All Dreamers Welcome

Have you ever had a dream come true?

Welcome to mine.

I'm Sarah Beth Durst, and I'm about to be published! My debut novel, currently titled Into the Wild, is coming out in summer 2007.

I have wanted to be a writer since I was ten years old. Before that, I wanted to be a ballerina, an artist, or a superhero. Preferably Wonder Woman. But with actual flying ability instead of an invisible jet -- way too many logistical problems with an invisible jet, not to mention how idiotic it looks to sail through the sky in a seated position. Remember the Super-Friends cartoon? She was never invisible, just the jet. How did she see the instrumentation? Seriously, if I had an invisible jet, I'd reach for the throttle and hit eject. Not a good idea.

Anyway, I wanted to be a writer so badly that I never talked about it except in really vague terms:

friendly person trying to make casual conversation: So... what do you do?

me: Write.

friendly person feigning interest: And what do you write?

me: Novels.

friendly person now feeling somewhat discouraged: Oh. That's nice. What kind of novels?

me: I think it looks like rain. Do you know if it's supposed to rain today? Maybe I should get my umbrella. Oops, I left it at home. Five miles away. Brisk walk. No problem. See you later!

I think I was afraid of being teased. Becoming a writer -- a published writer, a professional writer -- mattered so much to me that I knew from age ten that I didn't have a sense of humor about it. That's how badly I wanted it: so badly that it wasn't funny.

And now it's happening. It's really, really happening! [Insert Snoopy dance-of-joy.]

So I'd like to take my first step in turning my private dream into a public dream-come-true: I'd like to invite you (hello!) to share this time with me here on this blog. Please, post comments. Email me. Or just lurk and read.

All dreamers welcome here.