Thursday Thought on Writing

Hello! Happy Thursday!
I had a blast at the recent LDStorymakers Writing Conference and hope to be posting more about that soon. I'm a little crazy/busy around here because we're packing to move, but don't know where yet! Our house is under contract and the idea is to get closer to my husband's job but there are tons of options when you travel an hour away to work.

I read an excellent quote from the League of Utah Writers newsletter and I wanted to share it.

You must keep sending
work out; you must
never let a manuscript
do nothing but eat its
head off in a drawer.
You send that work out
again and again, while
you're working on
another one. If you have
talent, you will receive
some measure of
success - but only if you
persist.
-- Isaac Asimov

This is excellent advice and something I've been thinking about with a few projects that have been waiting for me to come back to them and let them see the light.

What about you? Are you working on your talents?

Family Ever After by Michelle H. Packard, My Review

 

Woo hoo! I'm so excited to tell you about this book! Almost every morning I walk with my friend Michelle Packard and we talk about all kinds of things and EVERY day I take strength from her wisdom and friendship. But I'm not telling you about this book simply because the author is my friend, I'm telling you because this book is excellent! In fact, read on and you will see my endorsement which graced the back cover.

 "Family Ever After is a must-read for every happily married Cinderella who wonders why she’s still holding the broom.

This book is an incredible reminder to be happy loving the ones who are most important in our life—our family. Through Michelle’s wit and wisdom, I found myself looking at my family with a clearer perspective of what happiness means in this reality we’re living. I ditched the rose-colored glasses long ago, but Michelle’s book provided the window cleaner I needed to see that it’s okay if everything doesn’t turn out right as long as we realize that happiness can be found within the simple things. And sometimes the simplest moments hold the most joy."

--Rachelle J. Christensen, award-winning author of Wrong Number and Caller ID

I encourage you to pick up a copy of this book! Read on for more details and to enter a giveaway!

Family Ever After: Simple Ways to Achieve Perfect Happiness in an Imperfect Family Women frustrated with their marriage and their family will find the help they need to achieve greater happiness and success in their family in the new book, Family Ever After: Simple Ways to Achieve Extraordinary Happiness with Your Ordinary Family by stay-at-home mom, blogger, and ordinary family leader Michelle H. Packard. Family Ever After uses the fairytale concept that once you find your prince charming life is happily ever after. Michelle H. Packard knows this concept, while romantic, is not realistic, and she provides a practical, poignant, funny, and moving exploration of the simple ways you can help find greater happiness and satisfaction in your marriage and family. Packard says, “While the idea of happy ever after is distorted, you can, in fact, achieve a Family Ever After.” Family Ever After brings time-tested and well-researched principles to family life to help you learn specific ways to improve your marriage and your family, whether that family is ordinary or extraordinary. Using real-world examples of best practices and helping woman readjust their media-driven perception of what happily ever after means, Family Ever After gives readers a pragmatic, helpful, and entertaining exploration of:

• How happiness in marriage and family life requires a more educated, real-world perspective
• How proper prioritization and defining what’s important in marriage and family is key to success;
• Why conflict is part of an ordinary family experience and how to peacefully resolve it;
• How to cultivate a sense of humor;
• How to develop a thoughtful and sincere habit of complimenting each member of your family;
• How to improve family relationships with extended family members; and
• Learning how to love a family member in the way they understand and accept that love

More than another how-to-have-a-perfect-family book, Family Ever After helps you gain the understanding and the practical skills of what makes ordinary families successful. Family Ever After is an essential and beautiful resource for all women who want to put more happiness in theirs and their family’s life.  

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

More Praise:
"Michelle is open enough to have given readers an intimate look into her life and those close to her, allowing us to learn from both painful and sweet experiences. Her self-reflective style and meaningful insights, if applied, would clearly make a profound impact in the lives of readers." --Shawn Edgington Ph.D.  

