Emily Watts, editor at Bookcraft, kicked off the 2002 ANWA Workshop with the keynote address, "Write That Which Is Pleasing Unto God." She urged writers to be careful to share that which is sacred in ways that it is not abused.

Emily asked ANWA members the purposes of fiction; answers included escape, therapy, and learning. She gave "The Work and The Glory" series and Charly as examples of LDS fiction that successfully achieved several purposes.

"There are 150 kinds of tulips at the Jordan temple," Emily said. "Your gift and your voice and your things to say" are unique. "The greatest risk a person takes is to write and give others the opportunity to misunderstand. The publisher asks 'Why you?'.…No one else can do what you do. The more of you that comes through, the more it sells." You write, she believes, to fill a need, to change a life. "Heavenly Father gives you the words to the feelings that others have.…You are the one with the words."

To publish, you need to understand what people need. Emily asked the audience, "What do people need?" Among the answers were to feel validation, to belong, to be loved, to have a safe place to put down our burdens, not to feel alone, and to progress. Next, Emily said, ask yourself, "How does what I write fill these needs?" Sherri Dew's book, No Doubt About It, fills needs and therefore is a huge success. Two other examples she cited were Dean Hughes' "Children of the Promise" series and The Broken Covenant.

"Help people to see and understand and not to judge," Emily said. This is pleasing to God. Through books we can face the issue, "Who can judge what is best for another?" We can explore who we are and why life has meaning.

When you fill a need, you help readers draw closer to God. Emily quoted from "Chariots of Fire," "God made me a preacher, but He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." Emily concluded, "When we write, we can feel His pleasure, too."

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