Written In Dreams: Volume I
Words By Dominic Loise, Maribel Leddy, Valerie San Filippo
Dreams! We all have them. And we’ve all seen our dreams change throughout our lives. A childhood dream of being a rodeo cowboy might evolve to obtaining a computer science degree… Or even the other way around… Whether you’ve dreamed of jetting off to the stars or creating vast worlds that transport eager readers, these potent aspirations motivate and drive us.
That’s especially true here at the Brink Literacy Project, where we utilize the power of storytelling to affect the lives of people on the brink—anyone who is marginalized in society or otherwise lacks access to traditional means of learning about and employing the art of storytelling. We want to make dreams come true for our students, everyday.
But… what about our staff members? What have they dreamed about as wee storytellers?
Valerie San Filippo
As a young writer, what did you dream your future in publishing would be?
I dreamed of writing “the Great American Novel.” I’m really not sure what that means.
How did you think you would obtain that dream?
As a young writer, I truly thought a brilliant idea would strike me like a bolt of lightning. I would be so favored by the muses that a novel would flow from my mind fully-formed. Agents and acquiring editors would sense the birth of such an inspired work as if beckoned by the star of Bethlehem, and they would lay bids of six-figure book deals at my feet. I would be rich beyond comprehension! I would be the voice of my generation! I would be a guest on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson!
Has the dream changed or shifted? And if so, how?
Thank goodness the dream changed. I learned to love the process. I don’t write because I love being published, I write because I love writing. I’m living my dream every day. I write as much as I can. I help other people bring their ideas to life. On very rare occasions, a stranger will reach out and tell me they liked a story I wrote, and then the world feels cozier and kinder than it did before. That’s really special. That’s the dream.
How does actually being a writer compare to what you dreamt it would be like?
Writing involves a lot more work than I imagined, but I love the work more that I ever thought possible.
If you could meet any other writer, living or dead, in your dreams who would you meet with, and why?
This feels awkward to admit because we do sometimes work with him here at Brink, but, I would want to spend time with Pat Rothfuss. I read The Name of the Wind at a point in my life when I was starting to lose my sense of wonder, but the way Pat uses language changed the way I looked at the world. The thing is, when you render something with his measure of care, you can’t help but love that thing. I feel like he would be a great person to do absolutely nothing with. Like, dude, let’s sit in the world together for a minute and describe the sacred things we see. Everything is beautiful. Show me.
Dominic Loise
As a young writer, what did you dream your future in publishing would be?
As a young writer, I was self publishing a comic book with an artist friend right out of college. It was based on a newspaper strip from his college paper and the goal was for the book to help sell comic strips to newspaper syndicates or the comic would take off on its own.
How did you think you would obtain that dream?
It seemed very attainable. The independent comic book community was incredibly inviting. We traveled to the second APE(Alternative Press Expo) and met some legends in the industry at a bar after the convention. They were telling us how to take our zine to an actual comic book.
Once we had a comic book we sent around comic strip samples to newspaper syndicates and magazines to see if they were interested. We even went to the conference for newspaper syndicate artists in Columbus, which happens every few years, to talk with creatives and get an honest timeline for selling a strip.
Has the dream changed or shifted? And if so, how?
The dream shifted when the comic book market collapsed in the 90s. Marvel started self distributing their books. Many independent comic book distributions closed and soon a lot of the direct market comic shops were closing.
I remember we had a new issue about to go to press and that week Marvel announced they were going to self distribute and we held it back. We watched everything play out and never printed that issue. And getting a comic strip in a newspaper is hard work. Statistically, we were told it’s easier to get drafted into the NFL.
From there, it seemed life got in the way and I couldn’t get into the industries I had a foothold in so I got a corporate job.
How does actually being a writer compare to what you dreamt it would be like?
The reality of being a writer is much better. I started writing again as therapy and the people apart of my work have helped my healing. These supports have made me a much better writer than I have ever been.
Also, I have learned to joy of rewriting.
If you could meet any other writer, living or dead, in your dreams who would you meet with, and why?
If I could meet any writer, I would enjoy being in a room with Steven Moffat. His speeches on Doctor Who are what I play when I am having a hard day. And since we are talking about time travel, I would talk to myself as a younger writer and say it works out the way it should have for the better life.
Maribel Leddy
As a young writer, what did you dream your future in publishing would be?
I dreamt I would be a published author. At one point, I wanted to be the next Louise Erdrich—publishing a book before I turned 30.
How did you think you would obtain that dream?
I thought I would go to college and write the next great American fantasy/sci-fi series, get published pretty quickly, and then have a miniseries on Netflix.
Has the dream changed or shifted? And if so, how?
Well, reality has certainly reared its ugly head. Writing isn’t often that lucrative, nor is it as easy to break into publishing as I hoped it would be. I also haven’t actually written my novel/series yet, so there’s that. Being an adult, in general, takes more time and is much more difficult than I think I ever imagined as a kid. Enjoy your youth—you know, the one you have before you have to start paying an electricity bill every month!
How does actually being a writer compare to what you dreamt it would be like?
In many ways, it’s just as wonderful as I thought it would be. I get to do what I love. How many people can say that? Not me, even a year ago (I quit my marketing job to pursue writing full time). Of course, it’s not as easy as I thought it would be either. It requires a lot of focus to get anything done, which I don’t always have. And sometimes you burn yourself out from overthinking things. That said, the communities I’ve built as a writer keep me going even today. There’s also a lot less sitting in coffee shops over a steaming mug of tea with the patter of rain on the window outside and a cat curled in my lap. That’s the kind of fantasy that truly only exist in dreams. Most coffee shops in NYC don’t have cats. Or good wi-fi. Or bathrooms.
If you could meet any other writer, living or dead, in your dreams who would you meet with, and why?
Definitely Shakespeare. I want to ask him if he actually wrote all those plays. And then I want to hit him on the head for some of the stuff in them.