Tribute to Lu Ann

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend and participate in my dear friend Lu Ann Staheli's funeral. Her husband, Mike, asked our writing group to put together some comments to be read during the services. The day before, group members emailed thoughts and memories, and I cobbled it all together. We all went up front to honor Lu Ann, and somehow, with my entire body quivering (likely my voice, too), I read what we'd put together. Here is what I read on behalf of the group.

Lu Ann signing books at the
LDStorymakers Writers Conference in 2011.

July of 1999, Lu Ann opened the directory of a writing organization, found my number, and invited me to be part of a brand new critique group. I was two weeks away from giving birth to my third child and three years into a calling in the Young Women presidency. Yet I was eager to join and asked if she could hold a spot until things were a tiny bit less crazy. January of 2000, I showed up to my first meeting with my heart pounding in my chest. I was incredibly intimidated by the talent sitting across the table.

A few months later, Michele joined us. Here’s how she put that experience: “I quickly discovered that my writing was not brilliant; it wasn’t even good, and I was nowhere near the skill level of the rest of the group. Lu Ann could have easily voted me off; I was not yet in a position to help her writing, and she already had classrooms of students to teach during the day. But she took me under her wing and helped me learn how to write well.”

Jeff recalls his first meeting, after his first book was published. Lu Ann looked at him, smiled, and said, “I read Cutting Edge. I liked it, but it could use some work.” He would be the first to say that she was right.

Heather and Rob rounded out the group until Sarah Eden moved to Utah County about five years ago, and we invited her to come to see if we would be a good fit for one another.

“Their credentials were intimidating,” Sarah says of that time. “I was absolutely certain that after a single night of my relative incompetence, they’d simply quit telling me where they were meeting. That first evening, I was impressed by the excerpt Lu Ann had brought and ravenously devoured the advice she gave the others, all the while scared out of my mind about what she’d think of my humble offering. Not three sentences into her response to my efforts, I knew I had found a treasure in LuAnn, and that my work would be the better as a result of her influence. She was encouraging without being coddling.”

And she truly didn’t coddle. No, Lu Ann didn’t mince words. Sometimes her comments stung, but we knew that they were always given with the intent to help our stories be the best they could be. In fact, her total honesty became something we learned to trust and look forward to. Such honesty is a rare gift, so we weren’t hurt or offended—how could we be, when she was genuinely trying to help, but even more importantly, because so much of the time, she was right?

She was always a teacher, always a mentor, forever looking for ways to help and lift. Sometimes that meant suggesting new ways to promote our books. Other times, she urged one of us to read a specific book because it was just what would help us with the manuscript we were working on. And she knew because she was a walking library catalog—she read constantly from every genre, so she knew more about books than anyone we’ve ever met.

She has given us feedback, encouragement, ideas, and someone to vent to. Someone to laugh with. She gave solid advice, such as when Heather debated whether to take on a certain project: “No,” Lu Ann told her. “You’re better off working on what you already have planned. Stick to your plan. You know it’s right.”

In addition to the hundreds of critique group sessions we’ve shared together, she took the time to read and edit numerous manuscripts for all of us, in addition to those of many other authors, students, and friends. She was never too busy to help. 

In fact, recently I sent a manuscript to the group for feedback. She was already very ill, so while we included her in our email exchanges, I never once expected Lu Ann to read the 90,000-word manuscript while battling cancer. Yet she replied to the email thread, saying rather apologetically that while she’d try to read my book, she couldn’t guarantee she’d get through the whole thing by the time I needed the feedback. That was about three weeks ago. Even in her last days, her concerns were about how much she could give.

Perhaps if she had been less giving, less generous with her time and talents, and more focused on her own career, she would have found both fame and fortune as a writer. Instead, her legacy is farther reaching.

Lu Ann had the talent and skills of a brilliant writer, but more than that, she had the heart of a teacher. She found joy in helping others, in sharing with them the magic of the written word, both in reading and writing. Her loss is also a great loss to the writing community as a whole.

As we have reminisced, variations of the same two things have come up again and again: First, that every book we’ve written since meeting her has been touched by her unique hand.

And second, that going forward, we will continue to hear her voice as we type away, calling us out on awkward word choices, weak character motivations, demanding better descriptions. Things we’ve heard before, like

“Where are we? You didn’t show us the setting.”

