The world I grew up doesn't exist anymore

For a long time now I have thought that the world I grew up doesn’t exist anymore. I might be naïve, but I miss those simpler times and the security that I grew up with. Everything really bad that I can remember ever happening in my childhood happened far away. That was the beauty of growing up in a small town in Ontario Canada. Nothing really ever happened. Murders, suicides and every other terrible thing was a news report. There were a few accidents that killed people, but I think that most people I knew that died, in my childhood, were from a disease or old age. I look back at it now and think how great my childhood was.

I am 43 and oh how the world has changed. Murders, suicides and many other crimes happen not only a lot more in my country, but also in my city. In a lot of ways, I don’t like this modern world and the things that I hear are happening around me. I have been more or less a hypocrite and coward about it because I give a few bucks to a homeless man or complain about it, but I don’t really do anything to help or change it.

The truth is, I believe that we live in a beautiful world where anything is possible. I am proof of it in my way. No I am not that playboy billionaire who runs around at night saving people, but I am something those I grew up with never thought I would be. I was the first male member of my family to go to college, I have never been in trouble with the law, am considered successful career wise and I followed my dreams. These things might not make you think, ‘wow this guy is amazing’, but it has taken me a lifetime of hard work to get here.

I truly believe though that if we look past race, creed, color, religion, nationality and all these other things our world and its population make up a beautiful and special thing. Maybe it’s just the optimist in me, but I think as much as people are our world’s biggest problem, it can also be the thing that makes it special. I have traveled to a lot of countries and met countless people in my travels. The greatest thing I have learned is that no matter where people come from or what they believe, people are people. I can always find a commonality in them and differences. Sometimes the differences are the most amazing part and others a commonality built on a different outlook can literally be absolutely mind blowing.

Sometime ago I read about this teenager that committed suicide and thought that it was such a great waste. No I didn’t know her, but she was still a young and unique person. We all are in our own way. I read about her story and in my mind this girl needed that world I grew up in that doesn’t exist anymore. I thought then and still believe that one person could have changed and saved that young girls life. The biggest problem in my eyes is who is that one person. The idea of “One” came to me. One person can’t fix the world, but one person at a time can.

The idea that if we all give a little of ourselves, we can make the world a better place and probably new or mind blowing, but I think that if we can take a little more interest in the world around us those around us might not feel alone. I am not naïve enough to think it will be the cause of world peace, but I do think that we can benefit from it as well as those around us. What if just making someone smile on the bus makes their day a little brighter or telling someone that they have beautiful smile pushes back somebody else’s negative statement. The idea that we can change the world bit by bit, one person at a time, can be stronger. Something even more exciting is that we might meet an amazing person that we otherwise might not have ever met.

Now I have had this inspiration to write books based on a theme of something I don’t like about the world. I always have lots of inspiration and there’s never a shortage of things I would like to fix about the world. I don’t want to famous or rich from it, but I would like to think that if I give it away, one person might find inspiration from it or might not feel so alone. I had the idea, but never acted on it. I told myself that I was nobody and such an idea needed someone famous or rich to benefit the world. The idea didn’t leave though. Every year I join NaNoWriMo to see if I am up to the challenge. When the book is written I don’t do anything with it. It’s just a challenge for someone that likes challenges. This year I decided to write something meaningful and just give it to the world for free with the hopes that one person some where reads it and sees that possibility that their world can be better.

Starting November 1^st I will be releasing a book every year called “The one collection”. The first book is called “Desperate Measures,” chapter by chapter for free hoping that one person who needs to read it finds it. This book will be based on teenage suicide and bullying. I don’t know if I can change the world, but I don’t want to look back and say the world I grew up in doesn’t exist anymore. I want to share it with the hopes I can help somebody else see that it does still exist we just need to search for it or build it.

 

Bag of Bones

Synopsis:

Several years after his wife's death, novelist Mike Noonan still suffers writer's block. A dream inspires him to return to the couple's summer retreat in western Maine, a lakeside house called Sara Laughs. Shortly after arriving, Noonan is caught in the middle of a custody battle involving the daughter of an attractive young widow and the child's enormously wealthy grandfather. He also discovers that Sara Laughs is haunted and that his late wife, Joanna, still has something to tell him.

My review:

I once read that great writers are great readers and people have been asking me what books I read. Ok I think that they read my version of a love story and ponder what kind of warped mind could write a love story like this and ponder what kinds of books I read. This is easily my favourite Stephen King book. It was actually the first of many Stephen King books that I read.

