As a new decade takes shape, a new-and-better website will take shape here. My brilliant husband—a software architect by day, magician by night—is helping me re-imagine my online presence (I’m loathe to use this phrase, but as the experts say, even the literary world must adapt). Though it’ll be a while before it’s all up and running, I’m launching a few of the new content features now.
Every Monday, I’ll post an inspiring quote, typically related to writers and what drives us. Every Friday, I’ll post a fun fact. These will run the gamut. I’m borrowing this from my son’s fifth-grade class. Each week, his teacher invites the students to bring a fun-and-revelatory fact to share.
My first Monday quote hails from Ann Voskamp’s book, The Way of Abundance: A 60-Day Journey Into a Deeply Meaningful Life. Booksellers call it a devotional. I call it a moving take on a way of life.
I read this today, from day eighteen, dubbed “Heart Transplant”:
The heart’s true home is addressing the brokenness of other hearts.
Writers’ hearts are commonly driven by a desire to help readers—often, to speak to their broken hearts. To be human is to, at some point, know heartbreak. When writers reach into their own heartbreak, transform it into words, and those words then help heal readers—it makes writing one of the noblest pursuits.
It keeps many of us going.
I wrote my debut book about postpartum heartbreak. The seed was sown by my own encounter with postpartum depression. I wanted to help others who faced it, to remind them that hope and help are well within their reach. In the two years since it published, I’ve heard from readers who’ve said it has made a difference for them. It’s reminded them to ask for help, to keep going.
Do you find one of your motivations in helping others with broken hearts? I’d love to hear of your experiences.
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