About Dumitru Sandru:
Dumitru Sandru was born in the greater area of Transylvania in the last millennium; make that last century since he’s not a vampire. Yet. When he was six years old, a soldier shot him at point blank range with a Kalashnikov. He survived. He outsmarted his German teacher, and survived a tornado in the middle of a wheat field. Not concurrently. When he was 18 years old, he escaped from a country resembling a concentration camp, luckily without being killed. He outran mean border patrol dogs in a foreign country, in the darkness of night, while jumping over six-foot tall stonewalls. Superman he’s not. He came to the USA in search of freedom, glory, wealth, and fame. He’s still searching for three of those. Lightning grazed him, and he caught a shark by the tail. Once. A monkey attacked him in Japan, but his daughter saved him. He avoided many rattlesnake bites, and built a house. No relation between the snakes and the house. Life eventually tamed him and he became a responsible citizen, with a wife, two daughters, dog and cat. And lately two grandsons. The taming part is questionable. He acquired an engineering and management degree and attempted to acquire other degrees in music, marketing, and IT. A certified student. He obtained many professional licenses, which he hardly used, but looked good on his wall. At 59-¾ years old he quit the corporate life and a six-figure salary. Rumor has it that he was given the golden handshake. He was finally free to pursue his dreams of writing, painting and music.
During his professional life he painted hundreds of canvases, and composed dozens of tunes, while since his golden handshake he wrote 11 books. And that was in just the first half of his life.
Disclaimer: Everything written here is true, and the bullets were blanks.
I am Dumitru Sandru and I approve this unabashed bio.
Want to see and read more about the second half of his life?
What inspires you to write?
Daydreaming and ideas, which sprout from many stimuli such as a name, a book, a movie, a picture, even one of my sketches. They all prompt me to ask “what if?” And then an avalanche of possibilities buries me, and to dig myself out I need to write the story.
Tell us about your writing process.
Common wisdom among writers is that you are either a planner or a pantser. The planner makes an outline, does the research, defines the characters, the settings, the conflicts, and so on until the story is complete in a form of an outline. Then he/she writes the story. The planner uses the left (rational) brain during the planning stage.
The pantser has an idea, or a character, or an imaginary world, and he/she begin writing, literally by the seat of his/her pants and discover where the story goes. Of the two methods the planner is more efficient, but the pantser is more creative. (My opinion.) A pantser uses the right (creative) brain most of the time, and if you don’t intervene you’ll be amazed what appears on the screen.
I’m more of a pantser writer. Once the story has fermented enough in my mind, and keeps me awake at night I begin writing it. And then it is as if I fell through a rabbit hole in another world and cannot think of anything else but my story.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
The characters tell me the story, and I listen to them. Its incredible how real they become once they take shape and gain personalities.
What advice would you give other writers?
Write, write and write. And read or listen to books that are similar to what you’d like to write. By the way, there is a formula for success:
Results = Talent x Skill x Hard Work x Motivation
If any of those variables Talent, Skill, Hard Work, and Motivation is zero the results will be zero. I believe that everyone has some talent. Hard Work gives you the Skill and the writing output. Motivation is the ultimate maker or breaker of anyone who wants to achieve anything, including writing.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
For my first book “The Lorn Tree – Arboregal” 100 publishers and 99 agents rejected me. Maybe they rejected me for the wright reasons, or maybe not. Once a story is written, polished and edited it must be published. I decided to be an Indie Author, and at this moment I will be publishing my 13th book. I published even a coloring book “Abstract Dreams” based on my abstract sketches.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think digital publishing will be the dominant medium in the future. The major publishers are doing their best to delay that future and maintain the paper book, which they control. When the digital books will dominate the major publishing will become extinct. I know that many people like paper books, I do, but the economics are against the paper books. Some people believe the publishers bring value to the book industry; after all they curate the books, edit, design, print and market them. And one more thing, they pay the writer 6% for the paper book, and 25% for the eBook. In my opinion curating is limiting the supply of books to the market to ensure their profits. As for editing and design there are plenty of excellent free lancers who can do that job. Printing is not needed for eBooks, and marketing comes down to controlling the bookstore to sell only their books. There is no special trade that they posses with the exception of controlling the sales of paper books. The digital age is redefining what many businesses will do. It happened to the music, journals, and travel industries. The publishing business is going through the same transformation.
What do you use?: Professional Editor
What genres do you write?: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Paranormal, Vampires, Cloring Books, Non-fiction
What formats are your books in?: eBook, Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Dumitru Sandru Home Page Link
Link To Dumitru Sandru Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
