Dare. Dream. Write. More.

Don’t be self-conscious about dreaming, or about people thinking you’re too idealistic, and not serious enough. Don’t allow your self talk to be judgmental. Look at the world with wide-eyed enthusiasm, believe you are more powerful than the problems that confront you, and dream big. ~ Richard Branson

I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions. I’ve never picked a special word to represent a new focus for my life. This year will be different, but I’ll keep it simple:

More. More daring, more dreaming, more writing.

I lost my focus for most of the year. I kept busy doing busy things, some of which actually needed doing. I made choices without intention. I let go of dreams in favor of a more comfortable, well-traveled road. I’m familiar with that path. I’ve taken it many times, or perhaps I never left it.

The truth is it’s easier to help others follow their dreams rather than do the work necessary to go after my own. So much less effort to encourage-away someone else’s disappointment.

But the end of this year finds me in the same blurry place I started from at the beginning. Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I guess it’s time to change things up.

This coming year I will be intentional with my doing. I will dare more and dream more.

I’ll take the time to let stories unfold and settings breath, and characters do what they do because they are alive (after all) and make choices that affect their lives for good or bad. Just like me. Maybe this year I’ll learn something from the characters inhabiting my stories. Or better yet, I’ll write from a place of empowerment, and teach them a few things.

Will this be the year you dare to dream? I hope so.

About KL Wagoner

Speculative Fiction Writer