I know, I know. Surely you tire of hearing about WriteOnCon. But I just want to use it to illustrate a point today.
We've received many emails thanking us for the hard work we did on WOC, and how amazing it was. I want to share how it started.
A Big Dream by Casey McCormick
One day a blogger/author/mom/student/all-around-awesome-person is reading blogs. She reads one and leaves a comment, just like she does on lots of other blogs everyday.
The blog author where Casey left the comment sees the comment, and suddenly shares the Big Dream with Casey. She emails her.
Here's the blog comment that inspired the Dream: DUDE, I totally have an idea for June or another month that I could give you. It's something I've thought about doing but you'd pull it together way better than me. No idea if you'll like it/be up for it but feel free to e-mail me. :)
Here's the response (notice the lack of humility. Oops.): Dude! Email me! We should so do something together anyway. I mean, the two of us? We'd be unstoppable...
Those words were the Dream seeds. We planted them. We brought in other people to fertilize (uh, LiLa), water (Shannon) and prune (Jamie). We loved the Big Dream, and we worked hard to bring it up right. We poured countless hours into its well-being, and we never once thought about quitting (although we may or may not have thrown up a few times before going live with the Big Dream).
Our Big Dream might not be inspiring to you. But I'm here to tell you that if 6 people who have never met each other can share a Big Dream, then you can too. Whatever your Dream is, embrace it. And then work your freaking tail off to achieve it. Coming from someone who continues to Dream Big, I know that hard work is the only way to achieve your goals.
Got any Dream Big, Word Hard stories? Feel free to share.
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45 comments:
Awesome. It's really amazing how little cool things turn into big cool things.
I met members of my crit group at SCBWI-New England in 2009. We're dreaming big together, but the progress we've all made this past year is as much due to our group sparkle as it is to our individual talent. (in my opinion!)
Group Sparkle--now there's a concept for the day! Thanks again for all you do, Elana!
The work part -- yeah, that part that is so hard -- that's what makes a dream come true, that and a little help from our friends.
I'm realizing that the hard work has to be
1.incremental
2. part of my daily life
3. supported by others
Hmm. Maybe I should write a post about this?
Yeah, I should TOTALLY write a post about it!
The work part -- yeah, that part that is so hard -- that's what makes a dream come true, that and a little help from our friends.
I'm realizing that the hard work has to be
1.incremental
2. part of my daily life
3. supported by others
Hmm. Maybe I should write a post about this?
Yeah, I should TOTALLY write a post about it!
I AM going to write a post on it and link back to you.
See what you did? :-)
I love that story!
Your people are amazing. Nuff said.
Okay, so last night my sister did a tarot reading for me. I am a true cynic and do not believe in that stuff, but the card lineup was all about following your dreams and making "it" happen. I found this interesting because the question I had in mind when I shuffled the deck was, "Can I possibly have a book done this year???"
Now today, I allot myself twenty minutes for blog hopping and everyone is blogging about dreams and following them and hooray, I think I get it.
It's in my hand and my hands are freaking itching to finish a book.
Thanks again for all the work you guys did for the conference. I only lurked but it was amazing to see it all unfold. You guys totally rocked the blogworld last week.
Dream big. Yes. Hard work. Yes. = something fantastic.
Thank you again for putting together such a fantastic conference. I think you may be reading my mind. You always write an inspiring post when I need it most.
I do dream big. I have never worked so hard before and I want to work even harder. I love to write and want to share it. So I push myself very hard.
Meeting my CPs along with the support I get from the blogging community has been amazing.
Thank you, Elana (and all the gals who help put WriteOnCOn together.)
Thanks for sharing how WriteOnCon started. So glad you all decided to do it.
My dream is to finish my manuscript this year so I can start querying.
WriteOnCon was great! Thanks for your hard work!!! :D
Every blog I visit is inspiration. Inspiration to try harder, work harder, and laugh harder (trust me there are many bust out laughing moments when I need it the most)! You writing peeps RoCKS! THere is not a more supportive bunch!
*waves to everyone*
Thank you all again, Elana, for all of that hard work and time!
WriteOnCon was inspiring and informative!!
I couldn't top that super cool story if I tried!
