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Dare to Dream and Dream BIG

Written by: Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Article Overview: It is said that every person has at least one good story in them! Some people are gifted to have more than one. Do you know a future writer – someone who dreams of writing fiction, poetry, or short stories? Maybe that future writer is…you! If you dream of writing, then why not write? Why not Dare to Dream…and Dream BIG?

Dare to Dream and Dream BIG

Dare to Dream~
It is said that every person has at least one good story in them! Some people are gifted to have more than one.

Do you know a future writer – someone who dreams of writing fiction, poetry, or short stories? Maybe that future writer is…you! If you dream of writing, then why not write?

Why not Dare to Dream…and Dream BIG?

There once was a young girl who dreamed of becoming a writer. Her goal was to become the next Stephen King…or 'Stephanie', at least. When she was about 16, she wrote her first novel. It was stolen when she brought it to school to show her LA teacher. In her early 20s, she finished another novel and tried to find a publisher. She submitted query letters, partial manuscripts…and her dreams, for other people to judge. She received rejection letter after rejection letter.

The first strike against her was that she had very few published works – a few town articles in a small local paper were her only credit. The second strike against her was that she was Canadian, struggling to get into a predominantly American market. 95% of the major, big-league publishing companies were American. She hit a brick wall – hard.

For the next few years, she wrote mostly poetry, until she submitted a health and beauty article and landed another column in a small newspaper. And then a year or so later she ended up in a New Brunswick newspaper, as the writer of a song dedicated to the Gulf War soldiers. This was the first indication that she had power – power to influence people's emotions, to make them feel something.

Years passed as she struggled to find a way to make her dream come true, to be that writer. She continued to write, took a course in journalism/short story writing and graduated with a 98% average. She wrote two children's books, complete with illustrations and tried desperately to get them published. They became her 'babies', her creations. Her children's books were well received in schools when she did readings, but no one seemed interested in publishing them. After two years of more brick walls, she gave up trying. Her dream dissipated…died a slow death.

More years went by, until one day she was talking to a friend about a story she had always wanted to write. It was a story about a young girl who experiences a tragedy and loses part of her memory – a tale about killer whales and native legends. It was a story about wolves and dreams, love and life, death and fear…but mostly it was a story about triumph and forgiveness. Her friend told her "You need to just WRITE it! Even if it never gets published, write it for YOU! Write it because you have to." Her friend was right!

Dream BIG~
If my friend had not encouraged me to write Whale Song, then I would have let an awe-inspiring story slip away, as I was lost in self-doubt. I would be at home, working a J.O.B., giving up on my Dream.

Whale Song was more than a story to me…it was my inspiration. It played itself out like a movie in my head. The story had haunted me for two years until I finally began writing it after talking to that friend. Once I sat down to write, the story flowed as if I wasn't even there. Some stories simply demand to be told, and this was one of them.

Then came the brick wall: how to get it published.

I knew of two options: find a reputable publishing company and get them to notice my novel out of the thousands of manuscripts they receive, or self-publish.

The problem with do-it-yourself self-publishing is that those companies expect you to fork out thousands of dollars so they can run a huge print job with thousands of copies that you have to warehouse yourself in a basement or storage unit. And then you are left on your own to sell/market your books. Who has $10,000-20,000 to throw away?

Six weeks after I started writing Whale Song, I located a Canadian publisher via a search on the Internet. Trafford Publishing is a Canadian company with offices in 5 countries, Canada, the US, Ireland, Spain and the UK. They use a process called POD – Print on Demand. Trafford offers a form of self-publishing, but the difference is that they help promote, sell and advertise your work. As with any business (and a writer is his/her business) there is an investment, but it was unbelievable SMALL compared to what I received. Trafford made it POSSIBLE to finally realize my Dream…but it hasn't stopped there!

From the time Whale Song was first published in 2003, my career has soared and my dreams are starting to come true. I have been featured in newspapers and magazines, on TV and radio (and internet radio) in Canada and the US, and I’ve used Whale Song to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Hope Mission, Bissell Centre, Mustard Seed Church and Canadian Red Cross in Edmonton.

But my dreams were even bigger than all of this, and in the spring of 2006, Whale Song was ‘picked up’ by Kunati Books, a creative, highly motivated new publisher—a traditional publisher. It was released in April 2007 to national and international exposure. Numerous film companies are reading Whale Song, including many from Hollywood. Translation rights are also being negotiated. My success with Whale Song made my next two novels successful and helped me to acquire one of New York’s respected literary agents.

The messages in Whale Song transcend my original thoughts and words. I’ve received emails from people all over the world who have been touched by some of these messages. One young woman credits Whale Song for changing her life. After reading it, she began to create wonderful paintings again―masterpieces―including one titled “Whale Song”.

My novel Whale Song has grown beyond a simple novel…it is BIGGER than my original dream. Why? Because I never gave up! Because I live my motto: Dare to Dream…and Dream BIG!

And that is my message to you. Don’t be afraid to dream. Don’t be afraid to want more or better. Courage is contagious. So is fear. Fear can’t hurt you unless you surrender to it. Never surrender. Always dream. Our spirits are meant to dream, to soar into the unknown, to reach for higher aspirations.

At the end of you life’s journey you don’t want to have only empty regrets for all the things you did not try to accomplish. At the very least you want to say, “At least I tried.” And no success ever comes from sitting still; you must be in motion―trying.

And as in the law of attraction, visualize that dream, reach for it, do everything you can think of to achieve it and always keep the bigger picture in your mind. If you can believe it, you can achieve it.

Do you have a dream? Dare to dream it! No matter what it is, whether to be a writer, an artist, the next Canadian Idol or a doctor. Then take that dream…and Dream BIG!

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

©2008 Cheryl Kaye Tardif

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Article Tags: becoming a writer, brick wall, fiction poetry, gulf war, gulf war soldiers, health and beauty, illustrations, journalism, manuscripts, new brunswick, publishing companies, query letters, rejection letter, s books, short stories, short story writing, stephanie, stephen king, writing fiction, young girl



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