Author Daryl Sedore

I primarily write paranormal thrillers. Stories that involve the Other Side, something I know a lot of people have experienced in some way. A few years back I did a research gig where I put an ad in Toronto Newspapers and a few smaller local ones. I rented a mailbox and asked people in the ad to let me know about their experiences with the Other Side. Had they seen a ghost? Did a mother come back to say goodbye after the funeral? Have you ever lived in a haunted house? Whatever it was, if you were willing to share it no matter how amazingly real it was all the way to the mundane, write to me and let me know.

The response was incredible. I couldn’t believe it. Dozens and dozens of letters flooded in, talking about all kinds of paranormal activity including a few on Near Death Experiences. I was amazed. I mean, I’ve read about this kind of thing in text books during research, people documenting their experiences and writing books about N.D.E.’s, ghosts and hauntings, etc. But to hear it directly from the public…amazing.

I’ve still got every letter. I’ve read them over and over. With all the people I see coming to this site, how many of you have experiences that you’re itching to tell? Is there something that happened years ago that you’ve dismissed now? Is there something current? Has someone passed away that was close to you and you felt their presence?

Leave a comment about it or keep it private by emailing me at (darylsedore@gmail.com)

I would love to hear from you all…

All the Best,

Daryl

If you’ve checked out Brenda’s blog, you’ll see we’ve left Vancouver and we’re in a city by the name of Kamloops. Although, I’m always asking why the city name has an “s” on the end when there is only one of them. By that rationale we’d be saying Vancouvers, or Torontos…

Although someone did say Kamloop (that’s what I call it) has an Native Indian origin, so out of respect to someone else’s language, I can call it by it’s proper name. Although, don’t tell anybody; I’ll still call it Kamloop among my inner circle of friends just for fun.

The Power of Positive Thinking and Random Acts of Kindness are two of my daily mantras. Find ways to enjoy this hard and miserable existence, smile and do something nice for another fellow human being every day. We all have it hard enough with life being a daily struggle so, in my opinion, I strive to have a great time in everything I do. Instead of renting a regular mid-size car, Brenda and I rented a Cadillac Escalade. Why not, it’s only a little extra per day and we get to ride in style through the mountainous terrain. You (usually) don’t know when your time is up. Brenda and I enjoy every day, every single day that we’re here. I know it’s a struggle to be positive when life throws you a couple hiccups, yet that’s the best time to shine. Stand up, brush your shoulders off and say to the world, “I won’t be beat.”

Here’s a shot of Brenda and I at a rest stop halfway to Kamloop…I mean Kamloops…hehe

Brenda and the Escalade

Daryl and the Escalade

Norman Vincent Peale wrote the Power of Positive Thinking. At one point he said that a young student came to ask him why he has so many problems. Mr. Peale said, “Would you like me to show you the people who don’t have any problems?”

“Of course, but is there really such a thing?”

“Come on.”

They chatted as they walked. They talked about problems and how they’re only there to give you opportunities. Hurdles and walls aren’t erected to keep you out; they’re there to see how hungry you are.

“Here we are.” Mr. Peale turned and waved his arm. “All these people have no problems whatsoever.”

The student looked out over a vast land covered in headstones and epitaphs.

“Doubts are our traitors, we oft lose what we might win.”

–Shakespeare

All the best,

Daryl

It’s all over. We capped the conference with a wonderful day, a great meeting with my editor and a couple pictures. Let me cover everything one by one;

In the morning we attended a seminar on ghosts and hauntings in fiction. It was hosted by Michael Slade and Diana Gabaldon. Below is a picture of my Brenda with Michael Slade and another of Brenda with Diana Gabaldon;

Diana Gabaldon and Brenda Grate

Michael Slade and Brenda Grate

After that, Brenda joined me in the hotel restaurant to meet with Lisa Rector-Maass. She is my editor from a company called Third Draft out of New York. After years of revising, Lisa told me for the first time today that she felt my manuscript was ready. Her words, her opinion was that it was saleable. An agent would pick it up the way it is and make a sale. She did have a few suggestions for making it being even better, but concluded it was ready which is quite exciting.

Lunch was great with Donald Maass giving the last keynote speech of the conference. Then everyone left and headed home or to wherever their writing nooks are.

Overall, this was a fabulous weekend. We met a lot of great people and got some work done on getting published.

All the best,

Daryl

Dear Reader;

What a day we had. It’s been non-stop for us (Brenda and I) at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference as we mingled, talked story lines, books and attended classes. During this evenings banquet everyone was required to bring a mask of some sort. Here’s Brenda and I after the dinner;

Brenda and Daryl

And here’s Brenda and I without our masks…

Brenda and Daryl

We were quite fortunate to have the honour of sitting beside a special person who has contributed so much to the writing community and the novel reading public; Diana Gabaldon. We enjoyed dinner as we talked about travel plans, book tours and Diana showed interest in our lives asking us what we do for a living and what we write about.

After dinner I took this lovely picture of C.C. Humphries with Brenda, mask on and mask off.

C.C. Humpries and Brenda at SIWC

C.C. Humphries and Brenda at SIWC mask off...

We retired to the lounge area (bar, drinks, you know) and sat with Elizabeth Lyon and one of her clients. What a fabulous editor. I have read a couple of her books on editing fiction and I completely recommend her work. We talked for at least two hours over glasses of wine and learned a lot about a great human being.

We have made our way to the room and are about to crash. We will talk soon…

Don’t forget, for my short story readers. I have another story called “The Ghostwriter” coming within a few days to the site. It’s about a woman who writes the autobiographies for men and women in old age homes. She follows the story of a man named Markus John, with certain surprises along the way. A twist in the end takes her to a place she never thought she’d experience.

