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WORK TITLE: Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey’s Lycian Way
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WEBSITE: http://www.michellesevigny.com/
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RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Simon Fraser University, B.A., 1992.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, entrepreneur, educator, dog trainer, and publisher. Dogsafe Canine First Aid (a publishing and training company), creator, head instructor, and director of instructor development. Former professional dog trainer; former police officer in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
AVOCATIONS:Running, hiking, vegan food.
WRITINGS
Also author of Operation Find Fido: How to Find a Lost Dog Fast.
SIDELIGHTS
Michelle Sevigny is a writer, entrepreneur, and publishers. She has been a professional dog trainer and is the founder and operator of Dogsafe Canine First Aid, a publishing and training company in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The company publishes books and courses on first aid care for dogs, designed to help pet owners respond appropriately in an emergency. Sevigny and her company also provide live training on dog first aid and related issues, as well as online training and DVD-based courses. Sevigny’s books on dog safety and first aid include Dogsafe Canine First Aid: Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know in an Emergency and Operation Find Fido: How to Find a Lost Dog Fast. She holds a degree in communications and psychology from Simon Fraser University.
Earlier in her career, before she decided to work with dogs full time, Sevigny served for nine years as a police officer in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
In her book Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey’s Lycian Way, Sevigny presents an account of her trip along the Likya Yolu, the Lycian Way, a 500-mile stretch of paths and trails along the southern coastline of Turkey. It is considered one of the top long-distance hiking trails and offers hikers the opportunity to encounter coastal villages, mountains, beaches, and spectacular scenery. Sevigny decided to set out along this trail at age forty-five after some traumatic events in her life, particularly the death of her stepmother and the loss of a beloved dog to cancer. She believed that pursuing one of her other interests, hiking, would help her heal from her emotional turmoil and reset her life.
Sevigny determines that she will hike a 316-mile path that runs along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. She describes her preparations for the hike, the gear she brings along, and the sense of adventure that she feels. She presents a comprehensive chronicle of her trip, with descriptions of the people she meets along the way. Most are friendly and helpful, but others have dubious motives and make unwanted sexual advances. She tells of how she often camps overnight in the open, and sometimes spends time in small guesthouses. She writes consistently, keeping an in-depth record of her adventures. Perhaps most importantly, she tells of her multiple meetings with dogs along the way, encounters that help her heal from the grief she feels over the loss of her own canine.
“Sevigny’s transformation . . . from being burned out to at peace with herself, is undoubtedly inspiring,” commented a Publishers Weekly contributor. A writer on the website Self-Publishing Review concluded, “this engaging travel memoir should have universal appeal. Those who have a specific interest in the region could not have a better tour guide.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 30, 2018, review of Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey’s Lycian Way, p. 57.
ONLINE
Dog Gurus website, http://www.thedoggurus.com/ (September 3, 2018), biography of Michelle Sevigny.
Dogsafe Canine First Aid website, https://www.dogsafe.ca/ (September 3, 2018).
Michelle Sevigny website, http://www.michellesevigny.com (September 3, 2018).
Readers Favorite, https://www.readersfavorite.com/ (April 6, 2017), review of Breaking the Fourth Wall.
Self-Publishing Review, https://www.selfpublishingreview.com/ (May 24, 2017), review of Breaking the Fourth Wall.
Writer
I love exploring our fears and joys, and how Heart guides us on the journey through both. I've learned that Living By Heart is the only way.
If you spend your valuable time reading and enjoying my book, articles and stories, I am honoured.
What you seek is seeking you.
-Rumi
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Dog Lover
I said goodbye to my rottweiler, Monty, on January 30, 2013 and now, I am writing my second book about the life-altering lessons I learned from my four-legged teacher.
In July 2014, Monty led me to a Halifax, Nova Scotia shelter where I adopted my next heart-dog, Lucy.
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Runner | Hiker
Running gets me into my head, and out of my head, and long, flat beaches are my favorite places to run.
My Heart whispers, and is heard best, during long slow runs, seaside or forest walks and long-distance coastal hikes.
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Entrepreneur
When I'm not writing here, I operate my company, Dogsafe Canine First Aid, a company I created in a tiny notebook and has since grown to 31 Instructors and course graduates around the world.
Want to work with me? Check out my Dogsafe Authorized Instructor Program.
They say there is a doorway from heart to heart but,
what is the use of a door when there are no walls.
-Rumi
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Vegan Foodie
While I'm not 100%, I am completely drawn to the raw/vegan way of eating for all the health, ethical and environmental reasons.
Oh yeah... banana, strawberry and coconut milk smoothies!
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Minimalist
To me, minimalism means living simply, and in a Tiny House.
I desire to tread lightly on the environment and surround myself with only the people, things and experiences that I love and cherish.
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Explorer
I adore exploring ... second-hand bookstores in new cities, secret trails to private beaches, road trips across countries or camp spots around the world .... that's Northern Ireland in photo.
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Say Hello
Me and my Labrador retriever, Lucy, live on Gabriola Island off the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. If you see us one day, stop us and say hello, I'd love to hear your story.
