Comments Juno Editor/Paula Guran on 02 Mar 2009 12:18 pm
Are you passionate?
The word passion, like the word patience, is derived from the Latin verb pati–”to suffer, to endure.” When passion entered the English language around 1175, it was used only as a Christian theological term for the events (as related in the New Testament) leading up to and the crucifixion of Jesus. (It is still used, usually with a capital P, in this context.)
A couple of centuries later, passion had also come to mean strong emotion of some kind. It took another two hundred years or so to acquire the sexual connotation. By 1638, passion took on the “boundless enthusiasm” meaning.
True devotion to any pursuit requires patience, endurance, and, yes, even suffering. If you are passionate about writing — or anything — you stick with it even though it is not always a pleasant experience. You keep at it when there’s more sorrow than joy involved in the process. You persevere.
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I’ve been writing a monthly newsletter for Writers.com for many years. I used a modified version of the above for the February issue.
on 02 Mar 2009 at 9:48 pm 1.PJ said …
I just encountered this quote from James Dean (when he was 20!) that gave me a kick in the pants about not quitting:
“When they talk about success, they talk about reaching the top. But there is no top. You’ve got to go on and on, NEVER STOP AT ANY POINT. To me, the only success, the only true greatness for a man lies in immortality.”
You’re both right.
PJ
on 03 Mar 2009 at 12:18 pm 2.Juno Editor/Paula Guran said …
Don’t agree with the late Mr Dean. Yes, one should always strive to be more, but people who are driven to disregard any level of contentment or feeling of success often wind up dead at 24 like James Dean. Most of us don’t even want “true greatness” nor do we seek immortality.