“Um, that’s not humanly possible.”

“You used the word very fifteen times on this page—I counted.”

“The girl just rolled her eyes for the fifth time this chapter.”

“Your main character has three arms in this scene.”

Or the classic comment we’ve all heard a thousand times that was all Lu Ann: “Sorry. I don’t buy it.”

We’ll miss not having our pages marked in red with her neat handwriting, no longer seeing her smiley faces and stars in the margins next to parts she thought were especially good. It’s hard to know that never again will we sit around her kitchen table and hear her laugh as we talk shop and brainstorm.

But from the other side, she will certainly continue to whisper in our ears as we write—scolding, cajoling, telling us that we can do better, calling us on it when we don’t. No doubt, she’s already at work, busily helping others, teaching and serving. Being the friend and woman we were all blessed to know. 

She challenged all of us to do better and be better because she sincerely believed we were capable of great things. None of us could have predicted the immense impact she has had on us.

Her support and selfless assistance made us better writers.

Her friendship made us better people.

Some members of our critique group in 2013.
L to R: Lu Ann Staheli, J. Scott Savage,
Sarah M. Eden, Annette Lyon, Michele Paige Holmes
Not pictured: Heather B. Moore and Robison Wells

***PLEASE NOTE***

Lu Ann's family is buried under medical bills from her treatment, even more so because her sweet husband hasn't worked since her diagnosis last summer, so he could be at her side. 

If you can help even a little, please do donate to the family HERE. 

Another way to help is to buy her books. You can find them on Lu Ann’s Amazon author page. 

Sherri Needs New Lungs

Next month marks 23 years since a landmark day in my family, a time that forever changed me.

My baby nephew received a liver transplant within days of his first birthday. In 1989, infant liver transplants were new. Something like two hospitals in the nation were doing them, and only a few hundred infant liver transplants had even been attempted. Omaha had one of those hospitals. A good number of infants didn't make it.

Michael almost didn't. I remember phone calls across the country to plan a funeral. Tears. My brother and his wife practically living at the hospital. Reports that Michael's bed looked like it was covered in plastic spaghetti because of all the tubes. It was one of the first times in my life I dropped to my knees and sobbed with a desperate prayer. He pulled through.

Then, at nineteen, having defied every odd, Michael was called to serve an LDS mission, and this spring, he graduates from Brigham Young University with a bachelor's degree and a teaching certificate. (He'll be an awesome teacher, by the way.)

Organ donation hit close to home again several years after Michael's transplant, when my cousin's son needed a new heart. He got the heart. It didn't last as long as Michael's liver has, but it did give him a few more years before he passed away shortly before his high school graduation.

When my son turned fifteen and got his driver's permit, he almost didn't check the box that would make him an organ donor. It was only then that I realized he didn't know all of his cousin's story. I cleared my throat to ward off emotion then simply said, "Check the box. I'll explain when we get home. You are going to be an organ donor."

Sherri

That same son was only weeks old when I met Sherri. We'd moved into her neighborhood, and I immediately liked her. She coughed a lot, but I was assured she wasn't contagious with anything (which put me at ease when my newborn son was near).

Later, my husband and I taught a Primary class filled with energetic 9-year-olds, including Josh, Sherri's son.

I learned that Sherri was born with Cystic Fibrosis, a disease I'd never heard of. She taught me about it. I learned how CF sufferers eventually die because their lungs get clogged and damaged with mucus. It's the mucus that made her cough. I found out that when she was born, the life expectancy of babies with CF had been about age 14. She wasn't supposed to have lived as long as she already had, let alone give birth and be around to see her son turn 9.

She's fought the odds, worked on keeping herself (and her lungs) as healthy as possible. That means regular hospitalizations, home treatments, medications, and so much more.

Sherri and I were good friends. We went to League of Utah Writers meetings together. We joined the same critique group. She moved. She kept fighting.

Josh is now in his twenties. He's a returned missionary and a college graduate. His mother wasn't supposed to live long enough to see any of that. She did.

But Sherri has now reached the point that her lungs are giving out. On her doctors' advice, she's on a transplant list

In short: Sherri needs new lungs. It's an extraordinarily difficult (and expensive!) decision.

Her family has a site devoted to Sherri's story, where people can donate what they can to help.

