LDSPMA

LDSPMA Member Spotlight: Jessica Francis

January 24, 2023 By LDSPMA Leave a Comment

What are some names of the books or other media you have created?

I create weekly videos for families to use as a tool to help spark learning and discussion during family scripture study time. Children have the amazing capability to learn the principles of the gospel at young ages. If we can simplify the gospel into terms the children can understand and help them apply those principles into their everyday lives they begin building testimonies of their own.

What inspired you to become a creator of media?

Through much prayer and study, the Lord has been impressing on my mind the usefulness of my talent to simply doctrine and principles in ways that children can understand and apply. I have felt impressed to start making and sharing puppet show videos that focus on one principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ each week, and they align with the Come Follow Me program so that families can use them to facilitate teaching their children the gospel at home.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

I love hearing how children are using my videos to learn the gospel.

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given in your creative journey?

It takes time to build up an audience.

What keeps you inspired in your daily creative work?

The on-going inspiration through the Holy Ghost prodding me onward and upward.

What would you like others to know about you or your creative process?

Right now I am doing every part of video production and I am looking for others to help. Trying to be Actor, Editor, Director, Composer, Musician, Playwright, etc. is too much for one person. Anyone who has some talent, time to dedicate, and love of sharing the gospel is welcome to join me in this adventure!

In what ways do you feel you have been able to be a voice for good in your creative pursuits?

Many children are learning how to apply the scriptures into their lives. I know my children have benefited from this endeavor.

If you want your spotlight to link to your website or any of your social media platforms, include the URLs here.

https://www.youtube.com/c/WithJoyandSong

Faith and Fear are Two Sides of the Same Coin: 3 Steps to Creating in Faith

August 12, 2021 By LDSPMA Leave a Comment

By Lauri Mackey

Both faith and fear are a belief in something unseen and yet to be experienced; why do we sometimes give fear more power than our faith?

While there are several analogies we can use to prove this point, let’s focus on sharing our creative talents with others as members of LDSPMA—in whatever form that may take. For me, it is a love of the microphone in inspiring others with my words and a love of stringing words together into a poem, a blog, a book, my journal, or simply penning a letter to a friend.

For you, that may also include creating music, editing someone else’s words in the form of a book or lyrics, or acting in front of the camera or catching the scene as the cameraman.

There is a certain amount of faith and fear that can be in constant battle with each other.

Whatever your chosen form of media from publishing to podcasting, I believe there is a certain amount of faith and fear that can be in constant battle with each other. Faith is the moving force to propel us forward with our work and fear keeps us frozen in place or worse, moving backward.

Let’s examine both for a minute, shall we? Where do faith and fear come from?

Fear

In 2 Timothy 1:7 it reads “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Let’s be clear that we are not talking about a “fear of God” which is actually not to be afraid of our loving Heavenly Father, but is akin to “awe, worship, and reverence” of God as outlined in the Bible Dictionary. I therefore suggest that fear is most definitely not of God, but of the adversary to stop us in our tracks of not sharing our talents and gifts with others for fear of rejection, shame, guilt, or simply making a mistake.

Faith

But faith, faith is beautiful! Geeking out a bit more in the Bible Dictionary, let me share a few passages found under the definition of faith.

Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true.
Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith.
Faith is an action word.
Faith is a principle of power.
Faith is a gift.
Faith must be nurtured and sought after.
Where there is true faith there are miracles, visions, dreams, healings, and all the gifts of God.

Just reading about faith makes me want to grab my pom-poms and cheer for you to rise up and be the best you can be in whatever your chosen field, but even I have that fear that can cause me to find a million excuses to not work on my book or blog today…the laundry needs to be done, I have errands to run, the dog ate my homework…

How then can we choose faith over fear on sometimes a daily if not hourly basis?

I’d like to suggest three powerful antidotes to your fear:

First, motivation is not step one.

Second, leveling up your support.

Third, cultivate a green thumb.

