Comments on: The myth of doing what you love

By: marty weiss

marty weiss — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:05:11 +0000

Groucho Marx once observed that,
“Time flies like an arrow,
fruit flies like a banana.”

By: marty weiss

marty weiss — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:00:36 +0000

Love, like “meaning”, is in context. Nobody really loves superficial stuff like rainbows, etc. Love goes to the bone and the marrow. Harnessing that elemental force to commerce demeans it. Commerce is predicated on the surplus. And as we all know, love is the one thing that the more you give, the more you get. Love feeds the soul, commerce feeds the body. Love is effortless, commerce is labor. Love holds the stars in their courses. Material rewards pale compared to the intangible and ineffable expression of bliss beyond the pedestrian and mundane comforts of bread and board.
As Antoine de St. Exupery said, “What is most important is invisible to the eye.”– or something like that. Don’t depreciate love by equating it with materiality.
This said, I love reading your work, anyway. I admire and respect your determination and grit. Spunky, smart and sassy is my kind of woman. Perseverance furthers.

By: jennifernice

jennifernice — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:13:02 +0000

Excellent post! About 6-8 months after I launched my web writing business, “reality” set in after the adrenaline high wore off. I remember thinking, this is waayyy harder than I thought it would be! But I ride out the lows with the highs and it just keeps getting better. And the worst day as a freelance writer is still better than a good day at my old job!

By: Katherine Andes

Katherine Andes — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 13:52:33 +0000

Heather, I don’t love writing. I love “having written” a very good piece. That’s what keeps me going …

By: craig wright

craig wright — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 22:01:43 +0000

I wish I could – I even ended up working for a few hours on holiday

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:08:00 +0000

@Jaqueline – that’s a brilliant idea!. I wear yoga pants when I’m working, and the only time that I really dress up is for conferences. Knowing that you can wear your “big girl shoes” is a GREAT way to get excited about a networking event! And wow – the locations sound beautiful. A country house on the coast? Nice!

@Craig – you’re right. SEO is a very demanding task master. There’s new “stuff” almost every week, and falling behind can be bad news. Is there any way that you can take some time off and beat the burnt-out feeling?

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:56:14 +0000

Hey Heather, my ‘no likey’ is the networking so I try and choose the more glitzy events where I get the rare chance to wear, dare I say it, big girl shoes with matching hand bag! The event might be a buffet lunch at one of Glasgow’s trendy new hotels or a breakfast meeting in a country house on the Ayrshire coast. By choosing events that I think I’ll enjoy I tend to get excited at the prospect of all the interesting people I’m going to meet, rather than dreading the ‘networking’

By: Craig Wright

Craig Wright — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:54:34 +0000

Good points and very timely, because right now I’ve got that burnt out feeling…not good when I have contracts right into next year.

Something you didn’t mention, but which is taking its toll on my time (and patience) is that you have to keep up to date with all the latest goings on. I try to read a few SEO blogs a week to keep track, but it can be tough going. It’s probably worse for me because I’m following two writing careers at once, so that’s 2 lots of stuff I need to keep track of.