Would You Quit Your Day-Job?

Would You Quit Your Day-Job?

ast week many people were going batshit about the lottery. The same question arose time and time again: If you won millions of dollars would you quit your job?
Another question popped into my mind when I saw a post from a fellow author. If your book exploded would you take your money and run- never to write again. Not their words, I’m paraphrasing. It was a thought that’s been on my mind for a while.  An author that wrote a major bestseller has since yet to publish a book… in years. It just blew my mind.

NO, I wouldn’t quit my job- EVER! I fear the loss of my sight or the ability to type or write. I’d just  tell my stories. If I lost my tongue, I’d just fantasize inside my imagination. I wouldn’t care if anyone even listened. I’d entertain myself.

I don’t see it as a job- it’s work and can be downright painful, but it’s not a job. Even while I deal with a frazzled mind, lack of sleep, and a fractured view of reality, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m so close to my deadline that I will most likely miss it. I had to take a step back… several steps back as I try to struggle forward. I’m on a journey that feels insurmountable and yet little by little I’m clawing my way to the top and I won’t stop until I hit the summit. (Projects completed) …and there will always be another project…

I know the above comment sounds as if it has nothing to do with the question at hand. I’m getting there- trust me. I just can’t fathom not writing. My mind would never allow me to stop. I try to take a step back and it pulls me right in.(Like now. Writing and I are on a break… and what am I doing? Oh, yeah… writing something) The high of progression, of looking at the finished project, is a heady thing. So to stop just because you won money or became a household name… I’m shaking my head right now…. Writing is a form of self-expression, an art form. It is a passion that lives deep within the storyteller’s soul. I instinctually know that the author who wrote a certain series of books (if you’re guessing on the author, you’d be wrong) is still writing. And if they’re not, were they really a storyteller to begin with?

The question wasn’t for those who work a job they hate. I feel for them. I HAD a LIFE I hated. I am blessed and I am thankful everyday that I get to live my passion. I’ve been there, done that, and refused to accept it. It’s for those who chose a certain path in life, one that fulfilled something inside them, would you throw it away because you won some cash? If the answer is yes, was it really fulfilling in the first place?

I don’t look at success by the amount of books I’ve sold or my bank account. I see eyes rolling right now. *tsk-tsk* I hear you saying, “said no one ever.” or “said by the person who lacks for nothing.” Yeah, we all need to eat… That isn’t my point… An artist looks at their work and that is their success. You’ve either felt it or you haven’t, and if you don’t know if you have or not, then you haven’t felt it yet. You’d know.

I would write if no one read my stories. I would write if I was bashed (I am bashed- often). I would write if I won millions or earned millions. (I’d just write in a better locale with a very happy family)

My point and I took a round-about way of getting to it. Would you quit your job? If the answer is yes, then you’re in the wrong profession. Not everyone can have a passion. Everyone excels at something different and everyone excels at something. If you don’t know what, then you haven’t found it yet. It’s out there. I’m not trying to sound like a pompous ass. Find something that breathes life back into your life. Something that makes your mind spark and a smile break across your face. It could be a puppy… How should I know, I’m not you. *shrugs*

That something is ALWAYS free…. Want is different than need. Yeah, I’d love to live on the beach and have a stud at my beck and call. Who wouldn’t want diamonds and a Porsche. Those are possessions, materialistic things. They are not a passion. A passion is free and nothing can give or take it away… So if you haven’t felt that stirring in your belly, the excitement bubbling up that no one around you understands, go out there and fucking find it. What are you waiting for?

***UPDATE***

I received a few comments of feedback I thought I should reiterate my point. I was speaking of professions that I see as a passion- where it flows in your blood and creates who you are. A mother doesn’t cease to be a mother the day her child leaves the nest. She will be a mother until she dies, whether or not she has a child. A doctor will always feel the need to heal. A musician sees words as notes and an artist as brushstrokes. If I’m not writing my mind still creates. This entire posting was directed at the author who would have stopped writing if their book went big. If you cultivate a passion your entire life and can so easily drop it, was it a passion? It couldn’t have been in your blood. This was more of a statement about how I feel about my work, not how your feel about yours…