Author of Renovation of the Heart
https://www.dwillard.org/
By Trisha Bleau Smith
T4JYM: I loved reading Renovation of the Heart and thought it was an excellent resource to put into the hands of every Christian. Where did the idea for the book come from?
DW: Out of my efforts to helkp people find their way into the reality of a life that has its natural expression in routinely doing what Jesus taught. What He taught must be good for us and not some hopeless burden. How can that take place?
T4JYM: Who have been your biggest influences in life? Who have been your biggest influences in your life as a writer?
DW: Many individuals who are totally unknown, but amog those known, people such as William Law, John Wesley, and Richard Baxter — really old guys — have been most important. As a writer in religion, possibly C.S. Lewis. I write much more in technical philosophy than in religion. Anyone can find a lot of that (free) on my web page.
T4JYM: How has this book been received by the general public? Has there been positive feedback? Any negative feedback?
DW: I don’t follow these things too closely, as I am always working on something new once I get done with a book. But it seems to be selling very well, and I do get a lot of letters and emails, for example, that are quite enthusiastic about what the book teaches. It seems to be really helpful to a lot of people, at least.
T4JYM: What are your next plans for writing? Do you plan to do any more books along the same lines as this book? Will you move on to new writing?
DW: Yes, I guess writing is a habit, and I do enjoy it. My ‘day job’ is as a member of the Philosophy Department at the University of Southern California. My current writing project is a book entitled “The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge,” which is an account of how during the last 100 years or so of moral knowledge of good/bad, right/wrong, has disappeared – ceased to be available – to people (especially young people and people who make policy at various levels).
T4JYM: What training do you have in writing? Do you consider yourself to be a good writer with a God given talent? Or did you have to work to get to where you are now, taking classes on writing and such?
DW: My training in writing is in reading and in thinking. Beyond that, its just ‘write all the time.’ Nothing is ever quite right. But it gets better. Many pieces of my writing have been rewritten twenty to thirty times. The secret to writing is rewriting.
T4JYM: How many times did you find your work was sent back to you before it was finally accepted by a publisher? Did they give you feedback when it came back to you?
DW: Almost never. Really. Sometimes I get feedback on special angles editors want taken. But never, I think, just because of bad writing. You do’t want to let bad writing out of your hands. But it is never as goo as it should be anyway.
T4JYM: How do you decide when you are finished with a book? Are you tapped out of ideas? Or do you just stop and have people read over it and comment? What determines the end?
DW: When you write a book or article, you have in mind the job to be done. So you quit when the job is done.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone interested in pursuing writing as a career?
DW: Try to have something to say that will be of use to people. That’s the key. Then by reading excellent material, internalize very high standards, and write and rewrite until you are at least close to those standards.
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