Happy December, everyone! Crazy, isn’t it, how the time flies?
It seems like just yesterday, the writers of the world were starting on their NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) projects and the picture book people were jotting down the first idea for the PiBoIdMo challenge (a picture book idea per day).
And now, just when you thought you could finally take a break from all those crazy writing crusades, I’ve dreamed up another one for you.
This one applies to writers of any genre. More than that, it’s really for anyone who has a serious dream but has been frustrated by lack of time and energy, assaulted by procrastination, tortured by doubts into apathy.
No matter how young — or how old you are — no matter how big your dream (or how small, I suppose), my goal with this challenge is to get you back upon your feet, or get you started, or just let you give yourself a chance.
DREAMS
I have met so many people, bright, talented, powerful, amazing people, who let their dream just sit there, just out of their reach.
Once in a while, they’ll get serious, they’ll start that novel, finish another revision, write that query, write five… But when they come up against an obstacle or two, or a hundred, they feel as though they’re facing a wall, tall, giant, insurmountable. And they retreat behind it.
Days pass, quick and slippery as fish you try to catch with your bare hands. Months become years. Sometimes they write. Increasingly, they don’t bother. Home renovations, kids activities and illnesses, overloaded work schedules and holidays eat up the hours.
If those people just give up the dream, then, and move on to something else — maybe a new dream — or maybe just, I don’t know, contentment, if there is such a thing, I say, good for you, guys! Maybe you decide in the end to live for your child, or dedicate all your creativity to your home — your job — your family — a new career — a new adventure. Maybe you decide you’re a reader, not a writer. A volunteer, not a professional. And how cool is that? You have found your own truth. You have found your meaning.
But the thing is: many of these people don’t really let the dream go. They either tinker — writing some days, for example, starting books, signing up for workshops — only to give up, back to where they started. Or they go the someday route. They wait for better times to go for it.
What an energy suck, though! The unfulfilled potential, the sadness of what could be, the questions unanswered.
HATS
Ever since I remember dreaming, I’ve tried on many kinds of dreamhats. As a teenager, I have wanted to be a singer. An actress. I have tried to audition for a role or two, and had some pictures taken to send to modeling agencies. I once idly wished I could be a student president at my university. Run my own campus TV show. Become a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Win awards. Score a prestigious internship with MSNBC. Make a living freelancing for big papers and magazines.
A couple of these dreams came true for a time, others lingered for years, unfulfilled. Eventually, most of these fell away like dead leaves in autumn. And here is what I have discovered: it was good to let the dreams go, because some of them were nothing but borrowed hats.
But once you find your hat — your own — I think you’ll know. Your head will know. It will feel so good.
My advice to you is, once you find your hat, don’t take it off and put it on a shelf. Don’t stick it in a drawer. It’s December, and January will be here before we know it. It’s getting cold. Wear your hat!
THE CHALLENGE
With this challenge, I say, whoever you are, check your dream out. Take a month to decide if it is for you, and then either drop it or keep it. If you have something you’re always thought of doing, try it. If you’ve been waiting to finish this or that, before embarking on a project of your dreams, don’t wait, or it’ll never happen. Do it now.
And if you already know what you want, and you already know you want it, make a commitment to work toward it every single day for a month.
GIMME 31
Ah, go ahead, take a month off after all those NaNoWriMo’s. Finalize the gift shopping. Enjoy your holidays, whatever it is you celebrate. But starting next month, I will run the Dream Challenge here on the Magic Mirror. If it takes off, I hope to continue doing this every January from now on. During those 31 days, I want each one of you busy dreamers to give me 31 minutes of your precious time. Pick the time of the day that works best for you. Think in advance about your dream. Put a timer on. Seriously, do it. Use a timer. And once it’s on, rush to the computer (or your studio, or whatever), and do the work. No breaks. Thirty-one minutes. Write. Paint. Meditate (if that’s your dream). Thirty-one measly minutes. Don’t be stingy with me. That’s not much, I’m asking.
Little kids? Demanding full-time jobs? I don’t care. If you have time to be reading this blog, you have 31 minutes to spare to your dream.
Once the 31 minutes runs out, stop working! (Okay, so you can finish writing the sentence, if you like — or leave it unfinished, like Hemingway did — I know I can’t do that, but to each his own…) If you need to write more, carve out some time later to do another 31. That’s totally optional. The first 31 is NOT though.
This isn’t just for people trying out a new dream, you know.
If you already know exactly what you want, do it with me too. Work on your current project. You can put in many hours. Just make sure you do that first 31 minutes though. If you’re in a roll after that, follow it with another 31. Before you know it, you’ll be finishing a chapter.
The reason I’m sticking with 31 minutes is because I found this amount of time to be optimal for making some real progress (half an hour, plus one minute to take a deep breath and get settled — or run to your desk once the timer is set). Fifteen minutes is too short to be taken seriously. And one hour can loom too large.
Thirty minutes though? Seems like a happy medium.
Just make sure you do it every single day, starting on January 1, New Year’s Day. Yes, despite the hangover. 🙂
If you’d like to be a part of it, send me an email at katiawrites@gmail.com or leave a comment here with a way for me to contact you. Tell me what you’ll be working on and make a public committment to doing this with me, so I can cheer you on! I hope some of you will also consider writing guest posts for me about your dreams and your experiences, the challenges you’ve faced, and any advice you have to give to the others, as we go along. I would really appreciate those, because January will be quite busy for me, with my first Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA residency and all (squeal!)
At the end of the month, I will have my daughter randomly pick one participant’s name out of a hat.
The prize: A $31 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble.
Yes, it will be my gift to you, just for giving your dreams a real chance.
What’s that? Why do I care? Great question! I am not quite sure, actually. But for some reason, I do, I really, really do. These people, some of them I know personally. And I know that they have something to give to the world. Something wonderful. I want them to be able to do that. Because I really think they can — or they could.
I am sorry I can’t offer more prizes right now. Check with me on that again when I’m a bit more rich and famous, though…But the biggest prize of all, I would think, will be a productive month and a great start to the New Year!
So… who is with me?
(Or if you’re not, can you spread the word and recruit some friends?)
Let’s get started! The clock is ticking!
Katiaesque 
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