I’ve known people who chased a dream and made themselves miserable in the process. When they finally gave up on that dream, it was a relief—both for them and for all the people in their lives who loved them. I sometimes wonder if I should follow their example. On rough writing days (or rough writing weeks, months, years…), I sometimes wonder if I ought to give up on my writing dreams.
Except writing is not a dream for me. It’s a passion. Let me explain. For the purposes of this blog post, I’m going to define a dream as an end goal that you really, really want. As an example, I really, really want to go to space. I think that would be an amazing experience! But I’ve read enough astronaut autobiographies to know that I do not want to do all the hard work it takes to get myself to space. Chasing that dream would make me absolutely miserable (miserable enough that I’d probably fail the psych tests and be disqualified from spaceflight, anyway).
But writing? Writing is a passion. What I mean by that is that I am excited about the work itself, not the end goal. Getting my stories published would be nice. Winning lots of awards and making lots of money would be cool. Knowing that complete strangers are reading and enjoying my work would be great! But none of that motivates me to sit down and do my writing day after day. The process of putting words down on paper—that, in and of itself, makes me happy. Even if I never get published, even if no one ever reads my stories, even if I never get any recognition or accolades at all… I still want to do my writing.
Dreams still matter. They tell you something about who you are. My dream of going to space gives me a pretty big hint as to what I should write about. But it is absolutely okay to give up on a dream. Just don’t give up on your passions.
Today’s post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a blog hop created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosted this month by Janet Alcorn, T. Powell Coltrin, Natalie Aguirre, and Pat Garcia. If you’re a writer and if you feel insecure about your writing life, click here to learn more about this amazingly supportive group and to see a list of participating blogs.
Planet Pailly 
Your post reminds me of a passage in Asimov’s autobiography:
Asimov does go on the say you can still be a writer, even a great writer, without that passion, but almost certainly not a prolific one. Myself, I have to push myself to write, although it’s easier once I’m going. So I’ll almost certainly never produce 13 books a year. Still, given alternatives, I’d rather be writing than a lot of other things I could be doing.
And I think a life following your passion will lead to a lot more day to day satisfaction, which, as I’ve gotten older, is more important than those far off dream goals anyway. Also, I realized at some point that much as I like the idea of going into space, it would be dangerous, uncomfortable, and very brief.
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As usual, Asimov says it better than I. Getting started is the hardest part of my writing process, too. If I can just get started, writing is great. But getting started is still a challenge.
I’d still like to go to space, but I think I want to go to space after another century or two of technological development. In other words, when it’s safer, cheaper, and the toilets are more reliable.
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James, I know that you are a good writer, because I’ve had the privilege of reading several of your stories. But as far as I know, those stories remain unpublished, and I wonder what is stopping you from just publishing them? I don’t mean this as criticism. I just wonder – why hasn’t James published all those great stories that he’s already written?
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Thanks, friend. I really appreciate that. I’ll say this: something has been holding me back. I’ve been to therapy, I’m working on it, and I’m doing better. I don’t want to make any promises right now, because publishing is still hard work, but I do believe my situation is changing for the better.
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That’s good to hear. I hope that whatever is blocking you, you will overcome it.
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And if you don’t have a passion for writing, why do it? The end result isn’t always pretty or what you hoped for anyway. Might as well enjoy the process.
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True. And if you don’t enjoy the process, I think it’s even less likely for the end result to turn out well. As a reader, you can always tell when the writer just did not care.
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There’s a saying (that a TV ad just reminded me of) that goes: run your own race. I had a friend who stuffed paper copies of his pieces into a filing cabinet, and was satisfied. Personally, I never considered trying to find an agent or trad publisher – sounds like pouring my energy into a black hole. I publish as an Indie. My goal is to become a better writer with each book.
I actually enjoy the side hobbies of learning cover design and marketing (though, I’ve shaved down my marketing to only Amazon ads for now.) Unlike my friend, I enjoy the validation of people reading my books, but I don’t need to be a best seller. (Not that it’s a switch you can throw. Luck plays a bigger role than any of us want to admit.)