At first I thought that it wasn’t a very scary book. This is a ghost story about being haunted, both by spirits and by memories. It’s about a forty something writer Mike Noonan that can no longer write. He is plagued by vivid nightmares set in his western Maine summerhouse he calls Sara Laughs, desperately he returns to the lakeside getaway. His getaway is in a sparsely populated fading resort town with a dark historic past. The mystery and the hauntings are linked in with a child custody battle, complete with a nefarious old villain, and a damsel in distress, Mattie. There’s a custody battle over a three-year girl name Kyra. As you follow along you discover the towns secrets and how Mike Noonan is smack dab in the middle.

Like many Stephen King books, the characters he creates seem almost real. Throughout Bag of Bones, the central character, Mike Noonan has little pieces of all of us in him. You come to think of Mike as someone who really existed. Of course if Mike really existed, then the Sara Laughs story must be real-and there in lies the horror.

It is no secret that King is one of our most mesmerizing storytellers. In Bag of Bones, he proves to be one of our most moving as well. I know some say that the story could have told in half the size, but I honestly think that it’s a great book with characters that jump out at you and make you want to keep reading into the late hours of the night.

Smile JD

Immortal Obsession - You will never think of Angels the same way again

I created my first trailer for my Immortal Obsession Trilogy and thought that I would share it with you.

Your dreams are too big

I wonder if the optimist in me has a warped view of the dreams or if those around me do.  Yes I dream big. No I don’t chase money or fame or things that those around me seem to hold dear, but I chase monster dreams. I lived life without dreams for a long time and I wasn't happy. I was existing and not really living and for me, that's no way to really live. 

I can rarely accomplish a lot of my dreams. I have yet to accomplish 101 goals in 1001 days, but I did accomplish a lot more than if I didn't make the list. It isn't the actual 101 things on the list that motivates me; it’s to challenge of trying to get them all done. Not just done, but to the best of my ability. Doing a half ass job at anything you do isn't chasing something it’s just getting by.


I am by no means a prime example of success because half the things I dream of take three or four tries to conquer. I set out to write one half decent book. Three tries and two years later I wrote two books that sucked and one decent book. That was my goal. Not to write a best seller, not to make a lot of money or even get famous, but to write one good book. Now I learned a lot about writing over that two-year period and originally my dream was to throw that book on a shelf and never worry about books again because my dream was one book. The optimistic side of me who loves the challenge of writing kicked in and said “I can write a better book” so I did. Now maybe it is human nature to think I want more. To dream more, to do more and to look back and think I did so many things with my life. Maybe it’s just a shy fat kid from a small town in Ontario Canada thinking that his legacy to those who come after him will be dream big and try harder. I really don't understand what makes me chase dreams only that the process makes my life just a little more interesting.





Now some dreams I am still struggling to conquer and move on. These are those ones that keep popping up on my lists again and again because they are strong and come with great fear for me. Learning to swim for example, because I have a fear of water. Well a fear of drowning to be more accurate. What can I say, I would miss me and all those things that I haven't done yet. Is it irrational yes, but sooner or later I will learn to swim. Maybe in a kiddy pool or the shallow end but it will eventually happen. 

Some dreams happen but not the way I imagined. I thought touching a snake would help me overcome my fear of snakes so a few years ago I went to the reptile zoo and touched a white python. Nope it didn't help my fear of snakes, but I still did it.

There are dreams that I will never accomplish no matter how many times or how hard I try. It's just how the world works, but I will keep trying. I would rather spend my life running towards an impossible dream then running away. The challenge of it is what makes my life interesting not the end result. Well for me at least.

I have a dream of one million followers on Facebook. It seems impossible today with my 643 followers and it really isn’t going to change my life because I won’t have a million friends, but it’s on my list and I strive for it. Not every dream will happen, but the effort makes it a challenge to chase. 

I don't let failure dictate whether I found success, only the effort. I can tell you more things that don't work then do for every dream I have ever chased. For a while I couldn't give away my books for free. Yes my books sat there and nobody wanted to read them for free. I was still chasing my dream of writing one good book so I read the reviews and thought about what people said. I mean the good and the bad and thought damn they are right and took what I learned and wrote more.

