FutureMe

Think back to your twenties...

If you can remember back that far.  Or maybe you don't have to go as far back as I do because you're in your twenties thinking, OMG--what's she talking about--thirty, forty, fifty so over the hill.  I never want to be that old--ew.  

In truth, tomorrow is just around the corner.

But no matter your age I bet you can remember a time when someone, your parents for example, gave you good advice that you simply didn't follow. 

Or maybe you reached the ripe old age of forty--ha, ha--wishing, "If only I had that twenty year old body to go with this forty-year-old brain.  I'd show 'em!"

Come on I can't be the only one thinking that :)  

My point being hindsight is 20/20, right?  You probably know exactly what you'd say to your past self if given half a chance.  

"Lay off the carbs."  

"Use sunblock."  

"Floss." 

But what would you say to your future self?  

FutureMe.org allows you to send yourself emails into the future--tomorrow or fifty plus years from now--it's up to you.  Will we even have email fifty years from now?  Something you might ask yourself if you're curious.

I first heard about FutureMe in the book Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job & Your Dream Job by Jon Acuff.  Which I discovered through an online workshop presented by Superromance author Kara Lennox.  Yes, You Can Quit Your Day Job.  

I'd love nothing better than to quit my day job to write full time.  Everyday I go into work and bite back the words, "I quit!"  Instead of giving in to that impulse I sent myself an email into the not too distant future.

I know what I want.  I have a plan.  What I needed was validation--a date.

Maybe you're going through a tough time.  Knowing this too shall pass, you send yourself a little pep talk.  You schedule that email for a year from now and then go about the business of forgetting all about it.  But then the email arrives on a day when you really need it.  Serendipity!

Could be things are great.  You want to tell yourself all about this person you just met.  The sale of your first Superromance--which believe me is a really big deal when it happens.  Whatever it is you send your time capsule ten years into the future.  And when you open that email, well...

Who knows?  

That's the brilliance of it.  One of the fun things about the site is reading all the anonymous emails.  What's it like to be an eighteen-year-old going off to Iraq for the first time?  God, I hope he made it back.  And that's just one of the many emails I read that left me vested in someone else's future.    

You can choose to keep your future emails private or make them public--while remaining anonymous--of course. 

Nobody knows you better than you.  What is it you want to tell yourself?  I'm giving away a $10 amazon gift card to one lucky commenter (drawn at random) so that you can be assured books are in your future :)

The following is the letter I sent to myself...   

Dear FutureMe,

Today is the day you get to give two weeks notice at your day job in order to write full time.  I'm proud of you for sticking to your plan.  You worked hard these past six months.  It wasn't easy, I know.  But look at all you've accomplished... 

~ You've paid off your eye surgery bills and two other bills hanging over your head. 

~ You've paid a year ahead on your car insurance and memberships.

~ You're current on your mortgage.

~ You've turned in that next super romance proposal, in fact you finished the book.  I hope they bought it.  I hope they keep the title <g>.  

~ You've published your first indy romance.  How many is that now, six?  And launched an erotica career under a pseudonym--shh.

How's your social media platform looking?  

Your social life, if you still have one?  Family life?

Thank God you're on your husband's health insurance plan.  You are still married, right?  Remember to thank him properly (see erotica pseudonym above) without his support none of this would be possible. 

Did you manage to save 20% from those last 13 paychecks?  Did you make any money from book sales?  Cashing in your 401K is a LAST RESORT.  If you've reached your savings target you should roll it over into an IRA.  

No running down the hall to deliver that resignation.  You can skip if you'd like.  Go, be happy.  Write!

PastMe