 I believe in my dream to become a published and prolific YA and Fantasy novelist. Success as a writer means different things to different people: some aspire to high sales and bestseller lists, others want critical acclaim and awards/prizes/accolades, still others seek a cult following. For me, the greatest part would be to create novels that readers love; I would love to have my readers discuss their favourite characters, what they want to happen in the next book, and so on - just like I did growing up with all my favourite books.
Finding wealth from writing is rare, and part of it is luck, so there is not much I can do to make that happen. But I can work hard to achieve a living income from my art - which would enable me to spend all my working days doing what I love. I'm only in my late twenties, but the older I get, the more I realise we are on this planet for a very short amount of time, so I want to enjoy the days I have here. If I could spend my days doing what I love, I would be a happy man. What started this dream? To be honest, I grew up as a bit of an oddball kid. I was always reading from a really young age: everything from Little Golden Books to those thumping big UBD road maps. I spent so many hours poring over the old World Book set: no Internet or hyperlink-hopping back in the early 90s, just a stack of open encyclopedias strewn across the carpet. My parents took to calling me "Number 5", after the information-seeking robot in the 80s sci-fi movie Short Circuit, who went around droning for "more input". In any case, I was reading anything I could get my hands on, and by the time I was seven, reading took up a lot of my spare time. I realised what made me happy was not just reading stories, but telling them. The day after I realised that, I got a notebook and pen and started my first story. Even though I come from a working-class background and a country town where literary pursuits were really not the norm, least of all for a young boy, my parents always encouraged me in my unusual pursuits, and I never stopped going for what I wanted. What motivates you to follow this dream? One of my favourite books is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It's a hermetic/new age parable about the importance of following your dreams, and I re-read it every few years. There are two strong motivators within this novel (well, I reckon they're strong). The first is that having a dream makes life meaningful, not achieving it, necessarily: as Coelho puts it in his book Aleph, it's not about the station, it's about the train. The second point is that the universe will give you small wins along the way to your dream, to give you some self-belief and help you to keep going. I've had some small wins over the years to keep me going. A short story published in a literary journal in 2009. A bit of freelance journalistic stuff published after that. Another short story in another journal in 2015. A prestigious arts grant that same year. All small victories that tell me I'm on track, I'm getting there, and I can make it. What are your goals? My current goal is to finish the project I have just started: a YA novel that deals with some heavy themes that are close to the bone about the trauma of my own teenage years. It’s big stuff to work on, but it feels important to get it out there into the world. After that's done, I have a YA Fantasy manuscript to rework and then shop around to agents; it's in pretty good shape thanks to a mentorship I had in 2016 with a top editor from the Australian Society of Authors, but I think it still needs some work to be not just marketable, but outstanding. Beyond those two novels, I have so many other projects clamouring for my attention. I published a high fantasy short story earlier this year, The Scroll of Isidor, and I am keen to write a full-length novel set in that world. I have a YA Thriller that is about 1/3 complete and I will eventually want to revisit. And I'm running low on short stories in my arsenal, so I really want to churn out a few more of those and get them out into the world until I have a novel to flog. And if those projects comprise the Bed and Bath sections of my goals/pipe dreams, here's the Beyond: I have what I think is a really cool idea for a short TV comedy series and I would love to write a script for a pilot and see if it has legs. All of this slops around in my subconscious on a daily basis: there's the relatively new adage that a writer's brain is like a web browser with fifty tabs open at once, and I think this is very true. Incidentally, that also describes my actual web browser, so I'm really just a walking mass of chaos. What would you like people to know and where can we find you? My current daydream is that I quit most of my day jobs, sell all my stuff (except my laptop) and live out of a van like Jewel did in the