In My Fantasy

1. I eradicate the flu, cancer, and the bad grammar virus.
2. I’m Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago. No, not talking about what lands her in prison. I mean the moves, her look, her zip and tang.
3. I wiggle my nose and the dishes disappear from the sink.
4. I sing jazz in a red dress. A Korean Ella Fitzgerald. Yeaah.
5. I’m a kick-butt Lindy hopper out of the 30s.
6. I finally get that PhD in language, literacy, and culture.
7. Time rolls itself out, an endless runway under my feet when I write. No interruptions.
8. I work on my books in a mountain cabin: poetry, my mother’s story
9. which Random House has signed me for
10. and there are no women around.
11. I expunge the Christian landscape of American contemporary worship ditties, I mean music.
12. I am editor-in-chief of a vibrant writers’ platform and host of my own TED talks.
(How stinkin’ awesome is that? If this is a dream, don’t wake me.)

115 thoughts on “In My Fantasy”

  2. Lindy Hopper. First a chapter “From Wayferer to Runner,” unfolds in your life and now THIS. Oh man. I can tell the upcoming chapters are going to be awesome. Lindy Hopper. I would really love to see that!

  3. Reading about the bad grammar virus in #1, made me think of the bad spelling virus which grips me at times. Just now my granddaughter wrote on her FB timeline something that should not surprise anyone who blogs.

    “Today I saw the noun “clamor” used as a verb in place of the word “clamber.” No, not online. In a library book. A published novel from a division of the company Simon & Schuster. I no longer have any faith in the publishing industry as a whole. But you know what I do have? A headache.”

    Then there is the perfectly beautiful blog article, “Braver than Me,” which gives me a headache because I want to encourage the sweet lady to keep on writing, but wonder if she used that pronoun on purpose or because she did not know better.

    1. to Beth:
      “Braver than I am” – correct
      Use of the apparent accusative form in such expressions is OK since it is also the emphatic form of the nominative.
      Try this one for size:
      “He jumps higher than me” – getting into deeper water here !

    2. I wonder too, but I recognize that sometimes and in some places we need the colloquial. In titles esp. I knowingly wrote “Why didn’t I dress him warmer?” in the last post because it was a replay of my thoughts and even I don’t (always!) talk to myself in perfect grammar. =)

      1. I agree the colloquial is necessary at times, but how does one accomplish that until they have mastered the formal first?

        When I posted the comment about pronouns, a man whose blog I had never seen accepted the blame. Even though he was not the one I had n mind, I answered according to his comment. I felt badly for him.

      2. Yep, gotta master the rules to know when to break ’em. =)

        Writing is more than rules. There is a musicality to it. Even Strunk ‘n White speak of the importance of listening for its flow. It’s about both communication and presentation (packaging), not mere transmission of information. Getting it through in a way that appeals to the listener.

  6. I like numbers 7,8, and 9, and of course Ted talks! Dreams can come true, but I suspect, you may not really want some of your dreams to come true . . . unless it’s handed ‘ready-made’ to you. Can you imagine the time & dedication it would take to accomplish and the hours away from your family?

  7. LOL, I love those. I share your feelings about women and contemporary Christian music. If I were queen of the world, I would just poof them out of my universe 😉

    Women really are awesome, it’s just the drama and the games and the mean spirits that I’d like to send across town. When women are working cooperatively and being kind to one another, we’re amazing.

  9. You know I always love what your mind brings to life…always delightful to embrace what you share, for some reason the like button never works, but the best part of that is the message I can always leave for you…thanks for sharing my dear sister! Have a beautiful day!

  15. Is u a closet grammar Nazi? (Ha! I couldn’t resist)
    #s10-12 are awesome! Although I admit there is some contemporary Christian music I like but I think at this stage in the game I will no longer purchase anymore. They are to “me-centric.” For the life of me I can’t understand how talking about personal (sounds more like self inflicted struggles) and the good old prosperity sham is so uplifting. She says sarcastically…

  19. I have found that such lists can be very potent- esp. when I look back some years later to see how all has usually manifested. I too wish I could pull a Bewitched. As for the last one, that seems to me like it is already in the works, Diana! xo

    1. That’s neat that lists you’ve spelled out have helped mark your journey, D. Very sweet of you to affirm that last one, Actually, I hadn’t realized ’til this year that that is how this site has evolved. Readers inadvertently helped me see that. Was the coolest thing.

      Xxxx
      D.

