Are you living a ‘more than’ life?

 

It catches me off guard at times: I mention in passing I’m a writer and the listener asks, Oh! What do you write? That’s when a marmalade-striped kitty catches my tongue and a brief pause touches my lips. I’m working on a couple projects, I say. The next query follows: What kind… anything published? At this point I don’t know where to begin—no published novel, but yes, several magazine articles—and I start to act almost apologetic for ‘posing’ as a published author. Because while my peers within the writing community celebrate recent successful book launches, as well as sought-after literary awards, I still work toward the goal of writing more than: more than a to-do list or a grocery list, more than a blog or a commercial trade article. Yet, each time I communicate through words, I stack a building block one atop the other. And I’m happy because I can call myself a writer. Because I write.

What makes your life the ‘more than’ kind?

Image courtesy of Stoonn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Happy is as happy does

[Image credit: pixomar]

One of the reasons I waited so long to go back to school is that I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up.  But from the time I was seven, the written word was my passion, so it seemed natural I pursue a writing degree.  In 2009 I found the perfect undergraduate program at ASU: Literature, Writing and Film.  I focused on creative writing, and finally knew what I wanted to do when I grew up.  I graduated, interned for a beauty and lifestyle magazine and was hired by a small publishing firm — my dream job.  When an acquaintance saw the piece I mentioned in Larger than life, he said, “I know that’s not your real passion.”  Although I didn’t go to school to write construction pieces or magazine articles, per se, I’m writing.  And as I told my friend, “I would write the phone book if I was asked to because writing makes me happy.”

Have you found happiness in your vocation?