He who must not be named

By Beckie Carlson


I've been thinking a lot about Harry Potter lately. That Rowling chick has some pretty deep wisdom in her writing. Amazing what a single mom waiting tables can scribble down on a few napkins. At least that is the version I've been told. Remember, I'm pretty gullible so, don't judge me.
At the risk of being expelled for mentioning things in the forbidden section of the library, I've been thinking about the Horcrux idea. In the books, Lord V splits his soul and attaches parts of it to objects in order to insure his immortality. A very clever idea, although lacking in some judgment. Who wouldn't want to live forever? Just tonight my son asked me a "would you rather" question about that very topic. "Would you rather win the lottery or live to be 200 years old?" or something like that. It was easy. I chose to live longer. After I answered, I thought about why I had answered the way I did. My first thought was I would be able to be with my children longer.Then I thought about money and how fleeting it is, and unimportant...unless you don't have any....it is. Then I thought about the fact that I don't play the lottery because I don't believe in something for nothing. Then I thought about how wrinkly I would be at the age of 200. I might have made the wrong choice.
What if falling in love were like a Horcrux action? What if, every time someone fell in love, a piece of their heart became permanently attached to the person they fell in love with. Even if they later fell out of love with that person, the person they once loved kept that piece of their heart. How would that affect a person and their ability to love? In the HP books, Lord V became more evil and selfish and less and less human. Would it get harder for a person to love when parts of their heart were missing? Like big holes in a drainer....try as you might, you can't keep the water in. Is that how it would be?
I've heard it said, probably in a movie, that when your heart gets broken it grows back bigger. I have really questioned that lately. My heart has been broken, several times. Sometimes by someone else and sometimes I've done it to myself. It doesn't feel stronger, it feels cracked. It's like grandmas favorite glass bowl she makes jello in, only with a wide crack down the side where that jello slowly leaks out and stains the table cloth. Try as I might, I can't seem to keep it in.
So what does a person do when they have split their heart and lost pieces of it? Some might hide their heart away in a drawer in the back of their closet, afraid it will fall to pieces and nothing would be left. Others might try to hold it together with the duct tape of friendship and laughter, only to see it pulling and straining and wobbling. Others might fill that bowl as full of jello as they can and try to pass it around before it empties out.
But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe a broken heart does grow back bigger and stronger and more able to love and be loved. Maybe a broken heart is required before a person can every truly love. Maybe the cracks and fissures and missing pieces are the places where love comes in, not goes out.
I really don't have an answer for you. All I know is that we all want love, in one form or another. Its what we crave, need, and search for whether we will admit it or not... Cause I said so.

Photo credit: www.muslimmatters.org

To Blog or Not to Blog...

by Bunny Miner

Well, I've been a guest blogger here for a couple of months now.  I'm sure you've all noticed that I'm a newbie at it and haven't really even had very insightful blog posts but with my time here running down (I think this is a 6 month gig...) and my publication date getting closer, I have to decide if I'm going to blog on my own website when the time comes.

I know, we're all encouraged to blog about ourselves and our books and our writing lives but honestly, who cares about what I do?  Wouldn't my time be better spent just writing and working on my craft?  I usually don't have a problem tooting my own horn because I think I'm pretty awesome (just ask my kids, they'll tell you that I often remind them that they have a great mother) but I just keep coming back to the fact that I can't see why people would care about what I'm doing.

My target audience is 3-6, 8 if I'm going to stretch it.  I think it's pretty safe to say they don't care about me.  Their parents will be buying my book (I hope!) but the thought never occurred to me as a sleep deprived mother of babies and toddlers to sit down at the computer for my 2 free minutes and research the author of a book I read to my kids.

That being said, I'm sure there's a good reason to blog.  So, what are your reasons to blog if you're a writer?  Is it to get more people to read and buy your books?  If so, what do you blog about?  WIP's?  How you came to write your first book?  What?  And how do you keep that topic going?  Eventually you have to branch out to other topics.  So, how do you pick your topics?  Do you just come up with random tidbits each day?  Is it always about writing or do you sprinkle everyday life in there as well?  Then, how often do you post?  How do you find time to do that AND your writing?

In case you didn't notice, I'm digging here.  I know I have to start blogging on my own website (which still isn't done, btw!) but I'm trying to figure out how to be organized about it.  Organization is NOT my strong suit but with 4 kids, one about to get married, one about to go on a mission, one in competitive gymnastics (which really takes over most of my free time) and one in a play on the other side of a town 2 towns over from mine, I have to get organized!  I also work full-time, take care of my disabled father (who is fine, btw, his surgery from a few posts ago was just cataract surgery) and have a husband who likes attention too!  Phew, I made myself tired just thinking about all that.  When I add all the writing responsebilites on top of that, I get overwhelmed!  So, I'm asking for help and I hope you'll all be forthcoming in how you handle things because I'm sure your lives are just as busy and crazy as mine!  Help a sister out, friends.  Let me know how you blog and keep everything in your life running on schedule.

