Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Be Gentle with Your Dreams


I think we drove home from the hospital at about five miles per hour.

We put the car seat down in the living room and tip-toed and whispered.

It wasn’t that we hadn’t handled babies before. I grew up bouncing them and pacifying them and changing their diapers.

But this was different.

This was… our baby.

Dreams are like babies. They need to be treated gingerly in the beginning. They’re tiny, fragile, and easily assaulted.

We want them to thrive and to grow -- and in order to do that, they need to be protected.

After some time (okay lots of time) and some late nights at the computer screen – our dreams – our stories – start to take shape.

Our initial response might be to continue to protect those dreams, but we know… eventually they need to be exposed to daylight.

It’s a difficult step… to let others see our dreams. To take risks and pursue being published. But we want to help those dreams find their way in the world.

We need to start exposure carefully. We need to select people who will be gentle with our newborn ideas. As our writing grows we can expand our circle of sharing.

Newborns are seldom beautiful. Our dreams will sprout acne, irritated skin, and intolerable shrieks of neediness. But they are in the process of growing.

One day we won’t even remember anything except the joy…

So go ahead -- bond with your writing dream. And when it’s time… let her take her first baby step.

Try not to freak out when she falls. Know there are many more baby steps to take place until one day…

Your dreams are strong, healthy, and running so fast you can hardly keep up.

Can we be your small circle today? We'd love to hear about your writing dreams. We promise to be gentle.

5 comments:

  1. So I have an idea that I've been working on for a while now, but I'm not sure if it would be any good. It's about a 16 year old boy that's into the "goth" culture and struggles with drugs. He has a childhood friend that is a Christian, and this friend is a light for the main character. It's from the "goth" guy's perspective, and about halfway through he comes to know Christ. The other half is about his struggles to get away from his old life. Sound good? Also the most nervwracking part of posting this is I don't want someone to use my idea. :( Paranoia isn't a good thing...

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  2. Beautifully written blog post, BJ! And an even more beautiful baby girl!!

    Anonymous, it sounds like a great idea to me! And don't worry about someone stealing it - we are all friends here! Plus, the way that your write your story will be totally unique, so even if someone DID take it, the two stories would be so different that it wouldn't matter. :) I totally have paranoia about these things too, but I've learned that most people have so many ideas for their own stories that they don't even have the time to consider other ideas. ;)

    Great idea!

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  3. Thanks for this post, BJ!

    And thanks for the encouragement, Erynn! And also I apologize for mispelling "nervewracking," hahaha!

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  4. I like the idea too Anonymous! And great post BJ. She is so precious. You're already an awesome mommy ;)

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  5. Congratulations BJ!
    Im working on a story but it's really challenging and stretching me.
    It's about a girl who's best guy friend & crush. has starts dating someone she hates. So, my MC decides to try and break them up but things don't go as planned.

    I know I need more plot twists but I haven't figured them all out, like what if the guy has a reason for dating the mean girl my MC doesn't know about? Sounds good but I can't figure out the secret.

    Or what if trying to break them up my MC starts being friends with the mean girl.
    Or I don't know but I know it needs work.Im trying though

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