First: Motivation is Not Step One

If you are waiting for motivation to hit you between the eyes, you are putting your life and your work on hold unnecessarily. Motivation is a powerful tool, but you will never keep it going if you don’t take the first step.

The best example I can use is that of attending an awe-inspiring, motivating, rah-rah conference. It could have been an amazing podcast you listened to or a Time Out for Women event, or the latest LDSPMA conference. You go, you get inspired, you meet people in your field and chat with them, you take copious amounts of notes, and then rush home to do the work only to be waylaid yet again. What happened? You were completely fired up and then fizzled out after day one or week one. It’s because motivation is step two.

Step one is action. Motivation is step two. But there is a third step you absolutely must take in order for this to work. The third step is momentum.

You absolutely must take step one which then motivates you. You then create a cycle of action, motivation, action, motivation, action, motivation, which in turn creates momentum.

Have you ever tried to move a large object uphill? You need a running start, maybe an extra person or two or three, and then momentum is created to get your large object up the hill. Without it you stay at the bottom of the hill simply staring at your large object and the large hill and never try.

So who are those extra couple of people that helped you get the large object up the hill to create the momentum you needed? That brings us to our next item of support.

Second: Leveling Up Your Support

Jeffrey R Holland said it best: “Faith-filled life is not a stress-free life.”

I believe that we are always going to have some sort of stress in our life. One of my favorite sayings lately is that “I don’t love drama, but it loves me.” I’m over here minding my own business when KAPLOWEE!! A friend is in distress, relatives are bickering, a sister I minister to has gotten offended once again and wants to tell you all the reasons she will never come to another church activity ever again…you get the idea.

I understand that we can also create our own stress, but the point is that even if you’ve done everything you can to eliminate stress in your life, things happen. It’s life! It wasn’t meant to be smooth and if your life has been a cakewalk I truly want to visit with you and learn your secret as soon as possible.

Stress comes in so many forms—physical stress, emotional stress, work stress, school stress, family stress, relationship stress, and yes, even church stress. Stress is something that in main stream media has become the enemy. It is wrapped up in a big ol’ ball of yuckiness that attacks at any given moment. Sometimes it sneaks up on you ever so slowly and sometimes it just smacks you in the face…right between the eyes. Let’s break down stress a little further.

My motto has been “to clean a mess you have to make a mess.”

Have you ever cleaned out a closet, a drawer, or your file cabinet? You have to make a mess to clean a mess. It gets worse before it gets better, but downsize and get rid of you must. Admittedly, I’m an organizational freakazoid. Whenever I start feeling overwhelmed and completely stressed out, my first line of defense is to take inventory, evaluate what I can possibly let go, and then manage my feeling of being overwhelmed.…I clean out a closet.

Whatever is stressing you out, step back, take an inventory and see what you can let go. This is the first step in letting unnecessary stress go. Then step two would be to up-level your support to not only match your stress, but hopefully surpass it. Stress is ok. You heard me correctly. Stress is ok, but it absolutely must be tempered with support. If your scales are not balanced between your state of being overwhelmed and your support, you are stressed.

Sometimes the stress we are working with can be handled on our own through prayer, scripture study, talking it out with a friend or relative. But sometimes you need more than that. Anytime I’m feeling overwhelmed and I can’t seem to shake it I inevitably reach for one of two things—my therapist’s phone number, or someone specific to help me in whatever is the stressful problem. If it’s an emotional problem, yes, it’s the therapist, but if it’s a spiritual problem it may be my bishop. If it’s a problem with my book and I’ve hit a wall, I call my author friends.

Stress may be our constant companion at times, but I believe with the right type and level of support, faith will win over fear every time. Grab those one or two or three people to help you push that large object up that even larger hill.

Third: Cultivating a Green Thumb

Faith starts as a seed…but just like a seed it takes time and cultivation to grow into something worthwhile. What does that mean for us in practical terms? Practice!

