I usually don't get involved in these discussions as all too
often I only end up betraying my ignorance for all to see. 
However, the recent response by Dustin Goel to Nicholas Leifker's
advice about writing absolutely cried out for a response.
     The point Nic was making about 'writing from the heart'
hangs upon the amount of feeling the writer puts into his work. 
By that, I mean the type and amount of emotion evoked by the
written word is very often the direct result of the amount of
emotion the writer experienced while writing.  If a funny scene
doesn't make the writer himself chuckle, how can he possibly
expect others to laugh?  A scene where the character expresses
strong emotion (love, hate, fear, anger) must be felt profoundly
by the writer or there is no real way that emotion is going to be
adequately conveyed to the reader.
     What all this comes down to is the oft used phrase of
'getting in touch with your emotions'.  *You* have to be moved by
your own writing before you can expect others to share that same
emotion.  In doing so, you will be better able to express those
feelings in your writing.
     The exact words?  Joseph Palmer told me something once that
I think best describes the 'craftsman-like' approach he has to
writing.  He called it building stone fences.  You stack stones
up.  Look at it.  Tear down some or all and restack the stones,
again and again, until you get just the right phrase to evoke
just the right emotion, that looks and sounds right as well.  It
must work, considering just about everything he puts out is an
instant classic.
     Build your stories, scene by scene, with specific goals for
each scene and an eye to how each applies to the overall story
line.  Hit the thesaurus *after* you have the first 'stack of
stones'.  It's there to help you take something that already has
a great deal of emotion in it and refine that emotion so it has
greater impact.  And never say in a dozen words that you can say
in two or three.  You don't need big, fancy additions from a
thesaurus to do that.

     As to the bit about 'practice', it only works when you're
willing to spend a lot of time re-evaluating everything you've
written.  
     An athlete cannot improve unless he is constantly evaluating
his performances, always looking for something that will make him
better.  It might be a single little thing each time, but these
add up.  Eventually, that athlete will find each performance
better than the last because he was honest with himself enough to
be self critical and look for ways to improve with each attempt.  
     Writers are no different.  They have to constantly be
evaluating their work, always with the eye for what they can do
better - especially in the area of putting the right amount of
emotion into their stories.  

     On this ML I've seen numerous attempts at explaining how
writers go about their work.  To be truthful, there are almost as
many approaches as there are writers here.  But throughout it
all, there is one basic theme: don't be in such a hurry.  Readers
of a good story will always be out there.  If Thom pulled the
plug on this ML tomorrow, there would still be outlets for people
willing to share a good story.  And a good story MUST be able to
convey to the reader all the emotion the writer feels while
stringing together his words.
     That's what's known as 'writing from the heart'.

     - G.L. Sandborn
     (Available for conventions, bar-mitzvahs, and fanfiction
panels everywhere.)