In Praise of Dream Makers

The world is full of people and places that will pull you down, like quicksand. Voices that whisper, no, you can’t do it, you’ll never make it, who were YOU to think you had magic in your veins...

The thing is, there are also people and places that can lift you up. We all need encouragement and help from time to time, so why not pay attention to those people/places/books of wisdom that inspire you?

Over the years, I’ve chosen to surround myself with people who love to laugh and who know how to cry (You know you need both, right? Life is full of highs and lows; anything else is fake.) Real friends and co-workers will tell you when you’ve stumbled onto something magnificent. They’ll also be honest enough to let you know when you’re not quite there yet, like by a million miles. (Hey, I’ve been in that ‘way off by lightyears’ category.)

Right now, today, I realize how blessed I am to have such a large crowd of encouraging companions with me as I’ve been pursuing my goals. Those goals seemed to retreat from me in the mist. More than once I wanted to give up.

One person, in particular, encouraged me NOT to give up. Rachel Marks. One of my BFFs, she’s a writer too, so she knows firsthand what the ups and downs of this business are like. In fact, her debut novel, DARKNESS BRUTAL, came out this summer and it’s doing so great it just makes me smile. (Yay!)

People like this are Dream Makers. It’s like they’re filled with electricity and magic and supernatural powers. That doesn’t mean they’re always right or perfect or anything. It just means they are THERE when you need them and somehow their advice gets you where you need to be.

So, there have been a few more Dream Makers in my life recently. Because this cool thing happened:

Merrie Destefano's LOST GIRLS, a debut in which a 17-year-old girl with amnesia rediscovers her dark identity within a dangerous and seductive underground rave-like club where teenagers fight to near death…and then go missing, pitched as FIGHT CLUB meets BLACK SWAN, to Heather Howland at Entangled Teen, by Natalie Lakosil at Bradford Literary Agency (World).

Yup. My agent and Dream Maker, Natalie Lakosil, sold my young adult novel, LOST GIRLS, sold to Heather Howland, another one of my Dream Makers, at Entangled Teen.

Dreams are amazing things, because they’re slightly invisible, they seem intangible, but they’re filled with hope. Did you know that hope is one of those things that drives us, as humans? It’s almost impossible for us to NOT believe that tomorrow will be better or that a bad situation might change. We live in a state, I believe it’s a spiritual state, where hope and faith and possibility are right there at the end of our fingertips—if we just hang on long enough, that stardust we are made of (and yes, we are truly made of the same wonderful material as the stars) will ignite and explode and all these unseen, invisible imaginings will come into existence.

Don’t. Give. Up.

Okay? Please? I’m talking to you, person who is discouraged, depressed, wondering what to do next. I’ve been there. Big confession. I struggle with depression and anxiety. Sometimes the next breath is a little bit too hard. But I’ve learned that all of that pain does pass.

And the other side of pain can be incredibly beautiful.

Hang on. Look for Dream Makers. Avoid Dream Takers.

And guess what? One of my fave Dream Makers, Rachel Marks, that awesome BFF and writer I mentioned a little while ago, is going to be joining us here on The Supernatural Underground. (Double Yay!) She’ll be posting her first blog post on September 23, so please, please stop by and say hi to her. She’ll be really glad to hear from you and I know you’re going to like her.

Dream Makers of the Universe, unite!

Merrie Destefano believes that dreams can and often do come true. You can follow her online on Twitter and Facebook and you can view her website here.