All the Best,

Daryl

It sure is great to be among so many people who love the written word. Everyone here at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference is either an author, an agent, an editor, or a writer trying to land an agent. All these people are here to share with each other, to network and to talk about books. When we were sitting beside Diana Gabaldon in the lounge with Michael Slade, C.C. Humpries and Jack Whyte, we felt it was surreal. There’s some serious talent here and the best thing is they’re all decent people.

Brenda and I went to a number of classes today collecting great ideas on self promotion. I really got a lot out of a class called, “Shameless Self Promotion.”

Some great ideas for me were;

1. Speaking engagments

2. Local library; do lectures or seminars

3. Networking at www.linked.com

4. Use an email signature with the name of your book/website

5. Hospital gift shops

6. Even Westjet does book reviews

And many more. The list was quite long. Since I write paranormal thrillers, I should be searching out everything paranormal to attach my book to such as ghost tours.

I got to meet up with one of the agents I really want to have take my work to the next level.
We had a fabulous chat and I will be sending this agent my work as soon as I get home.

Check out Brenda’s blog for her thoughts on the day.

Daryl

Brenda and I just finished a Master Class with Donald Maass from the Donald Maass Literary Agency. His class was titled “The Tornado Effect”. Summarizing it; we talked about scenes and how we can deconstruct them and then reconstruct them.

He made a great point about taking the defining moment in a scene and stepping back ten minutes before it happens. How does the POV character feel, what are they going through emotionally? What is the lighting like? Is it night, day or early morning? What sounds define the area of the POV character ‘s surroundings?

Then go to ten minutes after the defining moment in the scene and examine how the character feels now. What has changed, what is the character going through? Are they confident? Happy? Or the opposite; morose, anxious or sad.

Really examine this character and feel their trepidation. And then see if you can show the same event (defining moment) through the eyes of another POV character. Show how this moment can affect someone else with their POV.

As shown when bombs are dropped; the recipients of the bombs cry and bellow for the wounded and the dead.

The people who sent the bombs rejoice in a mission well done and then there is a third POV; the cities of the bombers, where mother’s may even put their kids to bed feeling safer now.

Take all this into consideration when developing a scene that has moments that can actually define a character’s motivation. and then try to show this with multiple POV’s, but yet it doesn’t have to be done in every scene.

Donald Maass’ point was to get the student to a place where they work on the sagging middle. His issue was too many novels have this common plight.

Overall, a fabulous three and a half hour seminar.

Stay tuned for an update tomorrow evening on the conference and a new short story should be posted just after the weekend. It’s called, “The Ghostwriter.”

All the best,

Daryl.

Sacrifies. A payment due before the result. To sacrifice; to go through an unpleasant experience for a desired result. The flight to a writing conference can be enjoyable. To fly to a writing conference when the plane is searching for turbulence is not fun.

The flight crew were fantastic. I need to add that. But the turbulence was nasty. It’s not that it was seriously heavy turbulence, it’s just that it was prolonged. Our flight was a notch short of five hours; at least four of them were shaking and stirring. We even had a couple “drops” in the sky. One of them felt deep, far.

Sacrifices…

The International Surrey Writing Conference officially starts on Friday, but they’re putting Master Classes on a day earlier. Brenda and I are here already (Wednesday night) to settle in, write (blogs), and read.

This weekend is going to be fabulous. We both have our new promotional bookmarks. We’ve both got work we’re passionate about and we’re pumped.

Check out Brenda’s blog for her feelings about the flight and the conference. I’ll update each evening because the people we meet and the seminar’s we go to are invaluable.

There will be food and not just for thought; for the scribbler.

Until then, enjoy the world you live in…

Daryl

Dear Reader;

I am reading a Julia Cameron book titled, “The Right To Write”. A number of the chapters started to meld together today in my head when I came up with an idea. I cleared it with Brenda first, to see what her thoughts were, and then we headed off to bring the idea to life.

The Idea; We were to sit on a bench in the park at Innisfil Beach and look out over the water. While there, we would both write our thoughts about anything we wanted. Those thoughts couldn’t go past one page (a test in length). Then we would bundle up and head home to our library and read what we wrote to each other with no edits, and no rewrites.

I couldn’t get over how good Brenda‘s turned out. It was amazing. Here’s what I wrote word for word;

“I want to write about Brenda and what I feel about our being here together.

“The leaves are falling, the breeze cools us. The water licks the shore in a never-ending softness. Travelers on motor-craft come and go, but we’re still here, writing.

“I see a Seagull watching us. He’s curious, jealous. In a unique way that’s how I see Brenda. People come and go, the elements may affect us, but Brenda is my anchor. She’s my soft breeze, she’s my water caressing the shore. God delivered these elements to us. Brenda to me. Her gentle kind heart is beating to a rhythm, her hair flows in an ebb with the wind. She’s my life, as God displays life around us. People watch us in our lives; they’re curious, jealous, like the Seagull.

“My love for Brenda surpasses my previous barriers. Walls erected out of hate, are crumbling and shaky because of love. Understanding is her mantra. Her wings show when she smiles, hence her angelic posture.

“The sun warms my face, her love, my heart.

“A float plane passes us, the constant rhythm of its engine, our design on co-existing, to land where we may, to soar and be free, to be as one, her and me.

“My love, Brenda, my desire, Brenda, mine…”

And that was what I wrote on the October 18th, 2008 at the beach, on a bench with Brenda. Thank you for reading this and I implore you to now read Brenda’s piece from the same venture.