Thursday, January 8, 2009

Daydreams

“He does not need opium. He has the gift of reverie.” –Anais Nin

Occasionally my daydreams include receiving that magic phone call from Oprah to appear on her show. I know it’s hokey but it’s not always possible to control the direction of the mind. Think what a copy of The Ride for every member of her audience would do to my book sales. The national attention the book would receive wouldn’t hurt either.

Math is not my strong point so I’m not going to give actual odds here. I’m simply assuming that with the thousands of books available, my chance of appearing as a guest on Oprah is only slightly higher than winning the lottery. Perhaps that is what daydreaming is all about—reaching for the nearly impossible.

I think it’s wonderful that Oprah has brought a great deal of attention to books and authors (even if I’m not one of them). With the book industry struggling like it is, I say we could use a lot more Oprahs in the world. Especially now when so many people want to emulate celebrities—whether they have any redeeming qualities or not. A pretty face, a hunky body, or simply a famous name, is all it takes to have millions want to follow their every move.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear that instead of so and so being readmitted to rehab for the umpteenth time, they’re headed to their local bookstore or library instead? In a more perfect world, celebrity magazines would be filled with shots of superstars browsing in their favorite bookstore. Photographers would hound idols in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the book they were reading. And, if a lot of those photos contained the cover of The Ride

Oops, there I go—daydreaming again.

What is your perfect world like when you daydream?

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: The Ride, Anais Nin, Oprah, daydreams, Tags: lottery,

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

My last major daydream was David Ellis calling back since I missed his call. David's a Hollywood Director. That daydream lasted for months until I realized that he wasn't going to phone a second time. My new daydream is that my package made it to Bryan Singer and that he will call. Of course Ophra calling would be nice also.
elliott

Katie Hines said...

Ring. Ring. We're sorry to have missed your call. Please leave a message. "Hello?" This is the Oprah Winfrey show calling. Please return our call at..." Hee, hee.

Helen Ginger said...

Oh, I guess in a perfect world, every call would start with "Mom?"

In the perfect literary world, it would start with "This is Oprah's booking assistant..."

Almost as good would be, "You have the only winning numbers in the $50 million dollar lottery..."

Anonymous said...

Your post made me think. It's incredibly sad that I know many celebrities' drugs of choice, but nothing about what they like to read. Perhaps there is a correlation there. That really would be something to see them reading like normal people.

lucia said...

My daydream involves something I read in another blogger's post -- an independent bookstore on every corner, filled with people discussing politics, history, literature, philosophy. Ha, ha, ha. I've discovered that place -- blogging!
Lucia

Morgan Mandel said...

So many people say, Oh, you should get your book to Oprah, like it's something easy to do.

I wish it were that simple, but yes, we can dream.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://www.morganmandel.com

Anonymous said...

"Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear that instead of so and so being readmitted to rehab for the umpteenth time, they’re headed to their local bookstore or library instead?"

Amen to THAT, Jean.

Anonymous said...

Did I say "Jean?" I meant Jane. Sorry (sheepish chagrin)

Anonymous said...

I know Bruce Willis is an avid reader. When he ran his own site he'd always mention what book he was currently reading. He has closed down his website but it was a fun place while it lasted.
bill

Jane's Ride - Novelist Jane Kennedy Sutton's journey through the ups and downs of the writing, publishing and marketing world