhelmed by all the problems, both at home and all over the world. It's even easier to fall into the trap of believing you can't change things. Things like child marriage have been going on for thousands of years. It's difficult to see how you can change the beliefs that allow these things to go on. Meanwhile, here in North America the gap between the rich and the poor has been consistently growing for years. And let's not forget about the rising tuition rates that are putting our youth in serious debt. You probably already know about these things--and dozens of other societal problems I failed to mention--but believe you have little…