early 90s. It's a very romantic and appealing idea: I can see myself waking up on a smelly old mattress in the back of a combi van, rolling out of the van, stretching my arms, scratching my bare chest, making myself a shitty instant black coffee and sipping that as the sun rises over the beach, and I begin my day of unadulterated writing. Poverty-stricken bliss. Until that fantasy comes true, you can find me on the socials like most other writers. I’m on Twitter (@V8Sheppard) daily, so come and say g’day. Twitter: https://twitter.com/V8Sheppard Facebook: http://facebook.com/HoldenSheppardAuthor Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/holdensheppard Website: http://holdensheppard.com Blog: http://holdensheppard.wordpress.com Smashwords: http://smashwords.com/profile/view/holdensheppard The Dreamer Blog features two people each week in pursuit of their dreams, large or small everyone has a dream that deserves support. Douglas Geller, the author of this blog is also the author of the book The Dreamer; you can learn more about The Dreamer and purchase it at: http://amzn.to/2j7W79P
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 I believe in my dream to become a successful author. By successful, I don’t mean finding my name on the NY Times Bestseller list or winning awards (although, it would be nice). In an industry as robust and competitive as literary writing, success to me would be to have readers enjoy my work. I’ve read a lot in my life, as a kid I would gobble up books by the hundred each school year. Reading to that extent, most books become a blur, they start to mesh with one another. But then there are those few gems where a sentence or a scene has stuck with me years after initially reading them, and that’s where the magic lies. My dream is to be published, yes, but most importantly, to have a reader remember my work. To have the words I’ve written on a page make a difference, an impact, on someone else’s life.
What started this dream? My parents would tell my sister and I folktales from Guyana, where they’re from. We really enjoyed those. There’s something about listening to a story, taking in the inflections of a voice and the tone that can really carry it. Some of the first scary stories I’ve ever known were told to me in this way, and I couldn’t get enough. Then, when I was in the third grade, I had an amazing teacher who would dedicate time to read out loud to the class each day. We’d read chapter books, a few chapters at a time. Soon, I found that this became my favorite part of the school day, and when the teacher’s book wasn’t enough, I started going to the library. In a few years, I had read almost every book on the shelf. What motivates you to follow this dream? The enjoyment I receive from reading and writing is plenty of motivation. It is an art-form, and when I let myself write, it’s a very freeing feeling. Winning writing competitions throughout my childhood and college has been welcomed validation. Also, my mom. She was my very first fan. I started writing stories when I was probably seven or eight, and she saw how much I enjoyed it. When I got a little older, my parents bought me a typewriter that I would happily peck away at for hours. I feel very lucky to have been brought up with such support. Today, that support continues with my husband, who is an immense inspiration when it comes to following one's dreams. What are your goals? My goal is to publish two novels within the next two years. A Blight on this House is awaiting its second edit and Mother is mid-way through its first draft. I’d like to continue publishing in magazines, newspapers and other publications, and to continue my blog ‘Articles of Horror’, which is a fun pastime of mine. I don’t see the aforementioned as the end, however, only the beginning of an amazing journey. What would you like people to know and where can we find you? Following your dream takes some serious moxie. Whatever your dream, keep it close to your heart. A lot of people will roll their eyes, thinking that what you’ve bitten off is unrealistic. But the truth is, everything is unrealistic until it is accomplished. Even if I never publish a novel, at least I tried, and in the end, that to me is worth more than all the eye rolls in the world. If you’d like to keep up to date on my work or to just say hello, drop by my website www.christinapersaud.com and you can read my blog at www.articlesofhorror.com. I also tweet regularly @EerieChristine. The Dreamer Blog features two people each week in pursuit of their dreams, large or small everyone has a dream that deserves support. Douglas Geller, the author of this blog is also the author of the book The Dreamer; you can learn more about The Dreamer and purchase it at: http://amzn.to/2j7W79P  I believe in my dream to become one of the most exciting fighters on the planet.