Love you girls for creating the epic WriteOnCon. It was the best conference EVER. You've shown what can happen if you dream big, and GO for it. Of course GO FOR IT includes working your butt off for it, too. ;)
Such a good post. You made an awesome point, Elana. Thank you.
How cool to know something so awesome came from such a small seed. Just like writing!
Awesome Elana! And you are right in so many ways~ our dreams are empty without hard work.
Thanks for the nudge to get on the ball!
What you guys did was amazing! Seriously, what an incredible thing to put together and do for the writing community. You rock!
Awesome post - I feel all tingly and inspired now. Thank you for dreaming big you and the other ladies of writeoncon are fabulous.
I'm so impressed. You girls are some big dreamers. My dreams usually stop at, "maybe I should try to get the laundry done this week."
Yay for you guys! It was great.
I can't even imagine the hours you ladies put in. Incredible. And the result was fantabulous!
At school for every assembly I have a slideshow that just runs in the background when the kids are coming in. There are 5 slides: Work Hard, Dream Big, Make a Difference, Get it Done, Play Fair. I think you've got them all covered. :)
Aw, I just love Casey. She's amazing. All of you are. Congratulations on the tremendous success of WriteOnCon. It'll only get bigger and better! So inspirational.
hmmm, I will hopefully have my own dream big work hard story after NANO since it's something BIG and challenging and kind of scares me a little.
Thank you for everything!!! It was neat to read how something so awesome began. You all did an amazing job. I'll never forget it!
Totally inspiring that six "strangers" could put together all that! Way to go!
Hard work, huh? Does revising count? ;)
Writeoncon was unbelievably fantabulous! But how could it be anything less with such amazing people working it!!!!!Thank you, rest easy.
What you guys did is amazing. Just think how much easier it will be to pull it off next year. :) You did think of next year, didn't you?
Taking off from what Jemi said. The reason WriteOnCon rocked was you gals not only dreamed big, you worked amazingly hard, did it so you could give something fantastic to others, never let yourselves give up and kept your cool. You set an example for everyone. I remain awestruck.
I get chills thinking about the journey. So amazing how far we came so quick.
Side note: SO glad LiLa was the fertilizer. ;)
amazing.
im so happy you followed through. thank you thank you thank you!!
WriteOnCon was magic and behind that magic was a group of amazing people :-)
Dreaming big is not just good for yourself, it's contagious. Way to spread the virus!!
Awww, love this post!!! WriteOnCon never would have happened without you, LiLa, Shannon, Jamie, and Jen.
Thanks for dreaming big with me (and not laughing at my ideas!).
<333
I hope everyone is inspired to go after their big dreams and make them happen.
I can't thank you guys enough for dreaming this up. It was so great!
Here's to big dreams and hard work!
It's so cool that you all managed to pull this off, despite being "strangers." Shows the power of positivity and enthusiasm. :) Thanks again to you and everyone involved in Writeoncon!!!
OMG! I'm the PRUNER! HAHA!
Now, if I can just apply this to these revisions over here...
Stares down chapter four with warrior-style fury and planning.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing that story with us. I really enjoyed writeoncon, learned tons, and am excited about the critique that I was lucky enough to win. Yay!
Lisa ~ YA Literature Lover
I love dreaming big! It's the only way to go!
Your post made me think of (for some reason) this song Xan does a karate routine too. Oh wait, and it's in the new Karate Kid movie. The chorus goes like this:
This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!
That's what it's all about YO. ;)
Wow! Wonderful story of how it all came together. You gals rock!
Aw! I love it! You guys did a great job at the woc!
My big dream. Get an agent this year. *fingers crossed*
Yes! WOC was so amazingly awesome. You ladies rawk! I dream big every day. Sometimes about big things, sometimes not-so-big things--like having time to go to the pool before school starts again. I've spent my whole life dreaming.
Fortunately, for the last few years I've been working hard at figuring out how to make my dreams become reality. Believe me, you'll be among the first to know when it happens. Expect that news soon, because it's coming.
I liked how you tied it all up with the "Six people who have never met can dream a big dream" - love it.
And this is why you are awesome x infinity. :)
Sorry I missed the conf (I was out of country), but I really appreciate all the time and effort everyone put into this. You are all stars for caring so much and bringing something so wonderful to light.
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
I love hearing stories of how big things can happen by starting out in small ways... if that makes sense!
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