Future Gazing - 2015

My face to face group are having a writing retreat at the end of May and this week my invite arrived for Friday night cocktails. What a fabulous challenge - each member of the group is to come as their "writer self" as they will be in 2015. Props such as published books are encouraged and from the moment we arrive Friday night we are in 2015.

This has got me thinking during the drive to and from work. Here's some things I know as facts:

• I'll be closer to fifty than forty, still fit and healthy and not ready to start aging.
• I'll still be trying to build a retirement house on a block of land two and a half hours from home (and still trying to clear the fences)
• My trusty station wagon (The Saxon Warhorse) will be retired
• My gentle giant of a dog (aged 10) will no longer be with us
• My galloping pup (aged 1) will have grown a brain and hopefully stopped eating things - last week it was a cupboard handle from the kitchen
• I'll still be writing and actively seeking publication. And I'll be improved from where I am now.

And now the things I can't be sure of:

• I'll be published somewhere (But I'm thinking positive so now I have to mock up some books)
• I'll have a website and a pen name
• Maybe an assistant (for the fan mail)
• And a cleaning lady
• I'll need a new car - what to choose - station wagon (farm car), SUV, sports car
• I might have finished the house and moved. I'll have a fireplace for all those cold winter's days and nights I spend writing.

So, all you writers out there, have a think about where you want to be five years from now, make a list and start working towards it. Keep it somewhere safe, pull it out every year and check your progress. You never know where you'll end up in the year 2015.