It's every indie author's dream: to wake up tomorrow and discover one of their books has become an overnight sensation, flying off the shelves in numbers too great to measure and garnering the attention of movie execs looking to take it to the big screen.
Alas, stars in my eyes, I have yet to experience such a tomorrow. 😂
That's perfectly fine, though. I'm content to know my books are being read by people who enjoy them as much as I do.
Still, it's fun to dream...
Here's what I'd do if I my books suddenly made me a million dollars:
First thing's first! For years I've vowed if I ever made
a million dollars, the first thing I'd do would be to pay off my parents' house. They spent the first 15 years of my life working hard and struggling to buy their own little slice of heaven, and if I could do just one thing for them, it would be to pay off that slice so they can enjoy their golden years free and clear.
The second thing would be to then pay off our house. Just seems like the responsible thing to do, after all.
But after that... whoa, nelly, would I be out of here in a hot second! My dream is to travel far and wide, and visit all the amazing places that have intrigued and inspired me through literature.
We'll start with a trip to Europe, recreating the wonderful tour of the British Isles my partner and I enjoyed for our tenth anniversary. We'll visit Stonehenge again and sit in awe of its reverent, sacred beauty, fondly transported to the days of Arthurian Legend and druidic enchantment. Tales of faeries and shadowy ghosts, scholarly wizards and ladies in lakes. We'll sail on Loch Ness on the one day which would surely be the day Nessie chooses to finally reveal herself to the world. I know she's just waiting for us to be there, since we were unfortunately rained out last time. We'll show up for sure this time, Nessie, I promise!
After circling the UK, we'll jaunt down to continental Europe for a river tour through the Rhineland and the home of Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Neverending Story, and the path followed in Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, as generations quest to solve the mysteries of Vlad the Impaler. We'll fulfill our lifelong dream to tour the castles of Germany and explore the Black Forest. From there, we'll bounce back up to visit the lands of my Scandinavian ancestors, and bask in the lands and culture that inspired Bannon's world in my own Beast and Beauty series.
After Europe, we'll travel to Japan and tour beautiful Japanese gardens, drinking tea in the shade of the trees. We'll visit the prefecture which became the setting for my book Lotus Petals, and see an ancient temple or two. We'll learn more about the land and culture behind Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha (one of my favorite books!), and the history inspiring The Samurai's Tale.
Finally, we'll cruise down to Australia and New Zealand, a land I've dreamed of visiting since I was eight years old! We'll see the gorgeous Sydney opera house and travel the path of Laurence and Temeraire in Naomi Novik's Tongues of Serpents. I'll hunt for bunyips and other down-under cryptids in the wild and beautiful outback, and we'll see the mighty Uluru (once known as Ayers Rock) under the beauty of the open night, and miles and miles of stars overhead.
There are plenty of other places I'd love to visit, and other sights I'd like to explore: Iceland, Siberia, Hawaii, South America and South Africa (I've got a special friend and favorite audiobook narrator to visit out there!), and Antarctica (though I think tourism to Antarctica is being discouraged, and I've no desire to bring harm to the natural ecosystem or the creatures living there, just for my sightseeing pleasure.). I want to see the pyramids of Chichen Itza, where Harry Dresden destroyed the Red Court, and the Sphinx in Giza, to hear the rich legends of the Egyptian gods.
Probably I'd run out of money somewhere long before make it to the end of my world tour... but that won't stop me from dreaming!
One day, universe... one day!