Friday 27 March 2020

Summery Sunshine through the Window!


Spring has well and truly sprung!

This week, an entire year has passed me by. I've been revisiting a manuscript I completed last year, entitled The Year We Lived, which - you've guessed it! - spans a whole year. It's set in 1174, and follows a conflict between a Saxon family and a Norman family. It's got a massive twist at the end (more like a contortion) which I'm quite proud of!

It has also been Week Two of my Caledon review tour. Two more great reviews!

The first, from The Avid Reader, gave the book four stars and had this to say of it:
Caledon is filled with fighting, betrayals, magic, truths, lies, suspense, action, heart ache and twists and turns that keep the pages turning.

The second came from Hurn Publications, who gave the book five stars (wahey!), and concluded by saying:
Get ready for quite the journey. You’re going to love this read!
[Star ratings are not from blog sites, but can be found on the Caledon Good Reads page]

I'm off now to enjoy the sunshine - thank goodness for gardens in these crazy times!
Keep smiling and stay safe.

Find me here: www.stompermcewan.com
www.twitter.com/DaysDyingGlory - follow me there!

Friday 20 March 2020

Not *Exactly* the Week I'd Expected

So, social distancing started this week.

I've spent the last couple of weeks looking at authors' posts about how they would use self-isolation to write. Has anyone else found that the muse flees as time becomes more available? Still, I've managed to get a few bits and bobs done this week. Here's what I've been up to...

I wrote a poem I was actually pretty pleased with! All my poetry (or almost all of it) is strictly metrical, so there was only one place this poem was heading: The Frost Farm Prize. In this, I've been spectacularly organised because it doesn't even close until 30th March!

I've kept chipping away at my horror writing attempt, but this did escalate into a discussion about what the major genres of fiction are. We came up with the following:

  • Children's Fiction - Picture Book
  • Children's Fiction - Middle Grade
  • Children's Fiction - Young Adult
  • Horror
  • Thriller/Crime/Mystery
  • Romance
  • Literary Fiction
  • Fantasy
  • Historical
  • Science Fiction

Are there any others you would add to the list?


But, by far the most exciting thing which happened this week, was the commencement of my blog tour. The first blogger (https://mythicalbooks.blogspot.com/2020/03/review-caledon-by-virginia-crow.html) left a fantastic review! This led to much relief and giddiness yesterday!
Enjoy! But be aware: if you are not already, you could become fascinated by Scottish history and myths. ~Mythical Books
Caledon is part of the Smashwords "Authors Give Back" sale, so you can (for a limited time) read it for free here!

So, in terms of words written, this week has been lean. However, a word of praise is worth 10,000 words of drafting.

Find me here: www.stompermcewan.com
www.twitter.com/DaysDyingGlory - follow me there!

Friday 13 March 2020

Hello Again - 2020 Writing Challenges

Someone pointed out to me that a blog was a good way of sharing ideas and thoughts on writing. Since there are very few activities I love as much as writing, I decided to give it a go, and share some of my 2020 antics with you, one writer to another, this author to her readers.



2020 is a new decade and so I've set myself a new writing challenge or two. My New Year resolution was to enter one writing competition/award each week and, so far, I've managed to stick to it. I'm 12 entries in, and scribbling eagerly at number 13!

Although that resolution has constantly pressing deadlines, by far the harder goal I've set myself is to write a book in each major genre.  Until now, all my books have had an historical backdrop, but this year will see the release of my first contemporary novel, a thriller with the working title Among These Dark Satanic Mills. This has been a while in the making but, when my publishing team suggested it was good enough to put "out there", I decided I wanted to know if I could write in other genres.



At the moment I'm writing a horror novel, trying to balance the right amount of cliche with a fresh plot and my own style of telling the story. I'm not sure horror is the genre I'm best cut out for, but we'll see how the end product looks!

In a way, I have NaNoWriMo to thank for this new challenge. Stories I have stored up in my head for months and years formed the basis for my first November writing month last year. Going back to these plot lines, scrawled in the tiny notebook I keep by my pillow, has given me a new drive to get them written. So far, it's still at the enjoyable stage!

Find me here: www.stompermcewan.com
www.twitter.com/DaysDyingGlory - follow me there!