{"id":692,"date":"2011-09-16T12:51:21","date_gmt":"2011-09-16T19:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=692"},"modified":"2011-09-17T12:19:48","modified_gmt":"2011-09-17T19:19:48","slug":"passion-the-driving-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/passion-the-driving-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Passion: The Driving Force"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I sometimes wonder what keeps me day after day, hour after hour, year after year sitting in front of a computer, working on stories. I struggle to find the right turn of phrase, the sparkling metaphor, and the witty dialogue that will make my work resonate with readers.<\/p>\n

Before devoting full-time to writing, I was a clinical social worker for twenty-five years. Not a \u00a0high income earner like a doctor or a lawyer, but it was a profession that paid well enough. And it was enjoyable and inspiring work. Yet now, I choose to spend my time playing with words. I do all of this, without any guarantee I\u2019ll make any money off of it.<\/p>\n

So, what drives me? It boils down to passion<\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines passion<\/span><\/strong> as \u201ca strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object or concept.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019m driven. I always have been, since my early twenties. I have drawers full of journals and file folders packed with forgotten jottings. I happen to love words and how they come together to surprise me. They make me laugh, cry, and sometimes rage.<\/p>\n

Last year, I had the pleasure of helping my grandson, Michael Stevantoni, produce his 8th film, CIPHER<\/a>, about to be screened at the local theatre on Sept.28.\u00a0<\/a> Yesterday, he was interviewed by a local radio announcer. Although he\u2019s only 15, he talked about filmmaking being his passion.<\/span><\/strong> How it was ignited when my husband and I gave him a movie camera for Christmas four years ago. Before that, he\u2019d played with his mother\u2019s camera,\u00a0 but now that he had one of his own, there was no stopping him. He says he wants to do it for the rest of his life. How wonderful to know what you want and to work towards excellence in that pursuit.<\/p>\n

My passion<\/span><\/strong> for words was ignited by my father, who walked around the house quoting poems by Tennyson, Keats and Byron. He loved words and so do I. Passion<\/span><\/strong> is that precious commodity that seeps into your soul and energizes your entire being.<\/p>\n

What is your passion<\/span><\/strong>? How did it find you?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I sometimes wonder what keeps me day after day, hour after hour, year after year sitting in front of a computer, working on stories. I struggle to find the right… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88,4],"tags":[49,78,34,105,104,170,27,5],"class_list":["post-692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-writing","tag-cipher","tag-diana-stevan","tag-film","tag-filmmaker","tag-michael-stevantoni","tag-passion","tag-stories","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-ba","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":333,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/what-j-d-salinger-taught-us-about-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":692,"position":0},"title":"What J. 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Distractions\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"a writer's passion","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/fall-leaves.png?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/fall-leaves.png?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/fall-leaves.png?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3613,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2018\/writing\/the-agony-and-ecstasy-of-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":692,"position":3},"title":"The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"8 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"What writer hasn\u2019t experienced both agony and ecstasy in their writing? 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