Abraham Lincoln once said that “Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.” Discipline is all about practicing. It’s about choosing again, again, and again to work toward what you want most instead of what you want right now.

What does [faith] mean for us in practical terms? Practice!

Think about this with exercise. From the professional football player or ballerina to the mom wanting to gain strength back so that she can keep up with her toddler, discipline is needed to take the time and required effort to exercise to achieve your goal.

Think about this with a musical instrument. When I interviewed Jenny Oaks Baker for my podcast, the thing that struck me most was the time commitment her parents had taught her growing up in playing the violin. She has lovingly passed on that trait to her children who now tour with her. Discipline is all about practicing.

Admittedly, I was born with more of a black thumb than a green one. I’ve killed more plants than I can count—so sad. But I kept at it. I learned how to choose plants that were more hardy and could survive my black thumb issues. I employed people who knew how to take care of plants and asked for help. I’m happy to report that while I may have not gotten all the way to having a green thumb, it’s definitely more brown than black.

Faith is the same. Perhaps you were born with a green thumb and I am so happy for you! But if you tend to lean more towards the black or brown thumb persuasion, there is hope! Don’t ever give up! Practice can and will support you in your journey towards more and more faith.

Decide now to do what President Nelson in the April 2020 general conference challenged us to do when he said, “The Lord loves effort.” Discipline takes effort, and sometimes that effort includes a lot of hard work, but with our Heavenly Father, the Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost by our sides, we can try a little harder.

Faith and fear are two sides of the same coin: both are a belief in something unseen and yet to be experienced.

Your gifts and talents in your chosen field are needed. My hope is that you can find some motivation in these words and plan right now to take that action step that will create your own motivation, and then momentum in giving faith all of the glory and power it deserves and kicking fear to the curb.

Lauri Mackey, Positivity Crusader, is the proprietor of Lauri’s Lemonade Stand, a Positivity Podcast for Women and authoress of Positivity Happens, Creating Happiness and Finding Hope through The Art of Holiatry. Lauri is currently working on her next book and holding firesides throughout the Western United States with the goal of sharing hope, light, and love with others. Lauri’s unique background of struggle through experience has her shouting from the rooftops that if she can come through it, anyone can!

Links to Lauri’s work:

Facebook @LaurisLemonadeStand

Positivity Happens Book

LLS Podcast on Apple Podcasts

LLS Podcast on Spotify

Lauri’s Lemonade Stand Website/Blog

What Is LDSPMA Really About?

May 26, 2021 By LDSPMA Leave a Comment

By Michael I. Judson

Years ago, I worked for Novell, a company that, at one time, was the world leader in computer networking software. You might think the way the company got so big was by focusing on beating out all its competitors, but our mission statement was just the opposite. It was: “To grow the networking industry faster than it would without us.”

That mission statement seemed counterintuitive at first. Why spend time and resources helping everyone else in the industry when we had our own company’s success to look after? But over time, the wisdom of that approach began to manifest itself. You see, personal computers were relatively new at the time, and networking them together was a novel concept, so we needed help to create awareness and demand for products in our industry.

Without the infrastructure of the industry, our leaders knew the company would never succeed, so we developed our own trade show and aggressively invited other companies to participate. We sponsored training and professional certification programs, started our own industry magazine, and published newsletters for resellers and dealers. And we sought out mutually beneficial partnerships with other technology companies.

So, what has all of this got to do with the Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association? Of course, we are not out to dominate some “industry.” Rather, we want to bring the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as we can through the creative works of gifted writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers and more. And the best way to do this is by helping everyone who has a similar desire, to reach their goals—including organizations that may look a bit like ours.

Borrowing a well-known metaphor, we want to be a part of the “rising tide” that helps to “lift all boats.” Yes, we want to succeed as an organization; otherwise, why exist? By collaborating with other organizations and individuals with a similar vision, we can help to inspire more creativity, develop more opportunities for sharing ideas and creative works, and establish more connections with more people who share a passion for spreading praiseworthy works to a sometimes dark and dreary world.

