I want to be Jessica Fletcher

Look at her, with her unreasonably cheerful smile, her typewriter, and her table full of published books -- all bestsellers, of course. I've always wanted to be Jessica Fletcher. Who wouldn't?From the moment I laid eyes on her, I wanted Jessica's whole life. I wanted to be a full-time writer, to dominate the mystery genre, have a gorgeous Victorian house in a quaint New England town, travel the world and visit friends in every city, teach English, get the cred of having a successful marriage without having to deal with a husband, and of course, solve murders. Or at least, sweep into a disastrous situation and with nothing more than my savvy and brilliance, rescue friends and loved ones from serious binds.Between the ages of 8-11 I read nothing but Nancy Drew novels. It wasn't until I watched Murder, She Wrote that I realized I could aspire to something greater than Nancy's saccharine perfection -- I could be the creator that got rich and famous from writing about her!The dream lives on. Jessica Fletcher-dom is still my ideal. In fact, I'm working on a progress thermometer that tracks the major steps towards achieving Jessica Fletcher status in life. I'll share it once it's all prettified up; right now it includes milestones such as:

• write a mystery novel (duh)
• work as an English teacher
• make friends in 5+ foreign cities
• publish a novel
• move to a small town
• help a friend out of a serious jam (rinse and repeat)

And so on!