Tell Me Your Dreams

Last November, in a blog interview with SORMAG Magazine, the interviewer asked the question: what is your author fantasy. It was not long after Shauna’s blog on realistic fantasies. So of course I tried to temper my fantasy to the more realistic goal of having several published per year.

Unlike many new authors, I didn’t expect my first novel to make me my first million. I had a more realistic set of expectations, a mechanism that helps me to avoid disappointment. I knew it was going to be difficult to get published. Hence when I got an offer on the first try, I investigated the agency and learned it was a scam agency. I didn’t expect to get rich or even give up my job… my mother had already prepared me for that one. So I set two realistic goals for my novel:

1 To introduce a heroine that was not ultra thin, overly beautiful, or super rich. In fact, my heroine was overweight bordering on obese, average in external beauty, and unemployed (the victim of cooperate downsizing), yet filled with inner beauty.

2 To share my story with the world. At that time, I was so desperate to be published that making money was far from my thoughts. I saw it as an investment, something that would make it less difficult to get published in the future. And if I made money off of it that would be the icing on the cake.

My expectations were modest expectations that I think were met. But expectations are expectations and dreams are dreams. We fiction authors know fantasy well. We can create new worlds with nothing. We can create creatures not created by God, and give them personalities too. So while my expectations were realistic, my dreams were far from modest. Here are some of the dreams I had for my first novel:

1. Of course it would make the New York Times best seller list

2. It would be featured on Oprah’s book club

3. I would get a full hour interview on Oprah’s show and she would present the members of the audience with a copy. I would be featured on The View, Larry King live, Rachel Ray, and of course C-span

4. Michele Obama would have a copy of it in hand when a reporter asks what she’s reading. She would turn the cover to the camera and say, “A Marriage of Convenience by Jewel Amethyst. It’s one of the best romances I’ve read in a long time.” (I know the chances of that happening are slim, but I can dream can’t I?)

5. That my book would be made into a movie.

6. And yes, that it sells millions of copies and I make lots of money from it.

None of these fantasies have been realized as yet, but one can dream. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future, my book would be that break out novel that I dream of. So now that I’ve shared my dreams and author fantasies with you, what are your favorite author fantasies?