Announcing . . .

With that as a backdrop, we are thrilled to announce a partnership with the American Night Writers Association (ANWA), which will begin with LDSPMA and ANWA each promoting the other’s annual conferences.

ANWA is a professional organization for writers and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose purpose is to encourage, assist, educate, and motivate Church members to write, and, if they desire, to publish their works.
Learn more about ANWA at their website or on Facebook or Instagram, and watch for additional announcements from LDSPMA about partnerships and sponsorships to help us serve and inspire more Latter-day Saints who are interested in publishing and media.
And if you are part of an organization that shares our vision and would like to explore partnership or sponsorship opportunities with LDSPMA, please contact me at [email protected].

Mike Judson is a professional communicator, author, and the LDSPMA Director of Development.

7 Ways To Help Readers Discover Your Books

May 12, 2021 By LDSPMA 1 Comment

By Karlene Browning

When you publish your first book, you aren’t just putting a story out there. You are launching a brand and an identity that will travel with you over the course of your writing career. If you do it right, it will help lead readers to you in a natural and organic fashion. If you do it wrong, it will confuse readers and they will get lost on their way to finding you.

While each of these tips has its own set of pros and cons, whys and wherefores, rules, and reasons to break the rules, this tip list will help your readers find YOU when they’re looking for a good book to read.

1. Pick your name

As your brand, your name needs to be unique enough to differentiate you from other authors with similar names. Do a Google search. If you happen to share a name with another author or a famous person, consider adding an initial, using a middle name, or using a less common pen name.

When a reader finds an author they like, they will Google the name on the cover of the book. You want them to find you online wherever you are. Whether you’re Jane Doe, Jane S. Doe, or Jane Smith Doe, that is your brand and you need to use it on every book cover and on all your online author accounts.

2. Claim your name

Before your name is set in stone, make sure you can get it as a .com, a Google ID and gmail address, and on the social media platforms you prefer. You want identifiable and consistent name branding across as many platforms as possible.

Here again, Google is your friend. If the .com is taken, adjust your name until you find a variation that you’re comfortable with, then grab the URL and social media account names as fast as you can. Even if you aren’t quite ready to publish, get them NOW!

3. Avoid too many pen names

There are several valid and legitimate reasons for having multiple pen names. Just know that for each name, you start all over from scratch to build a brand and platform. You’ll need a website, social media accounts, and emails for each one. Is it worth it?

In most cases, differentiating genres is not a good reason to create a new pen name. Readers usually find you through the genre they like best. If they like you, they will give your other genres a try. A good website will let them know what to expect in each genre.

The only time it truly serves you to use a second (or third) name is if one area of writing would offend established readers or damage your reputation. For example, if you write both Middle Grade and soft porn, use a pen name. Or if you write academic papers on quantum physics and Regency Romance, use a pen name or your academic peers will snicker behind your back.

4. Get a website

You need an online presence with a permanent URL and an easily searchable website or blog. (Facebook and Twitter are add-ons, not adequate author sites.) Unless you know you are only going to write one book, your URL should be your name (see tips 1 & 2), not your book title. Not only will a website help people find you, but it gives them something to link to when they want to share your books with their friends.

While you can start with a free site, I recommend a hosted domain as soon as possible. Free sites can change policies or close down at any time. At the very least, point that URL from tip #2 to your free blog, and use that URL on business cards and book bios.

5. Post your books on your site

You would think this is one of those “duh” statements, but you would be surprised at how many author sites and blogs I go to that have absolutely no mention of their books. At all.

Somewhere on your site, you need a tab or button that says BOOKS. A simple list of each book and/or series in suggested reading order is the minimum. Ideally, each book would have its own page with a large cover image, title, release date, publisher, ISBN #, genre category, description, and links to where the books can be purchased. Keep this information current!