If you can donate even a few dollars, please do. Visit Lungs for Sherri, to learn more about CF, about Sherri, and to donate what you can.

Music for Christmas

The other day, a dear friend of mine, Michelle, who is one of the powerhouses behind Mormon Woman, pointed me toward a beautiful song for Christmas.

It's called "Do You Have Room," by Shawna Edwards. As soon as I listened to it, I wanted my son to play it at church, accompanying someone singing it who sings far better than I do. (Twenty years ago, I had a voice. We'll not discuss my current vocal abilities.)

Watch the video for it below, and if you enjoy it, here's the great news: You can get a free MP3 of the song or the sheet music! Doing so is way easy:

Go to the composer's website and share a special Christmas memory or tell how you will make room for Christ in your life this Christmas. Easy peasy. (Link below.)

Here's the song:

For more information, visit (and LIKE!) the Shawna Edwards Facebook page.

To leave your Christmas memory or tell how you'll be Christ into Christmas, here's the Shawna Edwards website.

It's beautiful. I think I'll go play it again.

]

WNW: Providing Education and a Future

Today's Word Nerd Wednesday is taking a somewhat more serious turn.

I have fun here on WNW, where we often discuss goofy language stuff or pet grammar peeves. But if you've followed me for very long, you know that my interest in language and words goes way beyond grammar.

I'm huge on bringing both adults and children into the 21st century through literacy and education. We're in place now where getting an education and knowing how to communicate (both read and write) are crucial to success.

Statistic after statistic shows that poverty is directly connected to education and literacy levels . . . especially the mother's. Increase the mom's education, and suddenly her children have a better shot at a happy, successful life.

That's why I'm joining bloggers during November to help raise funds for an LDS Philanthropies scholarship that helps single parents get degrees so they and their children can improve their lives.

From LDS Philantrophies (bolded section my emphasis):

During the month of November bloggers are uniting to help single parents like Megan. We can help bring hope with our goal to raise money for as many single parents’ scholarships as we can. At LDS Business College, each semester costs $1,800 or $3,600 a year, or $7,200 for a full two-year degree. There are 45 single parents currently in need. We can make a difference! Please choose to give and spread the word.

Why single parents?

• 28% of children now live with just one parent.

• 40% of children under 18 experience a parental breakup.

• 90% of single-parent families are headed by females.

• Single moms with children have the highest poverty rates.

• 60% of children living in mother-only families are impoverished.

• Single moms are more likely to be poor because of lower earning capacity.

• Single moms median income is only about 25% what a married couple make.

In recent years, LDSBC has placed 90% of its graduates.

***

Me again. To hear Megan's story, click the speaker icon at the top of the widget in the side bar. For more information on participating in the scholarship program or on raising awareness(including getting the widget for your blog), visit LDS Philanthropies.

Even five dollars can help. (Just think: if all the bloggers who post about the scholarship, and all their readers, each gave $5, that would add up to a lot!)

Use the widget in the left column of my sidebar, and please spread the word!

Happy Chocolate Day!

Today's is a mini post with just a couple of quick items:

1) Crash, one my of my favorite bloggers, whom I lub (as she would say), is going after a blogging gig. She needs our votes to get to the next stage. Vote for her HERE once a day.

2) Remember how I got to be part of the cool reenactment of the original Mormon Pioneer Trek via Twitter? SUCH a cool experience. The guys behind TwHistory are shooting to get $25,000 in funding to help create new reenactments, which are excellent educational tools. To get the funding, they have to be in the top 10 by Halloween. Today, they're #12. Please vote for them! (Again, you can vote once a day through the end of the month.)

3) In case you've missed my incessant shouting about it, TODAY is National Chocolate Day and my book launch party in Orem at The Chocolate Dessert Cafe.

The Daily Herald announced it HERE. (See me holding the cookbook and matching my kitchen . . . yes, the very kitchen every recipe was invented/tested/tweaked/enjoyed in.)

The deets:

• 212 South State, Orem
• 4:00-7:00 pm
• The first 5 people get a FREE copy of the Chocolate Never Faileth companion DVD
• Get a free caramel cupcake with each book purchase
• Eat free mint fudge samples
• Have me sign your book!
• (Oh, and you get to meet my brilliant, handsome, taller-than-mom son. He'll be my sample helper tonight.)

