Of One Heart by Valerie J. Steimle

My writer friend Valerie Steimle has recently published a book for and about singles in the LDS Church. She gained her experience first-hand after her husband of 25 years passed away suddenly, leaving her to care for their nine children alone. As you can imagine, she entered a whole new, strange world when faced with being single in a two-parent family church. During the years she was single again, she came in contact with so many singles and would listen to their stories and their struggles. This is what prompted her to write the book.

Valerie says, "Whether by divorce, death of a spouse or never married there are challenges to being single in a predominately married world--challenges most people don't realize until they are single themselves."

The book includes tips for singles, those with friends who are single, and church leaders who have single members within their jurisdiction. That about covers all of us, I think.

Here's the link to purchase at amazon.com

Check out Valerie's other books about the family on her website at
http://www.strengthenyourhome.com

An interesting thing happened on my way to becoming an author...

I was asked yesterday if I would be a judge in a writing contest. I won't reveal which one, because I wouldn't want to be inundated with gifts, luxury cruises, and Hershey's Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate Toffee and Almond Nuggets, all in an effort to persuade my vote. That would just be wrong...wouldn't it? (Not even just one measly bag of nuggets? *BIG SIGH*)


Anyway, it gave me pause. (Kind of like the mention of Hershey's Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate Toffee and Almond Nuggets just did.) And then I laughed. It reminded me of all those years ago when I had my very first ever item published in the newspaper. Because I could string a few words together in a somewhat coherent (and humorous, I hasten to add) manner and a newspaper was willing to publish it and pay me 10 bucks, suddenly I was an expert of sorts. Never mind that I didn't have another thing published for, like, forever. People just seemed to be impressed with even this one minor success.

They also seemed to think I knew the ins and outs of writing.

My son's 2nd grade teacher saw the article and asked if I would come once a week to teach Creative Writing to the class. And I was actually asked to judge an elementary school Reflections writing contest. I guess it turned out alright. No anarchy in the streets over the winners chosen.

No chocolate-covered bribery attempted either.

Darn it.



[this bit of nonsense is also appearing today at anwafounder.blogspot.com]

This is me in November...

Of course, I'll be using a keyboard instead of a pen, but it seems a bit dreamier and much more romantic to pretend to be Anne Hathaway pretending to be Jane Austen, doesn't it?

Storybook Wedding

And they lived happily forever after...

A Book of Mormon Witness

Me, too.

Apparently a disclaimer about my disclaimer is in order...

Last time I blogged about cutting out extra things in life so that I, as a person inclined to write, could have time to write. I mentioned TV, but should have also mentioned exercise--certainly no time for that. Not really, my lack of consistent exercise has nothing to do with my writing career, in fact, sitting at the computer for long hours probably increases greatly the need for exercise-related activity before the blood just pools in my feet and my brain cells along with it. Okay, wait (weight? Eek!---no pun intended), I did not intend for this to turn into a blog about exercise because I might feel like I need to go do some. Back to my disclaimer about the disclaimer...

In my last post I "disclaimed" that I am glued to the tube when a season of Amazing Race is on. Apparently that is not true because I became aware last evening that the show is already 4 episodes in and I was clueless. That's the problem with not watching network television. You don't see the previews for the upcoming shows. This isn't the first time this has happened, so can someone just please give me a heads up next time?

Thank you.

While You Were Watching TV I Wrote a Book

I am lost when it comes to Lost. I'm fuzzy about Grey's Anatomy. House is just a structure I live in. I have an office, but I've never seen The Office. I don't idolize American Idol. I've had my fill of Dr. Phil. So You Think You Can Dance? No, I don't. And Oprah? Hmmm...can't come up with something snappy for that one, so I'll stop now!

In life there are choices and many of these choices are not compatible. For example, lots of TV-viewing is not compatible with writing a finished novel. Neither is reading stacks upon stacks of other people's books, for that matter, so I'm not picking on TV-watchers. (I just thought it was a clever title. And you know me, I'm all about the cleverness. :])

Anyway, I guess I'm just lamenting again my own lack of finishing. I was asked to do a book review on my blog for a book other than the ones I'm doing for Walnut Springs Publishing. I was thrilled to be asked. I explained to my husband how I review for them, then they remember me and review for me someday, but he was unfazed. "They review what?" he asks. "Well...my book," I meekly reply because I know what he is getting at. "Ah, the book you're not writing because you are reading and reviewing for them."

Point taken.

Whatever is keeping you (and me) from accomplishing our goals and dreams--in whatever area of life, we should let those things go. No, I am not advocating cutting out personal hygiene and the proper care and feeding of your children, and I'm still going to blog book reviews, but I'm not going to find out How I Met Your Mother or spend time with Two and a Half Men. I'm really not bothered that the new Fall schedule passes me by yet another year because I already have Heroes. I'm dedicating my book to one of them...when it's finished.

[Disclaimer: I am glued to the tube when a season of Amazing Race is on. I'm not totally TV-challenged.]