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I think pursuing our bliss looks great on paper. In real life, it’s a little bit harder. Embedded within the activities we really enjoy, there are always activities that make us want to gouge our eyes out: writing first drafts, taxes, paperwork, revision, sales, networking, etc.

So, what does it really mean to follow your bliss?

I think it is leaning in a specific direction. Say, within 18 months you want to write a new kind of book, a novel you’ve never tried before. It sounds blissful, right?

And then when you calculate all the work it will take to attempt said book project, you may begin to doubt. So you back up and try to come up with another activity that will be your bliss.

Hard to do.

It all goes back to feeling good while you accomplish the goals that will make you feel good.

What are those blissed-out activities? Revision? You have to get through the first draft first. So, how do you find bliss during that first draft?

It’s called leaning, which opens doors of bliss that you may not have counted on. When you find yourself inspired, lean in the general direction. It might help make some of those not so blissful tasks a bit more “hey, this isn’t so bad!”

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It’s Friday, folks!

My brain is tired and I’m sure your brain is ready for it to be the end of the week also.

So, my challenge to you this weekend is to take care of your head. What does your brain need to recharge and rest? What do your emotions need to prepare for Monday and your creative work?

Do that. A walk in the sunshine. Buying bulbs for spring. Hauling your pile of donations to Goodwill to clear space in the laundry room. Reading a novel for the fun of it. Watching your favorite movie. Dancing to your favorite album with your kids.

Whatever you need, do it. You’ve earned it.

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Sometimes we might think of passion as something difficult. Passion is also bliss. It is what you cannot stop talking about, thinking about, plotting to try (even if you fail). Bliss is joyful passion. It is grinning because you’re doing what you love, as simple as it is.

Lately, I’ve been pouring over book catalogs. Seems like a minor thing, right?

It is my favorite thing in the world these days (after reading and pitching my client manuscripts), because the more I read catalogs, the better I know the landscape in which I operate.

It probably doesn’t seem like a very blissful thing to you, but to me, it’s easy, it get my brain working, and I love kids books, so what could be better?

Find your passion. Make it blissful.

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I am a firm believer in never settling.

This does not mean I am not grateful and that I sometimes have to accept that enough is enough.

But I really believe that good things will show up and that I don’t have to settle for good-enough. That what I really, truly want is allowed and I can reach for it.

I frequently ask my own clients to dig deeper on their manuscripts. I think it’s because I refuse to settle and I sign clients who are the same way. They want the absolute best for their own writing careers.

Not that their manuscripts aren’t wonderful, but I do think digging deeper aka never settling, when it’s appropriate, is a sign of someone who has passion.

Don’t you agree?

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Do we invest in our passion? I’m not talking about a big amount of money. Usually, an investment in our passion can be as simple as a new pen and notebook. They are two of my favorite things in the world. A fresh notebook and a super cool pen make me feel more like a writer and editor than anything in the world. With them, I am ready to conquer the world.

Amazing how easy passion can be found. It doesn’t take an MFA and two years of your life (only if you really want it) and it doesn’t take a fancy window-lined office with wall-to-wall bookshelves (only if you really want it). If you don’t have the means to do either, just buy a new notebook and get a cool pen.

Seriously, just try it.

Or figure out what will help you feel your passion. You’re the best judge of that.

Invest in your passion. You need it.

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We all fear something. Perhaps it is related to what we’re most passionate about. What we love to do the most is often the place where our deepest fears come from. What if I fail? What if it doesn’t work? What if this time something falls through the cracks?

I have a new saying. It’s a revision on the old “What would you do if you could not fail?” question we all have seen so many times. We probably have it on bumper stickers and coffee mugs.

New question: “What would you do even if you did fail fuck it up?”

I’m serious. What would you do? Oftentimes the answer to that question is your true passion, and often the place where your fears find their food.

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I swear, just as I’m about to post what is actually happening in my real life, my real life shows up and throws a wrench into those plans.I could not post yesterday to save my life. And I had something to say yesterday about passion and digging deep.

Today, however, I realize I tend to make things in my creative and artistic pursuits much harder. “Digging deep” sounds like soul-wrenching work. I’m discouraged before I’ve begun.

This morning, I decided I’m going to lean into passion. A slight leaning over, an intention, a wish upon a star, a naming of your passion to a loyal friend, a small step in the general direction of your deepest wish.

Leaning is much more user-friendly, don’t you think? It’s much more inspiring than digging deep. Not to say leaning won’t lead to a deep dig. But I tend to be all or nothing. Passion will require this eventually, but when you’re going for something you really want, setting your antenna to your goals works much more effectively than starting over.

I always want to start over. It’s a cop-out. Build from where you are. Lean into it.

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I often wish I had more energy, or at least more hours in a day. (Don’t we all?)

Someone asked me the other day what I wanted to be when I grew up. (She’s 11.) I thought about it and realized that there were activities in my daily life that did not reflect what I wanted to be when I grew up.

What I spend most of my time doing now is what I am aiming for. Do I spend a lot of my time with my passion work? Or am I still procrastinating, stuck in that vicious cycle that means I’m believing my own (false) bad press?

It is an interesting thought. I think I wouldn’t feel so tired or wiped out after such procrastination if I just sent the email or revised the story. (Also, it is much easier to work on client projects. There is none of this angst attached.)

What are you doing today that you are aiming for?

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There are plenty of people who think you could be less passionate about certain things in your life.

In fact, doesn’t it seem that they have intense passion that you let go of your intense passion? Just an observation.

In fact, I think we could do with more passion, especially about our deepest, most secret dreams. I hear a lot of people say: “I wish I could . . . ” and then continue to watch THE BACHELOR, AMERICAN IDOL, or TOP CHEF (which is actually fine, IF your passion is to meet the woman of your dreams on national television, if your passion is winning a televised singing competition, or if your passion is winning a televised cooking competition—or you actually do want to be a attention-seeker’s wife, a singing sensation, or a chef).

The thing is, most of the things people want to accomplish have little to do with broadcast television. Many want to write poetry, write a children’s book, record an folk album, learn Photoshop, start a business, become an interior designer.

We watch television to make us feel we’re passionate. It awakens the passion in us, and for most of us, quenches that thirst. Once the hour is over, we’re tired, we’re ready for bed/bath/wine.

For a few, including a wonderful singer/songwriter I know, this is how their passion is ignited. This person gets more passionate, more vocal, more daring, more mobile toward his dreams.

I think that’s what I mean when I say, “What could you be more passionate about?”

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Happy February!

This month, we’ll be working on how passion inspires creativity, what is your passion, and how you can keep your passion clear from jealousy, peer comparison, and fatigue.

It really is vital that we creatives go after our own passion, not decide to do something because someone else did it first or to be competitive. Passion quickly turns into fatigue if anyone else but us decides what is the most important or what our passions should be.

And it’s so easy to fall into this trap. The media, the Internet, our fellow creatives, reading Publishers Weekly or other magazines—all of these can be shortcuts to a passion that is bondage rather than freeing.

I fight with this a lot. I was raised to be perfectionist and it has not done me any favors. It seems every single day, throughout the day, I’m asking myself the question “Does this really matter to me? Is this my passion?”

I have to make active choices to keep my needs as more important than others’ needs. And when I do that, I find I have so much to give to others. I get inspired, I get fired up, I am humbled and zen about what I could offer.

We can only offer ourselves, our passions, our true love. We cannot offer what others insist we must offer or what others demand from us.

If it is a true passion for you, never give up.