6. You need an About Page

Readers want to know who you are, not just what you write. A good website always has an About page with a photo, a short professional bio that bloggers and news media can use, and perhaps a longer bio just for fun. It also needs to include links to all of your active social media sites and a way to contact you.

Your photo should be a nice image that will clearly identify you everywhere. Use this same image on your Amazon, GoodReads, Facebook, Twitter, and all profiles where you are acting as your author identity. Even if you’re camera shy, you can come up with something.

This isn’t to say you can’t change it up sometimes or use more casual photos on social media. The goal is to have your readers recognize you, no matter where they find you.

7. Email

You MUST have a way for people to contact you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to reach an author for an interview, presentation, or tell them they’ve won an award, only to discover there is no way to contact them.

As to the email address itself, no self-respecting author would use [email protected]. If at all possible, it should be your name as it appears on your books, [email protected].

These seven simple tips will make it easier for readers, new and old, to find your newest releases.

Karlene Browning is a publisher, editor, typesetter, and book designer at www.Inksplasher.com

Remembering Heaven: A Documentary and My Appreciation to LDSPMA For Making It Happen

May 5, 2021 By LDSPMA 5 Comments

By Sarah Hinze

For many years I have collected stories about heaven. My collection includes not only the heaven we go home to when we graduate from earth life, but the heaven we come from before we are born. The quest to understand these concepts has been a personal one. My search to know my spiritual origin and destiny has always been with me, even as a child.

From an early age, I was especially eager to learn about God. I ached deep in my heart for an understanding of where I came from. I sensed that I was a child of God and lived with Him before I was born. I missed him and, well, I was homesick for heaven, I guess is one way to put it.

Our family regularly attended our local Protestant church and every Sunday, together as a congregation, we would stand and recite a creed that went something like this, “God is so small he can dwell in your heart and He is so large He can fill the universe.”

In my heart, I never believed God was like a cloud or a seed. I knew he was a man with a son named Jesus. I knew he didn’t live in the entire universe but in a special place called heaven. I knew heaven was my home and God was my Father.

My strong desire to know Him continued throughout my young years and on into college. A pivotal moment for me came when I first heard in my University English Literature class the following poem by William Wordsworth.

Ode on Intimations of Immortality

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come,
From God, who is our home.

The poem was electrifying. The words sang out like beautiful music to my soul. A strong spirit of holiness rested upon me in my class. I thought, “So that is where I come from. I come from God, who is my home.” But where and how can I learn more?

My search for God expanded into a search to learn all I could about the human soul, however, many of the philosophies I studied, existentialism for example, left me confused and even depressed.

One evening, I was with my new friend Mavis, sitting on her front lawn in Brigham City, Utah. As we looked into the darkness of the evening sky watching for shooting stars, she turned to me and said, “You know we lived in heaven with God before we were born.”

I sat in silence, amazed at how easily she said something I had only believed in the deepest and most sacred place of my heart. This was the first time I had heard another person say that we lived with God before we were born. All of my life I had known it was true, but here with this new friend, who was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she shared it like it was common knowledge. This impacted me greatly. I had found people who believed as I did.

Within weeks I requested the missionary lessons and in September, 1968, I chose baptism into the church.

Meanwhile I enrolled at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. My future husband Brent also enrolled there after his mission. We are both converts to the church and were drawn together on a beautiful April afternoon as we shared our testimonies with one another. A few days later Brent invited me on a drive up Logan Canyon, which manifests some of the most majestic views imaginable.

After about half an hour we had wound our way up the narrow twisting road until we reached a mountain pass.

We parked the car near a shady meadow alive with wild flowers surrounded by groves of white birch. Brent took my hand as we walked.

The scenery, the sounds, the smells—it all seemed so familiar. The feeling was sacred and we were quiet, almost reverent. We didn’t speak for a time. Finally I broke the silence. In an unusual display of boldness I said, “I think I have walked with you before. . . . in heaven before we came to earth.”

