Okay, writerly writers--we haven't had a your-turn-to-chatter Friday Fricassee for a while.
Here's what I want to know: If you're a regular here, you're obviously passionate about writing. But WHAT ELSE ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?
If for some reason, writing were no longer an option, where would you channel your creative energy?
And if you have a day job that you DON'T love, how would you direct your life's path so that you could be gainfully employed doing something that stoked you deep on the inside?
For me, that's a tricky question, because I've DONE the "other path" thing and finally came around to the First Love of writing, which manifested very early for me. My "other path" was, of course, music, which is what I have a degree in. So, yeah, I could teach piano lessons (ugh). I could teach in a classroom (I'd rather lick envelopes for a living). I could do the "indie artist" thing (I do songwrite in my occasional spare time). But music is something I've already moved away from. I am always happy to sit down with Beethoven or Schubert and while away a happy hour, but in the end it's really just a cathartic exercise for me. It's not what I want to do with the rest of my life.
I have causes about which I am passionate, and I love to scrapbook (especially things like Mr. A's and my first return to our Favorite Beach Town since our honeymoon), and local theatre auditions always make me ache for my days-gone-by onstage. (Hey, I did get a callback a year or so ago!)
But for me, there isn't an alternative plan. Writing is it. If the writing went away, I would be forced to become a cat lady on an organic farm in the middle of a commune. Or maybe raise alpaca.
Okay--your turn! What ELSE are you, other than WRITER? What do you turn to in order to keep your creative juices juicy? Where do your OTHER PASSIONS lie?
Share below!
I'm *too* much else, or at least that's how it's feeling right now.
ReplyDeleteAfter 5 years as a McD's wage slave-- while in college and beyond-- I got a part-time job at the library and I love it there. If I weren't writing, I'd still want to be surrounded by books all day. Though right now, I'm stuck in two-job hades.
But creativity-wise.... beads. Playing with string, playing with thread... I made all my friends bracelets in middle-school as gifts, just grabbed 2 or 10 or however-many colors of embroidery floss (with much hemming-and-hawing) and made up my own designs with them. And, when frustrated about writing the past week, I managed to make myself a five-strand beaded necklace and three-strand matching bracelet. I also have a book about how to crochet and some needles and yarn, but haven't had time to get into it yet. (I could go the musical route, but... I have talent-- I went to competitions on trombone in HS-- but not the drive to practice. I don't like the way I sound outside of a group.)
Course, right now, grad school (library science), two jobs, /and/ writing means I'll do nothing else for a while.
I love this post and your passion in writing it. I know exactly what you mean about becoming a cat lady.
ReplyDeleteThis might sound like a broken record to those who read my blog and watch me juggle back and forth between my loves. I've always known that writing is my second love, and this year I plan to give my first love more attention. My first love is illustration. I've let other interests and paths draw me away from it, and I haven't always given it enough time, but this year I plan to change that. It's not easy when you have two such attractive creative paths vying for your affection!
I love photography, but not people photos more like architecture and nature. My day job is taking care of my kids and as nice as it is sometimes I just want to curl up into a hole and read. Before kids, I was an interior designer. That was fun but I didn't love love it.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of technology and apps that make life easier (more fun) for us. In fact, yesterday I launched a kickstarter campaign for my Story Surgeon app. It lets writers edit someone else's eBook and share the filter online. So, I suppose if my writing career doesn't pan out, I could try to make a career out of that. (Or I could go back to school....boooooring.)
ReplyDeleteRight now my day job is taking care of the kids, and I pursue writing in my spare time. My husband and I have agreed that if I can earn some money from writing, then, in a year and half when the kids go back to school, I can stay home and write full time (at least until the kids are old enough to stay home alone after school, then we'll re-assess). But, if I haven't earned any money writing before then, I have to (gasp) get a real job DUN-DUN-DUN.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have no idea what I'd do. My other interest is cake decorating, but I don't think I'd want to do it professionally (rotten hours and too much pressure). So it'll probably be a soul-sucking office job, which I've had before and hated, and which will barely cover afterschool care costs.
