Family by Design

A blog tour book review by Keith N Fisher

What would you do if two kids needed you, but in order to help them, you had to marry your friend? Rena must marry her best friend so he can get custody of his niece and nephew.

Rena chooses to do it, and just when things get settled, he gets called up into the war.

Family by Design, written by Heather Justesen will intrigue you. The author has written another book with an unusual premise. Along with Blank Slate, Family by Design will delight your desire for a different kind of story.

Published by CFI, you will find this book in all the usual places and there is a contest for you to enter at the bottom. Good luck and good reading. Oh, and the Utah county book launch is today Jan 21 at Pioneer books, Orem, Utah. See you there?


Cover Blurb
Before he could think better of it, he blurted out, “I understand your concerns. I’m going to speak to my commander about getting an early discharge. My girlfriend, Rena, and I have talked about getting married. There just hasn’t been any rush.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wondered what he was thinking. Yes, they had discussed marriage, but not to each other! He and Rena had never even dated.

Tucker’s on his way to the biggest challenge of his life. Rena already has it all—except a family of her own. But neither one expected their friendship would take such a dramatic turn.

When Tucker becomes the guardian of his newly orphaned niece and nephew, he knows he can’t handle them alone, not when he might be shipped out with the Marines at any moment. Desperate, he turns to Rena for a major favor. His marriage proposal would give her everything she wants, but can she learn to live without the romance she’s always dreamed of?

As time, prayer, and a life-changing kiss work a little magic in her heart, Rena wonders if someone up there has a plan for her that’s better than anything she could’ve come up with on her own. And though it seems crazy at first, this could become her chance for a marriage that will last for eternity.


Also, as a special promotion for anyone who buys a book before January 31, you can get a free ebook for her companion novella, Shear Luck. Once you buy a copy of her book go here to get your free copy.

Cover Blurb
Chelsea Robison has never forgotten the older boy next door whom she crushed on as a teen, so when she runs into him at the restaurant he’s preparing to open, it’s a delightful shock. And learning he’s available again is more than a little tantalizing.

Vaughn Krenshaw had never seen his neighbor as more than a nice kid—but Chelsea had definitely grown up in the decade since they saw each other last. He’s attracted to the feisty red head, but still struggles over his wife’s death the previous year. And then there’s his five-year-old daughter, Molly, who really liked Chelsea—until she realized the woman was dating her dad.

As Chelsea starts to wonder if their love for each other will be enough to make things work, a specter from Vaughn’s past rises, making her question whether she really knew him at all.




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Stray Thoughts

By Keith N Fisher

Well, it’s three am on Saturday morning, my usual time for posting a blog, and I haven’t got anything written. I just woke up from a nap with another book idea, but I need to work out the details before I tell you about it. I’m chasing stray thoughts like a man following a lost dog down the street.

During my deliberation about possible posts, this week. I considered the presidential race in this country. I asked a customer what he thought and his response surprised me. He’s always been good for an opposing opinion, or at least a strong point of view. Essentially, he suggested that we could take all the money every candidate wastes on getting elected and use it find homes for almost all the people who live under bridges.

I stood there in awe. He was right, but he’d always been an advocate of no government intervention. How did we get to a place where candidates spend more money on the campaign then they do helping the needy?

On another, more writerly note, I was pleased to pick up my copy of Writer’s Digest and read about Andy Ross. He runs a literary agency and I’m thrilled to see him succeed. You might remember I wrote about him when I talked about the demise of independent bookstores. You can find his contact info here.

Also, on a more local note, I made plans this week to attend two local writer’s conferences; Life the Universe, and Everything (LTUE) on February 9-11 at UVU (Utah Valley University), and LDStorymakers Conference on May 3-5. I hope to see you there.

I have two friends (and critique group partners), launching their books soon; Family by Design by Heather Justesen, and Targets in Ties by Tristi Pinkston. Heather, on Jan 21, and Tristi, in February. See you at Pioneer Books in Orem. Utah.

Now, on a personal note: I’m still waiting to hear from a publisher about The Hillside and I’m sitting on the sequel until I hear about the first. Every day I check the mail. And check my email about thrice. If any of you have any pull, say a little prayer for me?

