What’s Your Fantasy?

Tonight, I’m sitting at home watching Extreme Home Makeover, and it’s an awesome episode! This family is totally deserving of a home makeover (If you can call it that! They completely tore down their old home and built a new one). While the show was building them a new house, they sent the family on a rock and roll vacation. The family was a very giving group that ran a non-profit music school and so the vacation was a dream come true for them. They got to spend time with KISS and the dad got to play the drums with the band. How awesome would that be? Even if you don’t care for rock music, you’d have to appreciate what a life changing experience that would be.

It got me to thinking, what would be your fantasy? I’m not sure if I could even come up with just one thing. There are tons of people I’d like to meet, and millions of things I’d like to do. For one, I’d love to travel around the world and see all the amazing things out there. I’d love to spend time in Italy, Greece, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia…to name a few. :D That would be awe inspiring!

I’d love to meet some of the musical artists/groups that I listen to all the time. For one, I’d love to meet Brad Paisley. I bet he has an amazing personality. He’d have to. His songs are fun. I love to listen to music that can make me laugh and want to dance at the same time. I’d also like to meet Kelly Pickler. She seems to have a great personality, as well. Of course, those a just a couple of the many, many people on my list.

I’d also be thrilled to go to New York and get to tour a major publishing house. I’d love to see the inner workings of the business. To meet the editors. To see the slush pile. That would be a dream come true for me!

So, what is your fantasy? What would be something that would be life changing for you? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Nightmares, scary or good ideas?

I had a horrible, terrifying nightmare the other night that still lives vividly in my brain. It was unique for me though. I do have nightmares often enough. In fact, most all of the dreams that I do remember are full of zombies and dead bodies. This one was different, which is why it was so unique. I didn’t dream of my regular scary creatures. This one was something I’d never dreamt of before. Although, it was deadly enough, it was almost funny at the same time.

I can’t even begin to describe the creature in my dream. It was a combination of Puff the magic dragon and platypus. It ran around town eating people, between bouts of swimming in the ocean, where we had a fabulous view looking down from our upper level apartment. Don’t ask me why, because I live no where near the ocean. Maybe we were on vacation, who knows. At any rate, I was terrified when it tore through the buildings eating people left and right while I was trying to keep track of my family members to make sure they weren’t eaten as well.

I’ve been thinking about this dream for the last couple of days and considering what an interesting story it would make. I know a lot of writers get ideas from their dreams, which is something I’ve never really done. Most of my story ideas come from other aspects of my life. But, this dream was so clear and vivid, and in full color, that it would definitely be something I could recreate if I wanted to.

I get most of my ideas from…

• Something I saw on TV
• A snippet of a song from the radio
• A comment someone makes
• Watching strangers in public
• Out of nowhere, an idea just pops in my head
• Conversations with other writers
• Brainstorming questions
• Coming up with a character first, then throwing them into odd situations
• Etc, etc, etc (this list could go on and on)

So, I was wondering, do you use your dreams for storylines? What kind of dreams do you use? Are you like me and rarely dream, or do you have awesome, vivid dreams on a nightly basis? Share your thoughts with me and let me know what you think.

Silent Lucidity...Writing from Dreams

To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.
Anatole France (1844 - 1924)

Hope is a waking dream.
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers

Dreams that do come true can be as unsettling as those that don't.
Brett Butler, 'Knee Deep in Paradise'

To want to be what one can be is purpose in life.
Cynthia Ozick, O Magazine, September 2002

He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001), "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), "Eleonora"

The wisest men follow their own direction.
Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Dreams are sifted reality, our mind's way of filtering through the thoughts we don't dare think during the day. ~ Alisha Paige


How do you come up with new ideas for your latest novel? I'm always curious to see what inspires writers. I'm a big dreamer..yeah, I dream big and I actually remember very vivid dreams. I've been known to wake up from a dream and jot down everything before I forget it. Have you done this?

Once I dreamed I was this teenage girl that moved to a new world (Early America) with my parents. I was very wealthy and our home was ready for us when we arrived, built with the best materials of the day. Servants were carrying my large trunk inside our new home. I watched from the windows, looking out at this foreign, new land as a very handsome man rode up on a horse. I'm watching all of this out the wavy oval glass of our front door. A bear approaches and the man pulls out a knife and spars with it. I gasp and know right then and there that I will marry this man one day. Then I woke up. Ahhh! How disappointing! I immediately wrote the dream down. I usually don't dream of other time periods. This was really odd.


