All my life I've had a need to take notes. Knowing that in 2019 I would be faced with a brand-new curriculum in my church's women's meeting, I decided I needed a study notebook to help me organize my thoughts during the twice-monthly meetings. I created the Relief Society Study Notebook in two sizes. One is five by eight inches, or pocket-sized, and the other is large print at seven by ten inches. Both notebooks have the same content. Only the covers, sizes, and prices are different.
The notebook is offered to Latter-day Saint women to help them record significant thoughts that come during study of the messages from the most recent general conference as discussed in Relief Society meetings. The books cover the entire year of meetings, and can be used during any calendar year.
These Study Notebooks ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Buy Relief Society Study Notebook: Pocket-Sized in Print at Amazon
Buy Relief Society Study Notebook: Large Print in Print at Amazon
It's Fresh Book Friday again, and I have a little something for you, a short story!
Title: The Apple Pie Prize: An Owen Family Story
Author: Marsha Ward
Genre: Historical Romance
Published: December 28, 2017
Price: $0.99
Purchase Links: Kindle | Kobo | Apple iTunes Bookstore | Smashwords
Description:
No one in Shenandoah County would say Rod Owen lacked vigor.
The evidence is clear, with six young’uns running around the farm and his wife Julia about to call in the midwife again.
A pie crust and a small boy with a sack of dead squirrels can be vexing
impediments when such a man wants a little kissin' in the kitchen.
The Apple Pie Prize is a short story packed with insights into early times at the Owen Family farm.
Author Bio:
Author
Marsha Ward writes authentic historical fiction set in 19th Century
America, and contemporary romance. She was born in the sleepy little
town of Phoenix, Arizona, in a simpler time. With plenty of room to roam
among the chickens and citrus trees, Marsha enjoyed playing with
neighborhood chums, but always had her imaginary friend, cowboy Johnny
Rigger Prescott, at her side. Now she makes her home in a forest in the
mountains of Arizona. She loves to hear from her readers.
Connect with Marsha:
Website: http://marshaward.com
Blog: http://marshaward.blogspot.com
Email: marshaw@marshaward.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormarshaward
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarshaWard
Join Marsha’s mailing list for a free book, special offers, and new releases:
http://eepurl.com/vBKEj
Have you picked up your copy of Mended by Moonlight yet? This Shenandoah Neighbors Novella is the perfect book to read after Gone for a Soldier, as it gives a character from that novel a happy conclusion to her story.
Purchase Mended by Moonlight: A Shenandoah Neighbors Novella
E-Book: Smashwords (all formats) | Kindle | NOOK | Kobo | Apple iTunes Bookstore
You've waited three long years to find out what happened to a major character from the Owen Family Saga novel Gone for a Soldier, Ella Ruth. In truth, she wasn't yet ready to talk about her post-war life. However, now she has opened up to author Marsha Ward, and here is her story.
A grief-stricken Confederate widow. A Union surgeon plagued by guilt. What possible set of circumstances would bring them to a meeting of the minds? Can there be a happily-ever-after for Ella Ruth and Alex during Reconstruction?
Purchase Mended by Moonlight: A Shenandoah Neighbors Novella
E-Book: Smashwords (all formats) | Kindle
It's Fresh Book Friday again, and I have another story to share with you!
Title: Scandalous: An Owen Family Story
Author: Marsha Ward
Genre: Historical Fiction, Coming of Age story
Publisher: WestWard Books
Date Published: September 8, 2017
Price: $2.99, Free for kindleunlimited subscribers
Purchase Link: Kindle
Book Description:
Young Julianna Owen didn't think flirting with Parley Morgan at the barn raising would lead him to put his hands where they ought not to be. But worse yet, her sister discovers them and Parley abandons her, running off into the woods.
Julianna's strict father has found where she is hiding, and her world on the Colorado frontier is crashing down around her ears. She thought love and romance was only about going on picnics and holding hands, not rough kisses and hurtful pawing.
