On her blog, Cynthia Newberry Martin recently spoke of wishful thinking and my comment to her was this:
Wishes are hopes, and hope is the carrot on the stick that keeps us moving forward in life. Hope is what keeps us alive. So my answer to the question: what would we do without wishful thinking? is that–emotionally, spiritually or physically–we would die.
Wishful thinking is the impetus of creativity. There are numerous ways to create, including: in
a studio, workshop, kitchen, garden … and with a keyboard. For what other reason do we write fiction than to give life to our wishful thinking?
Love is perfect, crimes are solved, new worlds emerge, the meek triumph, fears are faced and survived, the human condition revealed and explored, these are our hopes, our dreams, our wishes composed of words.
We ask, “What if?” and the story begins. Life goes on.
Linda Cassidy Lewis 
I love how you turned your comment into a post and then went on from there. One thing leads to another, which leads to another, as I’m always saying. The conversation just keeps on going…
And thanks for the mention!
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Always happy to direct people to your lovely blog.
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Just this weekend I was asked why I play the violin – I answered, to create, the same reason I write.
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Exactly.
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What a reassuring, wonderful post. I think maybe we’re creating even when we’re not conscious of it, asking what-if questions we’re not even aware of while we’re busy living in the real world.
Could be just a lot of (useful) wishful thinking on my part…
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Oh, I do too, our little sponge-brains are soaking up everything to sort and catalogue and call upon in future creative moments.
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