Nov 18

Ymara Reveals Her New Big Dream

Fun Fiction, Motivating Stories 1 Comment »

It’s Weirdo Friends Day!

Welcome to another wacky, totally fictional interview of a ‘Weirdo Friend.’ Today’s story features Ymara Ecrof Tency, best tv watcher. (Video of this interview is coming soon…)

When we first met Ymara, she loved to watch TV on all six of her televisions in her room at once any time she wasn’t sleeping or in school. As a matter of fact, her big dream was to be ‘the best tv watcher ever.’

After completing the first 30 days of missions, though, she realized that wasn’t a very motivating dream. But she wasn’t sure what her new big dream was. Let’s check in with her on Day 60 of the game and see if she’s figured out what she wants.

*****

YMARA: Amazing news! I only have one TV in my room now. One! I’m like so much more calm now that my attention isn’t scattered all over the place. It’s kind of relaxing to focus on just one show at a time (when I’m not using the picture in picture feature and watching two shows at once…cause I still do that sometimes).

Bonnie Jean: What did you do with the extra tv’s?

YMARA: Check it out—I traded them with a dude down at the pawn shop for a video camera! I decided that I love tv so much I should make tv shows of my own. That’s my new big dream: create my own TV channel!

Bonnie Jean: Now that you have a new big dream, what’s your Day 90 goal?

YMARA: This is going to be so much fun. By Day 90, I want to create my first ten minute show and post it on my YouTube channel. I don’t know what I’m going to call my channel yet.  Or what the show’s going to be about. Or who’s going to write it. Or who’s going to act in it. But I know I’m going to record it and direct it!

*****

We’ll check back in with Ymara in several weeks to see if she’s able to find a way to make her dream of filming her own 10 minute show happen.

She does have a few weird quirks, but as long as she follows through with the missions, she’ll be able to find a way to do what she dreams.

Weird quirks or not, you can find a way to do what you dream, too. Life is really much more fun when you set goals and take action to make them happen. So…

Join the Dream Doer League. Play The Champion Creator Game. And DO what you DREAM!

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. Stay tuned for details about how you can play The Champion Creator Game. (‘Ymara’ may be made up, but the game is REAL!) Until then, enjoy listening to the entire bestselling young adult novel The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets by clicking here!

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Nov 12

Behind the Scenes of a YA Fiction Series: “Character Profile—Anna Wilkins”

Behind the Scenes, The Dream Doers Series No Comments »

Welcome to another edition of “Behind the Scenes of The Dream Doers Series.”

The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets begins on the last day of sixth grade for Alex and Tyler. But in today’s Behind the Scenes Webisode, Parent Profile Edition, we’re going to go waaaay waaaay waaaay behind the scenes to give you a chance to get to know…Alex’s mom!

This Parent Profile Series started last week with Tyler’s mom, Rachel Davis. Today, we meet Alex’s mom, Anna Wilkins.

*****

Anna was born and raised on a farm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Her two older brothers and one younger sister and Anna all had chores they had to do every day to help out on the farm.

Her brothers and sister didn’t mind the hard work, but Anna hated it. She was the “rebel” in the family who also hated going to church and going to school. She wanted to make her own choices, live her own life and chase her own dreams.

Her big dream was to be a supermodel. She didn’t care what she had to do or who she had to hurt to make her dream happen. So at age 16, she stole money from her parents and ran away to New York City.

She made up a new name for herself, told everyone she was 18, dyed her hair from brown to blonde and cut it from waist length to just below her shoulder blades.

At her third modeling audition, Anna caught the big break she needed to succeed: a modeling agent discovered her, signed her to a two-year-contract and arranged for her to live in a nice apartment with a few other models.

For two years, Anna lived the life of glamour she always dreamed of. But the life of glamour she imagined wasn’t as fulfilling as she thought it would be. The worst part was having to constantly lie about her name and age and true identity.

Nobody knew who she really was, and she missed her family. Only she felt too guilty about the way she left to ever return home. She was afraid they wouldn’t want her back.

Since she couldn’t return home, she wanted to do something that made her feel connected to her family. If she had stayed at home, her father would have taken her on a two-week backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail when she graduated high school.

