Writing

I’m not a reader.  I used to be.  When I was a kid, I would inhale books.  Especially Goosebumps.  My goodness, R.L. Stine really had me.  But ever since about college, I stopped reading for fun.  Mostly because I had to read for not-fun…and that left little time for any other fun.  I try to squeeze in a good book here and there, but it usually takes me forever to finish it (if I ever finish it). 

Lately, I’ve been reading a book called Quitter by Jon Acuff.  Jon Acuff is the guy who writes the blog, “Stuff Christians Like.”  It’s a great blog.  He even wrote a book based on it, and that thing is golden.  I guess I just really appreciate Christian writers with a sense of humor.  Or just Christians with a sense of humor.   Mostly because I consider myself to be a Christian with a sense of humor (it’s one of my many charming qualities).

So this book Quitter talks about how to close the gap between your day job and your dream job.  And it’s kind of funny because the first chapter is about NOT quitting your day job.  Jon’s whole thing is that chasing your dream isn’t bad, but chasing it stupidly is bad.  And he doesn’t want a bunch of broke kids with ambition crashing at their parents’ house because they didn’t realize that quitting meant they had no income.  I tried that back in November.  Not as glamorous as it looks. 

One thing the book talks about early on is this whole “what’s my passion” idea.  He says that often, our passion is something we’ve already discovered, we’ve just left it behind or buried because it was “unfruitful.”  He says that our passion is the thing we do without expecting anything in return.  Something we could do for free; or for hours without realizing we’ve just spent hours doing it.  And the whole time I’m reading this, I’m thinking about my own blog.  Yes, this very same blog that your spectacles are beholding. 

I love writing.  But I only love it when it doesn’t matter.  I love writing about unimportant things that cross my mind, as well as important things that stay on my mind.  When I have to say something heartfelt or heavy…I write it.  I’m an email-lover.  It always irks me when people complain about my generation and how we’ve resorted to texts and emails rather than phone conversations and in-person meetings.  Screw that.  Give me a pen and paper (or keyboard), and I will give you my heart.  That was dramatic.  But you get the idea.   

And so ladies and gentlemen of the world wide web, if I were you, I’d keep up with this magical blog of mine.  I get the feeling life is about to get interesting.  And if it doesn’t, I’ll just keep you entertained with the weird way my mind works.  Either way, we’re all winning.