Assigned reading for one of the courses is Mystery and Manners by Flannery O'Connor.
Here are several excerpts that I underlined:
"I have heard it said that belief in Christian dogma is a hindrance to the writer, but I myself have found nothing further from the truth. Actually, it frees the storyteller to observe. It is not a set of rules which fixes what he sees in the world. It affects his writing primarily by guaranteeing his respect for mystery."
"We want competence, but competence by itself is deadly. What is needed is the vision to go with it, and you do not get this from a writing class."
"There is a moment in every great story in which the presence of grace can be felt as it waits to be accepted or rejected, even though the reader may not recognize the moment."
Mystery...Vision...Grace