Daring to Dream Big
Cheryl Kaye Tardif October 16, 2008
I’ve always been a dreamer, and I’ve always believed in dreaming BIG. Ever since I was a young girl, my goal was to become the next Stephen King―or 'Stephanie', at least. It’s been a long, hard journey, but one well worth it, and now I am published and on my way to greater success. I learned that with a dream, anything is possible. With a BIG dream, one never stops reaching higher. This is my story…
I was first published at the age of 14, but not the way I wanted to be. I was a journalist who wrote a weekly column for a small BC newspaper. My dream was to be an author, to write novels of suspense as a career. At 16, I completed my first novel,
Beckoning Wrath. It was stolen when I brought it to school to show my LA teacher. In my early 20s, I finished another novel,
Scavenger Hunt. I submitted query letters, partial manuscripts and my dreams, for publishers to judge. I received rejection letter after rejection letter.
Over the years I continued to write and pitch projects to publishers, with no luck. I took a course in journalism/short story writing and graduated with a 98% average. I wrote two children's books, complete with illustrations. I even paid for prototypes to be printed and when I held my first “real” book in my hands, it made my heart race. These picture books were well received in schools and daycares when I did readings, but no one seemed interested in publishing them. After two years, I put them on the backburner.
In early 2003 I told a friend about a story I had always wanted to write, one that had haunted me for years. It was a story about a young girl who experiences a tragedy and loses her memory―a tale of finding oneself, redemption and forgiveness. My friend told me: "Just WRITE it! Even if it never gets published, write it for YOU! Write it because you have to."
Six weeks after I started writing
Whale Song, I found Trafford Publishing, a Canadian self-publishing company that uses a process called POD―Print on Demand. Books are printed as needed, so no large print run is necessary. Frustrated by my past attempts to find a traditional publisher, I decided that it was worth the risk to self-publish. I was determined to prove my books could sell by having a track record of sales. Maybe then I’d get a traditional publisher to take me seriously. Like many authors before me, such as Margaret Atwood and John Grisham who also self-published, it worked.
From the time
Whale Song was first self-published in 2003, my career has soared. I self-published two more suspense novels,
Divine Intervention and
The River, and both have been successful. I’ve been featured in newspapers and magazines, on TV and radio (and internet radio) in Canada and the US. Still, I dreamed BIGGER.
In the spring of 2006,
Whale Song was ‘picked up’ by Kunati Books, a
traditional royalty paying publisher. An expanded, revised second edition of
Whale Song was re-released in April 2007 to national and international exposure. It became an Amazon bestseller in Canada and the US and has received rave reviews from fans and industry reviewers. Numerous film companies are reading
Whale Song, including many from Hollywood. Translation rights are being negotiated. My success with
Whale Song even helped me acquire a respected New York literary agent who now represents all my work, past and future.
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!
Don’t be afraid to dream. Don’t be afraid to want more or better. 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.” No success ever comes from sitting still; you must be in motion―always trying, always reaching.
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 conceive it, believe it. Then you can achieve it. Have courage that all things are possible. Courage is contagious. So is fear. Fear can’t hurt you unless you surrender to it. Never surrender. Always dream.
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
About Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Cheryl Kaye Tardif lives in Edmonton, Alberta, and is working on her next suspense novel. She’s the author of DIVINE INTERVENTION, THE RIVER and the critically acclaimed novel WHALE SONG. Her next novel CHILDREN OF THE FOG is in the hands of her agent. When asked about her work, Cheryl enjoys telling people, “I kill people off for a living.” Booklist calls her “a name to reckon with south of the border.”You can visit Cheryl's website at:
www.cherylktardif.com.
Cheryl Kaye Tardif Profile at OnceWritten.com
