Author Daryl Sedore

Persevere: I started writing when I was quite young. I got more serious about it sometime around the year 2001. My first novel was finished and being queried during the summer of 2002. Nothing came of it.

March 2003 I started another novel. After years of revisions, including four rounds with freelance editor Lisa Rector Maass, Donald Maass’ wife, it was ready for an agent. It’s now 2010. That’s seven years. In that time I wrote almost 50 short stories with 40 of them published. Also guest posts on popular blogs like writetodone.com and Urbanmusewriter.com, one published piece of poetry and I’ve been reading books on how to write since 2001. But yet, I don’t have an agent. I’ve worked for years on perfecting my query letter – still no agent. So I persevere.

You’ve got to keep on, keeping on. Let no one slow you down. Let no one stop you. You’re the most important issue to be dealt with today and every day. People will try to ebb your flow. People have persuasive ways to thwart you, but you must keep moving on. Events have a way of tripping you up. There may even be times when you feel you can’t go on, but you must.

I am.

“If you’re going through hell, keep moving.”

Stay Positive: I’ve met agents, pitched them, had dinner with them and even took a subway ride in New York with one. I had around 50 rejection letters for the first novel. More are just coming in for the second book. I have entered contests where I didn’t place at all, but then in the Writer’s Digest Short Story Contest in 2007, I had five stories place in the top 60, with one of them hitting the 6^th place. Just last month I placed second in the Strong Scene Contest. Yet, I stay positive. I am constantly reminding myself that soon (hopefully) an agent will fall in love with my voice and story idea and we’ll be able to move to the next step. I have thought in the past that a certain agent would take me on. We talked. He read parts of my story. But a contract wasn’t forthcoming. I’ve reworked the story. Made it stronger, tightened the pace, added tension. I remain positive that the day is coming sooner rather than later.

Being positive is a choice. I think of myself as a storyteller first. I’m writing my fourth novel now. I have stories to tell. I’m going to keep writing those stories and continue submitting them. Eventually, even if it takes ten novels, I’ll get an agent in love with me and I will be able to share the stories I write. All I can do is continue and get better at it.

“The only way you can consistently experience confidence, even in environments and situations you’ve never previously encountered, is through the power of faith.”

~Tony Robbins

Write: I write every day. It may only be a blog post, but I write every day. Although lately, when I’m writing a new novel I write something new each day for the novel too. A lot of people set goals for day to day writing. My only goal is to approach my work in progress and advance it each and every day. I’ve tried the word count per day structure, but found that sometimes life gets in the way and I fall behind. Then there are feelings of guilt and I’ve got to do more another day to catch up. Now, I have released that pressure from my shoulders and all I ask of myself is to just write something each day. Overall, I get a lot more done this way.

“Write. A lot of people want to be a writer, it seems to me, and they do everything they can to be a writer, except write.”

~Chang-Rae Lee

Focus: This has got to be the most challenging one. I lost a good portion of the last two years as I was going through a messy divorce. Court along with a long list of things that needed to be dealt with kept coming up. The stress and pressure at times was something I’ve never had to go through. My thriving retail business went under and I lost everything because of the divorce. I’m still healing from that experience. During that time, almost two years, my current manuscript was left languishing. I pushed on though; just short stories and some blog posts. Which means I struggled with focus. I think I was more worried about not giving my best to my manuscript so I wrote smaller pieces to at least keep moving forward as a writer.

With focus, you really need to hunker down and do it. One of the toughest parts of my life has come to an end. But it’s behind me and I’m focused now.

“The elevator of success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs…one step at a time.”

~Joe Girard

Love what you do: If you’re passionate about what you’re doing then it isn’t work. I love what I do. I spend a greater part of the day not just hanging out with my characters, but creating new ways for them to be hurt and maimed. Seriously, as the story gets told I’m enjoying the process more and more. I’m able to be in their world, explore it with my five senses and walk through the back alleys and dark streets holding a knife while my protagonist is on the run. It’s exciting, it’s energizing, but most of all, I love what I do.

If you don’t love writing or whatever it is you’re doing, you may want to evaluate what you’re doing. It is so important to love what you do that I can’t emphasize it enough. Without love you’ll never be able to give a hundred percent.

“People think about what they don’t want and attract more of the same.”

What have you learned so far? What is happening to you? How are you coping and what are you doing about being your own life manager?

Are you managing your life well?

If not, fire yourself.

Then restart managing with better skills. Take yourself to new heights. Aspire to be. Become what you always wanted to be.

You only have you. Make it count because you are worth it.

Caterpillar Stage

As you collect yourself and gather your materials you are being born. You form an idea, or ideas, and begin to write. Before long, you have a story. Is it good? Is it good enough to sell? Will you submit it or is this just something for relatives and close friends?

This is the caterpillar stage; your ideas are all the legs the caterpillar has. Each one represents purpose. Each one has a story. It’s small but long body represents your writing career at this stage. Small, almost insignificant, but long enough to be seen by certain people, yet still not on the world stage.

