The Dream

I started writing Relic years ago. So many years ago, the first parts of the manuscript were written on a Brother word processor. So many years ago, that without going back to look, I don’t know which parts I wrote first, what my process was. I stalled myself, sometimes almost purposefully, it seemed.

But I wanted to finish my novel. I wanted to try to publish. Why would I undermine myself?

About a year ago, I set a personal goal to finish my book. It was about that time that I watched Tangled with my oldest daughter. A scene caught my conscience. Rapunzel and Eugene are waiting for the lights, and Rapunzel says, “I’ve been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?” Eugene assures her it will be.

But Rapunzel retorts, “And what if it is? What do I do then?”

Eugene counters with advice that struck my soul. “Well, that’s the good part I guess. You get to find a new dream.”

I have allowed myself to achieve my first dream. Relic is completed. For years I’ve been looking out that metaphorical window wondering what it would feel like, and now, the accomplishment I feel is tremendous. I have taken this dream farther than I ever thought I would. Not only is it finished, but it has been through the round of Beta readers and an editor. I’ve gotten by with a little help from my friends.

And now I allow myself a new dream: to publish Relic. And the start of my next manuscript.