I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but at the base of almost every passion I have is a person who first introduced me to that subject. In the case of my passion for writing, there is an author who particularly inspired me. "Writing allows me to feel deeper than I'd ever imagined was possible before I chose this career." Great right? For the sake of anonymity, I'll give her the pseudonym of Jane Doe. Jane was my idol, and before I started writing every new idea that came to me, I would visit her website and hear what she had to say to her readers.
May 12, 2009: "So stoked to finally publish the third book in my series! You guys will love it. Every character was carefully designed after those that are closest to me, with a little revision of course. :) I find that this makes it so I can be more invested in my story." This sparked my creativity. Evolving characters from strong characteristics in people I know was brilliant! With this solid foundation I began work on my first novel.
August 31, 2009: "Just started work on the fourth book in the series. You just can't have a slow paced life when you are a writer! Love what you do. Put everything you are into your work. It will lead to excellent success!" Advice taken! Summer had slowed me down but there would be no more slacking! I revisited my document and continued my work where I left off: chapter 3.
April 2, 2010: "Sorry I haven't updated my blog in a while; life's been crazy. I haven't really been motivated to blog...or write for that matter. Have any of you lost motivation in the middle of a story? It's not much fun. I hope I can beat this." Um...no. Jane doesn't say things like this. Why would she publicly announce such a bummer attitude toward writing? Not cool, even if it was temporary.
It wasn't. June 5, 2010: "Still unable to get past chapter 2! I wonder if writing is the career choice I should have picked. Maybe something like accounting would have been more appropriate. Once you run out of ideas, then what do you do?" Run out of ideas? Really Jane? That's not something that happens. Ever.
July 1, 2010: "Yep, still nothin'. Sorry to disappoint," was all she wrote. No, Jane, no. It's called writer's block. You get over it. Doesn't every writer know that? We all go through it, but we don't go complaining to our readers.
Months went by without a word from Jane. The blog was as silent as the grave, appropriate for the grave descriptions we had been left with after the recent posts. I, while disappointed, had still trudged along in my writing, and had managed to fill a few hundred pages with what I thought were creatively told tales of betrayal, adventure, and romance. I found myself a less frequent visitor of janedoe.blogspot.com, finding in myself reservoirs of inspiration and strength that I had previously relied on Jane for. As I successfully concluded the last page of my first draft with the beautiful words, "The End" my thoughts returned to that long forgotten blog, and I hesitantly typed in the web address.
February 14, 2011: "I hope all your guys' Valentine's Days are going great! I'm not sure I'm loving it, like I'm not sure I'm loving the book I just finished drafting. Oh well, I guess it'll do." I stopped reading and vowed not to ever compromise the integrity of anything I wrote like that. If I'm not satisfied, I'll rewrite, not cry about it on a blog that fans look to for advice. Idol's teach you lots of things about what you are passionate about, including the fact that the passion comes from inside you, not from borrowed inspiration.
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