How to Write About Your Passion

More than anything else, if you're going to set pen to paper for leisure's sake, it's important to pick a topic that interests you. Better still – choose to write about something that you are absolutely passionate about. For some of you, this will be easy. Many professional writers have admitted that they write because they don't know what else they would do with themselves. It's such an integral part of who they are that to not write about what they are passionate about would be to deny who they are as a person.

source

However, for others who don't write for the sake of writing, that usually isn't the case. So, how can you determine what you are passionate about?

• Think about conversations you have every day with friends, family, classmates and colleagues.
• Is there something in particular you can't stop talking about?
• Is there a given subject that people you know always solicit your opinion about, like movies, food, or cars? If so, chances are your passion and your knowledge shines through enough to make you something of an authority among your peers.

Be honest with yourself. In choosing to write, what's your end goal? Is it to share your enthusiasm and knowledge with others? Is it for money? Self-satisfaction? In other words, why do you feel compelled to write about your subject? This will help you decide where to share your words and thoughts.

Obviously it helps if you are emotionally invested in your subject matter, but it also means you'll need to be careful that you don't make too many assumptions about your audience. It's easy to take for granted that others probably won't have the same baseline of knowledge that you do on your subject, so you'll want to start by examining who else writes for your audience and determine what is successful about what they do (or perhaps what isn't). Likewise, it's easy to assume that others will share your stance on something, but you will need to be respectful of others in your tone – particularly when it comes to divisive subjects like politics and religion.

Go in to your first writing project with modest goals – look and see what else is out there and see if there's a gap your writing can fit into. At first, set yourself a tightly defined topic that is part of your larger interest. Still too daunting? Start by simply regularly commenting on existing articles and see what comes from that.

Remember – above all, do this for yourself – start writing because you want to share your passion with others.

Things to keep in mind when writing about your passion:

• Detail WHY you're passionate about the topic. Be specific and descriptive. Explain yourself clearly. Avoid clichés like, "it's so awesome," "isn't this cool," and "you can see why I love this."
• Don't beg people to love your passion as much as you do. This isn't a debate. Simply paint a picture for them as to why your passion is amazing, and lure them over with your words.
• Feel free to use technical terms and jargon. This will help solidify your expert opinion – but be sure to explain those terms. Otherwise, those people who are not (yet) passionate about your topic will be confused.