OK Universe: someone emailed me to say that I should be more specific. So, I decided to take a mini break from writing and create a fantasy of what could be. Care to join me?

It’s early spring 2011. I’ve recovered from my final surgery and finished the first draft of my book. Along the way, I have continued to blog and feel incredibly lucky that ‘A Fresh Chapter’ has grown to a community of thousands.

I am sipping a latte in my apartment, which (in my ‘I’m a successful writer fantasy’) looks almost identical to Carrie’s Sex in the City abode (the TV series, not the movie). My hair has grown out and somehow become curly so people continually mistake me for Sarah Jessica Parker (circa 2000). I hear the door buzz and as I gracefully answer it, I realize I am wearing an incredibly stylish outfit that I actually pulled together myself. (What…we’re allowed creative license in our fantasies, are we not?)

I open the door and see Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love. She beams me a smile and gives me a warm hug, which is captured by the Oprah camera crew. I invite her in and make her a latte while she tells me all of her secrets about writing a best selling novel. She lets me know that a limousine is waiting to whisk us off to Oprah’s private jet and that we will have the whole flight to Chicago to become best friends.

The next morning Oprah meets me in my dressing room, gives me a double high five, and says that she received my letter almost a year ago, but has been waiting for the perfect time to surprise me. An army of make-up artists and stylists help me get ready and then the crowd roars when Oprah invites me on stage.

We chat as if we’ve known each other for years. Then she surprises me by pulling out a tattered draft of my book and reads aloud the quotes that ‘really touched her’. As if all of this wasn’t enough, she then hooks me up even further by announcing that she has secured an editor and a publisher who are absolutely thrilled to help me take my book to market. Have I thought about who should play me in the movie? I look at my new BFF, Elizabeth, who smiles at me from the audience. On the flight, we had agreed that we could not ask Julia Roberts to shave her luscious locks for the part. But, we both felt Natalie Portman was a great actress and pretty damn gorgeous (why wouldn’t I want a hottie to play me?) She had gone bald for a part before; maybe she could be persuaded to do it again? As for my love interest in the movie, I feel torn between Javier Bardem (he was so sexy in Eat Pray Love), Matt Damon, and Will Smith. Then, I remember that I won’t get to make out with any of them, so I tell Oprah that maybe we should leave the decision up to Natalie.

Oprah gives me a big hug, invites me to get involved in her favorite breast cancer charity, and says she would love to see me again when the book goes to market. She jokes that I had better get busy because she’s retiring in six months.

Take that universe! Is that specific enough for you? I know I need to do the work because this first draft isn’t going to write itself. So, why don’t I concentrate on writing, and you take care of making the rest happen. Thanks!

Now, it’s your turn. What do you want to ask the universe for? Don’t worry, I’m not forcing you to post it online (although you are welcome to). But, maybe you can take five minutes and contemplate the possibilities. It’s Saturday. You’re allowed. You don’t even have to put pen to paper, you could even just have a nice, juicy daydream.

In my old life, I was too pragmatic to be a dreamer.  But, maybe you can benefit from the tough lessons I’ve learned along the way. Life is short. Why not dream big dreams?