Now the consequences of her actions might be beyond what she can bear.
In the 1860s Owen Family universe, Scandalous shines a light on teen hormones run amok during a trying time in the family's story, as it ties up a loose thread from the novel, Spinster's Folly.
This edition contains bonus material at the end, an excerpt from the Shenandoah Neighbors story, Bloodied Leather.
Author Bio:
Author Marsha Ward writes authentic historical fiction set in 19th Century America, and contemporary romance. She was born in the sleepy little town of Phoenix, Arizona, in a simpler time. With plenty of room to roam among the chickens and citrus trees, Marsha enjoyed playing with neighborhood chums, but always had her imaginary friend, cowboy Johnny Rigger Prescott, at her side. Now she makes her home in a forest in the mountains of Arizona. She loves to hear from her readers.
Connect with Marsha:
Website: http://marshaward.com
Blog: http://marshaward.blogspot.com
Email: marshaw@marshaward.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormarshaward
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarshaWard
Join Marsha’s mailing list for a free book, special offers, and new releases:
http://eepurl.com/vBKEj
By Marsha Ward @MarshaWard
The first step to getting a book published is to write it. Here's an encouraging excerpt about that from my new book for writers, The Checklist: Indie Publishing My Way.
The essential step in publishing a book is writing it. Yeah. That. This step will take however long it does, but the sooner you develop habits that help you move forward—without an internal editor on your shoulder to make you write, rewrite, polish, and re-polish Chapter 1—the better. It doesn't matter whether or not you own the most popular writer's software out there, or if you write your 1st draft using Word, Open Office, Pages, or Notepad. The point is to push through and finish the draft, because you can't publish a book that isn't finished.
On my checklist, I allow two to three months for writing. Sometimes I hit it, and sometimes I don't, Because Life. Happens. Did I mention that I have a condition known as ADHD? That's Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. A great many creative people—or Creatives, for short—suffer from this malady in its various forms. The condition is difficult to deal with, but all challenges can be overcome (or so I keep telling myself).
Here's a Truth that you must remember: every writer writes differently. In other words, there is no One True Way to write. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that their method for writing is the only method of writing.
The corollary to the Truth is that every writer may write each book differently. Okay, I don't want to scare you or introduce unneeded stress into your life, so I won't say much more about that. Just realize that you may need to write a second book using a different method. No stressing about it, okay? Just get this book finished.
Writers write using methods that string along a spectrum that ranges from Plotter at one end to Pantser at the other. Where you may fall on this spectrum (and it probably will shift from time to time and book to book) depends on how your brain is wired. Plotters feel a compulsion to know everything that will happen in a book, so they plot it out, using outlines of varying degrees of exactitude and comprehensiveness. Pantsers (the name comes from the term "writing-by-the-seat-of-your-pants") are also called organic or discovery writers. They want to write the story and discover what happens as their fingers work on the keyboard. You'd be surprised how many top authors are Pantsers. Really surprised.
Pantsers often are stymied by complete outlines. For example, if I write so little as a synopsis of a book, my brain says, "Well, look there, you've written the story. You don't need me anymore," and it shuts down and refuses to cooperate with me in writing a first draft.
There is so much danger in this state of affairs that I cannot plot out a book. I can only figure out who the main character is, a vague estimate of where the book could end, and maybe a couple or three things I hope will happen along the way. I usually know when and where the story will be set, and maybe what the "inciting incident" or "change in the character's life" is. Beyond that, I have to let my mind direct my fingers when I write.
The process is really kind of cool.
That doesn't mean it's your process. It's mine. And it can change. Slightly.
Different books I've written have called for different degrees of foreknowledge, so I have ranged a bit from the Pantser end toward the Plotter end, but never so much that my brain turned off.
Go with what works for you in writing your book, but do go forward.
The Checklist: Indie Publishing My Way is now available for only $4.99 on the sites of all major ebook vendors:
Coming soon in Print!
