I’m not sure we gravitate toward what we know as writers, although parts of our personalities litter the pages whether we wish them to or not. I am sure we write about what we love. And, we write what we hate and what we see as injustice – large and small.
So maybe it’s more accurate to say as writers we strive to write with passion, with a depth of feeling, whether we’re writing a sweeping saga like GONE WITH THE WIND, or a funny, revealing look at modern relationship like, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY.
That’s why I write about communities – a small town community, Shute Pond, populated by the quirky, often good and sometimes nefarious characters. And, my Warrior Chronicles series, where my love for everything Celtic plays center stage.
If passion makes fiction – and I’d argue most non-fiction – more captivating – then passionate writing is what I hope to excel at.
Writing passionately or doing whatever our job is, with the goal of doing it well, is universal and something few would question.
As my parents would say: “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”
So, I’ve been wondering since I’ve lost them, why I haven’t put this axiom to work regarding not just my work, but my life.
It’s time.
Now I’m vowing to live passionately. I will make that small books are free ‘Little Library’. I will run all of those 5K’s that are for worthy causes. I will travel more and worry less. I will try to live the stories I love to write – but only the good parts.
More about Scotland to come. There is much to digest and chronicle into some semblance of order.
What warms your heart and stirs your soul–what is your passion?
Blessings to you all,
Leigh
Authors of Main Street 
Go for it, Leigh! My passion is leading me in a potential new career direction and I hope to follow your lead (although I will not be running any 5k’s).
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Best of luck on your new career direction, Romance Lover. I hope everything you want from what you do comes to pass as so much more wonderful comes your way.
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Living passionately is one of my mantras, especially since the death of my father. There’s something so freeing about doing what you love and not putting off things anymore. Seize the Day, I tell myself every morning.
As for writing what you know, I think it’s only natural (at least for me). When we write, parts of ourselves are interwoven between the words. Whether it’s a small town or a historical time period, the secret to a captivating story is passion. 🙂
I agree with Romance Lover, I’ll leave the running 5K’s to you Leigh. 😉
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Carpe Diem, Mrs. N! To be fair, I’ll probably be walking most of those 5ks—at least I’ll be walking the one I’ve got Saturday :). I think we can’t help but write what we know even when we branch out into settings we aren’t so familiar with and we do leave strands of ourselves, and that’s great. Love your phrase: “parts of ourselves are interwoven between the words” …. that’s perfect! I’m sorry to read of the loss of your father. May we both keep all that was wonderful about our parent(s) in our hearts.
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I’m a big walker so if we lived closer, I’d join you on the 5K’s. 😉 Thank you for your lovely comments on the passing of my father. Truthfully, he’s been gone for over fifteen years. Yet, not a day goes by that I don’t mourn the loss of him. Everything I do, I honor my father and the biggest compliment anyone can give me is to say I’m my father’s daughter.
I better write down that phrase, then. It is quite profound. 🙂
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I love this. Thanks for expressing it so beautifully. I think that as artists it’s really difficult to separate ourselves from our work. I don’t think we should even try.
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Thanks, Kristy. I think you’re absolutely right, we shouldn’t try to keep ourselves separate from our work or to try to take ourselves out of what we create, I know when I write about injustice, large and small, that is often my best work. Injustice burns my butter and I love to see the little guy get a bit of it back. That part of writing is also the most fun for me and if I didn’t feel that so strongly, the writing wouldn’t have the resonance I hope it does. Guess this gets me right back to passion….go figure! 🙂
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Well said, Leigh! It’s always empowering to hear about those who pursue and live their passions. Absolutely go for what stirs your soul and makes you happy, because you deserve to be happy! I work everyday to live that way as well, and a few of my passions include learning and helping others through friendship and health. Thank you for your post! 🙂
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For those of you who may not know, Hope is in the naturopathic healthcare field. She is the living embodiment of living with passion and thankfulness. I hope I can live this mantra as well as you. Kudos! I also know you’d be running those 5ks, not power walking them :). Ahhhh, well, each to her strengths.
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So true Leigh, there’s so much strife in the world I think it’s easy to get caught up in the negativity and lose a piece of our humanity in the process. This is especially poignant today as the news in our area was filled with the horribly senseless murder of a two year old little girl and her father.
So my goal is to spend as much time as I can with my family, hug them close, because sometimes life sucks.
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I’m so sorry to read about this act of senseless and horrific violence in your community. The axiom that loss makes us aware of what’s important, doesn’t come close to what happens in my experience. Loss smacks us in the face and it stings for a long time. Loss leaves the kind of mark that doesn’t fully go away–at least it hasn’t for me yet. If we react the way you have, out of love and with a goal to keep those we love close and living in our hearts, I think we’ve done all we can. You’re right, sometimes life sucks and trying to roll with the punches can be exhausting.
I just became aware of a movement I guess you’d call it, studying happiness. I’m simplifying, but it goes something like: happiness isn’t some state of being we reach by accomplishing a goal or getting something we desire, happiness comes when we view what we do and how we respond to what happens to us, and around us, positively. So if we respond and act positively—whatever that means for each of us—we report more feelings of happiness. I hope that’s true. I’m going to try to act as if it is true. I will act as positively as I can in the face of less than ideal circumstances. You certainly did when you reached out and hugged your family! May your community heal. Blessings to you and to those others who have been impacted by this senseless loss.
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I think I like that, studying happiness 🙂 Wish more people would focus on that than how to cause others misery.
Thanks for your kind words, I hope and pray that little girl’s family can recover and not live with hate in their hearts; not sure I could be so generous.
Take care and thanks for your kind words. That’s one good thing to come out of loss, we unite to comfort each other. I think there’s hope for us yet 🙂
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Great post, Leigh. How can we write without lacing part of our soul into everything? I don’t believe we do. I believe we draw from that which lives deep down in our life experiences or joys, pleasures, nightmares or the things we dream of doing or would never attempt. There are those who say nothing from them makes it into their writing. I don’t believe we can write passionately without sharing parts of ourselves. Good or bad.
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I think you’re right, Carol. We leave parts of us on the page whether we try or not. That’s as it should be, I think. I read Stephen King’s response to a question about why he generally writes dark horror and he said something like: “What makes you think I can write anything else?” What we write may not directly reflect who we are, but it does have some bearing on the lens through which we see the world. There is light. There is dark. There is love and romance. Someone’s gotta write about all that :).
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I always told my children that success doesn’t just happen. It’s hope and dreams powered by passion and hard work! But without the jet fuel of passion and hard work, it’s just clouds.
And that half-filled glass of cream tends to look partially empty, but if you work really hard, what’s left in the glass can be whipped to the point that it will overflow. And who doesn’t love whipped cream?
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I could eat real whipped cream or British double cream every day. Indulgent, but soooo good. Thanks, E!
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Great analogy, E! Love that visual! 🙂
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