Last Saturday, I was the keynote speaker at an author fair in Columbus, Nebraska, so that’s a photo of me talking to a nice group of attentive listeners. I spoke about how it’s never too late to go after one’s dream until it’s actually too late. It’s become a bit of mantra for me and something I feel strongly about after losing my best friend to cancer exactly 5 years ago (as I write this it’s the 7th and the anniversary of her death). After losing her, I also lost three more very important people in my life in quick succession, and those deaths profoundly changed me and my approach to life.
My friend was only 50 when she died, another friend only 40 when he died, another dear person only 32, and my uncle was only 60.
In a few days, I will be 55, an age that three of those people never got to see.
While selling books at the State Fair and hanging out in the Nebraska Writers Guild booth with another writer, she told me that she was attempting to complete her “50 things challenge.” I asked her what that was, and she said it was 50 things she’d never done before that she was trying to do during her 50th year of life.
I thought that sounded like a cool challenge and wish I’d heard of it or thought of it myself when I turned 50. But why not do a “55 things challenge?”
It’s hard for me to think of 55 things I haven’t yet done that I still want to do or that I can afford to do (that’s the real kicker), so I’ll list 55 things that I want to do and/or do again.
Here are the 55 things I’d like to do or do again before my next birthday:
visit my other best friend in Mexico
finish and publish my next book
get my column in another newspaper
read two of the longest books on my TBR list (those with more than 1,000 pages)
go on a long hike with my daughter in the Black Hills
start a Scrabble players group
finish the full draft of book number 7
do stand-up comedy
visit 2-3 more state capitals
see the Grand Canyon
see Hoover Dam
renew my passport
visit David in Germany (he was one of my exchange students)
get more fluent in Italian
train my dog to be a dock dog
repaint my stairwell and mud room area
line up 25 library/literary events in 2024
attend either Thriller Fest in NYC or Killer Nashville or both
sell at least 500 copies of my books
learn how to make pottery
go kayaking
swim in the ocean
grow vegetables in a raised garden
ride on a sailboat
go to Florida
get rid of all my old clothes that I don’t wear or that don’t fit me
finish the large cross-stitch piece of the Sagrada Familia cathedral I started eons ago
build and stock a Little Free Library
swim laps at least once a month
get better at painting with watercolors
walk across another famous or impressive bridge
make new friends in the literary world
get my books in 5-10 more libraries
go to a show in Vegas
take a salsa class
learn some karate, especially how to use a bo staff
master more yoga poses
visit more of the Indie Bookstores in the Midwest
visit the Kansas City library that is painted on the exterior to look like giant books
take my motorcycle to the Sturgis rally
fix up my old bicycle to ride it again
pay off my credit cards
attend or host a writer’s retreat
go a week with no TV
visit Willa Cather’s home in Red Cloud, Nebraska
drive a go-cart
drive up to and then into Canada
eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant
play darts in a bar
become adept at hula-hooping again
rescue an animal or someone in need
attend a Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico
spend an entire day only speaking Spanish
start planning and saving for a hike on the Camino trail in Spain
build a decent sand castle
Some of these are quite attainable while others most likely aren’t, but they are all things that I’d like to do between now (or the 13th, which is my actual birthday) and my 56th birthday — or that I’d like to do before I turn 60 at the very least. They are things I want to do to honor the memories of those I loved and who died before they were able to do all the things they’d hoped to do.
As I continually strive to keep moving forward in my writing career, I often think of those four dear people and try to live my life as fully as possible. I carry their memories with me most days — Amy Vojtech Beran, the best friend a gal could ever have; Nate Metschke, beloved co-worker and outstanding band director; Trever Erickson, middle son of my boyfriend and like a son to me, too; and Paul Filsinger, my amazing uncle who I loved with all my heart.
Tomorrow, I am appearing at two separate libraries in small towns near Omaha. Then, I’m taking a break from appearances to finish novel number six. I have notes from my beta readers, and I’m going to take those and add them to my own ideas about improving it, and then I’ll spend time reworking parts of the book.
I have three major feature articles to write for the Norfolk Daily News before the end of September, too. I am planning to visit my friend in Mexico for a good chunk of October and the beginning of November, so I can cross off #1 and #52 on the above list then, I hope. While I’m there, I will finish my novel, so I can publish it immediately upon my return. (Or if I happen to get really industrious, perhaps I’ll publish it before I leave for Mexico.)
After I start reworking it, I will share portions of it on here for the paying subscribers, so if you’d like to be one of the first to read and/or hear parts of “Her Ride of Die,” consider becoming a paying subscriber. In honor of my birthday month, I’m offering a 20% discount for a year’s subscription to “Tomes and Topics.” You can take advantage of it here:
Until next week when I’ll be a year older than I am now — ha ha. Will I also be a year wiser? Tune in to find out.
Tammy Marshall
Good on you. Some of those things sound like a real challenge. Others like a lot of fun.
That's an excellent to-do list. Several of those are on my list, too. Here's to realizing your goals and dreams both large and small. And Happy Birthday!