Mapping Out My Dream Path

• Posted on July 13, 2011
• by IngridRicks
• in Articles, Uncategorized
• 2 Comments.

Okay. So as I prepare to launch HIPPIE BOY: A Girl’s Story as an e-book and POD, I’ve decided to put my vision for the book in writing and get it out into the universe.

Here Goes:

1. Hippie Boy: A Girl’s Story will be a blockbuster success. I figure if Amanda Hocking can sell a million plus books in just over a year, so can I. Anyone who enjoys a compelling story about overcoming adversity will love HIPPIE BOY. It’s got it all: a nemesis everyone can hate, a charismatic, vagabond father who is convinced rules don’t apply to him, a devout Mormon mother obsessed with her family’s eternal salvation, a dirt-poor existence and a feisty teenage girl who hits the road to escape her life. And for everyone out there fascinated by the Mormon religion and curious about what it’s like to grow up in a mainstream (but extreme) Mormon household, this book is for you.

2. E-Book Sponsorship/Promotion with Dr. Pepper. While living on the road as a tool-selling vagabond with my dad – a big part of the HIPPIE BOY story – we lived on Sugar Free Dr. Pepper. To me the drink represented freedom, which is what HIPPIE BOY is ultimately about. Though that drink has now been replaced by Diet Dr. Pepper, I’m convinced that HIPPIE BOY would resonate in a big way with Dr. Pepper’s target audience. It’s all about freedom – freedom to live as you choose, freedom to be happy, and in Diet Dr. Pepper’s case, freedom from the calories found in not-diet sodas.

3. HIPPIE BOY Optioned as a Movie/Screenplay: Think THIS BOY’S LIFE meets PAPER MOON, with some extreme Mormonism mixed in. I used to think Dakota Fanning would be the perfect actress to play the 13-year-old me. Now that she’is 15, I think her younger sister, Elle Fanning, would be great for the role.

4. Speaking Engagements: Once HIPPIE BOY is up and running, I want to start sharing my story with youth groups and women organizations. I want to be a voice for women and children who find themselves in abusive, extreme situations and are searching for a way out. The gist of HIPPIE BOY is that you can’t look to others to save you; you have to save yourself. Once I discovered my inner strength, I was able to stand up against oppression and abuse and create the life I wanted for myself. It continues to be a powerful lesson that guides me today and I want to share my story with others.

5. Complete Upcoming Projects: I’m working on several projects, including the Based on True Life story of my grandmother, a 16-year-oid runaway who was impregnated by a much older Austrian police officer in early 1940. She fled, had her daughter (my mother) in a home for unwed mothers, got involved with the Resistance movement, had her daughter taken away by the police officer, and was quickly arrested by the Nazis. She spent five years at Ravensbruck, a notorious women’s concentration camp, where she managed to survive by providing sexual favors to the camp guards. I’m also working on an unfolding memoir about my journey with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a devastating degenerative eye disease that has already robbed me of most of my vision.

HIPPIE BOY Dream Kick Off: September 15, 2011

HIPPIE BOY: A Girl’s Story is undergoing final edits with an amazing editor, and a fabulous designer is working on cover designs. I plan to launch HIPPIE BOY as an e-book and print-on-demand paperback on September 15, 2011, along with a short book of essays. And as soon as the manuscript undergoes final proofs, I’m sending it to the marketing forces at Dr. Pepper to pursue a sponsorship.

At least for now, that’s my dream path for HIPPIE BOY and for my life over the next year or two. What’s your dream and how do you envision it unfolding?

Tags: Amanda Hocking, best sellers, Dr. Pepper, dreams, ebooks, HIPPIE BOY: A Girl's Story, movie rights, success