In May of what would have been her senior year of high school, she decided to take that trip and convinced three friends to go with her.

They had been on the trail for eleven days when the accident happened. One of her friends ran out of water and tried to take Anna’s water bottle from her. They fought for control of the water bottle on a very steep part of the trail.

As Anna’s friend jerked the bottle away from her, Anna lost her balance and fell over the edge onto a ledge twenty-five feet below the trail.

Instead of trying to help her, her friends ran away, scared they’d killed her.

Fortunately, they ran into another hiker on the trail and told him what happened before continuing their escape.

The hiker’s name was Rick Wilkins, known in The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets as Alex’s dad.

*****

Tune in to next week’s “Behind the Scenes” webisode, to learn more about Rick Wilkins, how he rescued Anna and why they got married and raised their family in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. In case you haven’t yet been in front of the scenes of The Dream Doers series, it starts with The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets. In this young adult novel, best friends Alex and Tyler are forced to battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to do what they dream. You can hear the whole “Front of the Scenes” story for FREE. Just visit TheDreamDoers.com and fill out a super short form. Enjoy the story!

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Nov 05

Behind the Scenes of a YA Fiction Series: ‘Why Did Tyler’s Mom Stop Believing in Big Dreams?’

Behind the Scenes, The Dream Doers Series No Comments »

Welcome to another edition of “Behind the Scenes of The Dream Doers Series.”

The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets begins on the last day of sixth grade for Alex and Tyler. Last week we finished a short, behind-the-scenes series of the first day of kindergarten Alex and Tyler.

But today and for the next few weeks, we’re going to go even farther back to before they were even born. Yup. That’s right. Starting today, you’re going to get to know…their parents!

This parent profile series begins with Tyler’s mom, Rachel Davis.

*****

Rachel grew up in Buford, Georgia as the middle child of three girls. All three girls loved to dance ballet, shop anytime they had the chance and play the piano.

Her big dream was to work as a nurse and to be a mom of three girls so she could teach them about ballet, shopping and playing the piano.

Only things didn’t work out quite the way she planned.

She made it to college in Illinois, but she didn’t get in to the nursing school of that college after her freshman year. Too many other people with better grades than her applied. When she realized her big dream to be a nurse wasn’t going to happen, she dropped out of school altogether.

If she couldn’t get a degree in nursing, she didn’t want to get a degree at all. But she didn’t want to tell her parents she had quit school, so she stayed in Illinois and got a job as a receptionist in a doctor’s office.

That’s how she met Ben Davis.

He was one of the doctor’s patients and came in for stitches after he tripped and cut his arm while playing paintball.

Long story short, Ben and Rachel got married. When she got pregnant with Tyler, she thought she was going to finally be able to live her other big dream of being a mom of three girls.

Only Tyler wasn’t a girl. Neither were his twin brothers.

She still loved being a mom and loves her boys very much, but she learned to believe that big dreams don’t come true. Especially since Ben’s big dream didn’t come true, either. (I’ll introduce you to him and his big dream in a few weeks.)

So when Tyler tells her about his big dream to be a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, she wants to protect him from being disappointed if he can’t make his dream come true. That’s why she tries to steer him away from dreaming about being a baseball pitcher and get him interested in more practical things.

She’s afraid Tyler’s big dreams will die the way hers did. The problem she sees is that his dreams are bigger than hers ever were. If they don’t come true for him, she believes he’ll be more devastated than she ever was.

The bigger Tyler dreams, the more worried she becomes.

Will he be able to show her that big dreams can come true? (You’ll have to read The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets plus future books in the series to find out!)

*****

In next week’s “Behind the Scenes” webisode, we’ll meet Alex’s mom. She was a bit of a wild child, and you’ll never guess how she met Alex’s dad. So stay tuned!

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. In case you haven’t yet been in front of the scenes of The Dream Doers series, it starts with The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets. In this young adult novel, best friends Alex and Tyler are forced to battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to do what they dream. You can hear the whole “Front of the Scenes” story for FREE. Just visit TheDreamDoers.com and fill out a super short form. Enjoy the story!

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