How Long is Forever?

Many moons ago, when I was a divorced mother raising a daughter by myself, I walked into a store and saw a poster hanging on the wall. It was a lovely country scene of green fields, trees, and a soft blue sky with wisps of clouds. At the bottom it said, “Dreamers Live Forever.” I studied it, sighed, and even though I couldn’t afford it, I took it home and hung it on the wall. The poster is long gone, but the thought lives on – dreamers live forever.

Does that apply to writers? Read on.

I can only give you my own perspective, and I’ve always been a dreamer. I’ve spent plenty of time coming up with good-intentioned ideas that I thought would either help me earn a better living or that would set me apart from the masses. While nothing ever came of the ideas, the dreaming kept me going. Even as a child, I dreamed of successes.  My best friend and I tried to make our lemonade stand a cut above the others in the neighborhood. We sold both lemonade and Kool-Aid so people would have a choice. We even added cookies to the menu once. You find that a lot now, but in those days the stands were lemonade or nothing. And I understand that in many places you have to have a license to run a lemonade stand now. My, how times have changed.

I tried my hand at local arts and crafts fairs held at the park. I tried things like decoupage, but then everyone else was doing the same thing at the time. Dreaming isn’t always coming up with something unique.

I think, and this is just my humble opinion, that many fiction writers are dreamers. We have something we want to say and we hope and dream that we might make some small difference in the grand scheme of life. I’ve read plenty of books that made me take a second look at life and that gave me a new perspective on certain issues.

My mysteries may not be the Great American Novel, but they’re mine. They’re stories that I dreamed up and told. They’re tales that I put my heart into, and they’re meant to entertain the reader. Learning how to write and tell a good story was a long process, but the hardest part was learning about marketing and promotion. I’m still wishy-washy about that. Too much dreaming and not enough research can be deadly. I wrote and self-published two books many years ago that can attest to my naiveté. I rewrote one and reissued it, and it’s done well. The other one is better left alone and hidden in a closet.

However, this was all a learning process and part of the long-term dream. I began to understand my chosen field, writing, and I improved with each story. It turns out to be a never-ending process and I continue to learn with each new character and situation.

I asked if the dreamers live forever idea applies to writers. Of course it does. Think of the authors from bygone days whose books are still being read and enjoyed. Their dreams will live forever.

Hopefully I’ll live on through my books. They’re my dream and my passion, and that dream will be fulfilled if I can entertain even one reader. Two would be even better. Three would make me do cartwheels, if I could do cartwheels. Actually, that creates a pretty funny picture in my mind, being the natural born klutz that I am. Try picturing someone doing a cartwheel whose feet leave the ground by maybe six inches before they fall over.

Think about what makes you dream this week, and see if you can’t take some small beginning step to make your dream, and you, live forever. If you’ve already taken that step, take another. And another.

Until next time, wishing you a week of wishing and hoping, and dreams that come true.

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