“Each of us has been given a gift and when we do not use it we will be filled with despair.” ~ Jan Karon

“I just write from the heart. I’ve never thought of myself as a regional writer or a southern writer or a Christian writer. I am a Christian who writes.” ~ Jan Karon

Author Jan Karon, at age 50, left a successful advertising career to move back to her home state (North Carolina) to begin writing her Mitford novels. Completely free of profanity, sex or violence, these nine novels sold over 27 million copies and made the New York Times bestseller lists. Amazing, isn’t it?

I’ve always wanted to meet this author. How did she manage to write such an endearing series, and what sparks her imagination? My heart discovered these answers, but so much more, when I heard Karon speak last December at the Washington National Cathedral. No, I didn’t attend—the video clip is online. Her topic: Wrestling With and Writing from the Heart.

Karon testifies to absolute faith in Christ, first of all. She admits that writing isn’t always easy. What surprised me is that she wrote her first novel at age ten, only to ignore her calling for forty-one years! As she turned her life over to Christ, she felt that ‘burn’ to write again. Karon had to trust God to lead her in the right direction, inspite of publishers’ rejections, and even when she believed she was writing the wrong kind of book.

“It’s a battle I must fight daily. Life is the most interfering obligation. But one gets momentum. You’ve been lumbering along like an elephant, and suddenly you can run. You get a little lift and you take off.”

Check out this delightful author for yourself! The audio and video version of Karon’s lecture is available on this page. Just click which mode you prefer at the top of the article there.

Meet Jan Karon