14 Days and Counting

I am going to board a plane and fly half-way round the world in exactly 14 days.

And as crazy exciting as that is, it gets better. Oh yes. Because, for these two weeks, I have nothing to do but get ready and enjoy the time with my family and friends. Well, that, and continue in my efforts towards learning Italian. But I don't have to study anymore.

That's right, I am officially done with college!

Technically, I can't say that I have my bachelor's degree in English. I need the grade and transcript for my final course before I can file for graduation and then, given the way Thomas Edison has things set up, there will be a couple months before the next graduation date rolls around. BUT, I can say that I have earned my BA in full. And what's even better is that I met the goals I had set for how I wanted to earn it: in less than two years, for less than $20K, and without putting the rest of my life on hold. It's a good feeling.

I'm glad at what I've accomplished and I'm glad to be done. I'm glad to be free to read and stay late at Jiu Jitsu class and lolly gag around the dinner table with my family because I don't have any more credits to earn. It's nice; really, really nice. And it's exciting too because now I get to think about what's next. I have no plans beyond Italy - and only God know what will or won't happen during, after, or because of my time there - but it's thrilling to have a wide-open horizon to come home to, even if the idea of charting a course is slightly daunting ;)

One Day, One Author

I've been thinking about author meetings lately. I'm not entirely sure why, since I'm years away from having to think about book tours (seeing those things generally involve this little thing called a book deal...), but I've had book signings, meet-and-greets, and school visits on my mind. And I have all these great ideas for contests and ways to interact with readers at functions instead of just talking or reading to them. They're all highly, highly pre-emptive, I know, but it's fun to think about sometimes. Not productive really (except that it makes the ironing go by faster), but fun. Anyway, somewhere along in the brainstorming/dreaming, I ended up flipping the idea and thinking about what I would want my favorite authors to offer as contest prizes or special events.

I would want there to be a way to win a day with that author.

Obviously, in real life, that can only apply to living writers. But here in the blogosphere, we can apply the idea to all writers of all time and we don't even have to compete for it :) So, if you had an entire day to spend with the author of your choice, who would it be? Why? And what non-writing-related activity would you do with him/her?

I finally decided on J.R.R. Tolkien. C.S.Lewis and G.A.Henty were close contenders in the past-authors category since Narnia is just wonderful and I grew up on Henty. Maggie Stievfater and Brandon Sanderson were the top picks for current authors, because Maggie is both hilarious and talented at all things creative, and Sanderson is, well, brilliant at storytelling. But, Tolkien surpassed them all. The Lord of the Rings is spectacular. And to spend a day with the man who created the world and history and characters of Middle Earth would be an incredible experience. His story is so full. Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to ask him in person how he developed it? How he created such characters? Why he bothered to develop a written language for the Elves and Dwarves? etc, etc, etc.

And if it was actually possible to spend a day with him, I would take him to New Zealand - the one place on Earth that looks like the world he created. And maybe, just maybe, he'd tell me what happens in the Fourth Age of Middle Earth.

Dandelion Dreams

One of my favorite things about spring are dandelions. Not when they're yellow and full of that sticky, smelly substance that oozes out of the stem if you pick them, but when they're white puff balls scattered over the lawn. My little brother kept picking them for me today and asking me to blow them (he doesn't believe that he is just as capable of doing so yet). I happily obliged him.

There's something very enchanting about watching the seeds get caught up and whisked off by the wind. I think dreams are like that. They seem so fleeting and fragile sometimes, like the smallest breeze will snatch them away.

But all those dandelion seeds land somewhere. Maybe a block down the street, maybe miles away. Who knows? Not all of them will take root and bloom. Many of them will though.

I think dreams are like that too. When we let them out, the winds of life may very well take them to some inhospitable place where they languish and die. But some dreams, some dreams, take root in our hearts. Roots 

deep enough that when the wind sweeps them up, they take us as well.

Those kind of dreams are the kind that take us places we never thought we'd end up - places full of hope and beauty and joy and wonder. Those dreams never die. They may change form, like a dandelion that changes from seedling to flower, but the dream itself remains the same.

There's something very enchanting about dreams, about discovering them, pursuing them, and watching them bear fruit. There's a certain wonder that goes with them. Like wondering where a dandelion seed will land, we wonder at where our own dreams might take us, even as we watch and wonder at the dreams of others. The question is always the same: will they come true? Will they bear fruit and what kind of fruit will it be?

That's the part of dreams that really get to us, I think - the possibility. Maybe they won't happen. Maybe they will. Either way, though, it's possible. And, somehow, that's enough.

At least, it is for me.