Know your dream. Really know it.

In my last blog I talked about making sure I remembered what my dream was, and not getting side tracked by others’ dreams or what others’ suggested my dream should be.

Knowing what your dream is – really knowing it – matters, because it determines what path you need to be on to achieve it.

My dream is to write stories people love to read.

But there is a key word I need to add to that sentence which will uncover what my dream really is, and in turn what I should be doing to achieve it. If you are an aspiring author who recognises yourself in that sentence about dreams, you need to mull over that word too.

The word that is missing is a quantifier: a word or phrase before a noun to indicate the amount of something. (And yes, I had to look that up in my trusty online dictionary).

That word goes between ‘stories’ and ‘people’. How many people?

Let’s try a few out, and explore their associated pathways to success.

To write stories all people love to read….?

This is arrogant, and impossible. And it is SO important to remember that when 1 star reviews appear. There is no book on earth that all people love – even the greats have their detractors. Even pretty rubbish stories have their fans. There is a level of arrogance and delusional that everyone will love your book. Accept it won’t happen and move on.

To write stories millions of people love to read…?

It’s not that I wouldn’t be happy if this happened. To be invited onto talk shows and courted by Reece Witherspoon’s production company (oh, I’ve already casted my main characters, don’t you worry about that!) But it’s never been my dream, in the sense that I’ve never written with the aim of this occurring. Genuinely. And this matters because it opens up other avenues for me, and it means I can stay true to my writing niche, rather writing for the masses. Psychologically it also takes the pressure off, which I’ll talk about further below.

To write stories many people love to read…?

We’re getting closer, but even then, that quantifier doesn’t feel quite right for me.

To write stories some people love to read.

That’s it, right there. That’s my dream. It is not defeatist, and it is not small. I’m not choosing that dream because I don’t think I’m good enough for the previous ones. I’m realistic about what I write and whether I’m willing to write and market myself for the masses. I’m not. If the masses find my writing and like it – great. If they don’t? Absolutely fine. The dream also isn’t small because writing any book people love is hard. It’s really bloody hard. There is so much craft that goes into structure, character, prose, plot, pacing and payoff. That last one often trips me up in books I like, but don’t quite love: ‘the promise of the premise’ as it’s called in the writing world. I wrote two full length novels before I got to one that I thought people would love. And much to my delight, my beta readers are proving that to be true.   

Which brings me to one slight alteration in my dream.

To publish stories some people love to read.

I don’t just want to write them and distribute them to a small group of friends. My dream is to publish them and reach a wider audience.

I have studied my craft, completed writing courses, engaged actively in writing groups, and worked closely with editors.

I toyed for a time with the agenting route (getting an agent whose aim is to then get you a publisher). But I got so immersed in that world that I forgot about my dream for a moment and got blinded by the process.

This year, I’m publishing my debut novel. Indie publishing suits my dream perfectly, because it makes my book available, and helps me find my audience. I have enough faith in my writing and my book (and my beta readers and editors) to be confident that some people will love it. I have enough humility and realism to be confident that some people won’t (bring on that 1 star review!!)

But my attention had already turned to making sure my second novel is ready to release six months after my first so that everyone who loves it thinks, I can’t wait for that next Sarah M. Birrell novel to drop.

Not everyone gets to live their dream… but I’m making mine happen.

Sarah M. Birrell’s debut will be published later this year and she couldn’t be happier. Please join her community of readers, and show that narratives, not marketing budgets, matter.