So, I pour every minute I can into writing, improving my craft, and querying every agent who reps what I write :D
I would have to say it would be cooking. I once had the dream of opening my own B&B when my children were older. The hubby was all in on that one...not sure if he fully understands the writing, though. I love writing so much, though, not sure if anything could properly take its place. I don't even want to think about that. LOL
ReplyDeleteIf writing never takes off the ground for me, my other passion is to inspire people. I am an educator by trade, even though I kind of fell into the profession. When I graduated from college with a BS in Biology (and what I sometimes refer to a BS in BS), labs weren't hiring. In one of my A&P (anatomy & physiology for the non-science nerds), I found it easy to help my classmates understand something I didn't. I ended up becoming a middle school (yep, I actually chose to work with 6-8th grade) science teacher. It was my goal to inspire them to no longer hate science, which 90% of them entered my classroom saying. I've kept in touch with some of my first students and ten years later, they are in college majoring in Biology. Many of them tell me, it's because I inspired them to think about the subject matter in a way they never had before. So, while I want more than anything to get an agent and a publisher, I know I have something to return to where I make a difference.
ReplyDeleteI have also been a teacher and one of my dreams is to teach creative writing at a local college. I'm pursuing a MFA in Writing for Young People from Antioch University in Los Angeles so I can, not only teach but improve my craft. I've been other things but nothing has inspired me like writing, except for acting. I was a theatre major as an undergrad and even tried my hand at doing the acting thing in NYC. I still love theatre and go whenever I can but writing is my passion. If I couldn't write, I'd somehow end up in a writing/publishing field to help foster other writers.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love teaching preschool. It feeds a part of me that writing doesn't. Writing contributes to problems I have with depression and anxiety, but teaching and playing with little kids diffuses that. Some of the little boys I teach are hilarious. And there are few things more exciting than watching a child learn how to read over the course of a school year.
ReplyDeleteMy alt-passion is knitting. Walking into a yarn shop is a full-on sensory experience. The colors! The textures! I love making things (every writer needs a pair of fingerless mitts) for friends. But, unlike writing, knitting allows me to be creative while holding a conversation with my family and friends. It's good to have both practices in my life.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention the organic farm--because my should-all-else-fail idea is The Last Ditch Dairy on ten acres of family land in the middle of nowhere, where I would raise goats and make artisanal cheeses. Which I understand is seriously hard work. Cats will be welcome.
ReplyDeleteThe writing thing? I'm back at first love status, too. If I couldn't write, I would fill the hours somehow. Tennis, literacy programs, Habitat for Humanity. Except if I'm not able to write, I probably am too far gone to do those things, too.
Just write!
If I didn't write, I guess I'd have more time for music and medicine and martial arts! In fact, it looks like writing is the only one of my passions that doesn't begin with an m, so maybe that means something.
ReplyDeleteLoooool
For me, personally, writing is a secondary dream - by choice (it's nice and I enjoy it, but I don't have any plans on trying to make it a career). My first dream has finally come into focus. I love teaching college and now with my library degree I am interviewing for positions in an academic library. This is what I'm absolutely passionate about professionally.
ReplyDeleteWriting is my ONE biggest passion. It is the only thing I consistently want to do, day in and day out. I have other passions that get me stoked -- organic gardening, animal rescue, outdoor adventures, yoga, ecology, health, environmental issues. But I keep coming back to writing. I've numerous degrees, am currently a Ph.D. student and have tried over and over again to get interested in a different career. Each holds my attention for a short while, then I start to feel depressed and lethargic and I know I'm not doing what I'm meant to do. That I'm meant to write. My only problem is that I haven't found an agent or editor who agrees with me yet. Oy! So very frustrating.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a teenager, my friends all told me I should be a writer because I told such great stories. And I was passionate about reading. But I thought being a writer meant starving in a garrett, so I looked at other career paths: physical therapist, computer programmer, bartender (ha). Then the first miracle happened: I took a photography class and somehow became a portrait and wedding photographer. Fast forward…divorce, return to college to finish my BA—this time in Business Admin. I was going to make a top salary in business. That's when the second miracle happened: I took a journalism class, entered a journalism competition and ended up as an editor at a national magazine. My writing career had begun. These days I do (and love) both: writing and photography. So if I couldn't write (which I would miss terribly), I would focus full time on photography. And I miss my cats. One day I hope to fill my house with furry felines.
