Spies and Signatures

Due to the nature of my current work-in-progress, I've been thinking a lot about spies lately. What technology do they use? How are they trained? Where do they go to college? What sort of missions do they go on? What different roles are there within the CIA? and so on and so forth.

This story, unlike most of the stuff I write, already has a story arc in place. I know how the plot is basically going to play out, and I know what major events have to happen in the middle to get it there. And even knowing that, I'm not bored with it, because I don't know exactly what Chelsey's going to do for that to happen; I just have a very general idea.

I think this is good for me. It has a structure, but it's not suffocatingly specific. I can definitely see this story going somewhere.

So then I got to thinking. What would happen if I did finish it and get it published? What if it happened soon? It would be kind of amazingly cool to be published at sixteen (although even if I finish in the next month or two - which WILL NOT happen because of senior thesis and the fact that I'm only on draft 1 - I'd be seventeen by the time it could go anywhere). It would be kind of ridiculously awesome to be a novelist while still in high school. I don't have my heart set on it or anything; I know publishing is a difficult industry to break into, and honestly, if I have to wait until I'm an adult for that to happen, that's cool. I'd rather wait until I have something worth publishing. No rush. But still.

And then I kind of slipped into daydreams, which I tend to do quite often. I imagined walking into Barnes & Noble (my favorite store of all time) and browsing for something new to read and seeing my book (with a decent title and an awesome cover) sitting on the "New Releases" shelf with all the other books, and having someone pick it up to browse through it and seeing the "about the author" tab with my picture, then slowly turning and seeing me...

At this point in my dream world, the random stranger says something like "Ohmygosh. You're the person who wrote this book!"

Me: *some cool response*

Random Stranger: "I read a library copy of your book the other day and I sat down and read the whole thing in one night. It was amazing, I just had to have my own copy!"

Me: "Aww, thanks! That's so nice of you. I'm really glad you enjoyed it."

Random Stranger: "Could you sign it for me?"

Me: "Of course!"

And then I would pull a pen from my purse (I would have one; even in the Real World I carry a pen with me at all times) and autograph a book - my book! - for this person. And it would be very cool and professional and it would make me happy.

Of course, it's not the most plausible scenario. But hey - it could happen, right? And it's always nice to have dreams, no matter how unlikely they may be.

Never mind the fact that the signature I've been practicing on the backs of my history notes isn't mine. *cough* I mean, of course I haven't been signing Chelsey's name all over my schoolwork, trying to pin down her perfect handwriting...what a silly idea. Ha, ha! *whistles innocently*

Unfortunately, daydreaming/living in my characters' heads often means that I look up to realize it's 10:17 PM and my Senior Thesis homework isn't done yet. Of course, that's purely hypothetical...

Or not. Must go. Much love,
Bex