Later, in 1987, I went by to see Mrs. Harrison. She was old and fragile then. I thanked her for being a positive influence on my writing and then prayed for her. She is gone on now, but will always live in my memories.

Unfortunately, you cannot find answer to why you are writing your story in this article, or in any book for that matter. You cannot even find it in a classroom setting. Books and classes can only serve to help you bring reason(s) to surface, but answer must come from you. How then, do you determine your book’s purpose? How can you be certain that it is more than a good story? Your book’s purpose is, to a great degree, intertwined with your purpose.

Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of Chicken Soup series suggests meditation, or deep, controlled, concentrated thought. He says, "Relax and tap into your mind, way back there in deepest, secret compartment of your mind, by asking yourself this question: ‘If I knew my life purpose, what would it be?’ Don’t just ask it once. Keep asking this question until you get answer. It may not come first day, or even first week. But it’s there, and it will show its face if you earnestly ask."

Hansen states that this should be repeated every morning and every night for 15 minutes until answer comes to you, and then write it down. He continues, “Be open to answer, no matter when it comes to you. Remember, it wants you just as much as you want it.”

A good theme does three things: 1) it describes story or book; 2) it captures uniqueness of story or book; 3) it motivates author. If it accomplishes these three things, it will also make your outline easier to create. In business-speak, an “elevator speech” is a brief description about your company that you should be able to give to someone in time it would take to ride up an elevator. I hold that everyone writing a book needs an elevator speech, or theme, for it.