Despite the Plethora of Great Stuff . . .

There is so much material to write about today.

In the WSJ alone I found two terrific articles that fit the content and task of this blog. The first by Jefferey A. Trachtenberg about the upcoming book and publishing expo (here). A great article on the most recent trends in the publishing industry.

The other is this review from the weekend about a new thriller out of Norway (here). As a fan of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series I'm always keen for more from that AO. But the article I like the most is this one by Carl McCoy called Dear Grads, Don't Do What You Love.

In this article the author writes that telling graduates to follow their hearts ins't necessarily the best advice.

"Do what you love" is an important message, but it's unwise to build a career on the notion that we should all be paid for our passions. The advice captures only part of the story. It tells us how excellent work might be accomplished—by loving it—but it doesn't tell us why the work should be done. What is the point of all the effort? What is being worked toward?

The answer lies in working with a deeper sense of purpose or vocation. You don't need to be a religious or spiritual person to tap into this higher purpose; it can be derived from a sense of community and a desire to pull together. Yet without such a higher purpose where all this love and ambition can be directed, we don't have a very useful guidepost for meaningful success. We simply have a call to discover what it is that we love, and then to do it.

It's an interesting few passages, and it gets more interesting when he writes about how multifaceted our lives are. Can we truly only love one thing? Can't we love to train, to analyze trends, to write technical manuals and to write all with the same passion?

Also, there is this:

Then there are those who love things that will never pay very well. As someone who has tried living as a starving artist, I can attest that there's nothing romantic or noble about being impoverished in pursuit of doing what you love. When you're working two or three jobs, and you can't pay your bills, it doesn't matter how much you love any of them. You just get worn out.

This is where I find myself. Do I love to write? Yep, sure do. Do I have a lifestyle that allows me to live comfortably, provide for my family and write what I want? Nope, not even close. If I only followed my heart I'd have nothing by now except debts and probably some hungry kiddos living in a too small house.

The long and short of it is that you can't always do everything to the extreme. I consider myself a black and white person. I don't like the grey areas of life. But my writing life is one huge grey area, a career that I nibble at and pick up when the moment allows.

I think the more apropos message to graduates would be to identify you "passions" (plural) and play to them all. If one pans out, then consider yourself lucky.