Happy National Chocolate Day!

Distance for Davis

If you're in northern Utah in just over a week (Friday, Aug 6 and Saturday, Aug 7), be sure to check out all the events surrounding the fund raiser for Davis Cox, a young man about the age of my own son who is suffering from a severe case of aplastic anemia . . . a very dangerous illness.

There will be lots of fun, from a 5K (okay, to ME running isn't so fun) to motorcycle stunts, hot air balloon rides, entertainment, and more.

Below is information from the press release about it.

Visit Davis's website (link below) for more information about him and the fundraiser:

Davis County Community Hosts Fundraiser for Local Teen with Aplastic Anemia

“Distance for Davis Cox” Fundraiser Includes

Utah Blaze and Miller Motor Sports Park

Rare Disease Affects Three in One Million U.S. Residents Each Year

WHAT: “Distance for Davis” Fundraiser for 14-year-old aplastic anemia patient, Davis Cox.

Event includes a Utah Blaze Football Clinic, Nitro Circus Movie Premier, motorcycle stunts by DJ Osborn, a silent auction and raffle, a 5K Fun Run, hot air balloon rides, a blood drive, food, games and entertainment.

WHO:

Utah Blaze, DJ Osborn, local companies, friends, family and classmates rally to raise money and support local teen Davis Cox.

WHEN: Aug. 6 from 7 p.m. -11 p.m.

Aug. 7 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

WHERE: Davis High School, Kaysville, Utah

WHY:

In March 2010, Davis, a 14-year-old Kaysville Junior High School Student, contracted a random virus that damaged his bone marrow, which resulted in severe aplastic anemia. Once, a healthy football and baseball player, Davis now experiences life-threatening symptoms ranging from retinal bleeding, two-hour nose and gum bleeds, fevers, severe bacterial infections, and a depleted immune system.

MORE ABOUT APLASIC ANEMIA:

Affecting only three in one million Americans each year, aplastic anemia is a disease of the bone marrow, where the marrow stops making enough red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets for the body. People like Davis, with severe or very severe aplastic anemia, are at risk for life-threatening infections or bleeding. Treatment includes bone marrow or cord blood transplant and immunosuppressive therapy.

If you can't attend, you can always donate at the "Distance for Davis" website: www.daviscoxfundraiser.com.

Reminder: Entries for the story part of my blog-anniversary giveaway are due TOMORROW, Wednesday, July 28th. All giveaway winners will be announced this Friday, July 30th.

Yes, I'm Alive, & Other News

Holy unplanned blog break, Batman!

Life has swirled out of control the last while, and my poor blog (and blog reading) has suffered. I hope to be back on the bloggy bandwagon with my regular schedule soon.

(No guarantees, however . . .)

Okay, Now for Some BIG NEWS!

I'm on the Radio!

If you're in Utah, tonight (that's Monday, March 29th) at 10:00 pm, tune in to FM 100.3.

Rebecca Cressman will be hosting me and my friend Chris. We'll talk about Band of Sisters, supporting military families, promoting Elaine Dumler's Free Flat Daddy Project, and discuss what deployment is really like.

Chris was an invaluable resource for me as I wrote the book, having gone through a deployment. She's facing their second one soon.

(Remember to visit MY FLAT DADDY PAGE to donate as much or as little as you can!)

I'm on TV!

Likewise, for Utah people, be sure to watch Good Things Utah on ABC4 this Wednesday, March 31st. The show airs for an hour at 10:00 am, and I'll be there with an actual Flat Daddy of a soldier currently deployed.

I'm Signing Books!

Then this Saturday, April 3, I'll be at the Layton Hills Mall Deseret Book for Ladies Night (6:00 pm - 8:00 pm). Please come so I'm not lonely. :)

Lately, if I'm not running around like a headless chicken for promotion, you can probably find me baking in the kitchen or at a photo shoot for Chocolate Never Faileth!, which goes to press in just over a month. (See why I've been a teeny, tiny bit busy?)

Between family stuff, promotion, a cookbook craziness, I'm lucky to keep the family from starving and going naked, let alone keeping up on my blogging. (Let's not discuss the vacuum and other housekeeping items that have been neglected . . .)

