Writing your dreams for five minutes a day can make you into a mighty writer!

One way to write vividly is to write your dreams. Tapping into your dreamer's mind is a practical way to tap into future non/fiction story ideas.

Just the other night I dreamt I was on a giant cruise ship. The ship was about eight stories high. Happy people danced, laughed, and ate on every floor. My dreamer’s dictionary augured "a profitable venture."



Most importantly, my own interpretation of the dream forced me to think of specifics like, was I happy watching all those people? I was! If I hadn't been, the dream’s theme could have easily been "envy" or "loneliness.”

Prophesy or not, within days I landed a two-week financial venture writing staff profiles for my local day care. Best of all I discovered writing dreams tapped my imagination, accomplishing three major tasks:

• Learning how to focus on writing the story:
  
  By recording the dream scenes that made the most emotional impact, I discovered a new way to make that impact on readers. In the cruise dream, what struck me were the many families enjoying each other's company. Parents watched adoringly as their kids ran about and played. The family theme has its place in my life and recent articles, since I am a mother, part-time teacher, and book columnist for a local parenting newspaper.
  
  
  
• Unlocking my own successful style, giving me an endless well of new ideas that use my unique imagination -- since dreams are unique to each dreamer:
  
  I've discovered my heart is very much in tact while dreaming. In a recent dream, a pregnant woman gasped on the side of the road. My response was to stop and soothe her. I'd like to believe my newest works reveal this nurturing quality, a writer unafraid of showing compassion.
  
  
  
• Preparing me to remember and write future dreams:
  
  The more dreams I wrote, the more I remembered, and the more story ideas I've had since. By tapping into the inner dreaming mind on a repeated basis, I have not only exercised it, I've energized it!

You can too put your dreams to great use. For five to ten minutes a day, jot them down. It doesn’t matter when or where you do this, as long as it is during a time you can concentrate for a few minutes on envisioning yourself in a previous night’s dream. This will be the best, cheapest way of investing in your career. You'll have many new nonfiction article ideas (like this one), story ideas, and even self-help book ideas as a result.

Dream interpretation is an ever-fresh workshop available to all writers, one that creates themes and stories your readers won’t soon forget. It is also more fun when you have a book of interpretation. The book I would recommend is one I have used for nearly two decades and it is still being reissued. It is The Dreamer's Dictionary by Lady Stearn Robinson and Tom Corbett:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/det...

* Please note: There is a stimulating discussion going on below, about this article. Your thoughts are welcomed!