Friday, October 19, 2007

Dreams Mean Work

I've always loved the last line of By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: "Dreams mean work." Given how I'm practically drowning in work now (and for the next 12 weeks), writing a story should be the last thing on my to-do list. Writing a story one day before a deadline should be a big, screaming what-the-heck-are-you-thinking, flat-out NO. But the orange paperclip I saw this Monday was a big push for me to just go for it. Maybe I felt like I had to prove something to myself.

With the way I dream, dreams mean a lot more work, but they also mean...
  • Emailing and texting friends to get first-hand information (and I got some amazing responses! THANK YOU SO MUCH for the help and inspiration!)
  • Staying awake past 2 AM to write a 5-page story
  • Getting a friend to critique my draft this morning (Salamat, Mia!)
  • Almost tripping in the rocky carpark where I had to park to get a document notarized
  • Skipping lunch to drive all the way to Kamuning (thanks for the directions, CJ!)
  • Seeing the sparkling new, brightly-lit and happy Adarna House for the first time
  • Getting stuck for more than an hour along EDSA on the way back to Ortigas (okay, I had a bag of chips to munch on...)
  • Eating a late lunch alone
  • Staying late in the office again to beat another deadline (and I did!)
  • Having the satisfaction of saying, "I really did it!" and "I can't say I didn't try!"
  • Feeling like you can still edit and re-write, over and over (so I don't want to look at the story again because I'll just see the blemishes, but alas - it's done so I can't fret. At least for now...)
  • Waiting for the results to come out on or before Friday, November 16
  • Smiling (even if I'm dead tired) because I know I just wrote another story... and I'm really happy how it oozed out of me quite easily, and how it turned out. I believe I experienced a wonderful I'm-in-my-flow moment last night/this morning.
Yes, dreams mean sooooo much work. But dreams also mean more exciting times ahead... and more paperclip sightings to keep me dreaming in the first place.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Tita Niks! :-) Looking forward to happy announcements at the end of the year.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Tita Yelley! Yes, I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed...

Fernando Rosal Gonzalez said...

Haha. Nikki, di ko ata kaya ang cramming! But most winning entries I've learned are last day, last-minute wonders!

All the best! :-)

Anonymous said...

Haha - Thanks, Don! For me, I really think I work best with an "I cram, therefore I am!" approach. Let's keep writing!

CloudWoman said...

Hi Aart, Fellow Warrior! Thanks for dropping by and telling me about Coelho's blog. I haven't had the chance to browse through his blog but I do get Warrior of the Light in my inbox. Cheers!