Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Big Dreams: Small Steps



Like I mentioned last Tuesday, every Tuesday I'm linking up with Holley Gerth about God-sized Dreams for the next six months.  So this week, we're suppose to write about small steps we've taken towards our dreams. The smaller, the better. So...here they are.

Dream No. 1: Have my ideas made into family friendly apps.  Steps:
  1. Called a friend who knows something about app development. Got some great (and overwhelming) ideas from him on things to think about and consider.  
  2. Researched college courses about app development at two local colleges...not finding much. 
  3. Checked into professional app development options.
  4. (Okay, this isn't productive...just reality.) I cried. I.am.in.over.my.head. Honestly, I want to give up already. How pathetic is that?!  And yet, I can't.  My dream bubbling up in me won't let me quit.  I'm just stuck. I MUST think of a next step.  One baby step at a time...right?
Dream No. 2: Use my story/journey of healing to encourage others (currently, pursue publishing memoir) Steps.
  1. I wrote a query letter to a literary agent a year ago. Yes, an entire year ago. And it has sat in my computer since then. So I reopened it. Tweaked it. Made sure it included everything she was looking for.
  2. I checked and made sure she was still 'looking for' memoirs. 
  3. I reread through my memoir and made some more revisions. 
  4. Then, maybe. just maybe. before I could chicken out, (again!), I just put it all in an email and hit the 'send' button. Then I held my breath. And I closed my eyes and pictured myself placing the whole thing in God's hands.  If this God-sized dream is really from Him, then He will make a way for it to happen.  I just have to take one step of faith after another. 
  5. I entered a contest to win free publication of my book. 
  6. I've been reading more on building a platform (ie, an audience).  I've been thinking of this since late fall, and I've been trying to be more intentional.  For example, I'm actually trying to use twitter. I don't really like it. at all. but I'm trying to find the benefits.  And I'm trying to grow my platform.  I've gone from no followers to 50 in about 2-3 months.  Gotta start somewhere, right?   
  7. Also, in regards to platform, I've also added 'followers' on the side of my blog.  I find this embarrassing  Only 6 followers. Yes.  But my blog has always been personal, for family, for friends.  They just follow it and comment through my FB posts. I've never cared about followers.  Yet, this building a platform/audience seems like a big deal in the publishing world these days. And it makes since. So, I'm trying to add 'official' followers.  And to all of you who have followed and read my blog for years...thanks (and if you want to become and official 'follower' - just follow along in the sidebar!)
So, there's my small steps from the past couple of weeks.  Small beginnings. I hope you've had the courage too to take small steps have you taken towards your God-sized dreams! Together, we can do this!
Aprilverse
Love this I found over at Home Sanctuary blog.