Two decades ago I was invited to give the keynote talk at a Christian writers’ conference. One day the organizer of the event called and asked me to give him a title for the talk on the spot. Without thinking I said that I wanted to talk about “Writing with Passion,” but I had no idea what I might say. But as I thought about the topic I realized I had a lot to say because I had learned so much from authors who wrote in ways that gently wove eternal perspectives into their works. So I was able to put together a talk jam packed with the wisdom I gathered from them.

At the open of the talk I describe a cartoon that exemplifies both not writing with passion and writer’s block. A man with arms folded across his chest is staring at an old-fashioned upright typewriter. He is seated on his porch surrounded by eleven dogs. And his wife suggests that he write about something he knows a lot about. The caption: “Write about dogs!”

And here is the talk for your listening and writing pleasure:

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