Writing is work. It’s not for everyone. Like other professions, those who like to do it and experience a degree of success actually love to write. You have to. The financial and ego awards are not sufficient to sustain you otherwise.
It’s important to find your sweet spot when you write. Whether you do or don’t like tapping away at a keyboard or laying a pen to paper, the more you find the things you enjoy writing about, the better job you’re going to do at it. Explore the personal and professional issues that excite you, and consider how you can add your voice to that dialogue.
Recently, I had the opportunity to wed two loves of mine: environmental issues and golf. I pitched a story to Avid Golfer, a magazine based in North Texas, on a story where those two issues intersected, and got a “go-ahead” signal from the editor to proceed. That jazzed me.
As I worked on the story, interviewing sources and writing, I told several friends and professional colleagues how excited I was to write the story. That hadn’t happened in a long time.
Most of us don’t get what we ideally want in our jobs on an everyday basis. Instead, if we are fortunate, we get to work on issues, projects or ideas that give us a certain degree of consistent engagement. When it comes to your writing, the more you dig into what passions are, the greater your joy is going to be when you start putting the story together. That goes for any job.
So once you get through your daily grind, take a step back, look inside yourself and have an internal dialogue (or external for that matter) to figure out what pumps you up. You’ll be better focused afterwards, and your fulfillment level will rise.
It’s important to find your sweet spot when you write. Whether you do or don’t like tapping away at a keyboard or laying a pen to paper, the more you find the things you enjoy writing about, the better job you’re going to do at it. Explore the personal and professional issues that excite you, and consider how you can add your voice to that dialogue.
Recently, I had the opportunity to wed two loves of mine: environmental issues and golf. I pitched a story to Avid Golfer, a magazine based in North Texas, on a story where those two issues intersected, and got a “go-ahead” signal from the editor to proceed. That jazzed me.
As I worked on the story, interviewing sources and writing, I told several friends and professional colleagues how excited I was to write the story. That hadn’t happened in a long time.
Most of us don’t get what we ideally want in our jobs on an everyday basis. Instead, if we are fortunate, we get to work on issues, projects or ideas that give us a certain degree of consistent engagement. When it comes to your writing, the more you dig into what passions are, the greater your joy is going to be when you start putting the story together. That goes for any job.
So once you get through your daily grind, take a step back, look inside yourself and have an internal dialogue (or external for that matter) to figure out what pumps you up. You’ll be better focused afterwards, and your fulfillment level will rise.