James, I enjoy your work and hope you’ll get to a place to release more of them. Yeah, that means someone, somewhere, will inevitably say they don’t like a story. Complain about elements small and large. Gotta be ready to shrug that sort of thing off. Even if you don’t have selling as a goal (and lots of authors don’t,) you’ll have nice links on Amazon to send to people who want to read your stories. But most of all: Happy Writing.
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Thanks, friend! I kind of do a little of both. There are certain projects I work on that are just for me, and I basically do as your friend does when I’m finished: those projects get filed away. But there are other projects that I do hope to share, either here on the blog, or on Amazon, or through more traditional publishing processes. Whatever works.
But I do like that “run your own race” mentality. I don’t get competitive with anyone except myself.
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I learned a long time ago, no matter how good I am at any particular thing, someone else is bound to be better. So, like you, I am in competition with myself.
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Yup. I don’t need to be the best. I just want to be a better writer than I was yesterday.
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I guess I’d better tell my niece I as full of it when I told her the difference between being a kid and being an adult was an adult can make their dreams come true. ;-P.
Yeah, I’m giving you the raspberry. hehehe
Anna from elements of emaginette
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I don’t think you were full of it. I guess another way to say what I was saying is this: we can make our dreams come true, but we also have to pick and chose which dreams are actually important to us. Writing is important to me. Being an astronaut… not so much.
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I’m with you, JS. Putting words down on paper is what I love most and nothing else matters. I write almost every day, but I’m not always writing a story; I’m journaling, writing a blog post, or a letter. I simply have to write! Enjoy IWSG Day!
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I write multiple things, too: fiction, blogging, and journaling. I think it’s good to switch between different kinds of writing. Otherwise, repetition can lead to burn out.
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James, I remember you making a comment about the difference between dreams and passions some time ago and it had a huge impression on me. I’ve used the concept a lot since that time, so I am absolutely delighted to see you writing a full blog post on the topic.
I’d like to think the fact that you’ve expanded on that comments with this post shows that the work you’re doing on yourself to uncover those blocks is a signifier of changes ahead; like Steve Morris, I look forward to seeing your published work in the not too distant future.
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Thank you, friend. I really appreciate that. I can’t remember where I first came across this dreams vs. passions distinction. It’s something I read somewhere, at some point, and it kind of stuck with me like an earworm, even though I can’t remember anything else from whatever that original source was.
One of the problems I have is that I’ve been pulled in too many directions at once. So thinking about what is just a dream vs. what is an actual passion has helped me make better decisions about what to spend my time and energy doing.
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That’s exactly why I found it so useful – for both myself and coaching clients.
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I think that’s why I became a writer of science fiction! When I was a kid I nearly swore to everyone that I was going to do everything I can to become an astronaut when I would grow up. Then when I found out how much science education you had to have (I mostly got C’s in my high school and college science courses) and how dangerous space exploration is, I went the route of writing fiction about space instead! Lol So for me, space travel was a dream and writing science fiction (along with horror) became a passion!
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That’s basically me as well. I remember somebody telling me as a kid that joining the Navy would be a good way to get into the astronaut program. Thing is, I can’t swim. I’m actually terrified of being in the water. If I ever write horror, it’ll be about the ocean, because nothing scares me more.
There are other avenues to become an astronaut, of course. There are other branches of the military that can lead a person into the astronaut program. But I remember that as my first, “Oh, maybe not then” moment.
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The Air Force I believe is a big one that’s lead to the astronaut program (which isn’t surprising; they both involve flight). I don’t blame you for being afraid of the swimming in the ocean. I like looking at the ocean from land, but I wouldn’t go in it! But the ocean makes a perfect setting for a horror story which I’ve used for at least one of my stories!
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A beautiful, and very relatable post. Sometimes, I lose sight of my starting point, and of the initial motivation which pushed me to pursue my writing goals and begin my writing journey. But passion is something that keeps me going — the feeling that I HAVE to write, the feeling that the words must be put on paper before they overflow. Without that passion, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
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Exactly. And even when writing is hard and I think about giving it up, the truth is I know I wouldn’t be able to stay away for long. I can’t give up writing even if I tried.
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I know exactly what you mean, James! Once I started writing stories – as a teenager – I never looked back. I simply couldn’t stop. 🙂
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Yup. It’s almost like sleeping or eating. I have to do my writing.
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