When I’m underground, taking a subway between New Jersey and
New York, I often find myself passing the time not by reading but with a puzzle. Usually it’s a
crossword or a Sudoku. Ten minutes or so is often just enough time, to solve a
puzzle or two but not quite enough to delve too deeply into a book.
If I had my druthers, I’d prefer to work on a crossword
than a Sudoku, however. I was just working on a hard Sudoku a moment ago and
discovered late in the game that I’d made a mistake somewhere. I suppose I
could have spent the time to find my mistake and correct it and eventually
complete the puzzle. I’d fix a crossword, but it’s just not as satisfying for
me on a Sudoku. It's not my passion.
Satisfaction in the work and knowing it’s worth doing are
important motivators to finishing a piece, whether it’s a short story, novel,
poem, song lyric, magazine article, or anything on your writing docket. For me,
a crossword puzzle is simply more entertaining than a Sudoku, even though I
enjoy both. With fiction or nonfiction, it helps immensely that I care about
the characters or the subject of what I’m writing or editing.
In the same light, when it comes to selecting what to write
next, I find that passion for the subject tends to be the deciding factor.
Having the knowledge about and experience in a subject certainly matter, and
knowing how and where to do the research does too. I don’t know about you, but
I think I’ll get more done when I have a passion for the story, a passion for
the characters.
Like me with a Sudoku, a story that doesn’t quite have the
same passion is still enjoyable and worth reading. It might make you think. But
I can tell you stories about favorite crossword puzzles; I couldn’t do the same
for a Sudoku. And I can tell you about my favorite authors and the passion that
comes through in their stories; then there are stories that are…fine.