ReplyDeleteWriting is my passion. I also knit, quilt, and crochet and volunteer wherever I can be helpful. Underneath all my passions is the main theme of wanting to help others. I pray my memoir helps other abuse victims realize there is healing. One of my beta readers, a priest, told me he is already using my memoir in counseling others because it helped him to see how abuse affects a child and the kinds of things that are helpful to say to victims. I knit and crochet prayer things (prayer shawls, scarves, sweaters) When I make handicraft items I pray that the receiver is blessed. It is a no brainer that when I volunteer it is to help others. So, I guess my main passion is reaching to to spread love and cheer in other's lives.
ReplyDeleteActually, a cat lady on an organic farm would probably make more money than the average writer. For sure an alpaca farmer would.
ReplyDeleteI started writing because I'd promised my kids a book, and because I was looking for something to bring in money where I could still stay home and help my wife (a medical professional with MS who hauls in the real bacon in our family).
I like writing, but it's not a "passion." I'm not one of those who can't go through a day without writing something. It's still a lot of work for me, and I have to discipline myself to write every day.
I also do contracting work on space vehicles at home--being a "rocket man" was my first love--but the income is even more erratic than from writing.
My life is full of things I enjoy doing, but writing is the passionate thing I must do or I'll go crazy. By day I am a marine biologist, by night I teach at a community college, and I also serve as a taxidermist for the city's science museum. I also just welcomed a new baby boy, which is such a joy! So, even though my dream is to write full time, I think I would also settle for being a sleep study subject right now! :)
ReplyDeleteI love cooking and baking and recently became an independent rep for a company that sells all-natural, organic seasonings, oils, dressings, etc. My family loves the products and I experiment with them, so it's fun. I've always been into health, fitness (my background is exercise physiology) so eating chemical-free works in with what I've wanted to do for a long time but couldn't afford. Since the products are reasonably priced I can afford them, plus I get a lot of free products. I've become a bit obsessed with the whole thing in the last couple of months. A good and bad thing considering I've finished revisions on a novel and am between manuscripts right now.
ReplyDeleteWriting for me is my hobby. I have to write but I don't make any money from it.
ReplyDeleteI only started writing as a hobby five years ago. I have written since I was old enough to create play worlds in NYhead but I didn't keep track if what I wrote. I have ADD so stating on task can be trying at times.
If I couldn't write, I would walk around mumbling to myself as the story pushed its way out of my brain. I am a specialist as my other . Whereas that is a rare position as well & I always work much it is my other passion. we are what we are.
I'm with your organic gardening and cooking folks. I would like to concentrate my efforts on a greenhouse. Then again, like Dawn, the B&B idea sounds like fun.
ReplyDeleteThe things I am most passionate about other than my family and faith are pursuits that creatively tell story. I love music, especially music theatre and opera. When I sing, I want to know WHO is telling the story and WHY is this so important to set to music. I am going back to school right now to become an interpreter for the Deaf. In my experience, I have had so much joy telling a story or relating someone else's story through my hands and facial expressions and see their eyes light up with understanding and appreciation. I love writing. Telling my own stories, framing them with words so that the person reading it will feel something similar as they immerse themselves in the world and situations I've developed.
ReplyDeleteI love making art quilts. But now that I've started writing fiction and poetry again, it's become a compulsion I don't think I will ever be able to stop.
ReplyDeleteIf you're a regular here, you're obviously passionate about writing. But WHAT ELSE ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?
ReplyDeleteMy faith. I'm passionate about learning to be more like Jesus and living a life that reflects that in an authentic and graceful way.
I'm also passionate about being the best dad I can be to my kids and the best husband I can be to my wife. Part of the allure of writing to me is creating residual income which will allow me to spend more time with my family.
Lastly, I'm passationate about the NFL. I love football and the Carolina Panthers!
If for some reason, writing were no longer an option, where would you channel your creative energy?
I really don't know. I've always been telling stories. Mabye I'd get into acting and doing plays.
And if you have a day job that you DON'T love, how would you direct your life's path so that you could be gainfully employed doing something that stoked you deep on the inside?
I'm doing that by trying to learn to become a writer. My family is what I live for these days. The 'day job' is a means to take care of them.
