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How To Find Your Passion As A Writer

By on November 29, 2016
How To Find Your Passion As A Writer - Writer's Life.org

We always talk about trying to find your writing voice, but what about finding your passion as a writer? If you can honestly find what you love to write about, then you will find the writing process so much easier. Suddenly what used to be many laborious hours hunched over your keyboard suddenly becomes a time where you feel inspired, excited and interested in everything you are doing.

As writers, there will always be times where you end up writing about subjects you don’t enjoy. This could be as a freelance writer where you just can’t resist taking that well-paid job even though the assignment is not something you are particularly interested in, or it could be as a novelist where you get to a part in your book that you don’t feel is working. Working like this can feel like drawing blood from a stone. You write one sentence, pause, spend the next half-hour struggling through your notes and then begin again. However, the times where you actually love what you write the words just seem to flow from your brain to the page, time flies and you become so much more prolific and productive in what you do.

But how so you find your passion as a writer? If you feel excited about what you are writing, the words don’t only flow easier, but feel so much more natural, and whether your writing is to educate or to entertain, your reader will feel it too.

So, how do you find this incredible mindset where your work becomes truly joyful?

Know yourself

There is the person that you are and the person that you want to be. Knowing the difference is imperative when it comes to writing. You might want to be an individual who wants to write hard-hitting journalism, or imagine yourself as a best-selling detective fiction writer, but if you don’t have the skills and knowledge to be accomplished at this, how can you truly succeed? There is nothing wrong with trying to learn and master new things, but to truly find what you are passionate about you must explore what makes your heart sing, your pulse race, and puts a smile on your face. Think about what you love to do, your hobbies, skills, values and interests, the kind of books that you read yourself. When you know these things, explore them deeper. You might find a niche that you have expertise in or just a particular genre that you completely understand. You might surprise yourself during the process - we have all had many interests and passions in our lives, but the ones that have stuck with you are ones that will continue to be there throughout your writing career.

Get rid of the obstacles

Often this journey of self-discovery can make you realise things about yourself that you hadn’t tapped into before. Don’t let fear close those doors before they are fully open. It may be that you realise you are fixated on a particular point in your life, and it may be painful or frightening to explore that more. However, this should not be ignored, and writing about it can not only produce authentic and exciting work but can be incredibly cathartic too.

Change your mindset

Open your mind to new ways of thinking, scrutinising what it is that you love, as well as what turns you off. This will help you have more of those ‘eureka’ moments where you know exactly what it is you have to do, or more importantly, what it is you have to write about to tap into those passions. Opening your mind to new experiences and possibilities can also help you discover passions that you never knew existed before, and that can be very exciting indeed. They can take you to new places in your writing journey that you never thought possible.

Make a plan

Once you have discovered what you are genuinely excited about as a writer, you need to harness it. Don’t let your new found passion fizzle out. Tap into it by creating an action plan of what to do next. Write everything down that you could write about or explore further about your passions. Create boards, lists spreadsheets - whatever works for you. Before you even begin to write figure out how you can practically apply this new knowledge and turn it into a fantastic piece of writing.

Finding your passion as a writer can be exhilarating, exciting and nerve-wracking. But once you do not only will you be a better writer, you'll connect with your audience on a deeper level, and love what you do even more. So what are you waiting for? Find out what you actually love to write about and see how much better it can be!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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