Write. That’s it. If you want to be a good writer, write a few hours every week. Want to be great? Never stop writing.

I’ve heard this all my life and thought it sounded like a lot of work. Exhausting really. It wasn’t until I started writing novels that I finally understood what was expected of me.

Yes you must write a lot. More than anyone else, to be great at it but never write out of a sense of “do or die”. Your writing will become stale and dull. Dead boring even.

What’s needed is creativity, fun, humor but mostly love. Write for the pure joy of sharing your passion for writing.

I write every day, however it isn’t in one particular mode or style. You see my blog, you’ve browsed through the categories (I’d like to think). I have many creative avenues that I enjoy doing and I write about them. For fun. That’s it. Mostly for me.

My novels are my dream of bigger writing experiences. Sure I’d love to make it my full time job. But it’s not the drive that gets them out. No, it’s the story inside of me that wants to be shared.

One thing I learned from a wise woman, was to never expect my creativity to provide the bread and butter. Never push my creative spirit to earn a living. Because that demand will kill my creative joy filled spirit. That “do what you love and earn a living ” will never get off the ground if the money is the driving point.

So I work a job. One that I do enjoy but it’s just my job and pays the bills. This way, my creative love of writing can explore wherever it takes me with no added stress. If somewhere down the road my writing pay becomes greater than my bills, then I might switch. For now, I’m happy to keep doing what I love, stress free.

So the next time you hear someone say they get paid to do what they love and it doesn’t feel like they are working, it’s probably because they worked a day job until their creative dream got big enough to move beyond needing to pay bills and just enjoy life.