An old timer once said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I saw this love for one’s job play out amongst presenters at two conferences I recently attended.
Passion, and love for the work they were doing, seemed to provide the writers, editors, and publishers at the National Writers’ Conference with a sense of purpose. I found this passion inspiring. Whether it was editors such as Irma Gold speaking about editing, or authors such as Katherine Brabon talking about writing, it was clear they found meaning in their work.
It’s important to love what you do, for myriad reasons. As Steve Jobs said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
If you’re not loving your writing, it will probably show in your work. If you’re finding the story you’re creating boring, chances are your readers will too.
Writing a novel is a time-consuming pursuit. There is no guarantee your book will ever be published. And if you’re lucky enough to have your novel published, there is no guarantee it will sell well or that you’ll make much money. At least if you love what you’re doing, writing is its own reward. You’re not relying solely on external validation – in terms of positive reviews or sales – that may or may not be forthcoming.
If you can’t decide what to write, the best advice I can offer is to write what you’d like to read or what you feel compelled to write. Some authors were inspired to write the novels they did because at the time they wrote them, they weren’t able to find the sort of books they’d have liked to read. So, they wrote their own.
Sandra Cisneros, the Latin American author of the House on Mango Street (1984), is a case in point. In an interview with Jim Sagel (1991), she talks about trying to “write the stories that haven’t been written,” and how she is “determined to fill a literary void.”
Passion, and a love for one’s work, may help one persevere through challenging times. If you believe in your project and love what you’ve created, you’re more likely to stay committed in the face of the inevitable rejections and setbacks that will occur on the journey to authordom.
Dr Jonathan O’Donnell, part of The Research Whisperer duo, was the keynote speaker at another conference I recently attended (and incidentally presented at myself). The HDR conference was titled ‘Advancing Knowledge’ and was hosted by Swinburne. ‘Do the Research You Love and Love the Research You Do’ was the title of O’Donnell’s talk. He discussed the importance of finding joy in our research.
I hope you also find joy in your work and love what you do. That’s not to say it will always be easy; far from it. But it’s satisfying when we manage to work on our craft to the point where we’re able to invoke emotions in our readers or listeners and immerse them in our stories.
Written by Gemma Franks. Image by Photo Mix from Pixabay.