Or say hello at MichelleSevignyWriter@gmail.com
.... I welcome all connections.
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PS. Got a dog? Want to visit Gabriola? Check out my volunteer project, Dogs on Gabriola.
Michelle Sevigny
Michelle Sevigny, a former professional dog trainer, is the Creator, Head Instructor and Director of Instructor Development of Dogsafe Canine First Aid and also instructs online canine first aid courses worldwide. She is the author of two books, DOGSAFE: Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know in An Emergency and Operation Find Fido: How to Find a Lost Dog Fast. Michelle has a bachelor degree in communications and psychology and was a Vancouver police officer for nine years before switching directions to work with dogs full-time. Michelle lives on Gabriola Island off the west coast of Vancouver, British Columbia, with her adopted Labrador retriever, Lucy
Breaking the Fourth Wall: An
Uncertain Journey on Turkey's
Lycian Way
Publishers Weekly.
265.18 (Apr. 30, 2018): p57. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way Michelle Sevigny. MontLuce Publishing,
$15.95 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-09881175-3-2
A retired Vancouver police officer goes on a voyage of self-discovery in this cumbersome yet captivating memoir of hiking Turkey's Lycian Way trail. After the deaths of her stepmother and her beloved Rottweiler, 45-year-old Sevigny decides to recharge her life by hiking a 316-mile footpath that runs along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Along the walk, she meets locals and other hikers, spends a couple days in the company of a friendly restaurant worker, fights off a few aggressive sexual advances, and spends her nights writing, either in her tent or in small guesthouses. Sevigny's prose can be lovely ("songs have impact, one or two lines--an answer to a question, the spark to a future epiphany"), but also perplexing ("Impostor syndrome explodes and my eyes hide as we bounce along"), and her habit of repeatedly bringing up her difficulty with the Turkish language is more a hindrance than an enhancement to her tale. Sevigny's transformation, however, from being burned out to at peace with herself, is undoubtedly inspiring. It's not quite Wild, but it definitely follows in that bestseller's footsteps. (BookLife)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way." Publishers Weekly,
30 Apr. 2018, p. 57. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc /A537852311/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=484e9008. Accessed 9 Aug. 2018.
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Gale Document Number: GALE|A537852311
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Breaking the Fourth Wall
Breaking the Fourth Wall
An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way
by Michelle Sevigny
Non-Fiction - Memoir
240 Pages
Reviewed on 05/06/2017
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Book Review
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way is a non-fiction travel adventure memoir written by Michelle Sevigny. Sevigny was reeling after a series of awful life-changing events. Her best friend, business partner and companion, her ten-year-old Rottweiler, had died of bone cancer; she was still mourning the cycling accident that took the life of her mom seven years earlier, and her dad’s wife had been recently diagnosed with brain cancer. She wanted to run and keep on running. Sevigny sold her apartment and began selling off or donating the rest of her possessions. Friends suggested hiking, which didn’t really appeal at first, but then Sevigny realized that it was not the activity itself that didn’t appeal but rather the settings for those hikes. She had always chosen coastal countries to visit and loved running on the beach, so the concept of long-distance coastal hiking became an viable option as a way to recharge and heal. She considered the Pacific Coastal Trail and other more popular coastal treks, but then remembered a picture her dad had of her mom in front of a Turkish mosque, and an old map of Turkey with camping signs dotting it. She wasn’t sure if those things nudged her mind, but, in the end, she decided to do the Lycian Way in Turkey before her new dog came into her life and while she still had the money from the sale of her apartment. Seven months later, she arrived at Istanbul's airport.
Michelle Sevigny’s non-fiction travel adventure memoir, Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way, is a fresh and inspiring account of a most memorable journey. I marvelled at how the author gradually picked up and communicated with words and phrases in Turkish as she hiked, and how she had the courage to set out on a hike of this magnitude in a foreign land with a GPS unit that functioned fitfully at best. However, as I read on, I harbored no doubts at all that Sevigny would finish her journey and have a marvelous time doing it. The author is brutally frank and honest throughout this exceptionally good memoir as she shares both the very good and pretty awful moods she experiences, and I felt as though I were sharing the healing process that her journey facilitated. Her interactions with the dogs she meets along the way, and her yearning to finally meet the new dog she was destined to have as her companion are poignant moments in the story and will, no doubt, affect anyone who’s ever lost a beloved companion dog as strongly as Sevigny’s story affected me. I loved reading about her interactions with Turkish villagers, the descriptions of the families who shared their meals with her and were so kind; and her account of the Kangol sheepdogs who guarded her overnight as she slept in an area where she was exposed to predators. I love hiking and hope to some day follow in Sevigny’s footsteps and hit the coastal trails, but, for now, I had a grand time vicariously walking the Lycian Way with her. Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way is most highly recommended.
