We all have things we wish we could do. They mostly remain unspoken and in the back of our minds, something we daydream about when we have an idle moment. They never really come to light, but they stay just that: wishes. Yet sometimes, a wish becomes more than that. We examine it more closely, we begin to give it form, and we may even speak it aloud. Our wishes suddenly become something tangible, something possibly even achievable. But how can we take those wishes and make them real? Simple: Larry Elder, the "Sage of South Central", once said, "A goal without a plan is just a wish." While it was meant as a statement on the importance of planning when setting goals, I think it applies in this case as well. I had always wished I could do something creative. I always told myself, "I think, if I could come up with a good idea, I could be a great writer." But when it came time to actually put it into action and write something, I never had the time, the idea, or any solid action plan. I kept putting it off, and it remained as a wish in the back of my mind for years. Then came the day that I decided to put some feet to that wish. I was traveling to visit my brothers for a weekend vacation. I figured, "Why not spend some time writing?" I had a long wait between flights, with hours to kill and nothing important to do. It was the perfect opportunity. Sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight to leave, I penned the first 1,500 words of a story that has yet to see the light of day (but, by the gods, it one day will!). Over the weekend, I kept working at it in my spare moments, until I had a 13,000 word short story/comic book script. Boom! At the end of a 4-day vacation, I had written my very first something. I didn't get much writing done until the winter holidays, a month later. I had spent the month preparing for what I was going to write, but I hadn't yet figured out how to set aside the time for writing. But over the days off I got over Christmas/New Year's, I spent a few hours every day to write. Thus was born what eventually became The Last Bucelarii (Book 1): Blade of the Destroyer. Since that day, I have figured out a simple plan that allows me to spend 10 to 15 hours per week writing. The rest is history… Why am I telling you all this? To reinforce the truth behind that simple quote. Once you put feet to your wishes and actually create a plan, they suddenly become real and achievable. It doesn't matter if you wish you could "be an actor", "go back to school", or "learn to throw knives". To translate a wish into a goal, all it takes is coming up with a realistic plan and follow through!