What started this dream? Watching movies and UFC at a young age started this. Never back down is the movie that actually started this. After watching that movie the next day my dad signed me up for karate at age 8. What motivates you to follow this dream? What motivates me to keep going is pride for my families name, raw passion for the sport, and money. What are your goals? My goals for the not so distant future are to win the ummaf fights I have coming up which is a 3 day tournament. In the distant future I will become UFC world champion. What would you like people to know and where can we find you? I'd like people to know that the product of what you see in the cage and out is partly from my parents and my coach Bubby Mitchell, my training partners (Lathon Lawson, Quinten Culpepper, Homer Mangram, Kevin Smith, and Jake Clevenger). You can find Chase on Instagram at @chachabumbumboutwell. The Dreamer Blog features two people each week in pursuit of their dreams, large or small everyone has a dream that deserves support. Douglas Geller, the author of this blog is also the author of the book The Dreamer; you can learn more about The Dreamer and purchase it at: http://amzn.to/2j7W79P  I believe in my dream to make an impact in the MMA industry. This business is crazy sometimes. There are a lot of people that are involved in MMA for ALL of the wrong reasons, and I pride myself on NOT being one of those people. I have developed life long friendships with so many awesome people in this sport, and have developed great business relationships with many people at the same time! I am helping fighters reach their dreams by giving them an opportunity to fight on a very big platform in the Midwest. It sounds corny, but all of us that are involved wether it be staff or fighters, are working together to achieve our dreams and goals.
What started this dream? I started like most people that are now involved with mma, as a fan. A fan of old school fighters like Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Anderson Silva, etc. Watching those guys on TV is what got my hooked on the sport. The organization I work for now, KnockOut Promotions, originally started hosting events in a venue called Proball. Proball was a baseball and softball facility that was owned by my parents at the time, and my involvement with KnockOut Promotions was very little. I was the parking lot attendant at the shows. I didn't always get to watch all the fights, but I loved even being a small part of the process. Over time I just started getting more and more involved, getting more familiar with the fighters and how the business worked until I was obsessed with it. I loved everything about it. The marketing, the promoting, I LOVE getting people hyped up to see some amazing fights. It's my passion. The original owners of KnockOut Promotions decided to split up, and When the opportunity presented itself for me to become the President and Matchmaker, I never looked back, and I've been doing this job ever since! What motivates you to follow this dream? My motivation comes from a few different things. Like I said before, I want to make an impact on the sport. I have a lot to offer and I truly try and do things the right way. I have a great relationship with every fighter and manager that we do business with, and the reason for that is because I am straight up with everybody. I am a nice guy, I love to joke around and have a good time with everybody, but when it's time for business.. it's all business and I become a very straight up person. This method of business has helped me gain the trust of the fighters and managers, and it's a method that I will continue to use. What are your goals? My goals are to help run a successful MMA promotion, to provide a platform that each fighter can use to reach THEIR dreams. To always be respected and to continue to conduct business the way we have since day 1. Eventually I would love to make enough money to make this my full time job. Anybody that is involved with the business side of MMA knows that this business controls your life. The countless hours you have to dedicate towards this is unreal, but it also doesn't always pay the bills, so I work a full time job on top of this. I truly believe that one day this sacrifice will all be worth it! What would you like people to know and where can we find you? You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and twitter. Just search Matt Frendo and you'll see me profiles! You can find the promotions Facebook account at www.facebook.com/KOPROMO you can find our Instagram by simply searching for KnockOut Promotions on Instagram also (@kopromotions). The Dreamer Blog features two people each week in pursuit of their dreams, large or small everyone has a dream that deserves support. Douglas Geller, the author of this blog is also the author of the book The Dreamer; you can learn more about The Dreamer and purchase it at: http://amzn.to/2j7W79P  I believe in my dream to one day make the N.Y. Times best sellers’ list for novels. I believe this dream, pertaining to my work life, is achievable. The reason I have faith that it will happen is because I write relatable stories that come from deep within my very being. I do not have a specific genre of writing, as I have two dramas, Until One Day and Some Other Time, two romantic comedies, Exception to the Rule and Sex for Fun, and one intense love/drama, What The Heart Can Hold, novels published. I write stories that both tug at the heart strings while also bringing a smile to the readers face while they become immersed in my novels. My books have five star reviews from both male and female readers. I believe that it will just take that “one person”, someone of influence, to read one of my novels and the word of my work will spread like wildfire.