“I feel it too,” Brent whispered. From that moment, we sensed one another as we had in the world before we were born and our spirits seemed to renew a relationship from long ago. We could feel there had been love between us before and a divine spark seemed to rekindle those memories.

Eventually it was time to drive back down the canyon and return to the real world. Our surroundings looked the same, but we were not. Our marriage came a year later in the Salt Lake Temple.

Soon our children came along. Several of our children’s birth’s were preceded by what I later learned is called an announcing dream. An announcing dream can be defined as dreams, visions and other spiritual connections concerning a child waiting to be born or conceived. In some cases one is told what the child’s chosen name is to be.

It is a humbling experience for a spirit waiting to be born to announce their desire for birth into your family. None of us are perfect parents by any means, but it seems our children love us and want to be with us, seeing past our imperfections, perhaps seeing our potential more than we can.

I wondered if other parents had these experiences and soon discovered that I was by no means the only one. But what began as curiosity became a quest when I received profound impressions that part of my life’s mission was to research, teach, and write about this special experience occurring to people worldwide. Collecting stories was one thing I could do, but writing about it was something else. I was frightened. It seemed like more than I could possibly do. After much prayer and contemplation, I realized that I needed to be faithful to this assignment.

As I began doing so, I was soon joined in my research by my husband, Brent, who has a Ph.D. in psychology. We proceeded to conduct interviews, collect case studies, give talks, and publish about the marvels and mysteries of announcing dreams.

Brent and I coined the term “pre-birth experience” or “PBE” to refer to any experience that relates to souls prior to birth or conception. We learned through an analysis of the data that unborn children can warn, protect, and enlighten us from another plane of existence. Most often they appear to announce it is their time to be born.

Social scientists coined the phrase “announcing dream” to identify dreams about unborn children and other types of PBE, not only in the western world but in cross-cultural studies around the world. It is our belief that PBEs, like NDEs, are universal and occur among all peoples, now and in the past

After I had published several books, Brent and I had the chance to visit with Elder Hartman Rector Jr. who was staying at a friend’s home after speaking at our stake conference. She had given him one of our books to read, and he was very encouraging. “There will be books, films, music, art, and various forms of media that will share this important information,” Elder Rector said.

The word film caught my attention. I knew nothing of filmmaking. It seemed like an impossible dream, but I took Elder Rector’s counsel to heart that someday, with the Lord’s help, we would have a film. I knew that with God’s help, all things are possible.

In 2018, while Brent and I were serving a mission at the London England Temple, I received an email announcing the LDS Publishing and Media Association’s Annual Conference in Provo, Utah which would convene soon after we returned home. While reading the email, I was at our table in our little flat on the grounds of the London Temple. I felt strongly impressed by the Spirit that I needed to be there. I dismissed it, thinking we would barely be home from our mission on the dates of the conference and I would have my seriously annoying jet lag going on! The promptings continued, so arriving home from London about a month later, my suitcases still packed from our mission, I packed a small suitcase and headed to the conference. I have learned if I do not follow the promptings of the Spirit, I will probably miss out on opportunities the Lord has arranged for me.

I arrived early the morning of the conference. I recognized a woman who looked familiar as I headed for the door. It was a Facebook friend I had never met in person, Dr. Trina Boice, who recognized me as the author of a book she had read after she had her own announcing dream with her unborn son. It was a good feeling to at least have one friend there! I felt comfortable and welcomed as I walked in, greeting many with smiles and good mornings.

It was easy to get into conversation with people, so I networked and talked to people about many of my interests in media, writing, and a film on my prebirth studies. After attending a panel presentation of several film editors and filmmakers, I waited outside the door to talk to one in particular, Wynn Hoggard, who gave me the name of his friend Tom Laughlin. Within days, Tom and I talked on the phone and my dream of a film began to take shape.

Tom and I arranged to soon start the filming of our untitled film. We filmed for a total of five days. Tom had enough footage to spend an entire year editing, and he did it with dedication, heart, and soul. By January, 2021 the film Remembering Heaven was ready!

