DIARY OF A FIRST NOVELIST: 10 Writing Dreams

Because writers are essentially people who live and die by the power of imagination, we tend to dream extravagantly, wildly, sometimes impossibly. But that’s all right. Dreams are our task masters and our fairy godmothers. Without them, why would we spend the seductive days of spring hunched over our desks, determined to do right by the stories that possess us?

Here are ten of my favorite writing dreams, some of which have come true, others that maybe never will:  

 1. I would finish a novel, print it up, and send it off hopefully to my agent. Then I would have a glass of champagne and cry because I missed my characters already.

2. I would get “the call” from an editor who not only wanted to publish my book, they wanted to pay me for it! (Fortunately, no one told them I was so eager to be published I would have paid them.)

3. Then I would have the sublime joy of  calling  family and friends who always believed in me. (By then, I’d be crying so hard that it would take them a few minutes to realize exactly what I was trying to tell them. You sold what? Where?)

4. Something I wrote would inspire or console or challenge someone else--even if it was just one person.

5. I would walk into  a cafe, and sit near a stranger who was reading a book. Then, when I slyly glanced over to see what they were reading, just like I always do, I would realize--gasp--it was my novel. You already know I'd cry.

6. I would see my work translated into languages I could never read.

7. A really terrific director would contact my agent and tell her he thought my novel would make a fantastic film. Then he would say that one of my favorite actors was reading the book right now, and just might play the lead. (Too stunned to cry.)

8. I would make some amazing friendships with other readers and writers. Instead of competing with each other, we would help and support each other.

9.  I would see my name on the New York Times bestseller list.

10. I would go back to my desk and face the blank screen; and all my doubts and insecurities would sit beside me, just as they always had. You may have been lucky once, they’d say, but do you really think you can do it again?  And then I would.

Can you guess which ones are true?



Patry Francis, Books Correspondent:

Patry's column, Diary of a First Novelist, published every Thursday to Gather Essentials: Books. It will detail all she knows--and is in the process of learning--about writing and publishing.  

To learn more about Patry and her debut novel, The Liar's Diary, visit her Website.

 

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