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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Daydreamers by Janice Seagraves


Daydreamers
by Janice Seagraves
Image Detail

I wrote this because one my grade school teachers, who caught me daydreaming while I gazed out the window, got in my face and shouted, “No daydreamer has ever gotten anywhere!”

Now that I am older I beg to differ. If this woman was still alive I would have like to talk to her about what she had said to me so long ago, and about crushing a young girl’s spirit.

Crush and embarrassed—I was, but it didn’t stop me. I am to this day a daydreamer.

If I wasn’t I wouldn’t be an artist or a writer. I proudly proclaim myself to be a stubborn daydreamer.
As a child I watched too much TV, and I can only blame too many Gilligan’s Island reruns, then being addicted to Survivors when it first came out that let me into—what if’s.

What if a person could survive alone on a deserted island, and found another person washed up on shore? What if they fell in love?

The what if’s turned into Daydreams that lead me to write a book Windswept Shores, which has been published by Pink Petal books.

It’s my first book to be published.

My Daydreams helped create it, the rest was hard work and I kept my butt firmly planted in my chair.


Here are thirteen dreamers, and daydreamers:

1.      A daydreamer went on vacation in Spain and dreamed about the speed of light, his name was Albert Einstein.


2.      A daydreamer dreamed about having a bulb that made light, his name was Thomas Edison.

3.      A daydreamer dream the last movements of The Messiah, his name was Frederic Handel.


4.      A daydreamer dreamed about a mocking crow, and wrote poem. His name was Edger Allen Poe.

5.      Two brothers dreamed about flying, their names were Orville and Wilbur Wright.


6.      A daydreamer dreamed of being a kid again and floating down the mighty Mississippi on a raft, or being lost in a cave, or any number of things with a sense of humor. His name was Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain.

7.      A bored socialite daydreamed of being in the South before and during the civil war, her name was Margaret Mitchell.

8.      The popular Beatles tune Yesterday performed over seven million times in the 20th century, came to Paul McCartney in a dream. McCartney one morning, awoke to the memory of a classical string ensemble playing the melody.

9.      A daydreamer dreamed that he "saw" the basic elements of the physical universe arrange themselves in an orderly and beautiful pattern like repeating phrases of music. He woke up and outlined from his dream every element in its correct order - what is now known in chemistry texts as the Periodic Table of Elements. His name was Dmitri Mendeleyev

10.  A daydreamer dreamed about “little people” or “Brownies” who populated his dreams and assisted him with the creative process: “They share plainly in (my) training. They have learned like (me) to build the scene of a considerate story and to arrange emotions in progressive order, only I think they have more talent.” His name Robert Louis Stevenson, his book was he Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

11.  A daydreamer dreamed of sitting on the sun with all the planets hissing around on tiny cords.   He won the Nobel Prize for that dream. His name was Niels Bohr, he developed the model of the atom.

12.  Carl Jung wrote of his early dream journals,”All my works, all my creative activity, has come from those initial dreams which began in 1912, almost fifty years ago. Everything that I accomplished in later life was already contained in them, although at first only in the form of emotions and images. "

13.  A Baptist minister went to Washington and gave a speech called “I have a Dream,” which prompted the 1964 Civil Rights Act. His name was Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where would we be without our dreamers?

19 comments:

Tina Donahue said...

Great post, Janice - I too had a teacher like that, but it didn't keep me from daydreaming. Even as a young kid, I was making up stories in my mind. :)

jean hart stewart said...

Beautiful column. I think we all had a tyrant teacher in our past. Mine hauled me up in front of the class and shook me for sharpening my pencil to too long a point! Honest.I still shudder at the thought. I do a lot of plotting at night. I'll go to bed and conciously think of a an unsolved point of plot and wake up with a solution.

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Tina,

I'm glad that teacher of your didn't stop you either. :)

Hi Jean,

How awful. I wonder if these teachers even care what kind of scaring they are causing?

Good for you putting your subconscious mind to work for you.

Janice~

Liz said...

teachers like that have no business in the classroom! glad you overcame just like all the amazing folks you enumerated.
dreaming on!
Liz

Kelley Heckart said...

I agree. Daydreaming is an important aspect of creativity. I will take it a little further and admit that I am able to work out plots while napping in the afternoon.

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Liz,

I agree with you. I had several teachers in a row like that. It was their last year or second to the last year to teach and they just didn't care anymore.

Hi Kelly,

I used to nap. *sigh* Too busy writing now. But daydreaming and putting your sleeping mind to work for you is a wonderful way to work your imagination.

Janice~

Anonymous said...

Obviously that teacher had a very BORING life!

Great post, Janice, and keep daydreaming!

hugs, Kari Thomas, www.authorkari.com

Janice Seagraves said...

Thank you, Kari.

Janice~

Kimberly Menozzi said...

I'm another daydreamer. My stories emerge from those daydreams and over time, I put them down on the page to give them just a hint more substance.

Best of all, from time to time, I manage to pass those daydreams on to my readers, who find themselves daydreaming about the stories I've shared.

"No daydreamer has ever gotten anywhere", eh? I should like to say to your one-time teacher, "Sorry madam, but we'll have to agree to disagree."

Xakara said...

An absolutely beautiful post! I daydream all the time, without it I couldn't write. My sweetie calls it Drifting or The Romance and he sees it as a truly valid part of my process. How wonderful is that?

Keep Dreaming & Happy T13,

~Xakara
13 Banned Books

Unknown said...

"What story are you cooking up now?"
Fav line of my kids when they see me staring off into space.
Fantastic list. Happy T13!

Jennifer Leeland said...

absolutely!!!! I watch some of the kids I'm involved with and I know the "squirrels" (I call 'em) will probably be the ones who really create something awesome.
Great TT.

Alice Audrey said...

To this day there are teachers like that. My dd has had problems with a few of them.

Robin L. Rotham said...

Wow, that is so sad about your teacher -- what a limiting attitude. Sometimes teachers need a reminder that school is not just about learning what came before but about dreaming of what's left to discover.

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Kimberley,

Yes, agree to disagree.

Xakara,

I think that is really wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

Hi Adelle,

How wonderful, your kids must see that dreamy look in your eyes and know mom's plotting another story.

Hi Jennifer,

The dreamy ones are the creators for sure.

Hi Alice,

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that. My daughter had problems with teacher at school too.

Hi Robin,

So true. :)

Janice~

Unknown said...

It wasn't a teacher who crushed my dreams. It was my Mom. I get it though Janice. I was, I am a daydreamer. I've not dreamed so big as those on your list, but I've dreamed.

Great list.

Maddy Barone said...

Grrrr. I would like to find your teacher and beat her!

Darla M Sands said...

Wonderful list! I'm so glad you overcame this teacher's rant.

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Angle,

It doesn't have to be a teacher to try to crush your dreams, the thing is--not to let them--ever.

Hi Maddy,

A appreciated the sentiment but honestly think after all this time she might be dead.

Hi Darla,

Thank you. But truthfully I just didn't stop dreaming or using my imagination.

Janice~

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