You're in my head, Jen Hatmaker.

Dear Jen Hatmaker,

Thanks to your book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, (and thanks to my wonderful friend, Ashley, who recommended it), I'm feeling some serious conviction. Not the dripping-with-guilt, I-will-beat-your-knuckles-with-a-ruler-if-you-don't kind of conviction. Real conviction. A desire to change. New thoughts. New habits. New, new, all things new.

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So, here's the thing. Usually, I'm a snob when it comes to Christian living books. Most of them have quality content but terrible, I-want-to-gouge-my-eyes-out writing style. They throw around Christian lingo, sound trite, and are just plain cheesy. I quit buying them years ago, opting instead to borrow because they all ended up flying across the room. I couldn't get to the message because of the way the message was communicated. Yuck. But I've found a few authors who break that mold--Lauren Winner, Henri Nouwen, C.S. Lewis, Tim Keller, and yes you, Jen Hatmaker.

I like your writing, Jen. It's informal and punchy, sarcastic, honest, funny, and intentional. While a few short paragraphs of the book wandered into cheesy Christian book territory, it was hardly anything, and I think you earned the right to those paragraphs after all the other quality writing you did everywhere else in the book.

I hadn't even heard of you before reading your book, but now you're such a household name that my husband has started asking, "WWHD?" (What Would Hatmaker Do?) Thought you'd get a kick out of that. Because of you, my conviction is turning into action without me even trying too hard. You're in my head, lady. And I like it.

(Stay tuned: my next post will be about the book itself and possibly what I'm taking from it...might be two segments.)