It’s no secret that I love what I do. Only a love like this could have kept me writing after each rejection. Only a love this strong could have made me walk away from a well-established, successful career to become a full-time writer after staying up late at night to pursue my dream stopped feeling like enough.
“Follow your bliss,” the wise Joseph Campbell said, and following mine has changed my life for the better.
After working for a number of years as a writer, I have come to a place where other people love my work. More readers show up each day, talking about how much my books mean to them and how it’s changing their lives.
Happiness is having other people love your work.
The glow in my heart when I receive a delightful review or a heartfelt email from a reader rivals a million fireflies. Having people love your work makes them part of your community—part of your family in some ways. We’re connecting around characters, their journeys, their emotions, and the deeper message that holds it all together (what my old writing professors called themes).
This is a sacred space, this nexus of mutual love for one’s work. And I’m grateful for it.
Do other people love what you do as much as you do? Or perhaps we need to back up and ask, “Do you love what you do?” After all, many people do not.
When you start asking those questions and find yourself filled with happiness, you know you are on the path to glory. Not the material kind, although that is a lovely outcome, but the kind in which you are in full alignment with your purpose in the world and are attracting all of the right people to enjoy and support it.
Friends, that place is a kind of paradise, and I am happy to be residing in it after so many cold winters. My prayer and wish is that you will all find your own soul-nurturing paradises if you haven’t already.