 
Author Michelle Packard Michelle Packard is a mother to her four very human and totally fabulous kids. Her oldest, Ella is always in charge and leads the pack with creativity and curiosity, Daniel follows with loyalty and loves tenderly, Julia is a doll and always buzzing over something beautiful, and Jackson could hunt down the last sharpie on earth to create art on your bathroom wall. She has been married ten years and is quite taken with her guy. Date night is her favorite and she dreams of weekend getaways with her man. She loves creating beauty through floral design, but apparently has no gift with living flowers (They end of upside down and pressed in books). She finds parties alluring. They beckon her to invite people over, spend way too much time preparing food for murder mystery dinners, and totally enjoy friends and family. Michelle holds a bachelors degree in Home and Family Science from Brigham Young University. She has spent a great deal of time working with children and young adults and finds her greatest joy is happy families.

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The Beginning of Better Days: Divine Instruction to Women from the Prophet Joseph Smith

 

 Just in time for Mother's Day I get to tell you about a brand new book for women.

 

Many of you know that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This book is directed to women of the LDS faith. I love how women are revered and cherished in my religion and this book is a good example of that. I am looking forward to reading this book and enjoying the message. If you need a gift idea for Mother's Day, here's a great one!

How important are women in the restored church of Jesus Christ? We learn something about the answer to the question from a simple historic fact: In 1842, the Prophet Joseph Smith took time to attend several meetings of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo and give personal instruction to the women there. He did this at a time of great personal turmoil, when persecutions were raging and his responsibilities were heavy. He did it at a time when society barely acknowledged women as having any kind of status at all. On six separate occasions, he taught the women personally about their privileges, their opportunities, their obligations, and the blessings the Lord had in store for them in His kingdom.
The Beginning of Better Days includes Joseph Smith's six timeless sermons to the women of Nauvoo, along with personal essays from Sheri Dew and Virginia H. Pearce that help us better understand the sermons and their relevance for Latter-day Saint women today. "We have attempted to share a little about our own processes of discovery regarding the sermons," writes the authors. "This is what worked for us. What works for you may be similar — or it may be completely different. The important thing is to dig in."
Read the Entire Article: LDS Women's Book Review of The Beginning of Better Days by Mindy (Click Here)

 

Product Details

• Pages: 134
• Published: 07/2012

About the Authors

Sheri Dew is a native of Ulysses, Kansas, and a graduate of Brigham Young University. She has authored several books, including the biographies of two presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Presidents Gordon B. Hinckley and Ezra Taft Benson. Her most recent books are God Wants a Powerful People and Saying It Like It Is. Sheri was named the president and CEO of Deseret Book Company in March 2002. She also serves as a member of both the BYU Marriott School of Management’s National Advisory Council and the President’s Leadership Council for BYU-Hawaii. In March 2003 the White House appointed her as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls at the United Nations.
Virginia Hinckley Pearce is the author of the bestselling book A Heart Like His: Making Space for God’s Love in Your Life, and has edited and coauthored several additional books, including Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley. She has served as a counselor in the Young Women general presidency and on the general Primary board of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She and her husband, the late James R. Pearce, have six children and twenty-six grandchildren.

 

Enjoy this video with readers who tell why they loved the book

Another Great Evertaster Read, The Buttersmiths' Gold

You might remember when I told you about a favorite read called Evertaster that me and my children enjoyed. I blogged about it here. Today I'm excited to tell you about the new novella which expands on some of the characters we met in Evertaster. Read on to find out how you can win a $50 Amazon Gift card and a signed copy of The Buttersmiths' Gold!

The Buttersmiths' Gold

BATTLES. BLUEBERRIES. BOVINES.

TORBJORN AND STORFJELL’S HISTORY UNFOLDS IN AN EPIC EVERTASTER NOVELLA.

Everyone knows the most coveted treasure of the Viking Age was blueberry muffins. Blueberry muffins so succulent that if you sniffed just a whiff, you'd want a whole bite. If you bit a bite, you'd want a batch; if you snatched a batch, you'd stop at nothing short of going to war just to claim them all. 

Young Torbjorn Trofastsonn comes from the clan that makes them. He's a Viking through and

through – he's thirteen winters old, larger than most respectable rocks, and most of all, a Buttersmith. That's what he thinks anyway, until a charismatic merchant makes Torbjorn question his place among the muffin-makers. When Torbjorn lets the secret of his clan's muffin recipe slip, he calls doom and destruction down upon his peaceful village and forces his brother Storfjell and his clansmen to do the one thing they are ill-prepared to do: battle for their lives.

