Write what you love!

I have taken a brake from writing this blog for a while because I have been working on a collaboration with the talented playwright, Coni Koepfinger. The new book will be the retelling of Jack and the Bean Stalk and I have enjoyed doing the work immensely. This has had me thinking about the old adage "write what you know", but more important than that I think you need to write what you love.

Writing is work and like with all work you have to make the time to do it. In my case I have to sometimes force myself to make the time. This would be even harder if I did not like what I was doing. This also applies to what ever kind of work you are doing. If you do not enjoy it it makes it that much harder to get the work done. There will always be aspects of the job that are not my favorite things to do but still they need to be done. That is why it is called work and not fun happy time.

My second book, The Gray Garden; Aunt Nancy's Garden, was set in a place out of my childhood. That being the gardens of a building, a home really, named Adel. Some of you may have read that this house burned to the ground a few days before Thanksgiving this past year. Well my cousin has recently compiled a book about the house on the hill named Adel, and I am sure this was a labor of love for her putting this book together because she did not have to do it, she wanted to do it.  For most artists I feel that is why we do what we do; because we love it.

In the perfect world I wish we could all do what we loved the best all of the time but since that is not going to happen we just need to enjoy what we have to do and if I can continue to enjoy my projects in the future as much as I have since I started this adventure two years ago, almost to the date, I will be a happy camper.