Follow Your Passion

My brown-eyed baby



A friend of mine recently said to me, "I have been dying to live the dream of being an author for years, but I don't even know how to start or what to do." Some of you may have the same feeling. I hope that I can offer some good advice through this blog of mine. This is a big question, and to give it justice I'll have to spend more than one post on it. But to begin, the first thing I suggest you do is to figure out what you're passionate about.

Writing a book is like having a baby as opposed to getting a dog. I got a dog a couple of years ago, and the first thing she did was pee on the bed. When she bit one of my kids, she was gone. I also had a baby who peed on my bed and bit other children. But I kept him, because I adore him. I love his laugh and his kissable cheeks and his small hands. I love his auburn hair and deep brown eyes. I love my baby, even when he misbehaves.

The story you write is bound to misbehave at times. All stories do. If you don't at least begin with excitement about it, you will have a long, tortuous road ahead of you. Edenbrooke spent the first two years of its life misbehaving for me. I nearly threw it out many times. But in the end, I simply couldn't let go of it, because I loved my characters. I was, and still am, passionate about that story, five years and dozens of drafts later.

So what do you get excited about? What do you love to think about or talk about? What, in essence, is your passion? 

Once you find your passion, follow it, and it may lead you to a great story. But whether it does or not, it will definitely make your creative journey something you look forward to every day. It will be like that adorable baby that you're happy to wake up to. You will love your story, and you will want to spend time with it every day. And there is no greater motivation.