"The things that your books make happen"

“Write about what you really care about.…

Write about what truly matters to you—

not just things to catch the eye of the world

but things to touch the quick of the world

the way they have touched you to the quick.…

Write not just with wit and eloquence

and style and relevance

but with passion.

Then the things that your books make happen

will be things worth happening—

things that make the people who read them

a little more passionate themselves for their pains…

a little more alive, a little wiser,

a little more beautiful, a little more understanding,

in short a little more human.…”

Frederick Buechner, from The Clown in the Belfry

(emphasis mine)