Dreaming Big ... and Sometimes Small (Mary Strand)

This month at YA Outside the Lines, we're talking about dreaming big vs. staying realistic.

Why on earth do I have to choose? I do both. Always.

I'm part of a small group of writer friends who do a "list of 100" goals each year, something one member of our group suggested years ago based on a book written by Leonie Dawson. (I barely remember any specifics of the book, which I looked at only when we started this, but many people love it.)

Anyway. Most of the people I know who do this, or something like this, are all about "achievable" goals. If it's not within their control, they don't put it on the list.

I call that dreaming low.

My own goals every year are grouped by writing and publishing, music, and life. Out of 100 stated goals, I usually achieve 40-45 of them, even though I work HARD at them. If I nailed 80 or 90 or all of my goals, I would know I hadn't reached for the moon. I'd call that reaching for the low-hanging fruit.

Yes, some of my goals are entirely within my control, and that's important. "Write at least 20 songs": not exactly a walk in the park, but totally something I can do. (And have done each year since 2020.) But I also list 3 books I want to revise, plus writing a new novel. (A nonwriter friend recently asked if it takes me a couple of months to write a book. Um, if it's a YA or adult novel, we're talking closer to a year.) So can I do all of that? Almost certainly not, especially with my music career going full steam, but they're all important goals to me.

One goal: "Perform at First Avenue." (THE music venue in Minneapolis for rock.) It's TOTALLY a stretch goal, but I just played at Turf Club (also on my list), and that was huge to me. Why not ask for more?

My life goals are the most fun, but they too include both goals that are utterly within my control ("eat at 10 new-to-me restaurants in the Twin Cities" or "bike to Minnehaha Falls," an annual favorite goal) and major pie-in-the-sky goals ("be an extra in a movie" or "bike in person at a Leanne Hainsby Peloton class"). Sure, I don't achieve a lot of the crazy goals ... but every year I do achieve some of them, and it's a blast.

I love my list, and I take real time each year to create it. More important, because of my "list of 100," I achieve WAY more each year than I would if I didn't write that list. My eye is on the prize every week, if not every day.

Now, about my goal to "get a Mary Strand Wikipedia page," which Wikipedia doesn't allow me to set up on my own: who wants to help a girl out? Pretty please?

As thanks, I'll even treat you to a meal ... maybe at a new-to-me restaurant in the Twin Cities!

Mary Strand is the author of Pride, Prejudice, and Push-Up Bras and three other novels in the Bennet Sisters YA series. You can find out more about her books and music at marystrand.com.