      1. Yeah, I know it’s a cliche – but the concept of having a list of things you really want to accomplish by a given time, and then developing a strategy to keep you pointed in the right direction, is pretty amazing. I’ve always been a compulsive list-maker – I’d write these long, complicated lists, and then promptly forget about them. For me, having it up on my blog actually keeps it in my face, and I am loving the sense of purpose and direction it’s giving me…:)

      4. Love me for other reasons ha ha ha. You know I tell it like it is, B. My voice isn’t BAD. I put out a CD of songs I wrote and sang in college (just went out to friends and some local church folks). But before you throw up your hands, the honest assessmt is I was never a singer and my voice has gotten even rustier and dustier the last 20 yrs. I am NO singer. And I have always pined, listening to Celine D and the rest. I am musical enough (though not in voice) to know what I got and don’t have. :/

        Xxxx

  23. “1. I eradicate the flu, cancer, and the bad grammar virus.”
    LOL on that last one!

    “2. I’m Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie Chicago. Not talking about what lands her in prison, folks. I mean the moves, her look, her zip and tang in the enchilada.”

    I can understand that so much. Me, too!

    “6. I finally get that PhD in language, literacy, and culture.”

    Still attainable, Diana…Meanwhile, I don’t know when I can even get a Master’s. Oh, well.

    “12. I am editor-in-chief of a vibrant writers’ platform and host of my own TED talks.
    (How stinkin’ awesome is that? If this is a dream, don’t wake me.)”

    That would be AWESOME!!!!

  24. First of all, I need to find out what TED is and I will.
    I’m sure there must be some good white Christian music out there, but I haven’t ever heard it on the car radio. It is so bad. I had a conversation with a friend just recently where we both agreed if we didn’t have to travel so far to find a big Baptist church with great music, we would be there every week. Even the singing is weak at the Catholic church near me. I need some music with some soul to partner up with the praying. I need some intensity, some emotion, some feeling to lift me up higher. Other wise, I may as well go to church when no one else is there and get close in the silence.

    1. I’m sure you’ve googled TED TALKS by now. =) As I shared with a few here, it was quite an epiphany to see this blog has evolved into such a platform. As to your hungry search for good worship music, that is SAD, G. Maybe a good CD of some traditional hymns with theology and lyrics you can sink your teeth into? But it’s hard to buy hymns without hearing them – you might land dowdy recording. Or a CD of some soulful Baptist singing!

  25. A couple of observations:

    1) If you have no dreams they never come true.

    2) A goal is a dream with a timeline.

    Carry On! Well written Diana.

  26. I can totally relate to number #3 and #11. You basically said it all. Now you’ve got me thinking about my own list. Hopefully you will attain at least half these in your life time.Love.

  27. My fantasy is the guy in the mirror is not really me. His wrinkles indicate age and yet inside I am young. My eyes do not shine but are clouded by knowledge. My genius is believing that each day the sun will rise and the moon will grace the night air.

  28. This is such a beautiful list…and while so many to choose from, I think I would most like to see “I sing jazz in a red dress. A Korean Ella Fitzgerald” and I’d gladly pay to see a show 🙂 Nothing quite like fantasy, both for keeping the mind moving during dreary days and especially for the fuel to supply dreams.

  30. An excellent list, for starters. You seem well on your way to a whole host of them being Done Deals, of course. And I hope you *do* know that on Catherine Zeta-Jones’s list, item #2 is to be YOU.
    xoxo!
    K

  31. I am with you until number six get Phd,,,in something else( not what I got my masters in though).but I am not a writer, so the rest of my fantasy would be different….and my red dress would be deep purple with matching pumps! I! + I could out dance anyone in the Chicago show!

      5. just finishing helping our youngest with his last year of college so don’t want to go back to school myself…how about if I blink and I get it!-:-) or have a fantasy where I am famous enough that I get an ” honorary degree” in anything I want-lol-yep that works!

      7. well…your right since I did not take much science beyond the first two years of undergraduate! But enough to understand what I read on my own:-)

  32. You certainly have a rich fantasy life Diana…I could definitely do with the nose twitch – although I’d use it for more than the dishes 🙂 But the mountain cabin is the one that appeals most, just got back from a cabin in the woods and my fantasy on the way home was becoming their writer in residence!

    1. Sigh. I put this together becAuse of my paltry fantasy life. Ha ha ha, “the nose twitch – although I’d use it for more than the dishes”. Right? =) Oh, I’m so glad to hear of your getaway, Andrea. I imagine you were able to huddle with your words!

      1. I was listening to a little Billie Holiday in my car this morning. Ella sang like an angel, but Billie put the emotions right on the money. She had that special something that sold the song’s story. Forgive me for going on about Billie. I love the music of that era. I’m a frustrated chanteuse!

      1. I will definitely keep an eye out for it. Looking forward to reading it! LOL I hate being female, I really do and I even wrote a post on it a while back (titled ‘What’s It Like Being Female?’) except in the post I didn’t say it quite so explicitly 🙂

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