Wednesday, March 13, 2013

First Guest Post!: Greg Lamphear, Journalist, Editor, Writer

Passion

Our first guest post comes from Greg Lamphear, journalist, writer, and academic editor.

Check out what he has to say about an important topic-passion.
Putting passion into writing while keeping emotion out seems like a bit of a paradox. But wait! It ain’t!
Writing with emotion is not the same as writing governed by emotion. When I first started writing, and learning about the lives of some of my favorite writers, I began to get this false idea that writers must be tortured animals suffering over each word they write. Sure, many writers are driven to write because of inner demons; however, the majority of paid writers put one word in front of the other because they are driven by passion to put words on a page, not to escape some mental drama.
There are some who can write, but then when they do, they have a negative emotional reaction to the words we put on the page. I understand that very well. Doubt, insecurity, and anxiety are the filters we must overcome. Again, for me anyway, it takes the passion to see the next word, the next sentence, the next paragraph to rise above those emotional barriers.

5 comments:

  1. Is passion something that guides the process or is there a way to write passion into academic text? I would love to see an example.

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    1. For me passion is the energy and desire that motivates me to work. It's not necessarily steaming or high energy phrasing. It's just the engine that powers me to put the next word on the page...the desire to complete a sentence, paragraph, or manuscript.

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  2. Hi Amy,

    Thanks for your comment. Can you talk a bit more about what you mean? I am struggling to wrap my head around it.

    Warmly,

    Rich

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  3. Hello There,
    I just wanted to see if you were currently interested in additional guest bloggers for your blog site.
    I see that you've accepted some guest posters in the past - are there any specific guidelines you need me to follow while making submissions?
    If you're open to submissions, whom would I need to send them to?
    I'm eager to send some contributions to your blog and think that I can cover some interesting topics.
    Thanks for your time,
    Tess

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  4. HI Tess,

    The guest bloggers I ask are people who I know extremely well; almost all are other academics or colleagues As such, I really don't seek other contributions; just beyond the scope of what this blog is about. Thanks for your interest, however,

    Rich

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