Another night I dreamed I was the member of a wedding party. This is the weird part..my ex husband was there too. After the wedding, there was a huge party in this hotel and we were all staying in two adjoined, very luxurious hotel suites. It was late night and everyone had crashed. In my dream, I wake up when I hear voices, whispers really and doors creaking open. I look over the shoulder of the person sleeping next to me..again, this was highly odd....I don't make a habit of sleeping with a herd of people...and I see all these men coming in, posing as waiters in white coats, pushing room service trays. Very methodicallly, they go from room to room, executing people. They had come from the room adjoining where the bride and groom slept. I watched from the dark as they lifted sheets off of faces. Some they killed. Some they did not. When they finally, very quietly left, everyone is on their feet, screaming. The police are called and word spreads that the bride and groom are dead. I awake for real, shortly after and jot everything down. This dream was so real. I was shaking when I woke and remember the feeling of utter terror. I wrote the introduction to a story called Wedding Day Massacre but have not finished it. Maybe I'll dream the rest of it.

I had a very disturbing dream just a few nights ago. I was vacationing with all my family near NY. We rented a home on the water. It was summertime and we were swimming when we noticed all this debris blasting through the skies above her heads like there had been an explosion. There's total confusion and then we witness a hideous thing. The statue of liberty shoots way into the sky. Everyone is pointing and screaming. It was awful. I don't even want to write about that. **Shudder**



Dreams are fascinating. I remember once being terrified in a dream and I actually knew it wasn't real. I spoke to this ghost and said, "Hey, this is my dream. I'm in control, not you." I stuck my tongue out at the phantom and she disappeared. I always have ghost dreams. Very strange.

I never dream about werewolves or vampires and I write about shapeshifters. Why is that? Has anyone out there studied dreams? I really should read more about them. In my opinion, they are our thoughts sifted. In other words, the stuff we think about but don't dare admit. Who dreams about your ex boyfriend or ex girlfriend? Hey, I don't share these with Michael. I think those dreams are about unresolved issues...maybe things we should have said to the other person...for closure. They seem to be for me at least.

What about when you dream about someone you loved who has died? Now I'm not convinced those are real dreams. I think they're REAL, but that's another topic all together.

Do dreams help you come up with new ideas? I'm dying to hear about your dreams!



Happy Reading and Writing
~Alisha

So, you want to be a writer, eh?

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say they want to be a writer. You know, in that wistful, far-off look that says they wish they could, but you know they never will. Why? Because, they don’t really want it. It’s just a thought to them, not a real dream. If they really want it, they would be out there doing what we’re doing right now, working for it.

Becoming a writer is not an easy job. It takes a lot of hard work. We write and write and write, and then, we still have to go back and redo it. It’s never good on the first try, at least not for me and most writers I know. We revise it multiple times before we’re even ready to send it out to a publisher. If we’re lucky enough to get an acceptance, there are even more revisions after the sale.

Most of the time, we’re doing this after working our day jobs, or in some cases, night jobs. :D We’re tired, yet driven to finish this book or those edits. We get up an hour early just to get in writing time. Or, we stay up an hour or two later, getting by on less sleep, because we have to if we want to keep writing. Sometimes, family time gets missed because we need to get another thousand words before bedtime. Does this sound familiar?

It all depends on how bad you want it. What are you willing to give up in order to reach your dream. Sleep? Family time? Cleaning house? (One of my favorites to forgo) But, one of these days, that will pay off. If you’re really willing to work at it, you can make a living writing.

It’s not easy, and you will probably never make it rich, but it is possible. It goes for any dream. If you want it bad enough, you can achieve it. This is my motto in life. I teach that to my daughter. I tell my mother all the time, she’s a lot more pessimistic than I am. But, I believe it to be true. There isn’t anything in life you can’t accomplish if you set your mind to it.

What do you think? Do you agree with me, or do you think I’m full of crap? Don’t worry, it won’t upset me if you disagree. ;-) Leave a comment and let me know how you feel about it. I’d love to hear your ideas.