kristaphillips This last week, we’ve talked about why we write, and that we all hope to earn at least a LITTLE money off this writing gig that we pour blood, sweat and tears into.
Yes, yes, Kaye doused our hopes into reality with her comment on how much per hour we can hope to really make, but personally, I view the years prior to REALLY writing as “college” for writers. (Note, I realize some actually DO go to college and pay money!) We have to “pay our dues” to learn the craft, and when we finally sell, it’s paycheck time people!
But, alas, obviously we have to be pretty darn successful to do this writing thing full-time.
Today, I’m saying the heck with that. We can dream right? Some days it’s fun to set aside reality and just dream BIG.
When I was little, I once asked my Daddy why he and Mom had so many plans and dreams that they knew good and well they would never do. His response? “NEVER stop dreaming Krista.” Because if we stop dreaming, there is ZERO hope of attaining.
It’s true, isn’t it? If we set our dreams low, then most often we’ll set our efforts low to match. My motto is, “Dream big, plan realistically.”
Today is all about DREAMING BIG, because we all know that most of our days are spent in planning realistically.
Let’s all go into the future:
Unpublished authors – You get a call from your current (future) agent and publisher of your dreams has just offered you a $50,000 advance. What would you do with your advance?
Published authors – You get your most recent royalty statement and found that your book has not only earned out it’s advance, but it’s done so over and abundantly. On the same day, your agent calls and says since your last book was such a raging success, they’ve now offered you a $100,000 advance on your next book. What would YOU do with your advance?
People who don’t write and never plan to – Your great aunt sends you a birthday card and in it, despite your objection to lottery tickets (want to make sure I don’t offend anyone) she has sent you a handful just for fun. You scratch and scratch, and in the end, have the winning $50,000 ticket! What do you do with your winnings? (If you don’t like the lottery ticket thing… let’s say that your Great Aunt dies and leaves you 50 grand, okay? I was just trying to stay away from the whole death thing…)
So… start dreaming and share with us! (forget about taxes… this is a dream remember???)
For me…. my $50,000, I would tithe first ($5,000), put enough in savings to finish our “emergency fund” ($7,000) spend some on a used but newer mini-van–ours is VERY old and desperately needs replacing ($15,000) and the rest would go, right now, in a “fund for after baby is born” so I could take more than my paid 6 weeks off for maternity leave. Actually, that would still leave some left (if we aren’t talking about taxes) so that would go in a savings account so we could buy a bigger house someday (4 kids in my house is going to be tight!)
Not a very fancy dream, but ahhhh, would be SO very nice!
I love your motto! I like dreaming big. It's fun.
My big dream: that I would be successful enough as a published author that I could quit my job as a teacher and stay home. That would be heavenly.
Fun post! Like Katie, I would love to stay home, but that ain't happening, so….
With $50,000 I would tithe and then the first thing I would do is make an appointment to get all these little hairs sprouting on my chin lasered off permanently! lol Reaching middle age is NOT fun! 🙂 Then I would get a dog, buy a new car (all of ours are over 10 years old), then I would take my family on a fun vacation. (Disneyworld or Vegas) Ta da! No savin' for me!
How fun! After tithe, I think I'd take a nice vacation then put the rest in a college fund for my kiddos.
Love your question and your right it is nice to dream big. I think I would buy a new car, maybe some clothes, buy something for my hubby, something for my kids and put the rest away. I usually don't spend much so I most likely would be looking for the best deal I could get on each of those items. You have sucha pretty background. Thanks for letting me dream for a day 🙂
First, in my dream there would be no such thing as income tax. Welcome to my Fair Tax world. *grin*
Then I'd do tithe/offering, then I'd pay off my husband's boat debt because it's starting to annoy me. LOL
You're so right! It's really important to dream. When we lose our dreams, I really think we lose our hopes.
No taxes? WOOHOOO! :0)
Hmm…I have a lot of friends in missions who would love a little help. And then I'd take us all on a trip to "Alabama"…. I mean, Fiji. :0)
Krista, I love the college analogy. I think that's an AWESOME way to look at all the years, time, and energy we put into writing. We're preparing for getting a "job" the book contract. We just expect that we're going to have to pay out thousands and thousands of dollars and years and years of our life. Why should we think it would be any easier for a writing career?
And dreaming big. That reminds of ACFW and what Debbie Macomber said! While I want to make sure I'm not deluding myself, I also want to keep the hope alive that my words can truly make an impact someday.
I love your dream, Krista!!
My dream would be to earn enough as a published author (after tithing of course) that hubby could retire early. That's always been my dream!
Excellent, motivating post! 50K?? Are you kidding me? I'd buy my husband a car. A used car. Save 1/3 for taxes and maybe buy myself dinner that night. 🙂
I'd pay back my student loans, pay off any credit card debt, buy a newer car and whatever is left would go into some kind of high interest savings.
In total dream world, I'd fly off to some tropical beach for vacation. By a new new car, and then go on a shopping spree.
It's fun to dream, isn't it?
If I had an unexpected 50K dropped in my lap…well, Barnes and Noble better brace themselves.
And the cleaning service I would have to hire to do all the chores I would be ditching to read new books. 🙂
Ooooo…Krista, can I change mine? Instead of the dog or the car, I'd take a cleaning service like Erica! That is an awesome idea!!!!
Okay, with my $50K lottery ticket…
#1: I'd write a big $5,000 check for my tithe. #2: I'd do my Dave Ramsey baby steps. 🙂
"Published authors . . . they've now offered you a $100,000 advance on your next book. What would YOU do with your advance?"
Reality? I'd pay off my $80,000 student loan and save the rest to pay income taxes. (And sorry I burst everyone's bubble on the last post.) 🙁
Dreaming? I'd buy a new car and use a good bit of the rest of it as a downpayment on a house!
Kaye, sometimes we need a bit of reality too!!!! Believe me, I'm a HUGE math geek and have done the calculations many times! Few people write to get rich:-) And if they do, they NEED a dose of reality!
Hi Krista –
Great dreams! I hope you attain them.
Let's see. As an unpublished author, if I got $50,000, like you I'd tithe $5,000. Then I'd hire a website designer (estimate $2,500) to finally get one up and running. Next, I'd save $10,000, and use $10,000 to promote my book. The rest would go toward living expenses.
I wouldn't mind seeing that dream come true.
Blessings,
Susan 🙂
My good friend's favourite motto is "aim for the moon; if you miss, you'll land among the stars." For my $50,000… I'd go on a tour of Europe, put a down-payment on a house somewhere, tithe some, save some… 🙂 Maybe someday!!!
Whoo-hoo for dreams! I'd tithe it up, set aside money for my husband's classes the next three years. If taxes weren't in the mix, I would also go on a ridiculous vacation with my husband–like an Mediterranean cruise. 🙂
Krista, this is the most fun post I've read ALL WEEKEND!!!
$100,000, huh.
Lots to charities. Lots to those wonderful friends who have seized the day by living in foreign lands to spread the Word.
A bit more travel.
More than the $ dream, though, I just want to write the books He wants me to write.