“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”
I love this quote from The Alchemist, a book I haven’t read in years, but really want to revisit. I have found the statement to be true when working on many of my creative projects. It’s not necessarily about actually achieving a dream, it’s that hope, that possibility of achieving it that gets me to wake up early and write the next sentence. And then after I’m finished, the reality hits me…I will have to send my story out to an agent or publishing firm to achieve my dream. Ugh. Literally my least favorite thing.
But while I’m writing, I envision with perfect clarity a morning BART ride to San Francisco where I see a person reading a story…my story…from across the jammed packed sardine carriage and then watch them laugh out loud and feel the urgent need to share it with their friend. And I love that dream. I might like that dream even more than I would actually like seeing it happen in reality, because sometimes reality can be a bit of a letdown.
It’s kind of like a vacation where you do all the planning and stay awake at night thinking about how magical the trip will be. And then you get there and your bag gets lost and the taxi driver almost kills you on the way to your hotel and then those college kids in the room next to you won’t shut the f up and then it rains four out of five days. Still likely a great trip overall, of course, but the possibility, that dream you had before you left…now that was something special.
In terms of creativity dreams, I’ve heard published authors and illustrators talk about how their first thought after they “made it” was…is this really all there is? Now hopefully when I achieve my dream, it’s more meaningful than that and I will relish the moment as much as I have the possibility of it. But for now, all I have is that possibility and that is definitely making life more interesting for me.