That said, many others have been spreading the word about Flat Daddies and Band of Sisters, Krista even did an author interview with me, and I've come across a couple of really nice (and surprise!) reviews of the book.

Take a look:

Overstuffed

Mama Blogga

The Chocolate Chip Waffle

Krista Lynne Jensen

Crash Test Dummy Diaries

Rebecca Irvine

Cranberry Fries

(This review said exactly what I hope readers will experience: that yes, while Band of Sisters is about deployment, at its core, it's really about "women connecting and befriending each other.")

Thanks to you all!

Pictures from the launch party coming soon . . . I swear . . . I think . . . yeah, that should happen at some point . . . probably . . .

WNW: St. Patrick's Edition

Just for fun, I thought I'd do a little digging to find out the background of some words centered around St. Patrick's Day and/or Ireland.

Here's some of what I found:

slogan

According to my trusty OED, back in the 1500s in both Ireland and Scotland, a slogan was a war- or battle-cry. A slogan usually used a person's family name or a location that they'd yell out.

It comes from sluagh-ghairm, which, broken down meant host (sluagh) + cry or shout (ghairm).

Quite a different meaning today, when marketing types sit around a table, trying to come up with a nifty names and catch-phrases for their company and products.

(Suddenly I'm picturing an Irish warrior on a horse, raising his sword and calling out, "Kleeneeeeeeeex!")

galore

Again, my OED confirmed this one, which I found somewhere else first. The word originally is viewed as either Irish or Gaelic, from go leor, meaning "in abundance" or "plenty."

Perhaps having beer galore led to all those famous Irish drinking songs . . .

Mac/Mc/M' and O'

These prefixes for names hail from both Ireland and Scotland. According to one site I looked at, families wouldn't necessarily stay consistent in their spelling, so you could find McHenry, MacHenry, and M'Henry or even just Henry all for the same family.

(Good luck doing your family history research!)

To muddy the waters further, since the prefixes hail from both countries, you can't say with certainty that a MAC name is from Scotland or an O' name is definitively Irish.

Both prefixes mean, "descendant of." At one point, MAC and its variations usually meant "son of" (so MacDonald = son of Donald), and O' was "grandson of" (O'Donald = grandson of Donald). Apparently those distinctions weren't always followed (yay for more inaccuracy!), so all you can be sure of when seeing a name with that prefix is that the person is a descendant of a person with the name somewhere along the line.

leprechaun

The OED can't agree with itself on this one. We've got several possible histories here.

One source the OED quotes says the word could be derived from an Irish term referring to a sprite "always employed in making or mending a shoe." (So the shoemaker in the fairytale was actually relying on a bunch of leprechauns?)

Another possibility is the Middle Irish luchrupan, which came from the Old Irish luchorpian, which meant small body (lu = small and corp = body). (In which case, what, they're just little people? What about the magic?)

Then the OED quotes an Irish dictionary as saying that in Irish folklore, a leprechaun is a "pygmy sprite 'who always carries a purse containing a shilling.'"

That's where I came up short. Wait . . . a shilling? Where's the a pot of gold?

So . . . we're just looking for a small person who might make shoes and who carries around a coin.

Where where did the rainbow idea come from? (I have no answers. Just posing the questions.)

the snug

A bar parlor, or small, comfortable place in a pub to drink privately, often preferred by women.

Too bad that back in the day, the Irish didn't have a blanket with sleeves to perfect the term as they drank their ale.

Think about it: They could have rocked the Snuggie in the snug!

(Be sure to check out Kristina P's Snuggies for Seniors drive! Click HERE or on the picture in my sidebar.)

Supporting Our Soldiers' Families

Prior to writing Band of Sisters, I watched a close friend go through her husband's deployment. We lived just around the corner from one another, and my youngest was the perfect age to play with her children.

I was more than happy to fill in as a last-minute babysitter or lend my husband to fix a clogged garbage disposal or whatever. A couple of times, she used me as a listening ear, even though, much as I tried, I knew that deep down, I didn't (and couldn't) really have a clue what she was going through without facing a deployment personally.

I like to think I was a little bit of a support to her, but the reality is, I felt pretty helpless and didn't know if there was anything I could really do to help her beyond being an on-call babysitter and having our family pray for hers.

Her deployment experience led me to researching the topic more fully and talking to a number of military wives, and, ultimately, I felt compelled to write a novel about the topic.

