Building on dreams motivates and inspires us to set goals. A single accomplishment begins with a thought, idea, notion, and, yes, a dream.
Years ago, I dreamt about a string of poinsettia garlands draped across a small plot of cleared away dirt. Upon waking, I wrote down a brief description of the visual. And it played upon my imagination. What was under the garland? I knew a story lay hidden, and I needed to discover it. And so Unearthing Christmas, my first novel, came to life from a dream I committed to memory. The writing process was arduous, with lapses between writing stints. Many times, I faced myself in the mirror and asked, “Are you writing a book or not?” By divine grace, I finished the manuscript and got it published. When my first publisher went bankrupt, I signed on with another soon afterward. My second publisher merged with a larger one, and Unearthing Christmas had yet another publisher. Although the third publisher depublished the book in August of last year, Unearthing Christmas climbed up the Amazon Bestseller List in December 2022 under Young Adult and Teen Christian Sci-Fi subgenre. Meanwhile, I self-published my second novel, The Years In Between, thanks to Saint Martin Productions LLC, the business I’d started in 2011 to develop a film project. Building on dreams finally yield results for me.
I’ve learned many truths about the business world from my artistic endeavors, whether it’s selling and publishing books or pursuing creative projects. An established business allowed for the foundation of building on a dream.
In 2011, I formed Saint Martin Productions LLC to garner funds for a short documentary about a blind couple raising their own sighted twins. I needed an entity separate from my own personal finances to track expenses and initiate a Kickstarter campaign. Little did I know that my business would also incorporate my authorship endeavors years later. All my book sales and expenses are tracked through Saint Martin Productions LLC. And I haven’t given up on the documentary, although the twins, mere toddlers at the project’s inception, are now high school students.
The film world offers great metaphors for building on dreams. With the baseball season upon us, I’m reminded of two films released within a few years of each other. The first, “Field of Dreams,” is about an Iowa farmer who built a baseball diamond in his corn field to conjure up legendary ball players. The 1989 iconic movie was adapted from a 1982 novel, “Shoeless Joe,” by Canadian author W. P. Kinsella.
The novel expanded on his short story, “Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa” first published in 1980. The story’s protagonist, Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, heard the soft whisper of a voice “If you build it, he will come.” Ray built the baseball diamond to give his hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson, an opportunity to redeem himself from the 1919 World Series scandal. The essence of the story, according to critics and reviews, is an allegory that there’s a redemptive quality to realizing dreams. Although overused, the “if you build it, they will come” motto has become synonymous with starting a business. Even if reduced to sentiment, I’ve learned the truth of it. If I hadn’t built Saint Martin Productions LLC, I wouldn’t have had a vehicle to publish my book years later. The other film, also with a baseball theme, is “A League of Their Own,” released in 1992, about a professional all-female baseball league during the World War II era. Their coach, Jimmy Dugan, played by Tom Hanks, gave one of the best quotes for sports or any impassioned pursuit! “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
Most, if not all, businesses are created to sell specific products. The owner typically knows exactly what inventory will be on hand and can forecast sales. In the arts, the process and products, if you will, are ever-changing as artists develop their craft. And selling a book, screenplay, work of art, or musical composition can feel like playing the lottery!
Writing is hard work. Yet marketing makes the writing look easy! In March of this year, I ran a Facebook ad that resulted in three sales! But those three readers wouldn’t have known about The Years In Between if I hadn’t advertised. I’m currently writing the third novel under The Miriam Chronicles series of five novels that started with Unearthing Christmas and continued with The Years In Between. And someday soon, I hope to fulfill my screenwriting aspirations of selling a movie script. The key to realizing any dream is perseverance. I persevere as a writer and a business owner. One complements the other. The foundation is there. I just need to keep building on dreams!