My first four novels have a Gay male character as the female protagonist’s best friend. I am a gay friendly author. Each of my Gay characters is different, as I believe there is a stereotyping of Gay men in our society that needs to stop. I do not mention that any of my characters are Gay in any of my book synopsis on my book jackets. Why? Because their sexual preference should not be an issue, as it is not an issue for heterosexuals. What started this dream I have always made up stories, ever since I was a child. I just didn’t write them down. I had an active imagination. I would go to bed at night and close my eyes and make up characters, scenery, costumes and dialogue. These stories would lull me to sleep. As I became older the stories never stopped, they only became more detailed and intensely in-depth in my mind. But, I never wrote them down. I did attempt to work for Hallmark when I was in my 20’s, sending them a folder full of what I believed to be great paragraphs for greeting cards. Their rejection shifted my career to a different path. I had school, a career, a marriage, a divorce, then becoming a single mother of two children (ages 3 and 5) kept me busy. There was no time to write, only to create stories in my mind at bedtime. When my children attended high school there was more me time, and that’s when I started to write my first novel, What The Heart Can Hold. What motivates you to follow this dream? What motivates me to follow my dream of writing is the thrill I get when creating characters, which become real to me as I write them, and being in total control of what the characters do and say and most importantly how the novel ends. When writing each story, I am taken from reality and into a world I create. When I complete a novel there is a sense of accomplishment, however, the process continues onto the next novel, as there is always another idea for another story waiting in the background. What are your goals? With respect to my writing, my goal is to have as many people as possible read my novels. I believe that my stories are ones that a reader can become totally engaged in and be swept away to a different reality, and if only for a little while, they can live through one of my characters and enjoy the roller coaster of emotions my novels bring. Being a writer is extremely satisfying for me. When I meet a reader who tells me they cried during certain parts of my novels, it brings me joy. The knowledge that my mere words on paper, stung along in my writers’ voice, can evoke tears from someone is a powerful feeling. What would you like people to know and where can we find you? What I would like people to know about me is that being a mother is my proudest title. Being a novelist is my second. I raised two strong, independent, beautiful daughters who have both recently graduated from college and are just starting their careers. When my youngest daughter read my first novel and expressed how much she loved it, it was a feeling like no other. I do wish everyone who reads a book would write a review for an author. It makes such a difference when people are searching for a new book to read and there is a review that can help them decide if the book is for them or not. I can be found at charlottesymonds.com, Goodreads.com and on Amazon. I hope you check out my reviews on these sites and decide to give a new author a chance. You just might be amazed that the new kid on the block is good and your new favorite author. I love hearing from my readers. You can contact me at chatwiththeauthor@gmail.com and on Twitter @CSymondsauthor Special note: From May 13 - May 15, Charlotte will be giving away her e-book "Some Other Time", on Kindle away for free to celebrate Mother's Day. The Dreamer Blog features two people each week in pursuit of their dreams, large or small everyone has a dream that deserves support. Douglas Geller, the author of this blog is also the author of the book The Dreamer; you can learn more about The Dreamer and purchase it at: http://amzn.to/2j7W79P  I believe in my dream to write supernatural and psychological suspense books full time. Women can and do write awesome dark fiction!
