When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life.” Christopher Morley, American writer and editor 1890-1957. (ThinkExist.com)

Authors demonstrate their courage, knowledge, passion, and beliefs when writing. Putting words on blank screens or white bond paper requires boldness. Not the inner compulsion of a soldier chasing his enemy during darkness, nor the boldness of a fireman checking a burning house to save a child. Writing does not merit that level of attention or honor. Finding words, crafting sentences, organizing thoughts, delivering ideas that “sell…a whole new life” demands a unique and necessary courage.

Knowing something helps. Everybody knows something; even the shy and reticent observe and ponder. What we know often shows up when sharing our opinon about politics or religion (two subjects my grandmother said should not be talked about at Sunday dinner). Our heirarchies of knowledge come to us as we are educated and when our minds tinker with functions, ideas, mechanics, or visions.

Only the dull-witted or dysfunctional lack passion (or maybe their passion is dull-wit and dysfunction). Fire-in-the-belly morphs mediocrity into brilliance. Not the brilliance of a Rhodes Scholar. Passion is the heat that stirs thoughts, makes hearts race, and changes the course of a conversation or the direction of history. Passion needs little sleep. Passion is a gift of life; not one of us lacks this dynamic expression.

Beliefs give passion and courage boundaries. Beliefs challenge and test knowledge. Without beliefs the writer lacks the guidance of core values (a constant theme of our local elementary school principal). We draft and edit our beliefs from birthday to birthday until they become deeply embedded within the motives of our subconscious. Beliefs matter and deserve our attention and articulation as writers.

Christmas morning, December 25, 2004, my youngest daughter gave me a copy of On Writing Well by William Zinsser. Before Christmas, she and I were shopping at Borders or Barnes and Noble. She said, “Dad, what can I get you for Christmas?” I said, “How about a copy of On Writing Well.” Christmas morning she handed me a small book neatly wrapped.

Inside the book cover she wrote, ” Dear Dad, Merry Christmas! Thank you for being such a great dad and a loving parent. Love (her name)”

After reading her loving note, I read the ‘Introduction”. The first sentence reads, “When I first wrote this book, in 1976, the readers I had in mind were a relatively small segment of the population: students, writers, editors and people who wanted to learn to write.” These are the folks who have courage, knowledge, passion, and beliefs. Do you?