Killer Questions - Secret Dreams or Goals?

 Killer Questions – Secret Dreams or Goals?

When asked our secret dreams or goals, whether writing or not, here’s how we answered.

K.M. Rockwood - To live to a healthy, productive old age and then, as my mother used to say, “Just wake up dead one morning.”

Heather Weidner - I would love to go on bear adventure tour. The photos would be amazing.

Martha Reed - My secret is my next creative writing project. I’ve never written a novella. I have an idea for one with an intriguing male protagonist who isn’t a P.I. or even a sleuth. He’s a civil servant who stumbles into a historic deep dark secret. Writing the novella is my current carrot on a stick reward. I get to start drafting it once “The Seven Gates,” NOLA Mystery #3 gets published this year. 

Connie Berry - I'm living my secret dream right now--being an author and getting to travel to the UK for research. 

Shari Randall - I dream of having my first series made into a Hallmark movie. A more realistic goal is that there are a few places I'd like to visit: Haworth, the home of the Bronte sisters, and the Greek island of Patmos.

Debra H. Goldstein – Winning or placing in a particular contest.

Mary Dutta - I still think I will write a novel someday.

Molly MacRae - Maybe. But it’s a secret. 

Nancy Eady - If I share it, it isn't a secret anymore, is it?  But yes, my dream is to weigh 130 pounds while being able to eat as much as want as often as I want without having to ever worry about my weight.  

Korina Moss - I’d love to be able to earn a decent living with my writing.  

Margaret S. Hamilton - Mastering deep point of view. I never learned how to wallpaper or knit, but I've dropped those goals.

Lori Roberts Herbst – I would love to have one (or more) of my Callie Cassidy books made into a Hallmark Mystery Channel movie or series!

Paula G. Benson - I would like to fly an airplane. A friend of mine did that recently and found it an exhilarating experience.

James M. Jackson - This fits in a the dream category, as I am not about to waste time trying to make it happen:  It would be a hoot to see my Seamus McCree book series made into TV series.

Grace Topping - I want to travel someplace where I can have a clear view of the night sky and see the Milkyway.  

Sarah Burr - I'd love to become a video game streamer. As a big gamer, I always manage to make my friends laugh with my commentary. I'd love to share that joy with a wider audience and be a source of positivity for others, especially during tough times.

Annette Dashofy - It’s not very secret, but I would dearly love to actually win an Agatha award after all the nominations without bringing home a teapot. I don’t expect it to happen, but a gal can always dream.

Kait Carson - Yes! I would like to score an agent and/or a traditional publishing contract. While I enjoy being an indie, I’ve learned I need real deadlines to be productive. We’ll see. Maybe 2025 will be the year 😊

 

The Husband’s Secret

My Savannah book club, Bound to Please (don’t you love that name), recently read The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty. I stumbled onto the club when they chose Bad Policy as their December 2013 book. Jan and I have continued to go to meetings because it is a good group of people with a variety of ages and interests, and they often choose books we wouldn’t normally read.

I was disappointed in The Husband’s Secret. If you want to know why, contact me off list, because I want to talk about a question I asked the group and the answers people gave. I’m not giving anything away to say that the husband wrote a letter to his wife, sealed it in an envelope, which he labeled with something to the effect of “open upon my death.”

Here’s the question—and answer it for yourself before you read on:

If your still living spouse/significant other left just such an envelope and you found it, would you rip it open?

I was fascinated to see eighty percent of the hands shoot up without hesitation. One participant noted that she wouldn’t rip it open; she’d steam it open. I wished I had thought of that, since I would have ripped it open and then destroyed the evidence of my moral crime.

Ben Franklin supposedly said something like, “Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” Ben may have been an optimist. There is something in human nature that does not like secrets. We can’t keep others’ secrets; we often can’t keep our own; and assuming my book club is a fair representation of Americans, given the opportunity to learn someone else’s secret, we won’t hesitate to break their trust. Of course, owners of the gossip magazines by the grocery checkout have profited from this knowledge for generations.

Somehow we are shocked (shocked, I say) that our government eavesdropped on our allies—as if they weren’t doing the same to us. To those of you old enough to remember party telephone lines, I ask, “Didn’t you listen in on your neighbors?”

We should not be surprised that the NSA oversteps its bounds. Hoover’s FBI certainly did in their day. Today’s tools are exponentially more sophisticated, but that hasn’t changed our human desires to know what others want to hide.

Information wants to be free. We need laws (treason for so-called state secrets, copyright protection for authors, patents for inventors) to prevent it. But you know, once again Mom was right when she said, “Don’t do something you wouldn’t want on the front page of the paper.”

Life can certainly be a lot less stressful if you’re not trying to protect secrets. Now, where did I hide that diary again?

~ Jim