What’s the difference? I’m not really sure. I had an interesting conversation with a close friend last week. Her view of dreams was different from mine.I was talking about dreams and what I wanted to achieve. My friend said something to the effect of; stop dreaming and start doing. We talked for a bit then I stopped. I said something like; Wait a minute, what did you mean by stop dreaming? I truly did not understand how I could stop dreaming. She explained I needed to work on my goals. You already know your dreams. Now you need to lay out your goals and the steps to get there.

Maybe I’m a little daft. Okay a lot daft, but I have always thought of goals and dreams as the same thing. My dreams have always been what I wanted in life. Some dreams I achieved like finding my mate, raising our kids, building my career, and buying our home. Some dreams I set aside for various reasons. Some dreams I decided not to pursue. Now I have new dreams to take into this new life I’m transitioning into.

Dreams sound like goals to me. As I explained this, the quizzical look appeared on her face. It tickled me and I started to laugh. She frowned at me. Oops. I apologized by explaining I found our different way of looking at things amusing. Neither of us are wrong, just different. It’s really the same thing but looked at from a different point of view.

Just thinking out loud here: Maybe this why I get so disappointed when I don’t reach the milestones towards my dreams. Delays frustrate me. Because my drive, my focus, and my goals are woven within my dreams. To my way of thinking the goals are my dreams. Why work towards something if it does not get me closer to a dream.

Right now, I’m doing this fantastic crazy thing called NaNoWriMo. My dream is to be a full-fledged writer. To do that I need to write. I like books so, I’m writing books. My milestone is to write Prankster by November 30^th (at least 50,000 words of it).

The second milestone is to complete the first draft of Prankster by the end of the year. Oh! And keep up with my regular life. You know…job, appointments, family, holidays, and blogging. All of this are the pieces of my dream: Living the life a writer. I’m starting to live the dream.

So far, NaNoWriMo has been a good, bad, frustrating and exhilarating experience. I may not make this milestone. As I worked through my organizing my day this morning, Prankster is at 14,387 words. Yesterday I worked on a difficult concept and corrections. Because I was in immense pain from the frozen shoulders, after a while, I just couldn’t think anymore. I got the concept done…Whew! Happy dance. I can get out of the head of the antagonist for a bit. The Prankster really is a horrid person. May I say possibly psychotic.  But after all of that, I only wrote 284 words. Can you say deflated? I can!

Today the milestone says I should be at about 27,000 words Hmmm… There’s a really good chance I’m not going to make the November challenge. I’m still going for the dream. So I picked up the disappointment and threw it in the garbage. I’ll see where I get tonight.

Daydreaming about finishing Prankster, writing full time, and enjoying my family and friends is in my future. Call it dreams, goals, whatever. I’m livin’ it.

Keep livin’ the dream my friends.

Milly