I'm passionate about writing, but I'm equally passionate about my job as a public librarian. I love coming up with ideas for new programs that make the library more of a community center, and there's no better feeling than helping someone find her next favorite book, movie, or CD. I started listening to audiobooks when I took a job with a long commute, and I'm now a HUGE audiophile. I love when people ask me for audiobook recommendations, or when they're open to trying an audiobook if the print version of something is checked out.
ReplyDeleteI'm also pretty passionate about cheering on my alma mater's football team (Go 'Cats!), but that's not anything I'd want to make a career.
Like you, I love music but cannot imagine myself doing a career in it for my whole life.
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested in photography and textiles. I'd probably work in the fashion industry (but on the making side of things as my fashion sense would impress only a drunk hamster)
I currently do translation which a really enjoy. So I guess that would be it. But yeah, life would feel a little bland without the craze and joy that is writing. Can't imagine life without it. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen can't write, I do crafty things, so it's a good thing I do write, or my house would be overflowing with beads, paints and fabric. Okay, so it is overflowing with those things, but they're usually not out the open.
ReplyDeleteMy day job involves creating digital art so I get plenty of creative overflow there. But I'd rather be writing. :)
If I couldn't write a novel or a screenplay, then I guess I'd choose to be a Producer for movies. But I also love painting, drawing, and photography as backup plans. Like Nat, I'm also a Biology nerd and would thrive in some forensic science stuff. Then there's hiking, camping, repelling...oh wait ,this isn't a dating site. Sorry, I got carried away!
ReplyDeleteMy degree is in English; I've taught and I've coordinated a literacy center, so there's that. But that was akin to paper pushing to me, after awhile, so I quit and let my alter-ego as a soft sculpture artist take over. What started as a hobby in 1999 to keep my mind off having trouble getting pregnant, lo and behold, took my mind off it so much, I made a business out of it AND got pregnant. My work is all across the US and even across the pond, but I lost my passion for it for many years. Thankfully, I've regained my joy in the process, but it's still not what makes me lose myself, even forget to eat, or wonder at the time that passes (as my fingers click away on my keyboard), like writing does.
ReplyDeleteI can always do other things, but soul can't. Writing is it, baby! For better or worse, richer or…you know. ;)
That one's easy for me, though a year and a half ago, it would not have been. There was one thing that had always been in the back of my mind, but I had pushed it far to the back because I never imagined it could be made a reality. One day I made the mistake of musing wistfully about it to a co-worker who knew a bit about the subject, and the co-worker said "well why don't you go do it?"
ReplyDeleteAnd now I'm an aeroplane pilot, working on my commercial licence.
Oh man...I have a day job that I love, actually, so in that sense, I'd be set. I'm very passionate about music and I am studying broadcasting, working part time in radio. If writing couldn't be, I'd be okay working in radio. Lots to learn yet there, but having a blast while I do it.
ReplyDeleteCool topic! I always wonder what writers who have a "day job" normally do, because I never wanted writing to be my primary career; I like having it as a hobby. For me, I think there's too much pressure in having writing be my day job.
ReplyDeleteI'm on track to be a regulatory lawyer, which is not the most artistic of jobs. But I consider myself very lucky to have a primary career I'm passionate about that helps finance my un-lucrative first love. The biggest problem is having time for both!
This is a good question, indeed. My instinct was to reply with - be a photographer or a teacher...but when I thought a little harder, and let my heart take part in the answer, it changed to 'be a full-time mother'. I can't imagine what life would be like without my brain and heart switching between my 'mom' passions and my 'writing' passions. it's an exhausting battle some days...and it would be amazing to experience the peace of mind that not being a writer would bring...is that weird? but i think that's what i'd like to experience - just having 'one' passion at a time would be something new for me to experience...
ReplyDeleteRaising kids is my full time job, and writing's what I do to stay sane. Fortunately, I'm at the place where I'm earning money from my fiction, but it wouldn't be enough to live on without my spouse working. My only other creative passion is hoop dancing, which offers zero earning potential. If I had to bring home more $$ to feed the kids, I'd go with one of my former, soul-numbing careers in IT or research.
ReplyDeleteI'm passionate about animals and nature. I'd probably do a lot more homesteading and hobby farming. It would be awesome
ReplyDelete