What started this dream? I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was five years old, churning out stories about a family of fish living in fear of a bear who managed to stalk them under the ocean. (It was a talented bear.) But my attraction to darker themes was solidified in high school, thanks to a writing teacher who hated what he called “Disney endings.” The darker I got, the more he loved it. What motivates you to follow this dream? Besides a deep love of telling stories and connecting with readers—and the fact that I just have a weakness for this stuff—you could say I’ve upped the ante. I re-mortgaged my home and quit a successful freelance journalism career to give myself the time to turn this dream into reality. What are your goals? My goals are to introduce more people to dark fiction, and show them how much fun it is to be (safely) scared. I’m also a travel addict who sets her books in haunted places all over the world, so continuing to visit these mysterious locations is extremely important to me. What would you like people to know and where can we find you? I don’t bite, and I love to hear from readers, fellow writers, and travelers. J.H. Moncrieff writes psychological and supernatural suspense novels that let her readers safely explore the dark corners of the world. She won Harlequin's search for the next Gillian Flynn in 2016. Her first published novella, The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave, was featured in Samhain’s Childhood Fears collection and stayed on its horror bestsellers list for over a year. The first two novels of her new GhostWriters series, City of Ghosts and The Girl Who Talks to Ghosts, will be officially released on May 16, 2017. When not writing, J.H. loves visiting the world's most haunted places, advocating for animal rights, and summoning her inner ninja in muay thai class. To get free ebooks and a new spooky story every week, check out her Hidden Library. Connect with J.H.: Website | Twitter | Facebook The Dreamer Blog features two people each week in pursuit of their dreams, large or small everyone has a dream that deserves support. Douglas Geller, the author of this blog is also the author of the book The Dreamer; you can learn more about The Dreamer and purchase it at: http://amzn.to/2j7W79P  I believe in my dream to…?
I have to begin this with a quote from Jung, ‘I don’t believe, I know …’ Jung was a man of dreams and is one of my heroes. I was brought up by parents and relatives who followed the old ways of Britain. And their parents, and their parents, for many and many generations. There were quite a few of what we call the “old folk” in the villages where I grew up so I wasn’t alone, there were several people to take me and the other old-ways- children under their wings, and show us how life works and how to live it. Part of that teaching was about how to dream. In consequence, I don’t “believe” in dreams, I know them as old friends who are there to help me … and who ask me to help them. This is such a comfortable and easy way to be, I wish more people would be brave enough to try it. So, I work with the dream, with the dream-world, with otherworld, learning and exploring, helping too. Remember 9/11? Well, that was one helluva work-time for those of us who do, who work with dreams. We were finding spirits, catching them, herding them up, and generally helping them get to where they needed to be for quite a few nights! We had great help from otherworld, particularly from Gwyn ap Nudd (as we call the antlered one here in Britain) and the antlered lady whom he partners (yes that way round! She’s in charge 😊) Elen of the Ways. Elen is lady of the dream-paths, amongst other things, so dream-work is always part of her work … and the work of those who work with her, like me. What started this dream? What starts any dream … a need. Often the need is both in oneself and in otherworld; we need to know more about something; they need us to do something for them. After all these years of my life I’m now well used to “night school”. It’s like the catnapping my cats do, I cross the bridge into otherworld, and the dream world, and there I go into situations that teach me things; or I go places where I’m needed to do things; or I travel to learn about places and people and things. I watch my cats do this, they’re much more adept at it than any human I’ve ever known. Dreams are about learning and discovering with otherworld, and being useful with them. It’s a partnership, where you and otherworld work together for evolution – that’s evolution of the whole spirit-world as well as your spirit, of thinking, and of the emotional world, as well as physical evolution. It goes through all of that, through everything in creation, and creation is a part of spirit. At first, many folk don’t really know how to dream, and most get no instruction in it nowadays because it’s all tangled in bad-science which says it’s just your brain giving off weird and fragmented electrical signals. Sigh! Good science doesn’t actually say this but the TV and google and most of the internet crap folks choose to believe purports the most dreadful rubbish. It’s all about reducing it down to a size, a box, that is easy to handle and doesn’t strain anyone’s brain … sigh, again! Stretching your mind, thinking out of the box, expanding the