This troubles aspiring writers
"I'd like to write but I'm not really a passionate person."
It's a comment, sometimes a question, that writers hear frequently. And it always surprises me.
Because writing isn't about your passion.
It's not about looking or sounding passionate, or looking or sounding like a writer. I think you know where this is going.
Writing is about words you put on the page. About the passion expressed in the words you put on the page. And it doesn't matter if you're up or down ... hung over ... it's all still about the accumulation of words.
You might just as well say, "I'd like to write but my hair is green."
Zane Grey was a dentist.
Raymond Carver worked in a sawmill, John Grisham built fences, Stephen King—a janitor—and Kurt Vonnegut sold Saab automobiles. It's hard to imagine any of them were passionate about their day jobs, or about writing in the early and late odd hours when they were tired, often discouraged and tempted to "just let it go until tomorrow."
If you wanna write, you gotta write. The secret is doing it, not how you look, feel or sound about it.
It's also not about how much you sell of it. But that's another story.
Questions? Comments? Write anytime.
I guess we are all a little different. I need to have a little "fire" for what I write or it just comes out plain and uninteresting.
ReplyDeleteEvery writer has to have "fire," but the fire needs to come out in the words. Some writers don't even sit down to work if they don't feel some particular "fiery" way. But you've written enough to know that you can/will produce "keeper" stuff no matter how you feel. You wouldn't have three books if you only wrote on the "good" days. Thanks for your comment!
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