In the process, I found that many people (both those who personally know a military family and those who don't) wish for something specific they could do to help. They just don't know what.

Then I landed on a blog that changed things. Eureka! Here was something concrete, something anyone could do that was simple in action but big on impact.

The Free Flat Daddy® Project

Flat Daddies (or Flat Mommies) are life-size photographs of the deployed parent. In a small but powerful way, a Flat Daddy can help ease the pain of the parent's absence.

Children take their Flat Daddy to soccer games, kindergarten graduation, even trick-or-treating.

Little girls have tea parties with "Dad."

Boys can push "Dad" in a wagon and otherwise "play" with him. Young children can kiss him good night.

The blog I first discovered the concept on is A Year with Flat Daddy, where an LDS woman nicknamed Mo recorded their family's journey with "FJ" (Flat Jared) while "RJ" (Real Jared) was in Iraq.

Their experience in Mo's own words:

Flat Daddies can really provide a strange sense of comfort in some situations and sometimes a little bit of comfort is enough to get through another day. I know that it was especially helpful for our daughter, who was very young when Jared left.

She didn't shy away from him in the least when he came home and scooped her up. And "Daddy" was even her first word! Our oldest son has some special needs and doesn't adjust well to change, so the chance to have his "Dad" with him as usual helped ease his stress a bit.

And I'll admit that on at least one occasion I put my arms around Flat Jared's neck and cried my eyes out. It was more comforting than crying in a pillow, to be honest.

Carrying a Flat Daddy with you really does bring out the best in people. I experienced such gratitude and kindness from complete strangers, people who wanted to connect with us and really be a part of our family's little adventure.

I am so grateful for Flat Daddies. I had heard of the concept before, but the cost is prohibitively high if you try to make one yourself at a local copy shop. Having a place that makes it easy and affordable—or free for a family going through a deployment—is a great blessing.

The Flat Daddy® concept is the brainchild of Elaine Dumler, who originally came up with it as one of many ideas for military families in her book, I'm Already Home.

The idea took off, and through her efforts, she became known as the "Flat Daddy Lady" and got an award from ABC for her work supporting military families. She's since written a second volume with even more great ideas, I'm Already Home . . . Again. You can buy her books from her website (above).

I'm now working with Elaine to help get as many Flat Daddies as possible into the hands of families who could benefit from them.

In the past, donors had two options:

1) Buy a Flat Daddy® for a family they know.

2) Buy a Flat Daddy® for an anonymous family.

Those options are still available.

But having them as the only options presented a slight problem: Not everyone who wants to help can pay out the cost of making and shipping a Flat Daddy. They cost nearly fifty dollars a pop.

Now there's a THIRD option:

Anyone can now donate to the Flat Daddy Project in any dollar amount they choose. That money goes toward the creation of future Flat Daddies.

If you can afford to go without a fast-food lunch once this week and donate five dollars, great! If you can donate ten or twenty dollars (or more!) on another day, even better! Whatever you can give will add up.

Finally: something you can do, more than once, even, to support military families, and it won't break the bank.

To donate, visit the Flat Daddy® page on my website and follow the directions.

That page also shows pictures of Mo's family with Flat Jared and features a clip from their local news about their experience.

Be sure to drop by; it's worth checking out.

NOTE: To buy a Flat Daddy® for a family you know, be sure to get their e-mail address. As you check out, you'll be prompted to enter the e-mail address. After your payment is cleared, the family will be sent a code they'll use to claim their Flat Daddy® at no cost to them.

Friday Writing Journey--Woot!

Today I have nothing profound to say. Instead, I'll just squeal.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Okay, that was fun.

The Triple Book Launch Party

THIS evening, March 12, from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

At the new Deseret Book just outside of University Mall

(Near the movie theater.)

Julie Bellon, Sarah M. Eden, and I will be there with our brand new books and (we hope!) a good number of attendees.

Door Prizes!

More and more people keep donating door prizes. That's reason enough to come, for sure! The latest addition: Copies H. B. Moore's two newest novels, Abinadi and Alma.