This isn’t a negative thing. All butterflies started here. You just need to keep going. Keep writing. Persevere. That’s the only way to get to the next stage.

Cocoon Stage

You’ve done your homework. Your first full length novel has been written. It’s in the closet or your desk drawer. You’ve written other pieces; short stories, poems, blog posts. You’ve found this process to be exciting. Something you see yourself doing for some time. Maybe even making a career out of it. So you get serious. You do more research, reading about the story arc, how not to use clichés in your work and what tightens pace. You go to a writer’s conference and meet editors and agents. Then back to your writing desk. Back to hide. To be alone and write. To a form of hibernation where you may even unplug the phone and ask people close to you to be quiet because you’re busy writing.

This is the cocoon stage; you are wrapped up in material that has the potential to spring you anew. You hunker down and start to really write. Are you a storyteller? Are you creating magic on your keyboard while alone, writing furiously? What will be produced? What will come out of the caterpillar after it has wrapped itself up, hiding from the world with intent to come out the other side looking magnificent?

Butterfly Stage

You’re finished. You’ve written your best work. You’re ready to submit. You’re coming out of your shell in more ways than one. Your work has color. It has spunk. You’re excited to flit around and share it. You can never have too many readers. This was your purpose, your dream. The work has come out looking beautiful. It has all the twists and turns you never anticipated could be possible.

This is the butterfly stage; all the tension of struggling from a long legged caterpillar into and out of the cocoon has come to fruition. You’re here. You’ve made it. Your best story has arrived and it’s beautiful. You’ve come a long way. There’s been pain. There’s been struggle. But you’re here.

As a writer, what kind of butterfly are you? There are about 20,000 different kinds of butterflies in the world. What do your wings mean? The color, size and shape represent you. All caterpillars turn into a butterfly or a moth. Don’t become a moth. Although they have their own purpose, they’re not as pretty as butterflies, nor as dynamic.

Make your work shine. Break out with a manuscript that is multi-faceted and colourful. Make your butterfly so beautiful that agents will want to place it in a jar and show it off.

This is the life story of a butterfly, the life story of a writer. So tell me: what’s your life story? What has been your journey as a writer? What stage are you in right now; caterpillar, cocoon, or butterfly? What are you doing to make your story the best that it can be?

You deserve to be heard.

But will we want to hear you?

I went to my first writer’s group meeting the other night. C.O.W.S. stands for Central Okanagan Writer’s Society. They meet once a month near Kelowna B.C. Over a dozen people sat around a cute café that closes at 6:00pm each evening, but lets the writer’s group use it after hours.

There was a vast diversity of story lines and ages. A young man still in high school read his piece about local legends.

A woman in her 80’s, who just recently left the hospital with a new pace-maker, read a few pages of her memoirs. A teenager during the war, living in Germany was quite moving. I read a novel called “The Book Thief” which was written in the P.O.V. of a young female in Germany in the 1940’s. This memoir reminded me of that. She was shot at by British troops and had candy tossed to her from American soldiers. She saw the German newspapers the morning they were printed announcing Hitler and Eva’s suicide in April so long ago.

A few of the other members read pieces they had brought with them. One was sci-fi fantasy, another was a haunting search for a murderer.

Brenda and I read the stories we had written for the meeting. As it stands, Brenda’s story is now being considered for a short story compilation and my story might be picked up by the local newspaper for a feature article.

Overall, we had a good time and enjoyed meeting with other authors.

The downside is they only meet once a month.

Bummer.

Entertainment Weekly wrote an article on Sinead O’Conner in mid March. While reading it, something struck me as odd. She was quoted in the piece saying, “I found fame a bit tricky. It hadn’t been my ambition to become a pop star.”

Now, I’m not sure I understand that line. I get the first part. A huge number of famous people have a “tricky” time with fame, as we have all seen in the media. But her line about not having ambition to become a pop star was probably not true. I don’t know her personally. I wouldn’t want to call her a liar. I’m just saying.

Beware of a half truth; you may have the wrong half

Is she saying she took her talent and auditioned, got great reviews and went on to sign a recording contract? Then she sang the songs in a studio, produced an album, approved the cover art and started the distribution process all to sell the albums with thoughts of not going anywhere with it? I guess her touring, doing concerts for thousands of fans and selling vast numbers of records was her efforts to not become even more popular.

I wouldn’t want to mention the number of other things she did in her drive to be noticed by the media (controversy sparks revenue) like tearing up a picture of the Pope on stage at a concert. Boy, did her popularity ever drop after that incident.

So here’s the question: Are you ready for fame? Are you even trying to be famous? Do you think you could handle it?

Let’s say your agent calls and explains to you that your second book has hit unprecedented numbers and that the publisher has opted to go for its third print run. How upset are you going to be?

“Oh, damn. Are you serious? Another print run? What gives? Hold up already. I didn’t want this. Who do they think they are?” You sit, shaking your head and mumble, “Another print run, sheesh.”

Does this describe you? If it does, then please stop writing that masterpiece. Stop trying to be so good.

