“Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and the thinkers, but most of all surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you even when you don’t see it yourself.”
— Edmund Lee
We all have a dream. I took it upon myself to ask fellow dreamers on what drives them, inspires them, and what they want their lives to look like. Whether we want to make exquisite art for the world to observe or just want to raise a family, or even do both! You can do it, why not? This dreamer is going to do both of those things and rock it, like she rocks her style.
Today we will be exploring the dreams of the gifted and marvelous Vanessa Maureen, who is a phenomenal photographer and aspiring novelist. She is one of my favorite people on this planet and honestly one of the best people I know. My experience with her as a friend has been outstanding and I feel she has a lot to offer to the world. So world, I introduce the fabulous Vanessa Maureen.
Vanessa Maureen
What is your dream?
I’m a person with a lot of dreams. My number one is to get a novel published. If i can do this at some point in my life, I will die feeling like I accomplished something. There are other dreams too, but they’re smaller and less important to me. I’d like to have a gallery showing someday with my photography or illustrations/paintings. I’d like to make an honest to goodness living from something I enjoy. I’d like to see my son grow up to be a creative person.
What drew you to the art form that you are pursuing?
I grew up constantly reading. And I mean that. Our grade had a reading contest every year and I always led it. I got taken out to pizza by the teacher once over it, which was awesome. When I was in third grade our teacher gave the class a writing assignment. We were supposed to write two or three sentences about something interesting that had happened to us. Then she compiled everyone’s stories into one book. The rest of the class did just that: two or three sentences, usually about where they went for vacation that summer. I wrote a huge paragraph, half a page, complete with dialogue and a dream. I took something that had happened to me (excitement over finding deer in our backyard) and gave it a fictional twist. I made it a story. Years later, after I had completely forgotten about this book, I found it again in my 20s. I was amazed at my passion for writing as a third grader. That year I began work on my first novel. I’m now halfway through writing the first draft of my second novel.
When did you realize this was what you wanted to do with your life?
I realized I wanted to write novels for a living when I was close to completing my first book. I really couldn’t imagine anything else that would make me happier than sticking my butt in a chair and making shit up. Even if I never make a cent for it, there’s something amazing about looking back on an entire novel and knowing you made that out of nothing.
What does success look like for you?
Success to me at this point in my life would be getting published. Or self-publishing and having a few people tell me they enjoyed reading my book.
Who inspires your creativity?
My dad got me into reading and drawing. He is the reason why I identify as a “creative person.” I’ll never forget the time he told me I had gotten better at drawing than him. That was a great day. He was the only one who read every word of my first novel. He still tells me to this day to get it published. He asked me to write the second in the series because he “wanted to know what happened.” Also, my god and spirituality constantly gives me ideas when I’m writing. I write with a greater purpose because of my faith and it makes all the difference.
What do you want your legacy to be?
I want to be to my son what my dad was to me. I want to leave behind an assortment of goodies for my grandchildren to read and look at and be inspired.
You can check out Vanessa’s photography here:
http://www.vanessamaureenphotography.com
https://www.instagram.com/vanessamaureenphotography/
Also, watch out for her novels that will definitely be out in the universe some day.
Thank you Vanessa for taking time out of your life to do this silly interview for your crazy friend. I love you so much lady!
