Welcome to #MFRW author’s 52-week blog hop! This week’s topic, My Biggest Dream in Life, came easy for me. I don’t only imagine living this dream for myself, but also for my children. The small town I’ve grown up in, and probably many towns, is very sports focused. If you talk to anyone and the subject veers to children, one of the first questions is ultimately…
“So what sports are your kids in?”
I’ll be the first to say that exercise is a good, positive thing for kids and 
adults. Hello- backaches! I am a writer, thus I spend much of my time with my “butt in the chair.”) Back in the day, my girls participated and tried just about every sport. Now I’d probably say their most popular sport might be called:
- Marathon reading
- The ten-book dash
- Keyboarding
- NaNoWri Participant (National Novel Writing Month)
- Swimming in Stories
- Wanna-be Writers
- Aspiring Authors
Authors Don’t Fall Far From the Tree
When my girls first got bitten by the reading bug I couldn’t be more excited. To share the books I loved and discuss characters from stories together was like a dream come true.
Then 
when they repeatedly requested a trip to Barnes & Noble to spend their report card money my heart may have grown three times in size.
When they displayed an interest, and talent, for writing I couldn’t be happier.
What? An Author?
But when I respond to the “sports” question that my girls are avid readers, and that they both love to write, one so much that she has written novel-length fiction I get the blank stare. Or they repeat the question, “So aren’t they in sports?”
I believe part of the sports driven mindset is the dream of raising the next professional athlete, or sports star. This dream may be even 
more far fetched than becoming rich from writing novels, yet it is eagerly embraced. While I feel most kids who verbalize the dream of making a living as an author are looked at with a raised brow, or told to pursue it as a hobby. The same things that kept me from pursuing my passion for so many years.
So what is my biggest dream in life?
Thus my dream would be for authors to receive the same, if not more, admiration and encouragement as professional athletes. It takes a certain skill, ingrained talent, and a honing of one’s craft to write well. A talent I’d love to see paid well for the product provided.
As a result, I can encourage my children to chase that dream as a career, and pour their passion onto the page.
For don’t we all receive priceless entertainment and joy from escaping into a good story? I know I do.
But what would we do if our favorite #authors chose to put down their pen and choose another path? #MFRW Share on XTherefore, where would we be without our cherished characters and stories? They have enriched our lives and allowed us to travel the world without leaving our couch.
What WOULD we do if our favorite authors put down the pen? I shudder to think!
Well apparently I did something wrong in entering my website address. Hmmm.
I can’t even consider it, Sherry! Thanks so much for visiting!
I think the ones who reach celebrity level do–Rowlings, King, etc.. but for the rest of us… Fun post.
I do agree with that, Shari. If we ever reach that status- we do become a celebrity. I don’t know that I’d want that much attention- I just want to make earning a nice income writing is a given, so I don’t have to encourage my girls to also choose other career paths to support themselves as most writers have to. (Most- not all, I do realize there are many authors who do well nowadays, especially those who are successful with self-pub)
I’m so jealous your children like to read. For a while my daughter got into it, but the love of reading didn’t last. My boys…forget about it. 🙁 However I am seeing hope in my youngest. Of the 3 boys, he’s the one that will read for fun outside of required reading for homework. The oldest boy…all hope is lost. 🙁
I agree too much importance is given to professional athletes. My kids do play, but more for learning social/team working skills. Not because I’m hoping to raise the next star. We let them decide if they want to play and which sport. The youngest doesn’t play anything, he tried and didn’t like anything so now he does TaeKwon Do and loves it. (have to keep them active)
Thanks for visiting, Meka! I do agree about keeping kids active and with social skills- both wonderful, necessary skills. I hope your youngest will become a reader 🙂
You should definitely cherish your daughters’ love of reading. Too many of their generation are consumed with video games and cell phones, not even sports. If it doesn’t have a screen, flashing lights, and noise, it’s not entertaining. Have you noticed how even baby toys have changed? Everything has lights and noise. The art of creating scenes in one’s mind from reading silent, black and white words may be disappearing. What a loss and so sad for authors. Sorry to be Debbie Downer…
It is so sad Marissa, because as I think most of us would agree- the book is almost always better than the movie 🙂 So many kids will miss out on the beauty of escaping in a good book.
It truly is awesome that your children like to read. One of my boys didn’t enjoy reading fiction until he became an adult, and he writes poetry and wants to write fiction one day. The other might read a non-fiction article of interest or a car or bike manual. Those who don’t read or write don’t understand what we readers and writers get out of it. This is a fantastic post, Maureen. I enjoyed hearing about your dreams.
Thank you, Mary! How wonderful that your son writes poetry. I appreciate you visiting!
Great post, Maureen. I share your dream and I agree that too much is made about athletics. Of course, that’s easy for me to say since I was the biggest klutz in school. I did love to read though.
Linda- the nice thing about reading is that you never outgrow it & your body doesn’t betray you when you try new activities (Like I often accuse my back, lol). Thanks so much for visiting!
That’s great that your girls love to read. It was touch and go for a while, but my son loves to read and I’m thankful for that. He did play football in high school, though.
Alicia, thanks so much for visiting!
It’s so cool that you can share your bookish dreams with your girls.`Sometimes, you know, apples do fall far from the tree. None of my four are readers, and none of them are musicians either. Too bad, because I’m both … but then, my dreams have been totally different than my parents, who probably just wanted to survive and make a better life after crossing the pond as war refugees.
My husband was a musician, and my girls both play in school band, and like alternative rock- so it’s something, but not hard core rockers like him. 😉
I can’t imagine not being a reader. I always have a book or my kindle with me and I’m glad my kids inherited the reading bug. Your dream to have writing be as revered as sports is an admirable one. Maybe…one day…!
I do feel that way about several of my fave authors I have followed for years. Hey, I even got to chat with one of my long time faves thru email just because I sent her contact thru her site telling how much I enjoyed her over the years. She commented on my blog too. That was awesome. It was like being acknowledged by a movie star for me.
AMEN! My kids loved reading until the 2nd or 3rd grade, when AR points were required. Harry Potter caused my oldest to be ‘rebitten’, and the Lightening Thief did the same for my daughter. However, the youngest prefers movies.