Wednesday 1 August 2012

Confessions of a Full Time Chiropractor & Part Time Writer By Corey Sondrup, D.C.


Please welcome Corey Sondrup to my blog today!

     If someone would have told me seven or eight years ago I would be writing books, I would have said that they were insane.  Truth be told, I had an extreme dislike for English, reading and writing of any kind growing.  It wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I actually finished reading my first real book (children’s picture books excluded).
     I became a fan of Clive Cussler and Dean Koontz.  I read to relax and enjoy myself while attending chiropractic school.  From there, I was hooked on Stuart Woods, Michael Connelly and Anne Rice to name a few.  After being in practice for about nine years, I had my first impulse for possibly writing a book.  At the time, due to my career as a chiropractor, nutritionist and energy healer, I was immersed in health & wellness, nutrition and personal growth.  I thought to myself, a book would be a great way to educate my patients as well as reach a larger audience than what I see on a day to day basis.
     In 2005 I started brainstorming for ideas to write my first self help book Reclaiming Your Power.  At the time, I was not proficient with computers so I wrote by hand on yellow legal pads and had my secretary type my rough chapters into the computer.  After three years I had completed my first book.  After about thirty rejections from publishers and a flaky literary agent I decided to self publish.  I already had an audience with my patients.  I have dreams of hitting big and going on the self help lecture circuit with Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra. 
     I have found that the more I write, the easier thoughts and ideas flow.  With my second book, Mastering Life’s Lessons, it only took a year and a half to write.  I have to laugh dealing with rejection after rejection from publishers while at the same time writing self help/personal growth books; the irony.
         So far, I have sold about twelve hundred between the two of them.  I released them on Kindle Select a month ago and for a period of four days, they both hit #1 and #3 in their genres for the free down loads.  That was fun to watch.  Most of my sales come from my office, usually about ten to twelve sales per week and I get all the profit minus the printing cost.
      While I wait with patience on my dream of touring on the self help circuit, I decided I wanted to write a fictional novel in the paranormal/urban fantasy realm (Yes I got bored writing self help books).  I have always been fascinated with vampires, werewolves and the supernatural.  From their, Blood Amalgam; Book 1 was born.  This time, it only took eight months to write.  And I am already half way through Book 2. 
     With the surge and popularity of eBooks, I decided to go the indie route with my Crimson Chronicle series.  If Amanda Hocking can hit it big, why not me?  I am still submitting to agents and publishers (Rejections don’t even faze me anymore).  I am no where near ready to quit my day job, but in the meantime, I am having a ball as a part time writer/story teller.  

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