Arkansas Diamonds

An article came through RWA's Chapter Newsletter Editor's loop this week. I am restricted by RWA regulations from posting it, but nonetheless, it hit the mark with me. The subject? Reconnecting with passion in our lives...no, not what Shayla, Anna and Myla write! It's the passion we feel for things that are important to us. You know...when you're excited to get up in the morning and get to that project on your computer - that novella, that book, that story. Your characters have been whispering in your ear all night. They're insisting you put their words and actions on paper (or computer screen, as is the case for most of us). We are writers. It's a passion for us, or is it? Have you ever lost your passion for writing?

See the font color to this post? It's blue - for a reason. I'm in a funk...I seem to have left my muse (and my passion) in Florida. Since I've come home, my mind doesn't seem to want to think, plan, write. I've heard all the advise...write through it; give yourself permission to write anything, no matter how crappy; Just Do It. How? Have you ever just stared at a blinking curser with nothing, just nothing, coming?

I finished a book. It's needs a MAJOR overhaul. The story idea isn't bad. My heroine needs to grow a spine and have a personality transplant, and maybe a new job, new outlook, new...well, you get the idea. But when I try to think about what needs to be done, my mind just shuts down. - totally. It refuses to work. Period. So, the book has been gently slid "under the bed" for now.

So, back to this article on Reconnecting With your Passion. Her advice? To rediscover what makes you feel alive and do it. If it's not writing right now, so be it. If you can recapture your zest for life, and do the things that make you happy, you'll be able to tap into that feeling and put it toward your writing.

So, what do you think? Have you ever lost your passion for writing? How did you find it again?