How to Turn Vision into Action

I have vision. It's not 20/20 - I think it's often 20/0. All vision and no action. Like my guest bedroom for example. I never have guests. Ever. So it becomes a show room. I can decorate it how I please. I CAN! But I don't. It has a bed and a dresser and a candle. Wow. Beautiful, huh?

I have a vision of a story too. About 20 of them. All lined up on my mental bookshelf with amazing covers, glorious plotlines, to-die-for heros, heroines you can empathize with, and settings that frankly, have never been done before.

There they sit. All lined up. Perfectly dusted shelves. I pull out one and open it and am stunned. No words. Just ideas. Just ... vision.

How do you take vision and turn it into action? I have a theory - and this pertains to anything that involves vision - you don't have to be a writer.

1. Determine -
Determine in your mind that vision is worth little if action doesn't follow close behind. No one has ever gone down in history for being a visionary - unless that vision took a form, shape, and produced results. Winston Churchill was a visionary. So was Eva Greenwood - and no one knows who she is. Vision is like faith. I can ANNOUNCE to the world I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, but if I have no action to back that up - well, welcome to Hypocrite Nation.

2. Failure is not a word -
The #1 thing I see a lot of writers do is set goals - then miss them - and then focus on their failure. Focusing on failure does little to fulfill a vision. It defeats, it immobilizes, it voids motivation. Set goals and if they're missed, learn from it - dissect why they were missed - then try, try again. The beaches of Normandy would never have been taken if the vision for the first movement had made them all failures. Can you imagine a beach filled with GI's sitting back and heaving sighs of failure?

3. A Dream
A vision is a dream. Disney has monopolized on the dream factor - almost enough to make a frog believe it could sing opera. So maybe not every dream will come true. Let's face it. Maybe I really STINK as a writer and no amount of practice can make up for sheer lack of talent. Ever watch American Idol? I'm sorry, there are dillusional people on there seeking after their dreams. Nonetheless, dreams are vital - critical - they're what gives us PASSION. So even if I stink - I WILL ENJOY every moment, every word, every plot, every idea. That bookshelf WILL get filled with words ... real books - maybe always to be saved .doc form and never with a big imprint of my favorite publisher on its back. But my dream - lives.

SO yodel away today ... and if you can't sing? Enjoy your off key harmony, because honey, vision needs action ... whether it turns you into a Churchill, or a simple farmer's wife who cans tomatos like nobody's business!!