During a recent Q&A session on Facebook, a reader asked me what motivated me to write books. I didn’t have a ready answer and had to look deeper into myself to see what this writing thing is all about. Remember, my book writing began almost as an accident but quickly transformed my life.
Telling stories is part of my genetic makeup, having people on both sides of my family that were awesome storytellers. In its simplest form a book is a story. However, really good books involve multiples stories that all intersect and influence each other. THAT is a delicate balancing act which requires supreme concentration and skill and LOTS of hard work.
My reasons for undertaking that arduous path are not the ones you might think of—not riches nor fame nor #1 rankings. THE MAIN REASON I write books is TO TOUCH PEOPLE’S HEARTS. I’m interested in giving people a reason to look at life differently, or to create in them a sense of hope, or to move them to being more compassionate toward others.
Take Tucker, the main character in my Tucker series. Tucker is not physically attractive, is very poor, and is as prickly as a porcupine—not the sort of person who engenders feelings of empathy from others. She’s the sort of person we frequently see when we are shopping and we either ignore them or turn and go the other way. As a matter of fact, my biggest concern with creating such a difficult character was that people would not read further that the first few pages of the book. Thankfully, Tucker was so UNLOVABLE that people were curious to learn why she was the way she was, and they were rewarded by finding THE HEART OF TUCKER.
I can’t tell you how many people have told me that the Tucker series either: 1. Made them stop being so judgmental of the poor; or, 2. Helped them to see that even though they had several strikes against them because of life’s hard knocks, that if Tucker could survive, then so could they.
I regularly get notes from people in prison about how Tucker (and characters in my other books) inspired them. Or I get notes from people who say that my books have given them a path of healing over past wounds. And then there was the school teacher who said she could never get her students interested in reading until she introduced them to the Tucker series.
One area of responses to my books that has surprised me is people telling me that they see God woven into every line of all my books. I have to be honest that that is not something that I work hard to do. However, it demonstrates the truth that if you commit your life to pleasing God, He will find a way to use you, even use you in a way that you are not aware of. My prayer to Him for success has always been that if someone can be helped by one of my books, then that is purpose enough for me to keep writing.
And keeping on writing is what I intend to do.
Thanks for dropping by.
Stories With Heart 