About The Buttersmiths' Gold

The Buttersmiths' Gold is a spin off novella in the Evertaster series that tells the story of two Viking brothers and their adventurous past. The Evertaster series (Book #1 released June 14, 2012) is about Guster Johnsonville, who goes searching for a legendary taste rumored to be the most delicious in all of history. Along the way he meets a slew of mysterious characters, including two Viking brothers Torbjorn and Storfjell. The Buttersmiths' Gold is their story. 124 pages. By Adam Glendon Sidwell. Published by Future House Publishing. 

Evertaster, Book #1:

A legendary taste. Sought after for centuries. Shrouded in secrecy.

When eleven-year-old Guster Johnsonville rejects his mother’s casserole for the umpteenth time, she takes him into the city of New Orleans to find him something to eat. There, in a dark, abandoned corner of the city they meet a dying pastry maker. In his last breath he entrusts them with a secret: an ancient recipe that makes the most delicious taste the world will ever know — a taste that will change the fate of humanity forever.

Forced to flee by a cult of murderous chefs, the Johnsonvilles embark on a perilous journey to ancient ruins, faraway jungles and forgotten caves. Along the way they discover the truth: Guster is an Evertaster — a kid so picky that nothing but the legendary taste itself will save him from starvation. With the sinister chefs hot on Guster’s heels and the chefs’ reign of terror spreading, Guster and his family must find the legendary taste before it’s too late.

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You can get the book on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615654495/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0615654495&linkCode=as2&tag=evertaster-blogger-20

SqueeZurts! Save Money and Make Kids Happy

Here's a feature from my Mashed Potatoes and Crafts site that I just had to share with you!
Have you ever given your kids one of those sugary yogurts in a tube? I have many times because they are so convenient for lunches and when we're traveling but I've always wished that there was a healthier alternative since I don't like to give my kids high-sugar foods.
Thank goodness someone came up with a great alternative. They are called SqueeZurts and these are do-it-yourself tubes that you can fill with anything you want!

Save tons of money and cut out the needless sugar by filling your SqueeZurt with smoothies, yogurt, pudding--whatever you'd like! Like I said, I don't like to buy the high-sugar yogurt. In fact, I buy plain yogurt and then a low-sugar fruit yogurt and mix them together. My kids love yogurt and don't miss the sugar!

 I got to try out the starter kit from http://www.squeezurts.com/ and it came with 6 tubes and a handy bottle for filling, plus 2 fabric sleeves you can use to keep the little kids hands from getting too cold.
My kids were so excited to pack a delicious berry smoothie into their lunch bag. My 7yo told me that everyone was asking how she got that rainbow gogurt. :)

I filled some to take on a trip to Idaho and it was so handy. They are easy to fill and all you need is a bread tie to fold them closed with--just make sure you leave a little space if you're freezing the SqueeZurt.
The only trouble I had was when I tried to fill them with our favorite greek yogurt and berries. The mixture was too thick to get through the nozzle. One remedy is to slice off the end (about 1/4") of the nozzle on the fill bottle for a larger opening. In my case, I just added some milk to thin the mixture and froze them and they were perfect.
I am loving these so much, I think I'm going to have to order 6 more. My mom thought it was a great idea to have when the grandkids come visit.
You can buy SqueeZurts directly from the site http://www.squeezurts.com/

 or through this etsy shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/kitchensinkboutique
Check them out on FB https://www.facebook.com/SqueeZurts
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kitchen-Sink-Boutique/159449537452486
SqueeZurts are reusable, refillable squeeze snack tubes that can be filled with anything you can come up with.  On top of the versatility and health benefits SqueeZurts allow, also reduce waste by reusing SqueeZurts over and over again.**

Yogurt. Applesauce. Baby Food. Energy Gel. Smoothies. Pudding. Fruit Juice. Veggie and Fruit Puree.  Frozen or not.


You control the ingredients  -  You control your nutrition