I’m editing Star Crossed and writing Shadow Boxing. I think you’ll like them. Good luck with your writing---see you next week.

Living the Dream

By Keith N Fisher

Every time he comes into my work, I ask my customer how he is. “Just living the dream,” he often says. Of course, he’s being sarcastic, but it got me thinking the other day.

When we were kids, we all dreamed of things that would happen in our lives. Some even chose a career path based on those dreams. Some followed that path, others took forks in the road. Most of us have yet to realize those dreams. Some of us never will.

I suppose fear plays a big role in that, but circumstances often get in the way, too. What are your dreams? Have you mapped your course? Many of the writers who read this, have the same dream: I want to be a best selling author. I want to be able to quit my other job and write full time.

I sat in a workshop once, listening to James Dashner talk about his dream and how he realized it. He said that he decided he wanted to write full time. He didn’t talk about goals or how to attain them, he didn’t really talk about focus. He mentioned how blessed he had been, which is an important key, but knowing James, I think for him it was focus. He wanted something bad enough to act, and keep after it, until it happened for him. Google him, it might give you hope.

I often talk about my desire to write full time, but responsibility often gets in the way. If I were to be honest with myself, however, I think it’s been a lack of focus. I’m a prolific writer. I have a full, project file. I’ve been focussing on the craft, not on the promotion.

I have another friend who found writing success by focussing on blogging and other promotion, so entirely, she now teaches others about it. She is published nationally, partly because publishers know how much work she is willing to do for success. Yes, her name is Elana Johnson.

It’s true. If we want something bad enough, we must focus and exclude other concerns. So with a little hard work, and perseverance, we can be living the dream. Whatever it might be.

There is, however, a possible dark side. Someone once said, “Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.” I knew a man, who hated his job. He felt abused by his superiors and told himself that he could put up with abuse, if only his wages were higher. One thing led to another. He got the salary he wanted, but the abuse increased. This time, his boss was an ex Marine and he used the whipping boy method of management. My friend was the whipping boy. The salary almost compensated, but the abuse messed him up in the end.

We’ve all heard stories about people who get their wishes and find out they were happier before. We often appease our self by saying, if only. Or things will be better when . . . then, after achieving those dreams we discover unforeseen circumstances.

As for being able to write full time, promotion in the national market involves a lot of travel. Writing is often done in hotel rooms before leaving for some book-selling event. If your dream involved locking yourself away, writing your next best seller at home, you might be disappointed.

Good luck with your writing dreams---see you next week.

The Mayans Made a Calendar

By Keith N Fisher

Today is the last day. At Midnight, 2011 becomes history. 2012 promises to be an unusual year. Depending on who you talk to, and which method you follow, it’s the end of the Mayan calendar, which means the end of the world???? Some people claim the ancient Mayans made a calendar that ends in December of 2012. So naturally it’s a forecast, right?

Okay, each year, I get a new wall calendar with only twelve months. If we follow the above logic, then the world should end each year. Instead, we print a new calendar and get on with our lives. I guess we could assume the calendar maker knows something, and we should crawl into a hole to wait out the destruction.

Yes, I’m being facetious, but when He gave signs and clues about his second coming, Jesus said, “Know man knoweth the hour.” According to scripture, there are dozens of major events that must happen before the end comes. All of those things will take a little time, so maybe the Mayans weren’t predicting anything. Then, again . . .

Also, in 2012, there will be another US Presidential election, how many of you are already getting tired of the posturing? Like with Christmas music, I get so tired of it, by the time the big event comes, I just want it to be over. I get sick of dreaming of a white Christmas. There must be hundreds of different people who sing, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful . . . well, you get the picture.

In 2012, the public accusations will rise to a new low. I’m already sick of politicians who continue to blame the other guy for the state of the country. Each side has an agenda and they try to make us believe the other side won’t work with them. I’m thoroughly fed up with selective memory and apparent hypocrisy. With all the, my way or the highway, maybe the Mayans were right?

So here we sit on the last day of sanity, on the edge of a big year, with financial gurus forecasting devastation. I find it interesting, that it was the financial institutions that got us into the mess we find ourselves in currently.