envelope … they’re what real living is about. And dreams can help us do this – if we allow them. That’s the premise that starts every dream. Just because most of them are stillborn and scrapped as soon as we open our eyes doesn’t make the dream useless … it shows how incredibly small our own thinking and belief system is. The trick is to learn this, to learn to open up, to learn to work with otherworld – we call it walking between worlds. That phrase – walking between worlds – comes from one of our old seannachie (Scottish Gaelic “shaman” types, spirit keepers) called Thomas of Erceldoune; you likely know him better from the old song, Thomas the Rhymer. What motivates you to follow this dream? Work. My work is my raison d’etre, reason for incarnating, and it’s all about working with otherworld. This really isn’t a personal thing, my life is my work – and it’s such good fun! Work – working with spirit, all the time – is always what motivates me. It’s not the same as the usual “personal” motivation most people have. I consciously joined the club, joined with otherworld to work, when I was in my teens. Oh yes, I’d been doing it all my life but it’s different while you’re still a child. Then you do things because “that’s what you do”; later, as a teenager, you gradually become yourself and, if your lucky with your parenting or other factors in your life, that’s about becoming your spirit self. You don’t get all that overnight, it takes time and space and purpose on your part, and you’ll make mistakes, everyone does, they’re best means of learning there is. It was, perhaps, less hard for me to make it towards being myself because of my background, but there were still ptifalls and hard times, and times when I just wanted to crawl away and be “ordinary”. But the dream-lif, the dream-world, and Elen of the Ways helped me through these – she still does when I get really down nowadays 😊. And, ultimately, my “one dream” is to work with otherworld, always, all the time … I’m doing this, following that path. It is sooooooo good! What are your goals? Like I just said … to work with otherworld, always, all the time. But there’s more than that. Working with otherworld is also about helping others who want to do that as well. That’s why I write, that’s why I teach. Watching people open up, seeing that joy in their eyes … there’s nothing like it! The writing comes through dream-work too. I’ll set up an objective, an information need, or the scene for a novel, before I go to sleep, then the dreams come, and they lead me into how to write whatever it is I need to. I do the same with teaching too, both with the lessons and with problems the students have. All good students have problems – that’s how they climb out of their boxes and grow! I only ever worry about those who seem to be having it easy, they’re not growing, not changing, not expanding. The old saw about snakes sloughing their skins is so true, we all have to put off our old skins and grow new ones, and that can be difficult and painful. Working with otherworld through dreams is a really good way of being useful for the books and the students. I take myself of for a “catnap”, a dream, and come back refreshed and with some new ways of solving the problem. In our old ways, we do “daydreaming”. It mostly gets an awfully bad press nowadays in ordinary life, often called time-wasting, foolish and illusionary. Sigh … yet again! Ye gods, we have lost so, so much in the past 50-odd years, really (as I see it) since the later 1970s. everything gets crammed into “rational” and “logical” boxes, rather like Cinderella’s sisters cut off bits of their toes and heels to try to fit their feet into the glass slipper! I mean, how dumb can you get, to do that sort of thing? And most people’s brains are so overworked, and in all the wrong things, their quite addled. But using anything but your brain, nowadays, is considered stupid. Ah well … ho hum! So one of my goals, when working with anyone who comes to me and wants to grow, is to get them out of this frightful head-set way of being. It’s hard work! But it’s so worthwhile as their “past their sell-by” dated stuff falls away from them and the real person emerges. It really is like the caterpillar coming out of the chrysalis as a butterfly. What would you like people to know and where can we find you? I’m an author, teacher & wilderness woman. Born into a family of British cunning folk where the old ways were passed down since time out of mind. I live with my cats, husband and a host of wildlife in the back of beyond, a magical twilight place between worlds, on the Welsh Borders. I write novels – Owl Woman & Moon Song – and non-fiction @MoonBooksJHP, my latest is Merlin: once & future wizard, and I’m an Awenydd/Shaman who teaches the old ways of Britain. I love cats, spinning & weaving, wildlife, ecology, mountain walking, wilderness, rewilding, music, folklore. Find me at http://www.elensentier.co.uk @elensentier and https://www.facebook.com/elensentier The Dreamer Blog features two people each week in pursuit of their dreams, large or small everyone has a dream that deserves support. Douglas Geller, the author of this blog is also the author of the book The Dreamer; you can learn more about The Dreamer and purchase it at: http://amzn.to/2j7W79P |
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