Archives for October 2011

James Read-along Week 5

October 5, 2011 by Amy 5 Comments

Another short one for this week but I’m so glad it fell on this week, just a day after I announced I’ve written an eBook. This verse?

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:15-16

That in a nutshell is what my eBook is about. I went through a really hard time but I’m ready to share some truth. And most of all, I’m ready to help pray some women through their confession and healing. I love this post from Justin at RefineUs blog. There is no shame in admitting a failure. In fact, I believe in those words the truth will set you free. And it’s not just an inner truth, I think there is power in confessing it publicly. Maybe you don’t need to write an eBook or stand in front of a group but I wholeheartedly believe in this idea that we are truly healed when we confess to one another. Sharing this book with some of my family and friends has provided a freedom that I had not found to date, even years after I had confessed to those I had wronged.

Before I write another eBook, I’ll stop there and just ask, what do you need to confess? Is there something I can pray for you about?

Things I’ve Learned Writing an eBook

October 4, 2011 by Amy 18 Comments

So I have something to tell you that I’ve been keeping a secret.

I’ve written an ebook.

If you’ve felt like this blog was suffering in content at all, it’s because I’m feverishly writing, planning and thinking about this ebook. Ebooks seems to be all the rage with bloggers these days. I see a new one pop up in a tweet or blog post almost daily. With the amount coming out, I thought the process must be pretty simple. Write a few blog posts, put them in a word doc, convert it to a pdf and ta-da! I was ready to share my story with the world. Not so, my friend. Not so AT ALL. I’m not quite ready to share my book yet but there are some things I’ve learned already that might help some of you considering one:

Writing the book is the easy part. Many of the chapters were written in one sitting. Just because I’m passionate about the subject and it’s something I’ve never written about, the words came tumbling out. That’s not to say they came out just right.
That said, making effort to increase youtube subscribers is hard. Who knew there was content editing, copy editing, ebook formatting, book design, web design and video editing all to think about when really you just wanted to slap a link to a pdf out into the world wide web?
Different ebook formats needed for the Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc are technically intimidating and confusing. And I’m a programmer for goodness sakes!
Writing marketing material is apparently an art I never learned.
Publishing an ebook is really expensive and I’m constantly weighing the cost against my incompetence to see if it’s worth the risk of not doing it well.
That said, sometimes it’s just not worth the cost-saving and leaving it to the professionals is worth every red cent.
I have some amazing friends that are so supportive. This book wouldn’t be happening without their encouragement.
I have some super talented friends. One of my favorite parts of this process has been to watch my friends do their best work.
Writing an ebook can be one of the most vulnerable positions to be in. This book will be my heart turned inside out and while I’m excited about it, it took and will continue to take a good dose of courage to share it.
God is so entirely amazing it blows my mind. He has shown up at every turn without fail. If He calls you to it, He. will. provide.

I can not wait to share this with you. Do I know when that will be yet? Not yet. But when I know it, I promise it’s a secret I won’t be keeping.

This post has been linked up to ohAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday

Weekend Recap

October 3, 2011 by Amy 3 Comments

My weekends have been busy but tame lately.
Friday night started out by picking up our rental. I begged not to have a little bug of a car like we did when we had hail and water damage in our neighborhood. Luckily he hired this company to help us fix our home, learn more about them here. We got a Dodge Avenger and I have to say I’ve enjoyed scooting around in it this weekend. After eating dinner at a local place we dropped the kids off at my parents for a last-minute sleepover. Scott and I were wiped and when we crawled in bed the clock said 7:52. For real. How’s that for an exciting Friday night?

Saturday I was up early and spent time time cleaning up, having a great phone call with my friend Liz and scooting over to Target to use a gift card all by my lonesome. I got some new sunglasses (since the dog ate mine), a new Welcome rug and wait for this one…12 pack of toilet paper. How bad is it I poured over the purses, clothes AND shoes and didn’t find a thing to buy?
Saturday afternoon I finally convinced the girls to come home to spend time with me. We spent time outside as we had beautiful weather. Saturday night we cooked steaks and had a great dinner together. But again, we were in bed by 9.

Sunday after church and dinner, the kids ended up spending time with their cousin. I spent the afternoon finishing up the purple paint in the girls’ bathroom, doing more laundry and grocery shopping. I even managed to cook Pioneer Woman’s meatballs and mashed potatoes for dinner. The four of us packed up and snuck out for Frosty’s. It was a great ending to the weekend and we were ALL in bed by 8:15 last night.
These weekends sound a little boring but I’ll tell you, I love being caught up with all the housework. I love being home and not feeling rushed. I love that we ate two great dinners at home. I’m such a homebody!
After going to bed last night so early (and the two nights before) I woke up starting at 2:30 and then every hour after that until I finally gave up at 5:45 and got out of bed. At that point, I’d had 8+ hours of sleep and I was ready to get the week started. I got up, got completely ready, got the kids ready for school and somehow I didn’t have time for anything extra but it was a nice way to start the week unrushed and with a smile on our faces. I think this early to bed/early riser thing certainly has its merits. Scott goes on night shifts this week which means he’ll be wanting to stay up late to stay on schedule so I don’t know if I’ll try to stick with his schedule or stay on this one. In any case, I think we had a great weekend and got a great start to the week. Hope yours was great as well!