On the other hand, if you think you’d be content or even elated with that kind of ‘another print run’ lifestyle, then continue writing.

I know I’m pretty excited about the possibility of selling thousands of novels.

Before I sign off to go write more of my third novel, I’d like to be clear. In my opinion, I’m not calling Sinead O’Conner a liar. I’m just saying the words she chose to use were not true.

I’m just saying.

People love stories. Always have. From writing on cave walls to ipads, people love stories. The only thing that’s changed is the format.

I vote to keep the book form alive. I want to hold a book in my hand, feel the pages as I turn them. I want the smell, the look and the weight to be held in my palm as I read through its pages and discover a world created by the author.

Earlier today I read a Twitter follower exclaim that he was the only one in the café that was actually holding a book. People throughout the café were reading, just not in book form.

Format change is inevitable. This reminds me of the VHS slowdown of the 1990’s. Peak years for VHS; late eighties, early nineties. By 1998, VHS was slowing considerably. In 2001, the retail company I owned at the time had to change. We started to remove VHS and stocked up on more DVD. By 2005, VHS became history and DVD the future.

I pray that the book form never follows the VHS decline. With Borders recently renegotiating, independent booksellers in trouble and ipads selling out, I wonder if the book format is eyeing a scary tomorrow.

Until such time, all I can do is go and buy more books. Show my support financially for which format I choose to read.

I’m still going to purchase an ipad. But you will catch me with a book in my hand more often.

There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction

-Winston Churchill

There have been a lot of April Fools’ out there today. Some were funny, some mean. Oh well, always good to have a sense of humour.

Now, on another note;

I’m so happy that I got my first letter of representation today. And to think I thought it would take a long time to get an agent. My New York agent has informed me that my novel may be headed to auction because there are a number of publishers looking at acquisition.

My phone conversation got cut off when I dropped the phone because my dog wanted out. He got so excited to get out the door that he bit into the bottom of my jeans and started to pull on my leg, just like I’m doing to yours right now.

Hehe,

But seriously folks, no agent yet. Oh well, maybe soon. A new, normal, blog entry will come tomorrow.

Until then,

Daryl

Hello there.

It’s been a long time…too long. The amusement park we call life had me suspended from the Ferris wheel, the engine broken, my particular seat missing a bolt and I was out of cellular range. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’ve spent the last year going through a nasty divorce, (I’m escaping the clutches of an alcoholic wife),  having to represent myself in court, (my lawyer cost me almost $10,000- and did absolutely nothing to forward my cause), and struggling to maintain my business against the recession as it tries to pull it into quicksand.

It’s out there. I’ve said it and now it’s time to move on. This blog was never set up to discuss those things. I only wanted to air (vent, I think I really mean vent) the details once, to explain why I chose to back away from blogging.

But I’m back. And I’m ready to go. This will be the year of new short stories and renewed attempts at getting my novel out there.

I’ll be back in the next few days to talk about Christmas, blogging, and writing.

See you soon, and keep writing.

All the best,

Daryl

Barack Obama has won the election, as you may already know. I reviewed some of his policies, in addition to the world reaction on his making it into the oval office and I was quite impressed. I know I’m a Canadian and I have no say on American politics, but I do have an opinion…and that was it.

My close knit (new) family just got back from book shopping. I picked up a fabulous book (earlier today) discussing religion and all the damage religion has done to humanity over thousands of years. I’m looking forward to reading it. It wasn’t in the house ten minutes before Beautiful Brenda picked it up; she’s devouring it.

Writing is progressing a little slow. I’m a few hours away from completing my manuscript and then off to the literary agents with it. Down to the wire. This is it. The big gate of unknowing is opening…ahhhh

Talk to you soon,

Daryl

We watched the second part to Zeitgeist, which is like an appendix to the first one, called addendum. It didn’t have the fire for a strong debate like the first one did. Brenda and I felt it was more like an oral textbook. There was a lot of information about how our system is a money driven system that puts profit in front of everything, even human lives. It went on to prove this and then through a series of interviews it showed us how we could have a system that would benefit human kind without profit.

I don’t want to get into it too much here, other than to say that I do recommend it. Both versions are something that should be watched be as many people as possible. Check it out online at Youtube or Google or at one of the many torrent sites you might visit.

In the meantime, writing posts start again tomorrow.

Talk to you soon,

Daryl

We sat back and watched Zeitgeist last night. Quite the film regarding religion and the government. A bit of an eye-opener on some topics and yet it came across as a belief in a conspiracy theory which I find hard to swallow.

Taking everything in on a singular basis, the debate was spectacular. As a whole, it was like big brother is setting us up and is out to get us. If the latter is true than the makers of the film should be in hiding.

Anyone else watch this film?

We’re viewing part two tonight. I’ll cover some of it here tomorrow…

Back to writing full time by Monday morning. I’m just trying to get over the time difference and jet lag from our recent trip. It seems with each trip, as I age, they get harder to recover from.

All the Best,

Daryl