Living the Dream

Running away to the sea?

We all have our little fantasies. No - not that kind of fantasy. I'm talking about the ones where we run away to the seaside, the countryside, rural Italy, an island somewhere ... and start on a whole new way of making a living. This usually involves something creative, self employment and spectacular scenery. Writers, being good with fantasies - we make stuff up all the time - are always ready to oblige, either with books with protagonists who have done just that, or books set in the dream situation/location.  Just for fun I've assembled a few suggestions. Yes - it's a list, folks. My baker's dozen of new life dream escapes.

In no particular order :-

Cafe/deli

Bookshop

Other 'creative' retail - bakery, patisserie, sweet-shop, florist.

Plant nursery/smallholding/vinyard.

Art Gallery

Pottery/artist studio

Photographer

Restoring and opening an historic house/garden to the public.

Running a museum/staging a festival

Interior/garden design

House sitting/dog walking

Running a B&B/boutique hotel/holiday let.

And, of course, writing that best selling novel.

It's interesting to speculate how far these are dreams, fun to read about but not for real life, or secret hopes and plans. Are writers feeding fantasies, or ambitions?  

Maybe a bit of both?