“The only book that should ever be written is one that flows up from the heart” ~ A. W. Tozer

Author BJ Hoff at Grace Notes inspires me again:

“If you want to build a strong, loyal readership who will follow you across the years, don’t be afraid to open that proverbial vein and allow yourself to bleed on the pages of your work. Build for your readers a world in which they can lose themselves, at least temporarily, with characters they can’t forget—characters with whom they will laugh and cry, characters they can care deeply about. Rather than writing to please the market or the critics or the award events, write to share your heart with the hearts of your readers.

Too many novels score high for technical excellence but lack real passion. We read ‘em, yawn, and move on to the next one. Honestly, how many times have you started a book only to shelve it later out of sheer boredom? For all its literary excellence (and glowing reviews), it just doesn’t captivate. The flip side of this frustration is the growing fear that our own stories will fall flat. In striving for prose that sings, have we forgotten the more important ingredient?

BJ Hoff read my mind. The missing ingredient is passion. Here’s some writerly advice to take to heart:

“Give them stories they’ll keep as treasures, stories they’ll take down from the shelves in another twenty years and find the same magic, the same heart they discovered the first time through. Write your heart out.”

Her entire editorial (and blog) will bless you. Check out the wisdom of Grace Notes here.