Are Some Dreams Too Big?

"Dreams come in a size too big so that we may grow into them."

--Josie Bisse

When a teacher told me one time my dreams of being a published author while being a wildlife veterinarian were too big for a little girl like me, I obstinately told her I wasn't going to be a little girl forever. I could grow into my dreams like many "little girls" before me. But as I grew older, I became more realistic, or so I thought. In actuality, I allowed people around me to choke the dreamer inside of me, to shrink my aspirations to what I thought could fit the mold I was allowing others to put me in.

Vocal, especially in the last year, has helped me reach for the stars and beyond again. The new me emerging from the shadows is happier and willing to put herself out there. So to match my new mindset and to start off the new year right, I started to think of aspirations I threw out years past. I don't know if I will accomplish them all this year and that is okay; the point of this year is to allow myself to dream.

Here are some of my aspirations for the year:

Write in two new communities. Vocal has so many communities available, but I seem to limit myself to a select few, though I have been known to write a piece or two when a challenge calls for it. So this year, unprompted, I want to broaden my horizons.

Write a fanfiction piece. I have wanted to try this for a while, but something seemed to hole me back. For a while, I used the excuse that Vocal didn't seem to have an option for fanfiction. (They do now.) Now, I realize I was psyching myself out. I don't think I have ever read a fanfiction piece on Vocal, and I felt it wouldn't be received as readily as some of my other pieces. Now I am going to write and publish one just because I want to, not because I am worried about how others will feel about it. Speaking of...

Publish my work because I am proud of it. I didn't publish some things because I got so wrapped up in what I thought would be the concerns or feelings of others. This year, I want to be more concerned about how I feel about my writing. No more holding myself back.

Learn more about different types of poetry. Vocal expanded my ideas of what is poetry and all the different types with the many challenges from last year. They have also included many new types in the tag section; I had to look up quite a few of them. Though the challenges are a nice touch, I want to learn about some of the forms on my own time.

Publish a new book. This is one aspiration I don't think I will accomplish this year. But in the spirit of not holding myself back, I am adding it to the list. I have so many ideas, but never seem to go through with them. So I want to use Vocal to help me stay accountable and to give me feedback. Even if I don't have a finished product by the end of the year, I want to be well on my way.

Rewrite a old piece. Rewrite. Rewrite a old piece. For whatever reason, this one seems to overwhelm me every time I think about it. Where to start, how to fix it, and so on and so forth. But I want to see how much I have grown as a writer. So maybe, (screams internally), you guys can go through some of my old work. Give me some advice on what could use a rewrite and some suggestions on how I can improve the story.

So are some dreams too big? I hope this is the year I can prove to myself and maybe even others that isn't the case at all.