Dreams and What May Be

 by Charlotte Bennardo

Photo by Мария Портнова : https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-neon-signage-on-the-wall-8296426/

Our theme is dreaming big versus staying realistic. 

Now I could name lots of people who dreamed big; authors, inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists, etc. You get the idea. For all those who kept to staying realistic, well, we wouldn't have heard of them. So which is better?

In my life, I've followed both paths. For dreaming big, I was the first in my immediate family to not only graduate college, but get a Master's. However, it took me a number of years to achieve this. I got my dream job as a journalist, only to realize that I didn't like choosing between gas in my car and eating. I've held a number of jobs that I liked; paralegal, substitute teacher (in hopes of becoming a teacher), and author, but my favorite was being a mom to three boys. 

I still have big dreams but I've tempered them with a dose of reality. The chances of me being another JK Rowling is probably statistically impossible, but that doesn't mean I can't be a bestselling author. I want to hike the Grand Canyon, and it's on my bucket list. In the meantime, I hike in every state I visit. I want to live a long life so I eat healthy, and have mostly given up junk food, alcohol, fats, and doing stupid things that could cause injury.  

Being realistic doesn't mean giving up your dreams; it means building a firm foundation to make them come true. To be a bestselling author, I have to put in the work and the time. I think it's too late for me to go into space (I'm not an astronaut and I don't have millions of dollars to buy a ticket), but it doesn't mean I can't dream about going to the stars--and visiting them in my writing. 

Photo by Kaique Rocha: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-hand-and-crescent-moon-447329/

Charlotte writes MG, YA, NA, and adult novels and short stories in sci fi, fantasy, contemporary, horror, paranormal and romance genres. She is the author of the award-winning middle grade Evolution Revolution trilogy: Simple Machines, Simple Plans, and Simple Lessons. She co-authored the YA novels Blonde OPS, Sirenz, and Sirenz Back in Fashion. She has several short stories in anthologies and online, along with newspaper and magazine articles. Having finished her MFA, she's applying what she learned, and is working on several children's and adult novels and short stories. She lives in NJ but dreams of a Caribbean beach house.