Now my dreams and goals change over time as I change. Maybe its priorities or maybe it’s just the allure vanishes but I never give up. There are people around me who have small dreams and those with giant impossible dreams who let the fear of failure cripple them. My biggest challenge in life isn’t dreaming big, but finding the time to fit everything I want to do into the limited time I have on earth. Sometimes I think I will need to live to be 200 years old to fit everything in.

I hear the words your dreams are too big a lot. I don’t believe dreams are ever too big, but some dreams are impossible, but I never say they cannot be done. I would rather cheer from the side lines and be amazed by the effort then make the dreams of others seem even more impossible by adding more doubt.

Here are three people who I find inspiring. Each chased giant dreams and those dreams lived well beyond them.

Ludwig van Beethoven https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven

Helen Keller https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller

Terry Fox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Fox

Smile

JD

Secret Lives

Like a lot of my blogs a new idea was born. We were talking about personal motivation and what drives people to do things. The conversation came to my secret life. Yes I have one, but it’s mysterious or exciting it’s just me living my life. Every year I try and become a better version of who I am, but it’s for me. Something’s the world around me can see, but most things are just for me. It’s my secret life so to speak.
I could have easily just kept dwelling on the things I didn’t do in life, let those I can’t do become stronger then me and become mountains that fear didn’t let me overcome. I would like to say that I am a self-made man, but there are very few truly self-made men out there. In life I have a whole army of people I have met through the years that motivated me and provided the encouragement to become a better me.
I was in my late twenties when I started college. Yes it was a major accomplishment for me. No it wasn’t the diploma they gave me at the end and certainly not high marks, but the fact I completed the course while working and during a bus strike here in Ottawa. During this time over half my school mates quit. They were smarter then I was, but all I had was determination. Well that and the fact I paid a lot of money for my course and I wasn’t wasting it. That winter I had to walk to work early in the morning them walk to school and walk home. No it wasn’t easy, but I couldn’t justify taking out a loan for school and not finishing it. I honestly didn’t expect to pass the course because I was a programming course and I didn’t even have a computer. All I had was a cheap used type writer that I could save text documents on a floppy disk then I would go to school and try and compile it. Yes it was hard, but I didn’t see any choice.
I struggled, to complete the course and to get my first job and I kept struggling to get the job after that too. I didn’t tell the world I was doing it because I was a younger version of me who still feared failure then. It was my first secret life. I am respected in my field, have numerous certifications now and experience, but few people outside my professional life know about it. The reason is that I did it for me and if people ask I tell them, but it’s not something I brag about.
My latest challenge is books. Yes I wanted to write one good book. First try sucked, but I finished it and thought that I could do it better. The next book had its flaws, but was better so I tried again. Now my “Immortal Obsession Series” is something I am proud of. You won’t see my name or picture plastered all over the place because I do it for me. Not for fame or fortune, but for me. A dream is only worth having if you put actions behind it. No I am not Stephen King yet, but I wrote two really great books. I set out to write something I was proud of. The kind of book I enjoy reading and that brings others joy others. I did that. That’s another part of my secret life.
Now a few people that used to read my blogs or maybe they still do who seem to be trapped in the past this is for you? Some seem to live with ghosts of failures real and imagined. Whether it be a job you hate or see no future in, the education that they wished they had, love they lost and because of pride let it slip away or anything else that is holding them back. Yesterday is gone, today you can change anything and tomorrow has not come yet. Courage isn’t never failing its trying what seems impossible just because there might be a possibility.
For every success I have had there are nine failures. Anything is possible in life as long as you try to chase it. Some secrets we never share, others we share, but from a hidden view like a pen name or anonymous blog, but life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. Success like beauty is a personal victory. Everybody sees it in a different way, but if you don’t try you will never see your true success.
Smile
JD

Grab a free copy of Stealing Destiny: Immortal Obsession

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This week has been a good week for me. No I haven’t had any one real specific thing that made it a great week it just was so I decided for the next 48 hours I would give away free copies of the first book in my Immortal Obsession series Saving Destiny. Below if the blurb. Please enjoy.

