You know what got me started on this whole blogging thing? My son’s cancer experience. I knew there were lots of people who wanted to keep up with developments, and I found it very therapeutic to write it all down. So I went ahead and did it. This website had been up for months, but I hadn’t felt compelled to do much with it because I had no true focus, no true desire, just a vague idea that I needed to publicize my book. Suddenly, though, I had a real story to tell. Once I got started I realized how desirable it was to write these entries. And I kept going. To this very day.My experience with blogging illustrates a larger truth: It’s not enough to want to be something; you have to want to do whatever it is that leads to the goal. Do I really want to write, or do I just want to be a writer? Most people want the second option. “How cool to be a writer,” they think. “I could write a novel.” But they never do it. They want the end result without the work. (Lest you think I’m being all superior about this, I will admit freely that I have several chapters of a novel written but have never gotten to the point of working on it consistently and getting it done.) Colorado Public Radio just aired an interview with an author whose desires led to action (and who has just the greatest name): Paolo Bacigalupi, whose new novel The Water Knife is generating lots of buzz. (I don’t know that I’ll read it, as it sounds pretty bleak.) His success has not been anything easy, and he explained how he kept writing things that didn’t sell, so he’d just write something else. If that didn’t sell, then he’d write something else. Just keep putting stuff out there, he urged. Or, as he says on his blog, “Do the work. Just do the work.”So it’s a good idea to take stock periodically and ask yourself, “What is it that I really want to do? Am I willing to put in the time and effort that it would take? If not, why not? Am I fooling myself? Is there something I’m missing here?” Fill in the blank: “I’ve always said that I’d like to ____________.” What’s stopping you?