Why Write with Dwayne Claydon - 2nd Time Around

The reason I write goes way back to my childhood. My earliest memories are of my mother reading to me. When I could read on my own, I devoured the Hardy Boys series. When I was about ten, when my reading material was getting low, I’d take the bus from our house to Kensington used bookstore. I graduated from the Hardy Boys to Ellery Queen, Earl Stanley Gardner and Agatha Christie. In high school I loved writing reports in social studies class and in English class I wrote satire. Saturday Night Live stuff, except this was before SNL! Then career got in the way, but I co-authored four paramedic textbooks. In 2010, I was going through a major life change. One morning in October, I was showering and had an epiphany. I needed to write fiction. I Googled writing classes and one started the next week. The first piece I wrote and submitted to the instructor and classmates, everyone liked. For the next four years, I took writing classes pretty much non-stop. There was one point where I received feedback that devastated me. After giving a great pitch, I was asked to submit the Crisis Point manuscript. I excitedly opened the email with the review. The primary comment was, “It’s like a police show is on the TV in the other room, and I don’t care.” I set the manuscript side for about three months. Thankfully, I signed up for another writing class and set to improving the novel. In 2015, I submitted Crisis Point to the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis awards for the best unpublished novel. Then my name was called as a finalist. There is no other word. I was Gobsmacked! Instead of wine, I celebrated with Whisky! I attended the Crime Writers of Canada Awards in Toronto the end of May. It was like the Academy Awards of Writing. I didn’t win the award, and I was disappointed. But heck, making the finals was great. As she was leaving, the agent gave me her card and asked for my manuscript. I received thirty-seven responses—rejections. That was a gut punch. By now I had spent almost seven years on Cri