Your Dream Writing Life

A few weeks will bring us to January, named for the Roman god Janus, who faced both the future and the past. It’s a good time to reflect on the year just ended and dream of the year beginning, so let me challenge you to an exercise that a workshop leader once gave me: Describe a day in your dream writing life. Include plenty of sensory clues, because these will help you enter the dream and prompt your subconscious to make the dream your reality.

Here from my notebook is how I described my dream writing life in 2019:

I am strolling along the sidewalk in Saugatuck, Michigan, admiring the colorful gifts in shop windows. It's a sunny autumn afternoon and a balmy breeze from the harbor scatters leaves before me. I feel a sense of elation as I approach the corner bookstore where a signing of my new book has been scheduled, because I can already see that a couple dozen people are browsing the tables outside the shop and going inside. We'll have a busy afternoon.

 

When I step inside the shop, the manager greets me warmly.  She offers to make me a cup of tea before she seats me behind a table where two large stacks of my novel are waiting to be signed. My tweed jacket feels a bit warm, but I decide to keep it on because I like the professorial air it gives me. Immediately, a vivacious lady introduces herself and says, "I've been looking forward to this, Mr. Allison. I've read all of your books and can hardly wait to read this one tonight!"

 

I inhale the smell of fresh paper and ink that pervades the shop. It reminds me of so many pleasant afternoons I've spent in Borders, Barnes & Noble, and other bookstores, exploring the world of knowledge and imagination. It's satisfying to know that now I am part of that world.

You might say this is not a very realistic picture because the writing life is primarily one of hard discipline and frustration. The days of seeing our work in print and talking with enthusiastic fans are few and far between. Fair enough. But remember, our assignment is to capture the dream, not the many weeks of hard work that lead to the dream. Delightful rewards beckon us into the future, so we need to see them clearly at the turn of the year.

Now a savory cup of Earl Gray tea or the fresh-ink fragrance of Barnes and Noble reawakens my dream within me. It’s still very much alive, luring me into the new year.

How would you describe your dream writing life?

Joe Allison writes both fiction and nonfiction, and has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. He lives in Anderson, IN, with his wife Maribeth and daughter Heather.