...and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true." Dare to dream - kinda sounds like something from a graduation speech, doesn't it? What happened to the dreams you dared to dream those many years ago? Did you declare them impossible or did someone admonish you to just "grow up"?
As a young girl, I had a dream: I wanted to write a book. Now understand at the time I didn't know the first thing about novel writing nor did I know what to write about. Despite that, one day I went to Chicago's lakefront and sat under a tree, armed with pencil and yellow legal pad. When a young man asked if I wanted to join him in a game of Frisbee, I told him I couldn't, that I was "writing a book." So, there I sat. After a few paragraphs, I ran out of words. How did writers fill up 300 pages or more, I wondered. My dream of becoming an author came to an abrupt end that day - or so I thought.
Years later with time on my hands, a little voice inside suggested I write that book. But I don't know how, I told myself. Then learn, it responded. That very day I found an ad in the Chicago Tribune for a fiction-writers' workshop and signed up. Thirteen years and six manuscripts later, my first novel, "Halifax" (http://www.amazon.com/Halifax-ebook/dp/B00AVME2R4) was recently published.
Now I'm telling you this, not to brag but to give you a highly personal example of what can happen if you allow yourself to hold onto your dreams. Oh, it might seem impossible, at times even silly. If I'd known the odds against being published when I began, I wouldn't have even tried. Only about 5 percent of all manuscripts ever become books. But maybe that's the point. Perhaps holding onto your dreams against all odds is what makes them so special. After all, isn't it the dreams we dare to dream that make life worthwhile? And remember, as I found out, sometimes they come true.
As a young girl, I had a dream: I wanted to write a book. Now understand at the time I didn't know the first thing about novel writing nor did I know what to write about. Despite that, one day I went to Chicago's lakefront and sat under a tree, armed with pencil and yellow legal pad. When a young man asked if I wanted to join him in a game of Frisbee, I told him I couldn't, that I was "writing a book." So, there I sat. After a few paragraphs, I ran out of words. How did writers fill up 300 pages or more, I wondered. My dream of becoming an author came to an abrupt end that day - or so I thought.
Years later with time on my hands, a little voice inside suggested I write that book. But I don't know how, I told myself. Then learn, it responded. That very day I found an ad in the Chicago Tribune for a fiction-writers' workshop and signed up. Thirteen years and six manuscripts later, my first novel, "Halifax" (http://www.amazon.com/Halifax-ebook/dp/B00AVME2R4) was recently published.
Now I'm telling you this, not to brag but to give you a highly personal example of what can happen if you allow yourself to hold onto your dreams. Oh, it might seem impossible, at times even silly. If I'd known the odds against being published when I began, I wouldn't have even tried. Only about 5 percent of all manuscripts ever become books. But maybe that's the point. Perhaps holding onto your dreams against all odds is what makes them so special. After all, isn't it the dreams we dare to dream that make life worthwhile? And remember, as I found out, sometimes they come true.
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