Dreams, Goals, Aspirations
Everyone seems to be having a bad few days so I am going to write something that I hope will be a pick-me-up.
My friend and I were at the Vortex the other night discussing his wife’s book being up for a few awards. This is very great news as this is her first book and she has done very well! I started thinking about my own book I have been working on for several years. In fact, embarrassingly, for too long! I started off great and got mid-way through Part II and lost steam. Where were my characters going? What the heck were they doing? What was my initial direction? Funny, these often are questions I ask myself in daily life.
Sometimes it takes another person or something happening in life to really inspire one to do something. Whether it’s encouragement, advice (whether it’s well heeded or not) and direction. In my case, my friend’s wife really inspired me to pick up the book again and start writing. Just opening “book” on my laptop made my pulse speed up a bit. I was back in Indiana cruising around Purdue campus taking notes for my book, going to the places my characters would soon be going in my book, interviewing a police officer from Lebanon (official with even a tape recorder) doing my research. I was walking through Little Five Points scoping out where one of my characters apartment would be. I felt like Truman Capote! (Well, maybe not that great but you know what I mean!)
Ok, so now to set some goals! I need to read all the reference material my friend’s wife was so kind to loan me. I also need a solid outline and not the chicken scratching notes I have been doing. I need to find that tape recorder of the conversation with the police officer in Indiana and listen to it again just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Also, when will this book be done? I need to give myself a deadline like in real-life if I were working for an editor or something. I think I will give it January 1st, 2007.
Now that I have these goals set it gets me closer to my dream (or at least one of them). Which is to write. Not necessarily for a primary living (let’s go slow, here) but eventually it would be nice to have a cabin in the mountains where I could go away in peace and write for weeks at a time. Or go off on a research trip to Spain. E
ven if it did become a primary living, relocating to the beach – forever. 
What are your dreams, goals or aspirations?
posted by Trinity2 at 1:07 PM
6 Comments:
Wow, that's a big question, T2. What is the difference between a dream, a goal and an aspiration? I've never quite understood the distinction. (Maybe that's part of my problem, huh?) ;)
My goal at the moment to be unafraid to dream. So many of the dreams I've had in the past have been squashed by my own fears and self-limiting beliefs. It's hard to know what I want because of the voices inside me saying that I'm too old or I've wasted too much time, etc.
Is it too late to finally go back to writing screenplays? Do I want to write screenplays again? What would I do if I wasn't afraid? Thanks for prompting me to ask myself those questions.
Congrats to your friend's wife and good luck to you on your book! :)
2:18 PM
I don't have a grand plan - more like about a dozen smaller plans. Like travelling across Mexico on the Ducati, liberally stealing inspiraton from Jesse James. Or like writing a regular article or column for a magazine that affords me the ability to travel and encounter new people, ideas, places, and foods. Like getting my Red Seal and developing the menu for my own restaurant. Or learning Spanish and wandering through the vibrant cultures of South and Central America for a few months, and then heading over to Spain and Ibiza to do the same. Learning to play the guitar and doing so on a beach somewhere near a hut in Southeast Asia with a group of friends around a fire. Or finally putting away enough to buy my ranch on a river in the Interior, with enough land for my horses, a guest cabin, and my little vinyard in the back.
Or something completely different, depending on what the universe has in mind :)
2:20 PM
Shit t2, not today... not now...
Dreams, goals, aspirations?!I dream all the time and attempt to create some goals which will bring me towards my so called 'aspirations' but nothing's fucking working and it's driving me crazy!
Good luck with your book, all I can say is make it your priority- and nothing else and it 'should' work. When you said your pulse quickened when you opened your 'book' on your laptop that should tell you something. You need to open 'book' more often than not. But don't listen to me I have no idea what the the fuck I'm doing with my life. I'm definately not living my 'dream' by having achieved my 'goals'... all his other stuff just always seems to get in the way!
Sorry for the negativity but it's a difficult subject for me right now. obviously-
7:36 PM
Oooh! Send me a copy! I love editing.
9:22 PM
I came across your Blog through Claire Carters and now I look forward to this one nearly as much as I do hers. Now I feel like it's been too many days without a post and I might be starving; I might die. Save a lonely housewife.
Write again soon,
Cat.
9:07 PM
You got it, Cat - stay tuned.
8:13 AM
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