From a very young age, we are told to listen to the currents of our heart, and follow them at all costs - no matter our wage, social status or emot...
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Interesting read. It reminds me of So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport.
Happiness can come from different things, and being very good at what you do is one of them.
Hi Joana! I’m really happy that you enjoyed this article! So I’ll put this book into my notes. I think it will be useful for me to understand myself better. Do you want to meet on twitter? @4rnoldGee
This is a great article. I enjoyed the way you structured it as well as the content. I can relate a lot.
Ever since I was little, I've always been passionate about creative writing and publishing. There are majors for writing here in the US, although I did not do a creative writing major. A lot of creative writing majors are focused more on reading than actual writing and I don't think are entirely worth the money to become a writer or learn how to become a better writer. You usually have one or two classes focused on creative writing.
There's only ever been a couple of majors I've seen that have classes just for plot, structure, character, genres, or publishing.
The biggest asset to my writing career was joining a creative writing website called Inkpop way back. If you're familiar with Wattpad, it's really similar. I met a lot of amazing friends on there. The other big influences have been Nanowrimo, reading, and blogging. I've been blogging since high school on and off.
In college, I majored in graphic design and journalism, with minors in interactive media and English. This still allowed me to study writing, but to study something more career focused than anything. I wrote for the student newspaper, wrote for a school chapter blog, a study abroad blog, and was the editor-in-chief of our literary magazine.
These days I don't do a lot of writing outside my novels and blogging. I would love to professionally write articles or be a journalist. Even more, I would LOVE to work in book publishing. However, my career is now design/dev focused, allowing me to write without worrying about paying bills or anything.
Hi Sarah! Your comment is an article on its own. I guess you also blog, so I've given you a big FOLLOW !
Good luck on your creative writing projects! I was a member of Wattpad and enjoyed the cheesiness of fanfics. Now I guess Inkpop is for a more adult audience, so thanks a lot for sharing! I'll sure give it a try.
Despite my story, I truly think that we are in a very privileged moment to learn about writing. There are tons of good resources on the Internet (like Brandon Sanderson's Talks). The only obstacle is in giving yourself the time (and permission) to make some mistakes, experiment, and reach out to other professionals and creatives.
This was a great read! Thanks
Thank you very much for your support! Now that I ACTUALLY write (DEV articles 😂), I'm feeling very so honored to have this engaged community of people around my posts. Hope to see you in my next articles. Do you write on DEV? And, if you want to meet on Twitter, @4rnoldGee.
Yes, I do. You can see my profile.
This is so awesome. I used to want to be a novelist myself, but am now a web developer. I ended up going to college for an English degree, but halfway through I realized that most successful writers combine an element of luck, skill, and connections to become successful.
While, I had written a lot and had decent skill, I wasn't into the "selling myself" aspects... self marketing and networking. That part felt like a burden and drove me away from my dream.
Being a developer, I feel, has just as much creativity as it does challenge. The challenge of figuring out hard problems and cracking them... is what keeps me tethered to this career and enjoying it.
This was such a nice article. Passion is really you being passionate about the work and not just the idea.
That's right! Get down to work (or play) before falling in love with the idea. Nicely put!
Hey Arnau,
I loved your article.
The bottom line is "pursue your passion in a healthier, more fulfilling way" - Simply wow!
As a side note, you have also been able to blend your writing passion in your present career path, isn't it :)
There's always been doubt about whether we should follow our passion or not. Modern media encourages us to go with our passion, so are many educationists. But, oh man, this single article blows up all that doubts and hesitations, atleast for me. It describes practical difficulties and how to face them, let alone should we follow our 'passion' or not. Thanks for sharing this with us Arnau Gomez. And you are a good writer, a professional writer with a witty style (as it is evident from your choice of photos for this article).
What I want to know is, what is this book that got you international best seller status overnight?👀 I just finished reading a book and am looking to start something new.
Very good article I also find that procrastination and distractions can hold us back. Better to take action.
Thank you for sharing your story. Great read!
So happy for you, that you found something you love doing 😃
You don't have a passion until you show up to work for it.