Monday, February 20, 2012

An Underlying Purpose

With so many authors and books out there, it is no longer enough to merely write a great book to stand out and be successful. We must have a platform from which to build our success, but what does that really mean? Of course there’s blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and all the social networks in between. They’re important and I recommend doing whichever ones work best for you. However, there is a deeper, underlying thing that must be part of the pillars of an authors platform. It’s the easiest, and often hardest, thing for each of us to do.

Deep within an author’s being there is something that drives them to write. The hard part is, many don’t even know what it is, it simply is. Much like a muse, this deep inspiration is elusive and unseen. But there is an easy way to discover it. All one has to do is consider what they’re passionate about and the root of this muse will be revealed. For example; I’m passionate about leaving a better Earth for our children than the one that was left for us. It is reflected in most of my writing in some way, no matter how small.

I never thought to connect the two until I realized one could help the other. It was one of those a-ha moments that made me want to smack my forehead. Now, a portion of the proceeds from my debut novel go to my favorite organization that protects endangered species. Authors don’t have to apply their passion quite so literally as this but as long as they are aware of it and allow it to breathe into their work, chances are their novels will benefit from it.

“We find a purpose to which we are sworn, or answer the call of death’s dark horn.” ~The Book Of Counted Sorrows (a non-existent philosophical book made up by Dean Koontz ‘from’ which he adds quotes to the beginning of many of his older novels).

~Heather

10 comments:

  1. I totally get this. If I look at what I write and all that I have written, there is purpose behind them. Even if all the stories are different.

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  2. Mine too. We all have something inside us begging to be set free. Writing is that release.

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  3. It's funny how when you take time to look at your writing you can see purpose. Purposes can be different for every reader, but the writer has to know the one that they're trying to share... even if you don't realize what it is until it's written.

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  4. YES! This is exactly the entire message of my course on branding and you just summed it up on a few paragraphs! I totally believe that each of us as a REASON for writing and that usually it's something we can use to build a platform.

    Great job Heather!

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    1. Thanks Ali! Reasons are what drive us, and that's a great thing to use.

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  5. This is SO awesome!!!

    I've seen a coulpe authors donate proceeds to charity...I totally want to get in on that action!

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  6. And this is why do many authors keep writing versions of the "same" book. They keep tapping into that passion that motivates them, whether they're aware of it or not.

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