A couple of other quick notes before I return to my massive to-do list:

• I had a phone-in radio interview with Rebecca Cressman today. Soon it'll be sent out as an MP3 file in the Your LDS Neighborhood newsletter. I'll be sure to link over then.
• We discussed at length the charity I'm working with that supports military families, Flat Daddy. I'll post more about the charity soon, but you can see the gist on my website and on the back page of Band of Sisters. I'm hoping we can raise a ton of money to help this great cause.
• In a couple of weeks, Rebecca Cressman will doing a more in-depth interview with me and a military wife who has been through deployment. We'll discuss practical ways others can help a family during a deployment, talk about the Flat Daddy program, and dispel a lot of deployment myths. (Among those myths: deployment is just like being a single mother or having your husband travel a lot. Um, no.) That interview will air on FM 100.3 on Monday, March 29th.
• My good friend Tristi Pinkston has a new book out of her own, a mystery called The Secret Sisters. In conjunction with her release, she is also helping a charity: collecting socks (and donations for socks) for The Road Home homeless shelter. Check out the details here.

Finally, a BIG announcement:

Figured that today's a big day, so why not go for bigger? Behold the title of my forthcoming chocolate cookbook:

Chocolate Never Faileth!

Emphasis and excitement with the exclamation point is part of the title. :)

Hope to see lots and lots of familiar and new faces tonight! I'll post photos later.

Writing Journey: TwHistory Side Project

One of the cool benefits of being a writer is the people you get to know and the opportunities you run into as a result.

Those opportunities could be things that advance your career and bring in money (such as a new freelance gig), but more often than not, they simply enhance your life in some way. Many times they're ways of offering service with the skills you have.

An example there is with my doctor. He's known our family for over fifteen years, and he's literally followed my entire career. Whenever I went in for prenatal appointments or a child's shots, and he'd ask about my latest submission, and I'd tell him about my latest rejection or current work in progress. He knows the entire story and what I'm working on next.

He's also the head of the Friends of the Library, so when we moved closer to him, he asked if I'd be willing to judge the adult category of the library's annual Scary Story Contest they hold each Halloween. I've now judged it for seven years running, and I can't imagine that changing any time soon. I love being able to help out.

Several months ago I had the chance to embark on a very different kind of side project. It's the brain child of Matthew Buckley, author of of Whitney Award finalist Chickens Don't Have Armpits. He has this knack of taking technology and turning it on its head, and using it in unique ways.

One of his last projects got national and international attention. Matthew (also known as Marion Jensen) and his buddy Tom Caswell decided to use Twitter in a brand new way: take history and make it fun, palatable, and understandable. Best of all, they could make it feel like it's happening right now. They took journals of soldiers who had fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, broke down the events into the 140-characters that "tweets" require, and recreated the battle in real time.

People who followed the battle via Twitter watched it during the same days the battle actually occurred, read about what the soldiers ate for breakfast, how they were wounded (when they were wounded) and so forth. If a soldier suddenly stopped tweeting, it probably meant he really had died on that day in history.

Marion and Tom were invited to speak at UNESCO in Barcelona about their project. You can read a bit about that HERE and HERE and see their slides HERE. They call their concept of tweeting history in real time "TwHistory."

They're doing it again, this time preparing to tweet the original Mormon Pioneer Trek, which began on April 5 and went through July 24, 1847 ending with Brigham Young's famous statement, "This is the right place. Drive on."

And that's where I (and many others) come in. Matthew Buckley asked several writer friends if they'd be willing to help go through the journals of pioneers he'd already found who were in the original traveling party and write up the tweets ahead of time. He would take care of putting them all together and posting them in real time on the right days and hours.

So in my free (hahaha!) time, I'm Heber C. Kimball, condensing his journals down to 4 or so 140-character tweets per traveling day. All of us are trying to maintain the voice and even the words, as much as possible, of the original writers. And it's all for the upcoming TwHistory trek that will begin this April.

Again, I imagine that when it goes live, the project will get national (and, quite possibly, international) attention. They have plans to Tweet other major historical events as well.

TwHistory could potentially be a great tool for teaching history to students and an amazing experience for any twitterers willing to follow and watch history as if they're getting a peek in time as it unfolds.

If the concept of TwHistory is going to keep going, they needs funds. Right now, it's entirely a volunteer effort, and while that's great, there are costs that just aren't covered. If you're willing to donate even a little to help the cause and/or learn more, visit the TwHistory Kickstart page.