What do you dream about? What is your worst nightmare?
My good friend and sometimes co-conspirator Alison May has a new book out – Midsummer Dreams.
To celebrate, she’s holding a world-wide multi-mega-blog post on the subject of dreams. Midsummer Dreams is a romantic comedy – but that isn’t keeping nightmares from sneaking into the blog posts.
It’s all Alison’s fault of course – she asked a bunch of authors three questions. She should have known that would lead to trouble…
I had a dream…
… that I would one day stand in a bookshop and see a book written by me on the shelves.
Well, I have done that and I have to say it was a wonderful feeling. Which is a good thing, because it balances all the hard work involved in getting there. The first time you see that book, all the blood, sweat and tears seem to vanish. It’s the same for the second book. And the third…. This has led me to realise that there’s a lot of hard work involved in dreams.
If only I had a fairy godmother. Alison – are there fairies n this book? Can you spare one?
I had a nightmare…
Well – not so much my nightmare as a nightmare for the people around me.
I ran out of book while on a plane. It was a short flight. Just three hours so I only took one book (this was before I had an e-reader). The problem was that the flight was delayed by three hours. We were half way between Australia and New Zealand when I read the last page. There was another hour and a half to go – and I had nothing to read!!!! Disaster! I started prowling the plane, looking over people’s shoulders in the hope of finding a discarded magazine I could borrow.
Luckily a flight attendant saw me. In a desperate bid to save the rest of the passengers form a terrifying sight of me without anything to read, she found a couple of magazines and newspapers at the back of the plane. They barely kept me going until we landed… but it was enough to save everyone on the plane from a terrible fate.
My dream for the future…
You mean, apart from the bit about being a rich and losing lots of weight? And becoming a better cook. And writing a fantasy novel. Travelling to Machu Picchu – and being fit enough to climb that huge mountain. And… lots of things.
Dreams are what keep us going. When reality gets us down – dreams lift us back up. It could be something as simple as the thought of taking those high heels off and resting my aching feet. Or it could be a dream of flying. Or finding Aiden Turner and his scythe in my back garden.
Hold fast to your dreams – because dreams are what make us human (or vampire or werewolf or whatever species we are).
OK – so that’s my bit of the dreamscape. There are a lot of other authors also talking about dreams and nightmares – to check out some of the others, pop over to Alison’s blog to get the links.
And – if you’re looking for a good book, you can download the kindle edition of Midsummer Dreams here:
Four people. Four messy lives. One party that changes everything …
Emily is obsessed with ending her father’s new relationship – but is blind to the fact that her own is far from perfect.
Dominic has spent so long making other people happy that he’s hardly noticed he’s not happy himself.
Helen has loved the same man, unrequitedly, for ten years. Now she may have to face up to the fact that he will never be hers.
Alex has always played the field. But when he finally meets a girl he wants to commit to, she is just out of his reach.
At a midsummer wedding party, the bonds that tie the four friends together begin to unravel and show them that, sometimes, the sensible choice is not always the right one.