Other people dream while they are asleep. I plot new book ideas.

Writing is like breathing -- it is necessary for my survival.

First you have nothing, and then, astonishingly, after ripping out your brain and your heart and betraying your friends and ex-lovers and dreaming like a zombie over the page till you can't see or hear or smell or taste, you have something.

Inside" Children

Inside each of us are the children we were at each developmental stage.

With regard to our creative dreams, these inside children can prevent us from living them by "acting out" in order to try to get our attention. Your inner 5-year-old is not going to patiently wait as you learn intricate metalworking techniques or study impressionist painting. Yet, your inner 10-year-old may be perfectly suited to learn and observe new skills.

What's really needed is parenting of these inside children so that we bring them to age-appropriate activities.

Our creative dreams are subject to grudge-holding when we decide that other people somehow have made their dreams real and we have not.

Identifying Your Dream

Some people can easily identify one primary dream. For others, a dream is more elusive. These people often have many dreams at once, or a general idea of a dream that never takes a specific shape.