It took one kiss for Destiny to steal his heart and Damien lived his life for another one from the woman he loved. If he only knew that that one kiss would lead to his death and eternal damnation, would he still have kissed her? In one mere second of time, Damien loses his life because of a supernatural twist. On a stormy night in the back roads of nowhere his car careens out of control and into a field claiming his life. Suddenly, everything he ever thought about heaven, hell and angels takes on a whole new meaning as he struggles to get his life back. Falling from heaven, Zahir makes the ultimate sacrifice but who is to benefit from it? When Zahir stole Damien’s future, his destiny and his body, he decides it’s time to steal it back. But then he is offered a choice between the life he was destined to live and the one Death offers him, putting him at a crossroad. Damien wants to make the best choice he can so that he can carry out his plans to marry Destiny. However, what Damien fails to recognize is that getting his life back is going to take him into a whole new dimension of what the afterlife means. In every lovers triangle there has to be someone who loses. No romance ever truly sees the happily ever after. One fell from heaven, someone is headed for hell and Destiny is the prize. When your heart and soul hang in the balance, is there ever really any second chances?

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/533635

Coupon code: UQ97D

Smile

JD

 

Find your passions

I wrote a little love story called "Little White Lies" for NaNoWriMo a couple of years ago. It was meant to be a charming little love story. Now it received good reviews, which is great, but two comments were always added at the end of the review. Rather predictable and the author could have done so much more with it. I left the book for five months then reread the book. They were right. I realized that as much as I want to write an epic love story, I can't write one without adding in action, scary creatures and lots of darkness. I liked the story, but it was too run of the mill to really stand out and I wasn’t truly passionate about the story, just the challenge of writing it in a month.

Anybody can write a book. I have proven that, but to write an epic story you must be passionate about the actual story. I am a true romantic at heart, but I don't read love stories or watch them on TV. I read Stephen King and watch Supernatural so even though all my books have a theme of undying romance, the bonds of true friendship and absolute loyalty, if there's nothing dark and scary I am not passionate about the story.

I know that my writing improves with every book I write. Innocence Lost was a great theme for a story, but I didn't really know how to make my readers care about the characters. I was passionate about the theme, but the story was written for other people, not me. It was the same way with Little White Lies. You should know your target audience, but write the story you are passionate about.

You will be hanging out with the characters and whatever world they live in for months to maybe even years, so be sure that they are who you want to be with, have a passion for. If you aren't passionate about what's going on, then nobody else will be. Find your passion and have fun with it.

I know writers, that I hang out with, who follow trends. They read about the current top selling book in a trendy genre and immediately try and emulate that type of story whether BDSM or zombies or vampires, but they don't feel passion for the craft or the story just the idea that there reproduction might be the next great thing. Then after a few months they just stop because they don't have a personal connection to it.

A friend understood this idea and decided to find his passion. He chose three disposable pen names and wrote one little science fiction book, one detective book and one horror book and released them. He actually just put them out there for free and forgot them. When he was asked why, he said, “I found out I like the idea of writing, but my passion is making book trailers not writing books”.

So whatever genre you write in make sure its something you are passionate about. I like to think of my genre as paranormal romance filled with action and the darker things because that's where my passions lie. In my world those scary creatures do live under your bed and love nothing more then screwing over men lives, but the romantic in my always hopes that love conquers all. Right now even I am rooting for Damien and I don't really like the guy as much as my readers do.

Smile

JD

Writers Craft - The prize in your writers toolbox

My first book “Innocence Lost” had a pretty good amount of weak fighting scenes. Everybody raved about the car accident like it was pure gold. It was flattering to have strangers email me telling me how realistic and believable the whole accident was. So I looked at my fight scenes trying to determine what was the difference in them. My car accident was based on my own life experience. The fear, tension and wide array of emotions that I was able to pull it flowed onto the pages easily. Now when I was a child I had been in fist fights, but the closest thing to a knife fight I had scene was on TV or playing Zorro with my cousin so I had no real life experience to call on. Now I had thought of taking a self defense class or karate and I might still do it, but I truly didn’t think it would allow me to understand the basics of fighting properly.

Luckily I was reading on twitter and someone had mentioned that they had stumbled upon author Rayne Hall’s book “Writing Fight Scenes: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors (Writer's Craft Book 1)”. They described it as an author’s fighting bible so I had to check it out. I immediately went online and read the reviews for the book. I wasn’t really sure if the book would help me or not, but I figured I would spend the three bucks and buy it. I am just way too small and pretty for prison so reading a book was a logical step rather than experiencing it.

It was a fantastic book that delivers exactly what it promises. It provided detailed in-depth understanding and steps on how to write realistic fight scenes. It was amazing to learn how a skilled and non-skilled person could use them and make it a believable not only for me, but my readers. I immediately reread what I thought was my best fighting scene and found so many flaws and best of all was following the five step blueprint outlined in the book helped me improve my fight scenes. Now I am not talking about copying what Rayne so skilfully outlines and gives you in examples, but learning the skills and adding to them to make them your own. This is an awesome resource for writers. Now I think the whole series is absolutely amazing and eagerly bought the whole writers craft series.

