Earlier this week, my parents and I had the opportunity to go see R.J. Palacio speak at Lake Area Tech. If you are unfamiliar with that name, she is the author of quite a few books, her most famous one is called, Wonder, which was recently turned into a movie starring Julie Roberts.

Now, I have not seen the movie or read the book, but I was invited to go listen to her speak so I jumped at the opportunity to go. She did talk about her books, and she’s convinced me to want to read them, but what I was most interested in hearing was how she achieved her dream of becoming a writer full-time. She is literally living my dream right now, and it was so inspiring to hear what she had to say about how she got to where she is now.

She talked about how she knew she had always wanted to be a writer when she was growing up. Like me, she decided to go to school for something else as a backup plan. She wrote in her free time, and when ideas came to her, she would write them down, but never really thought they would turn into anything.

She told us about the experience that inspired her to write Wonder, and at the time, she was a mom of two boys and working full-time. Her time to write was very limited. So, in order to tell her story, she would take a “power nap” after putting her boys to bed, and then she would get up and write every night from midnight to 3 AM. She did that for a year and a half! That is no easy feat, and takes a lot of dedication to stick to that. It just goes to show that if you want something bad enough, you will do whatever it takes to get it done.

After listening to her speak for an hour, I am more sure than ever that I want to be a writer. And hearing about someone else working hard to make that dream happen, makes me realize that if I too want it bad enough, I can get there someday. I’m not sure I’m at the point where I need to get up at midnight every day to write, but who knows? Maybe someday I will! If that’s what it will take to make this dream happen, then by golly I’m going to do it!

This has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember and a little hard work isn’t going to stop me from getting there. I know it’s going to be a while before anything happens. It might even be another year or two before I’M happy with my story, let alone sharing it with anyone else. It might take me more than a few tries to get it published, and it might take even longer after that for people to discover it. And it could be YEARS more for it to ever turn into a movie – if it ever does. But that is my ultimate dream, and I’m going to work my booty off to reach it.

Every one of you reading this has a dream too. Some of you have probably already achieved it, and are currently living it. I couldn’t be more excited for you!! Others, are in the same boat as me, and still working like a dog to get there. Don’t give up! If you want it bad enough, it’ll come. It’ll be hard and there will be lots of sleepless nights before you get there, but if it’s worth it to you, it’s worth putting the effort in.

The fire under my butt has been ignited once more, and I’m ready to really crack down and get to work. I hope you are too!

Until next time!

Megan Reiffenberger