It's Time to Live the Dream

“You just have to keep your dream. If you lose it and get cynical, you die.”
~ Meryl Streep

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."
~ Proverbs 29:18

What's your dream for your writing? For your life?

Know that whatever it is, however improbable it may seem in this moment, it's not impossible. Nearly every success story begins with an "impossible" dream. Nearly every "overnight success" was years in the making.

Have you begun the book you've always dreamt of writing? Now is the time to put your dream into action. It doesn't matter whether you can give it five minutes a day or five hours. It doesn't even matter if you know what it's about.

Every journey begins with a single step. Every piece of writing begins with a single word. Any word.

Write it. Now.

What about your dreams for your life? Have you abandoned them? Stuffed them in the back of a drawer because they seem so unreachable?

Open that drawer. Reach your hand in. Gently. Touch it. Reconnect with it. Reconnect with yourself.

Open your heart again. Open your heart to the vision. Open your heart to your life.

Meryl Streep photo from Pictures of Famous Actors and Actresses. Meryl Streep quote from Inside Inside by James Lipton.

The Real Word About Word-of-Mouth

A Guest Post by John Kremer

New York Times bestselling novelist Brad Meltzer tells a story about how he found out which Barnes & Noble outlet sells the most copies of his thrillers.

When a B&N national sales representative asked the author to guess which store in the chain sold the greatest number of his books, Brad first guessed Washington, D.C., since most of his novels are political thrillers. Not so, said the rep.

Brad then guessed New York City. Again, a no.

Turns out, Brad was never going to guess the real answer.

Why? Because the B&N store with the top Meltzer sales is located in a small town in Florida, just down the street from the furniture store where Brad’s mother works.

When it comes to word-of-mouth, there's nothing like a writer's mother!

Book marketing expert John Kremer is the author of many books including 1001 Ways to Market Your Books

Photo of Brad Meltzer from www.bradmeltzer.com

The Voice of Your Muse Receives Premio Dardos Award

Awards are great! And this blog just won one earlier today, thanks to Missy Frye at the Incurable Disease of Writing blog.

It's the Premio Dardos (“prize darts” in Spanish), and it's given in recognition of cultural, ethical, literary and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing.

Now, it's my turn to pass the torch -- er, dart -- to these 15 blogs that, to me, meet the same criteria.

(Here's how it works: recipients accept the award by posting it on their blog along with the name of the person that granted the award and a link to his/her blog. They then pass the award to 15 other blogs that are worthy of the acknowledgment, remembering to contact each to let them know they have been selected.)

Here's my list, in alphabetical order. Check 'em out...
• Malcolm Campbell ~ Writer's Notebook
• Lin Ennis ~ Read - Write - Shoot
• Jett Farrell ~ Fishing with Crossbows
• Kimberlee Ferrell ~ Freedom Writing
• B.L. Lindstrom ~ Authorian Adventures in the Ether
• Julie Isaac ~ WritingSpirit Resources
• Gail Gaymer Martin ~ Writing Fiction Right
• Kaiser A. Nelson ~ Radio Free Bard
• Keath Pyeatt ~ Horror with Heart
• Susan Schanerman ~ heARTmatters
• Dan Stone ~ First A Dream
• Stephen TIano ~ Stephen Tiano
• Barbara Vey ~ Beyond Her Book
• Marvin D. Wilson ~ Free Spirit
• Chris Zydel ~ Creative Juices Arts & Painting from the Wild Heart