Now I know authors who act out fight scenes with action figures (Vintage Starwars action figures), some hang out with karate instructors or cops. Everyone will have their own way of dealing with fight scenes. I highly recommend Rayne’s Writers Craft series. I have a giant collection of books on my kindle and Rayne’s books are the ones I refer to repeatedly. It’s how my fight scenes went from being described as weak and awkward to epic and so believable.

How to sell a million books in seventy easy steps

How to sell a million books in seventy easy steps. I really wish that I could tell you how to sell millions of books, become famous and accomplish your dreams of becoming a bestselling author, but if there is such a system I don’t think it exists. I decided though that I would write about my personal journey in self-publishing. I am not famous yet and you won’t find me on the New York Times best sellers list yet, but what you will find here are my experiences and dreams in writing and promoting my books as well as my successes and failures along the way.

I will explain what motivated me from being the guy who always thought I have one great novel in me to actually writing a book. I just wanted to write and publish a book. That was all the motivation I had. The challenge of taking the images that have been developing inside my vivid imagination and trying to put them down on paper to share with the world. There wasn’t a dream to be famous or rich just write something half decent that I was proud of and that people enjoyed reading. I accomplished half of that goal. After a year and a half of writing and re-writing my treasured story I finally produced 39728 words that I rushed to release so that whole world could tell me how great it was.

Now my book “Innocence Lost” wasn’t a total waste of time and even though later I would think it was probably the worst book ever written. Those few people that read it actually liked it. I am not talking movie of the week liked, but they liked the theme and message behind it plus everybody found something they did and didn’t like about my little treasure. I was embarrassed though. So embarrassed that I pulled the book from being sold. Even though my mom still brags that her son wrote a book and with each new release she is the first to ask me for a signed copy.

I read the reviews from bloggers, readers and others reviews and comments then read my book again. Now it’s easy to realize that your book really does suck and give up on a dream. A lot of people do. On a book I released later that received one star with the added insult, “Not worth the price and predictable” was absolutely horrifying for me. Yes for a minute I was ready to give up. I gave the book away and was really proud of it so that was hard for my pride to handle. It wasn’t until I decided to actually look at the reviews as a learning experience rather than an insult that everything changed. My goal hasn’t changed. I still want to write a great novel that I am proud of and people enjoy reading and I did it with my third book, but then I decided that I could do it better.

Well back on topic. I read my book “Innocence Lost” and despite all its numerous flaws I still liked the theme and thought it was an amazing story if told properly. Now I looked at it as a reader. My characters weren’t as relatable as the ones I had imagined, the fight scenes weren’t believable if a fight between a man and a fallen angel can be believable and it was just too over powering with emotions, but I could write it better. That’s exactly what I did with Stealing Destiny the first book in my Immortal Obsession series. The same theme only tweaked and perfected until you can’t see that the books tell the same story. Better fight scenes, a bigger book that flows and relatable characters. I discovered in the process of going from Innocence Lost to Stealing Destiny a lot of useful information, but the most shocking thing for me was that everybody who reads my book has a favorite character, but it’s never the same character.

Now I can’t tell you how to sell a million copies of your book or even how to give away a million copies, but what I can do is tell you what I have learned. What has worked and what’s really flopped and failed as well as the tools that have worked for me. I have a kindle full of books about writing, self-publishing, marketing etc. Some are absolute treasures that I think everybody needs to read and some aren’t worth the time it takes to read. Now I won’t list the books that are a waste of time just the ones that have helped me. I don’t want to leave negative comments about other peoples work because of my experience, but I will tell you about my experiences so far and those that I am trying. I will list what worked and what didn’t in my journey.

I love being and author and embrace the fact that each book I write is better then the previous one. I have taken the challenge to keep writing better books and sell a million copies. How long it takes and how creative I need to be is what makes the challenge fun.

So follow me on my journey. I am making my very first attempt at writing available for free through my news letter from now until January 12^th 2016 ( Those who are interested will find it at www.jdselmser.com ). Not that I think it’s a great or horrible book. Just so that those who struggle and have self-doubt don’t feel alone. Read it for free and follow my journey. Hopefully you will find some inspiration, ideas and tools to help you along the way.