The writing world, whatever the industry, is a strange place. You’ll always find certain types of people: those who are there but who really shouldn’t be; those who are fabulous at what they do and everyone knows it; those who see themselves as ar-teests (like the ‘ack-tors’ you see in amateur theatre groups); and those who like it fine, but who are happy to muddle along as long as they’re keeping food on the table, and don’t have aspirations of being the next [insert big-name author here].
Passion in one’s work is something I’ve thought about a lot in recent years. Do you have to have it to do a good job? I don’t think so. When I was younger and trying to choose a career path, it was stressful because I didn’t know what I was really passionate about, but felt under pressure not to spend a working life doing something I didn’t leap out of bed each morning with a fire, a joyful desperation, to get on with. With each birthday, that idealism has sapped away and been replaced with a more realistic view.
It is important that you at least like what you do. I like writing a lot. I like editing better (geeky as it is, nothing quite compares to the little rush I get from fixing a misplaced apostrophe, or correcting a clunky sentence). But I’m very happy to be doing writing, and I think that shows in my work. I’ve had office jobs that I really didn’t care about, and that also showed. You can’t love everything you write about, but as long as you at least like the process, that’s plenty. When I can combine something that I am passionate about (dog behaviour, animal welfare) with writing, that rocks, and I smile.
There will be people who think that without that elusive great passion, you have no business to be writing. I disagree. It’s cool if you’re one of those people who can make a career out of their passion, but it’s also good to be someone who can stop when they’re finished, step away from the computer, and go and do something else they love, without making their work the feature of their life. After all, if you want your house painted, you don’t hire Picasso.
I love writing fiction. That is my main passion. As far as freelance writing goes…it’s a job. Am I good at what I do? Yes. Do I have a passion for it? Sometimes.
I keep myself motivated by reminding myself on a daily basis how lucky I am to be able to make the kind of money I do without a college degree, and without ever having graduated high school. My wife and I live the lives we want to live. We travel all around the globe, half a dozen times a year. We live well. We can afford the things we want to buy. We aren’t millionaires, but we live well.
One of the things I strive for is making sure that whatever content writing I do is on topics I want to be writing about or learning about in the first place. If I make sure I am writing about topics I enjoy or am passionate about, the job never feels like a job…it’s just a hobby I’m getting paid for. There were times in my previous occupation when it felt like a job, and no amount of money was worth it. Back in 2006, for example, I took my small crew and started doing track homes in Denver, and while my company was making over 20 thousand dollars a month, we were working 12-14 hour days, 6 days a week, in 115 degree heat literally breaking our backs. By the end of the summer all 3 of us were completely burnt out, and I swore I would never work another gig like that in my life, regardless of how well I was paid.
I do not believe you have to be passionate to be able to perform a given task. You simply need to be intelligent enough to learn the skills required. You might even get really good at a given job, but you don’t necessarily have to love it to do it. It’s a bonus if you do, however, and it definitely makes work seem less like work, and more like the aforementioned hobby.
Since I started freelance there hasn’t been a single day when I felt like what I do was work. I write for about 4 hours a day for clients, and I get to write about the things which I enjoy talking about, reading about, and learning about. In my fiction work, I’m slowly making progress and I get to write in my favorite genres…sci-fi and fantasy.
I get so tired of hearing about artistic integrity when it comes to writing, and how if you aren’t an artist who appreciates the written word you have no business being a writer, or how if you aren’t published by such-and-such ‘zine or such-and-such publisher you are a hack, a fake, an incompetent peon. I like the Stephen King approach. Anyone can write, as long as they practice at it every day. And as long as you earn a paycheck for your writing, you cashed the paycheck and it didn’t bounce, and you went on to pay the light bill with that paycheck…you are successful.
lol, great minds… TW said my post, The Discipline Of Writing Is More Important Than Motivation (http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/2010/02/the-discipline-of-writing-is-more-important-than-motivation/) was similar to yours, and he’s right…
Also-LOL-we all must have swallowed the Passion pill this week. My most recent post is called, “Believe in your business – it shows” (http://simplystatedbusiness.com/2010/02/04/believe-in-your-business-it-shows) and is about sharing your passion foryour business.
I agree, Lucy, it is important that you at least like what you do. But, for me, passion is not all the little tasks that make up my life but the sum part of the whole. Yes, there are writing assignments that don’t stir my soul but they allow me to have access to those that do. And that makes it worth the journey.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
P.S. I recognize the geek in me as well – I love taking complicated material and stripping it down to something that is easy to understand.