The time is now yours!  Comment, comment, comment!

Thanks in advance!

(Notice I actually got this post up on time this week! And I'm not even home. I'm on vacation...maybe that's the answer, more vacations!  Actually, the wonderful Marsha Ward sent out reminders, GREAT IDEA!)

My How Things Can Change or Have They?

by Terri Wagner

When I joined the church at the tender age of 17 and went off to college, I hated it when the talks or conversations were about the end of times. After all, I was young, lots of dreams, places to go, people to see, that sort of thing. It was the 70s, and then it was overpopulation, global freezing, dying polar bears, Jimmy Carter's economy, lack of morals, women's lib, crumbling public schools, you name it, we had it including the dreaded and disgusting rock and roll!!! And always the threat of nuclear destruction from the Soviet Union.

Every day someone would discuss the end times as if it were right around the corner. I used to worry about having food storage because I was in college and had non-member parents. They laughed uproariously when I timidly suggested we needed to have something on hand (that has changed just so you know). Continental drift was a major discussion for late night pizza/study sessions, and that included all the dire upheavals the world would experience as we one day would just slam into each other. Course as I always pointed out that would pretty end the overpopulation situation, LOL.

We could not have known about the coming 20 odd years of peace and prosperity courtesy of Ronald Reagan and a responsible Congress. I just knew that world was a pretty cool place, and I wanted my chance to experience everything I could. We didn't call it a bucket list back then, but in a way that is what it was. I had lots of things on that list. And I was afraid I would not have the time to do them. Sooner more than later, the end times would happen, and the earth as I knew it would pass away.

Fast forward now about 30 years from then. We now have hmmm global warming, dying polar bears, totally messed up public school system, the new yet old economic turndown, an almost complete breakdown of the family, rock and rock changed to rap, and well yes women's lib (now they want the priesthood), and you get the picture...and still the threat of nuclear destruction.

And I'm older and some of those bucket list things have been done and checked off and remember with great joy and delight. But I'm not done yet. And somehow I don't think the world is finished yet either. We have work to do. President Monson has made it clear. I'm glad. I'm still not ready for the end of the end!

I'm not Polyanna but I'm not Cassandra either. I just happen to like the world I came to and am not quite ready to leave yet. When the end time comes, maybe then, I'll be ok with it. Until then let me start working on that list and add some things as well.

Sugar and Spice

By Claire Enos

"Sugar and spice and everything nice that's what girls are made of."

Lately we've all heard a lot of talk as women in a group from the LDS Church decided to wait outside the doors at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, demanding to be let into the Priesthood meeting Saturday night. Earlier tonight, it was covered on the news here in Idaho, and I've seen articles all over facebook, for and against women having the priesthood (which is what these women stand for). I have friends who are for women having the priesthood, and I'm not discounting their feelings in any way. After all, we are all entitled to our own opinions, right?

This post isn't about that whole debacle (though I probably will be posting one on my personal blog sometime soon, if you somehow inexplicably would like my opinion on that matter). It's about the inherent attributes we, as women and daughters of a Heavenly King, all share.

I know I'm young, but in the short years I've been around I've come to realize that there's something special about every young woman I've met who knows who she is. She has a glow about her, and she's nice and sweet. She's not bitter or harsh. She is more than just her name, or her family, or even her religion. She is a Daughter of God, and she knows it. She knows how to act. She might make mistakes, but she knows that they can be forgiven, and she can turn things around, and she works toward that.

None of us are perfect, however I know deep down inside we all have these attributes, or we can if we are willing to accept who we are and work on becoming that person.

Why is all this important?

Because, I think it's important for every woman on Earth to know that she is Special. She is one of a kind. She is wanted and needed. She has a purpose (after all, she wouldn't be here if she didn't). We don't need "equality." Not in the worldly sense of the word, anyway. We are already equal, we are already important to the Plan. We can't live without men, and men can't live without us.

Well, for having no idea what I was going to write about, I think I did a pretty darn good job. I hope I haven't bored you all to tears, or that I don't seem too high and mighty. Because, believe me, I have a LOT to learn in this life, and I plan to make good use of the time I have left in life to learn all I can.

<3Claire