Ken Follett is a British author that many of you many have heard about if you regularly watch Oprah. His book, Pillars of the Earth, has broken all kinds of records, has mapped the world and nearly every country.

But it wasn’t always this way.

Ken began writing novels in his 20s. He wrote his first one because his car broke down and he needed the cash. As a journalist, he was used to writing fast, so completing a novel in short order was easy enough – and, he discovered, easy money too. Soon enough, he found himself churning out one suspense thriller after another at a nice clip of one a year, which, by the way, is what is expected from someone who is doing well in the world of writing – find something and do it forever, and whatever you do – don’t veer off the path paved with gold.

But his heart called him in another direction.

When Ken was in his mid 20s, his heart led him to begin reading a book written by someone else who was passionate about architecture – Nikolaus Pevsner. As he read, he could feel the passion Nikolaus wrote with about how buildings have life – look! Shortly after starting that book, Ken found himself on assignment in another city with a long wait for a train back. He says he’ll never forget what he did during that wait. Remembering the passion with which Nikolaus wrote about gothic architecture, Ken decided to take time as he waited to visit Peterborough Cathedral. He describes that visit as "one of those moments."

Soon, the passion, the energy, the story of these churches began to call to his heart. He would travel England, spending two days at a time with these beauties. He says most people take an afternoon, some take a day, but he prefers "two days." He began to outline a story about cathedrals. He sent it in to his publisher, and his publisher suggested that he unite his ‘tapestry’ with a series of melodramas.

But Ken knew he didn’t have this in him at the time. So, he put the book aside and decided to use his passionate energy for another book, The Eye of the Needle, which became his first bestseller.

Ken began to become enamored with medieval life, architecture, the story of the people who were poor, who did not know the mathematics required to build these giant architectural marvels. His heart yearned for more, but book after book left him void of the passion he sought. Before giving up, though, his heart connected him to another passionate heart – Jean Gimpel. Author of The Cathedral Builders. Soon, Ken’s mind, heart and imagination were alive in inspiration. Jean, it turned out, got tired of waiting for this book and wrote it himself.

Ken picked up that outline and few chapters he wrote years earlier and began writing. He also went to find Jean Gimpel, who inspired him a decade earlier, and found that the two lived on the same street.

When his heart called out to pick up the book he started 10 years earlier, to most people, Ken was at the pinnacle of success – at least financially. Why on earth would he ‘risk’ everything on a book that was way out of his league (literarily) and his market’s taste (thriller)? Who would do that?

Ken Follett did. He writes that it was the hardest book he ever wrote. He dedicated himself to it seven days a week for three and a half years. He felt it was special. A gift of sorts though his humble nature would not make it sound so grand.

When it was released, the publishers all sold the books they wanted to, and there was little fanfare. No awards, no outstanding sales. And Ken began to think that maybe he had been wrong about writing something ‘special.’

But then there was a German publisher who adored the book. Who had been dreaming of a novel written about cathedrals. Who had been asking other writer to write this book. Those of you who know Ken’s books know that Germany is probably not a big country for sales of his books since he writes about Nazis. However, this publisher promoted this book in a way that no others did.

Then something magical happened.

Soon, Ken’s heart would go out around the world to ignite other hearts in a passionate dance as the flame of Nikolaus’s heart ignited Ken’s originally with the passion, the verve of architecture and Jean’s passion for the people who built the cathedrals.

His little church book began to sell more and more and more books – more than his other best sellers – and finally did prove that he had indeed written something ‘special,’ something that touches the heart of others. Then, of course, we all know what happened… Oprah put it on her list, and well…

That is the gift of passion – the same passion that lives inside of you too.

What would you do today if you were fearless? What passion is calling to your heart?

Lesson’s from Ken’s Path

Passion begets success… even though he put Pillars of the Earth aside, his next novel written in that expansive, passionate energy became his FIRST bestseller

Your heart takes you where you need to go … your job is to listen. First, Nikolaus, then the train delay offered him the chance to go look at the cathedral – he could have said, no, I’ll sit here and read a book!

Your heart offers you traveling companions … books, authors, helpers, publishers who tell the truth, dreamers who have been dreaming of you, other passionate hearts

Believe in your passion, inspiration, your heart … so many times he was told this book was career suicide, well-intentioned friends urged him to ‘stick with what works,’ but he just couldn’t walk away from these people who spoke to his heart from centuries away

Love is a universal language … One heart knows the language of another heart…trust that language