Passion: Life’s Too Short To Live Without It

“Passion: life’s too short to live without it. If you can’t live it, read it!”

~ Lisa Rayne

Reading and writing (along with movies and music) have always been my passion. I can get lost in a good story to the point that nothing else matters. As a kid, my friends often teased me because if I was wrapped up in a good book, they couldn’t get me to come outside. Even into my teens, when others gathered on the block at night to hang out or flirt, I’d frequently abandon the crowd to go read.

So, after twenty years of practicing law, I decided to take back my passion for stories by combining my love of reading and my talent with a pen into a new career writing romantic fiction. Needless to say, not everyone understood. Writing can often be a challenging and isolated career move. Others frequently belittle this desire to create by putting words on the page or they think you’re crazy for abandoning a “real job” for such pie in the sky notions. Kristen Lamb writes poignantly about these dream-stealers in her post WANA-A Nursery for Stars.

Luckily, I have a handful of true friends (true, because they have supported me unconditionally and without judgment through the years) who understood my drive to write and remembered that I have been talking about writing a romance novel since my college days. With their support, I managed to ignore the naysayers and complete a manuscript—COUNSELOR UNDONE—that is a Top 10 finalist in Harlequin’s 2013 So You Think You Can Write contest.

The characters in my story live and love passionately. I’m an Aries. I know no other way to approach life.

Interestingly, my involvement in the Harlequin contest ratcheted up not only my love of romance, but also my joy in meeting new people. Life changes had me so focused on daily living that I often forgot to enjoy the simple things, such as taking time to really converse with people about what’s going on in their lives.

What I found is that dream-stealers and naysayers often suck the passion out of life for those of us who want more than simply the day-to-day hustle and grind. This is true not just for writers.

My talks with others about my contest achievement have sparked some interesting conversations about passions that others had put aside or made excuses not to pursue. The wonderful outcome of some of those conversations has been a commitment by others to change their inertia. Whether or not those individuals will follow through, I don’t know. But, it has been intriguing to hear their stories.

So, my questions for the day are:

How do you approach life? What’s your current passion? Are you living it?

Please take time to share your answers with us by leaving a comment below.

And, if you like to read romantic fiction, please check out COUNSELOR UNDONE and let me know your thoughts. You can download and read it for free during the contest period by visiting here => So You Think You Can Write Top 10. Post your review of and thoughts about the story in the comments section provided online and certainly give me your vote if you enjoy it. The winner will be announced on December 4, 2013.

[Update: The winner has been announced. I did not place in the Top 3, but I had a blast participating in the contest!]

Thanks for stopping by and remember, always take time to follow your passion.

Copyright © 2013 Lisa Rayne, All Rights Reserved