Now, before you think I’m preaching gloom and doom, let me tell you a story. On New Years Eve 1999 I stood in a discount club warehouse and watched all the people pushing trolleys loaded with canned goods and emergency supplies. I wondered why, if they were worried, they hadn’t prepared sooner. There was a threat that the computers in the world might shut down with the change of the century. Since computer clocks started in the nineteen eighties, the experts wondered how the systems would interpret any date without nineteen hundred something in it.

In the weeks that followed, I saw ads everywhere. People wanted to sell their emergency supplies. The catastrophe didn’t happen and they were trying to recoup their losses.

It’s true that stuff happens. Sometimes it doesn’t, but Jesus said,
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Trust in him. Live your life. Be happy, and be at peace. Connie posted a blog this week and talked about setting her writing goals. I plan to do that, because, hectic or not, 2012 is the year several of my books will see the light of day.

May you accomplish all your writing goals this year and may you find peace. Good luck with your writing---see you next week---unless, of course, the end comes.

The Holiday Hustle

By Keith N Fisher

I havent filled my list. Well, the truth is I never made one. My wife went out on Black Friday and came up empty handed. She has a new plan for next year, though. She’s going to eat Thanksgiving dinner in the line in front of the store.

She knows what she wants to buy before she shops. Me, on the other hand . . .
My daughter and I went shopping to find her mother a Christmas present the other day. Neither of us could think of a suitable gift. Just goes to show where our minds have been.

I’ve been too caught up in the day to day. The holiday hustle and service, has taken a back seat. Then, there was this guy at work . . .

One of my customers came in talking about the Idaho lottery. He said several of his friends had chipped in, and he was on his way to buy tickets. He asked me what I would do if I won. I told him I don’t gamble, but I remember hearing about the employees of a construction company doing what he was doing. They won big money.

To answer his question, I wasn’t sure what I’d do with the money if I won, but the group I’d heard about kept working and used their winnings as a hedge against inflation.

The conversation got me thinking and I surprised myself. I told my friend I would keep working and start a foundation to give anonymous gifts to needy families. I assure you I’m not that service minded, but in my heart of hearts, I knew it would be the right thing to do. I think it’s what Jesus would do.

Then, the thought occurred, that it’s easy to make that kind of decision with a hypothetical winning lottery ticket in hand. The true nature of my thoughts, while holding a stack of cash, might be entirely different. Would I pay off the mortgage? Spoil my daughter? Fix up the house?

Of course, there are many loose ends I need to tie up, but I like to think I would also help others.

After coming to that realization, I thought of all the past Christmas’ when giving was paramount in my mind. Christmas in the mission field comes to mind. The first ten years of marriage does also. There were times in my life when my heart was in the right place. So, where is my heart now?

Losing jobs and reinventing myself while promoting my writing career has left me somewhat, self-centered, I think. With all of that self-promotion, it’s hard to remember others. Yeah, it’s an excuse, but it helps me justify my actions. I missed two opportunities for service this week. I could’ve been there, but I got lost in the holiday hustle.

It’s true, life is simple in retrospect, but I’ve decided to change. I really would love my job to be a choice, instead of a necessity. To be able to help others, and spend quality time with my family. So, I’m taking Jacob’s advice from The Book of Mormon,

17 Think of your "brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that 'they may be rich like unto you.
18 But "before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the 'kingdom of God.
19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to "do good-to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted. Jacob 2:17-19 pasted verbatim

Just think about what would happen if I substituted the words writing success, for the word riches.

I’m posting this on Christmas Eve. Later on, I’ll be working. Like last year, I’ll come home from work, wake my family, and see what Santa left under our tree. Then, before church, I’ll take a short nap and plot my strategy for serving others. In the mean time, here’s a cute little video you might enjoy.

Merry Christmas and good luck with your writing---see you next week.

Happy Christmas

Check out this video http://lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages?lang=eng#2009-12-41-the-christmas-spirit

a Quick Thought

By Keith N Fisher

Now, just a quick thought.

My friend posted a fun little thing on Facebook the other day. Some of you will get a kick out of it. I found it interesting to note, however, that all of the time and labor saving devices we have today were invented by my generation. Perhaps we are to blame, but would you really want to go back to the old ways?

Roger “B” Heilman posted,

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the disposable kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Good luck with your writing---see you next week.