A One Passion Kind of Girl

Before I get into my post, let me wrap up some unfinished business from last week and announce the winner of THE LIFE OF GLASS ARC! I used random.org to select for me, and the winner is . . . Lauren! Lauren, I’ve sent you an e-mail, so please write back with your address so I can get the book out to you. And if you entered and didn’t win, don’t worry, you’ll still be entered into the drawing for the $100 gift card to Amazon at the end of the month.

Now onto this week’s topic – passions. This is a tough one for me, and I’ve been racking my brain to come up with something other than writing because saying that writing is my passion kind of feels like a cop-out. Obviously, that’s my passion, right? But the thing is, I don’t know that there’s anything else I really feel passionate about, the same way I do about writing.

There are other things in my life that are amazing, and I feel so lucky to have a wonderful husband, wonderful children, terrific friends and family. There are things I enjoy like books and movies and good food and taking walks. But without the writing, there’s a part of me that feels a little lost, a little hollow. I know this because there have been times in my life when I’ve stopped writing, times when I’ve given up. And in those spaces in my life, I felt a certain sense of dullness that I never feel when writing is a part of my life.

There was one time in particular, after my oldest son was first born, and I’d been through a lot of rejection on the writing front. This time, I said, of writing, eh, who needs it? I’m better off without it. Instead I spent evenings teaching college classes and days taking care of my son. And after a few months of this, I felt like a robot, moving through the motions of life. I had a boring job which I wanted nothing more than to quit; I got to watch my son grow, which was amazing, but I began to feel that there was something lacking in my life, something I felt really passionate about. With writing out of the equation my brain felt a little numb.

And then once I finally decided to start writing again, I felt more alive. I don’t know what it is about writing, but I do know that I have to do it. I must do it. I love to do it. (Which is a good and necessary thing, because as any writer will tell you, there is a lot of rejection and heartache involved in the actual business of writing.)

It’s not that writing never feels like work (because sometimes it does) or that, like with anything else, I don’t sometimes procrastinate when I’m facing a deadline (I do! Thank you, Twitter!). But unlike other jobs, other hobbies, other things I love, writing is the only thing (outside of my family) that I MUST have in my life for it to feel complete. That, to me, is a passion.

So what’s your passion? Comment to win a signed paperback copy of Lesley Livingston’s WONDROUS STRANGE and to be entered to win $100 to Amazon. (And check out the sidebar for other ways to enter as well.) And if you haven’t already read it, the fabulous WONDROUS STRANGE is out in paperback this week, so be sure and check it out!!