Jun 25, 20225 min read

The 31-Day Blog Post Challenge (Part Seven)

All good things must come to an end. For seven days, I have been participating in a blog post challenge in which I have been sharing with you all my deepest fears and favorite foods as well as my medical journey which brought me to where I am today. There are only four challenges left to complete and today, I get to share with you where I am going from here.

The final four questions all have one theme running through them: my future. Where am I going? What will I do with my next 10+ years? What will you see from me next? A year ago, these questions are something I couldn't answer with the surety I have today. I am so grateful that I feel as though I have more of a direction today than I did then.

The following links will take you to the corresponding question on this page. At the bottom of the page you will see the schedule I followed this week for the blog post challenge. The links attached to each of the daily titles will take you to the corresponding posts.

What would I do if I won the lottery?
My dream job
Where do I want to be in 10 years?
My top bucket list items

What would I do if I won the lottery?

This is a hard question for most people. Yes, I would want to set some aside (my tithe at the minimum) to give to charity. What charity? I don't know. I would want to do some research. I haven't done that research because I have not won the lottery and don't have a bucket of cash to give to charity.

There are two major things that come to mind. I would want to set a large portion aside to open my bookstore. Even if I had the funds to do so, I would intentionally give myself time to learn how to open and run it before I did so but having the money set aside for buying a storefront, signage, merchandise, and more would be helpful.

The second thing that immediately comes to mind is a car. I'm by no means a car person but I currently drive my family's car. I also recognize the usefulness for cars with particularly good mileage with gas prices as high as they currently are.

I do think I would find pleasure in some other things such as filling gaps in my personal library via my local indie bookstores, paying for my siblings' schooling, or taking the family back to New Zealand.

My dream job

I have mentioned my dream job on the blog before and you can read more about it on the My Ministry page but I'll describe it once more.

For as long as I can remember, I have had a desire to own a bookstore. When I was little, I wanted to be a detective. After that, it was a fashion designer. But even when I wanted to be a detective or designer, I dreamed of owning a bookstore. The dream was always to have a coffee shop in the back where people could gather and connect over books and tea or coffee.

When I was twelve, I was a terrible child. My mother planned on taking me for a mother-daughter trip on my 13th birthday but moved it up because I was so terrible. On our trip, she handed me a notebook and a pen and told me I was made to be a writer. I have written with the intent to publish since then. I have been writing my fairytale twist series since 2016.

So what's my dream job? My dream job is to write novels for young adults that connect with them on a deep level despite being nothing but a cool story. My dream is to bring God to youth through my "cool stories" because the youth find themselves in the characters and can picture themselves in the worlds, battling the beasts alongside their friends. My dream is to help youth find a community through an independent bookstore fashioned to foster healthy relationships between youth and adults and between youth and other youth. My dream is to build that bookstore from the inside out with clever design, intelligent merchandise choices, and fun events and marketing.

Essentially... to write books and own a bookstore.

Where do I want to be in 10 years?

In ten years I hope to have opened (or at the very least started the process of opening) my bookstore. I want to have published a couple more books (most likely in the fairytale twist series). I would love to have an agent for my books and preferably a publisher for my fairytale twist series.

I see myself with a second dog by the end of 10 years. I love my mini doodle Asha but she needs a playmate, of course. I see myself moving out of my parent's house after a few years in Pennsylvania and Asha would certainly prefer to have herself a live-in best friend.

I still see myself in Pennsylvania in 10 years. I am often asked if I will ever move back to New Zealand. I don't see myself ever moving back permanently. I love New Zealand and will always consider it one of my homes but I don't know that I will ever make it my permanent home again (it is expensive, for one thing!). Pennsylvania (or surrounding states) would probably be a great place to open up an independent bookstore so I see myself in this state for the foreseeable future.

My top bucket list items

I have quite a lot of things on my "dream list." Things to do with writing, for example. I am excited for the days when I get fanart of my characters in the mail or get my first author's copy of my book. There are also things I dream of doing that aren't entirely connected to me. For example, I once dreamed of going on a road trip with my friends (I ticked that one off in 2019). Here are some of my most wild "bucket list" items that I could go and do myself if I had the time, research, and money. I know there aren't many. Do you have suggestions for me? List them in the comments below!

go skydiving
take a train tour across Europe
ride in a hot air balloon
plant an exact replica of the berry grove in The Criminal (barring the fictional plants)
pet a polar bear

The 31-Made-7-Day Blog Post Challenge Schedule:

Day One: Intro to the Challenge