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Sefina Hawke
Breaking the Fourth Wall (An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way) by Michelle Sevigny is a memoir by Michelle Sevigny, who decided to go on a traveling adventure after a buildup of one bad event after another drove her to seek out something else, something more. Her unsettled year gave way to her deciding to hike the 509-kilometre Lycian Way by herself. She might have had a plan, but no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and she soon find herself getting lost, not having enough water, dealing with sheepdogs, and camping out in the wild. Her journey might have been rough, but it was exactly what she needed to guide her towards embracing herself and discovering who she is as an individual.
Breaking the Fourth Wall by Michelle Sevigny has a beautiful cover that, unlike most biographies and memoirs, was of the scenery encountered on the journey and not just a picture of the author. The book is organized into chapters with the day displayed above each chapter title. Michelle Sevigny experienced a horrible turn of events as her dog died of bone cancer and her father’s wife died from brain cancer. These events caused her to sell her old home and move into a basement suite about ten minutes from her father, yet instead of wallowing in the pain, she decided to seek out something more. The journey she went on was not only inspirational, but also amusing. There were multiple times where I would have to go back a few pages to make sure I understood what happened correctly because it seem too outlandish, yet it clearly all happened. Michelle Sevigny’s story has inspired me to try to learn about who I am as a person and to embrace the uncertainty of life instead of fighting against it!
Gisela Dixon
Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way by Michelle Sevigny is a travel memoir about Michelle’s journey over the Lycian Way in Turkey. The Lycian Way is a footpath around part of the coast around ancient Lycia. It is a coastal hike that is approximately 540 kms long. Breaking the Fourth Wall is a detailed day-by-day travel account starting with Michelle’s arrival in Ovacik and continuing along the trail. She begins this solo trek after a series of events, including the death of her dog, in Canada prompted her to take a fresh look at life and find out what she needed from it. Throughout this account, she talks of her experiences with camping and backpacking, the intermittent hotel or home stays along the way, her interactions with the locals and shepherds, the local food, and of course the experience of hiking along the coast itself.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: An Uncertain Journey on Turkey's Lycian Way by Michelle Sevigny is an interesting travel book , especially for those interested in hiking or backpacking adventures. Another interesting aspect of this book is that it is written from the perspective of a single woman traveler and her experiences as a woman alone are necessarily different from a man’s. This itself lends a unique quality to the book. Secondly, I also enjoyed reading and learning more about the Lycian Way and certain episodes such as accidentally stumbling upon ancient ruins, or the unexpected generosity of the locals, lend genuineness and authenticity to the book. This is a good book that I would recommend.
Review: Breaking the Fourth Wall by Michelle Sevigny
★★★★★ Breaking the Fourth Wall by Michelle Sevigny
“Even with ropes, a fall in the wrong place could be fatal.” So reads the guidebook for the trail that author/adventuress Michelle Sevigny traverses.
After confronting some painful events in her middle years, most recently the loss of her beloved dog to cancer, Sevigny seeks comfort through her longtime enjoyment of hiking. Walking the Likya Yolu, the Lycian Way, with its 500+ kilometers of winding paths on the southern coastline of Turkey, seems the ideal antidote to her nagging sense of emptiness. The trail is marked…sometimes. In other places, she needs to rely on a technology that even she found baffling: GPS. Most of all, she will have to rely on her instincts as a well-seasoned traveler.
With tent, chair, water pouch, battery pack, cell phone with camera, and a journal, she learns new words in Turkish for her trek. Though she occasionally trades notes with other sojourners, she prefers walking alone, relying on her own inner resources. When she wobbles off the path and finds no clues from the ever-vexing GPS or the dated guidebook with its many dire warnings, she often finds assistance from the natural world. A bird, a goat, a sudden wind, somehow indicate the way.
Her meetings with dogs are most poignant, showing how much she misses her departed canine, making friends with even the metal-collared herding dogs, regarding them as her own personal protectors. Returning to the path after getting lost, sometimes battling hunger and thirst, she builds rock cairns to mark the trail for new sojourners. Not surprisingly, she meets men who stir her in different ways: one, an ex-con, perhaps a terrorist, makes unwanted advances, forcing her to recall an unpleasant incident from her adolescence; the other is a handsome Russian she’d like to know better.
Drawn from the author’s hand-written journal, the book depicts some classic travel discomforts (no water, no food, no fire, and that more modern annoyance, no wifi) and her occasional joys (a cooling “bath” with a cupful of water, a simple but tasty meal offered by locals, a few words exchanged with those she meets along the way). These emotive vignettes will engage seasoned hikers and wannabe trekkers alike. Her pride at undertaking the ambitious walk is clear every step of the way.
With elegant prose, sometimes verging on poetic, and Sevigny’s clever, multilingual word play, Breaking the Fourth Wall establishes Sevigny as a serious and dynamic author of travel writing. She adroitly conveys exotic sights, unusual people, and cross-cultural encounters, while balancing these descriptions with moments of contemplation and thoughtful repose.
This isn’t a book just about Turkey, or even just about travel, as Sevigny’s “Uncertain Journey” leads to her coming to terms with her own deficiencies, and the problems thrown her way, making Breaking the Fourth Wall a book that touches on themes that apply to all of us, so this engaging travel memoir should have universal appeal. Those who have a specific interest in the region could not have a better tour guide.
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