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I live on the ocean, write women's fiction, love to read so much that it's an addiction rather than a hobby (I read an average of a book a day). I live on the wet west coast so it's a good thing that I like to walk in the rain.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Quote of the Day

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. ~~ Kahlil Gibran

Okay, everyone remembers when Kahlil Gibran and that whole loaf of bread, wine and thou thing was so popular, but this quote seems to me to be Gibran at his very best. Maybe that's because this is something I truly believe. This is another of the quotes I have on my desk.

It reminds me every day that I am one of the fortunate people who loves what she does, who gets to spend every day doing something that is at least as much entertainment as it is work. I mean, who else gets to read novels as work? Who else gets to fiddle around with pen and paper and tell stories as work? Who else gets to go to conferences and meet people she's admired from afar for years? Who else gets to write all that off on her taxes?

Even on the days when things aren't going well, when I'm feeling tired or stressed, I look at this quote and remember again how lucky I am to finally be getting paid to do what I've done for many many years for free, for love.

And that's the best thing in the world - to be getting paid to do what you would do for love.

It's 9:30 on Saturday night and I'm working. I'm doing the updates for my website, I'm writing my blog, I'm getting organized for tomorrow's day of writing, and I'm smiling. I started work at 8:00 this morning, it's 9:30 and I'm still working, but during this day I read Pamela Britton's new NASCAR book On the Edge and loved it. I had dinner with my friend Patrick at a great new Indian restaurant up the street. I talked to two great friends, Heather and Terry. And I wrote. I worked on "Summertime Blues".

It was a perfect day. My work is love made visible and I'm conscious of and grateful for that every single day.

Kate

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