Tuesday November 1, 2011 is the day that I take the first steps towards making a dream come true. A dream I have had since I was a child was writing a book. It was also a dream that I gave up over the past year of illness. My illnesses became a thief and stole my dreams.
Fellow blogger and friend Deb of The ABC's of RA reminded me of the importance of having dreams. Two dreams that I have had since I was a child are 1) To write a book and 2) Travel - Hawaii and the most recent is to get my kids to Disney while they are young enough to be in awe of all it has to offer.
When I first rediscovered my dreams it was with pain. I realized that with my current limitations they were going to be next to impossible. Or were they? Where there is a will there is a way. It required some creative thinking. So I got creative and here is what I learned.
I have looked into the travel and we can do a two week Disney Cruise to Hawaii...pretty cool way to experience both at the same time. The magic of Disney in a way that I will better be able to manage with my limitations. There are activities for the kids that are run by the Disney staff. They will have an amazing time that is not dependent on what I am able to do each day. It will not involve walking, walking and more walking as it would if we went to the parks. I can also use a wheelchair or scooter on the cruise if it is needed. I am so excited by this new information. We are saving up for the cruise and I have to tell you it is very cool to have something to work towards making it a reality rather than that wistful longing and not doing anything to get us there. My dreams are only dead if I allow it and I refuse to give up my dreams!!
Writing a book is more of a challenge. My hand deformities and pain limit the amount of typing that I can do. A quick e-mail to my brother the tech wizard and I was advised of the speech recognition software by Nuance - Dragon Naturally Speaking. I will be able to speak and have the computer do the typing for me. This is supposed to be the best on the market so I have ordered and now wait on delivery. Not only will this allow me to achieve my goal of writing a book but it will also make my job much easier. No more typing long e-mails that bring tears to my eyes and take 5x longer than they used to.
I went back through previous blogs and found a contest that I had been interested in but put aside due to the problems with my hands. November 1 - 30th, 2011 is National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to complete a 50,000 word novel within this time frame. You update your word count through out the month (scrambled so that you don't have to worry about plagiarism) and are considered a winner if you meet the 50,000 words. I have signed up for this contest :) Half the battle is proving to myself that I can indeed write a novel. My problem of course is I have no idea what to write about. I had a few ideas that I was working on months ago but I am in such a different place I feel the need to go a different direction. Essentially I have until Monday night to come up with the topic for my book if nothing else. It would be nice to have an outline going in to the contest but I have read enough about these contests to know that most people toss out their outlines fairly early in the process.
For the first time in a year I have a feeling of being alive. I could get used to this feeling!
What are your dreams? What are you doing to make them a reality?
Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween Weekend!
© 2011 Rhonda
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