Tom went into the film never hearing about the pre-birth experience, not knowing what he would find. As we interviewed people with stories, he was moved by the tender sacred feeling that accompanied the interviews. Later in going through the footage, he stated he was “overwhelmed with the beauty and power of the content.”

We are so grateful to scholars Terryl Givens, Ph.D. and Daniel Peterson, Ph.D. for their major contributions. Givens and Peterson’s scholarly contributions bring us stunning detailed teachings from major cultures and religious foundations which should make the case for premortality at least a consideration for any true seeker of their spiritual origin.

Here are a few story previews from the film:

Christine was a young mother expecting another child. She was aware even before she left to visit her doctor that afternoon that her unborn child had not moved for a time. She was praying at home while waiting for her husband to come home from work. Then a remarkable thing happened… the spirit of her unborn child appeared and spoke to her.

Corenna was dating a young man, but she was confused where to go with the relationship. She had doubts about marrying him. After praying most sincerely, she fell asleep. In a dream she saw this same young man, but then he faded away. A young boy stood before her and called her Mother. She was very drawn to this child, and felt convinced he held a message for her. After the dream, she broke up with the other young man. Years later, she met another young man from the Congo in Africa. Almost immediately they felt very connected to one another. They were married and a year later a wonderful son was born to them.

Ned is from the East Coast and owned a nightclub in the Hamptons. He himself claims that he was hedonistic, materialistic, and had no interest in God. One evening after a fight with one of his business associates, Ned died and experienced a near death experience. What he saw on the other side included children who could have been his had he not insisted on his girlfriends terminating them—a startling and shocking revelation. A Lady of Light showed him a child that could be his son on earth if he would improve his life.

The legwork of Remembering Heaven was put together by a team of people including Brady Dunn (cinematographer), Tom Laughlin (filmmaker), my husband and I (Executive Producers) and all who have so generously contributed.

Special thanks to Tom Laughlin who has given of his time and talents in an untiring and dedicated way. Tom has put together some of the most exquisite photographs, videos, and music that bring life and passion to this unique information.

Plato and Socrates spoke of a pre-life. In biblical times John declared that in the beginning the Son (Jesus) was with God who sent His Son into the world with a mission. (See John 3:16-17) Scriptures, prophets and pre-birth studies suggest this is a pattern for all of us.

I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Spirit of the Lord for guiding me to attend the LDSPMA Conference and to meet the people who helped to make Remembering Heaven.

Remembering Heaven won Best Feature Documentary and Audience Choice Award at the LDS Film Festival in February, 2021. We are nominated for Best Documentary at the Utah Film Festival and Most Inspirational Documentary at the International Christian Film Festival in Orlando, Florida May, 2021.

**We are looking for stories for our next film, international pre-birth experience stories as well as stories close to home. See my website www.sarahhinze.com for more information on pre-birth experiences or you can read my book The Announcing Dream: Dreams and Visions of Children Waiting to be Born 2016 (On Amazon)

Please contact Sarah for questions or stories you would like to share at [email protected]

Sarah Hinze has collaborated with leading experts on near-death experiences and pre-natal psychology while conducting extensive research and hundreds of interviews. She has presented workshops, seminars, and lectures at conferences and universities, as well as on Capitol Hill and at the United Nations. Sarah has been featured in articles and radio and TV shows in the US, Canada and Japan. In addition to English, her books are published in Spanish, Portuguese and German. Her writings have been the source of healing and hope for individuals worldwide. Sarah and Brent Hinze are the parents of nine children and thirty-two grandchildren, so far!

**Check out the story and journey of our film by following Sarah Hinze and Tom Laughlin on Facebook as well as my website and blog at: sarahhinze.com/home/books/remembering-heaven

Podcasting: Why You Should Think About Trying It

March 24, 2021 By LDSPMA Leave a Comment

By Ashley Fontes

Years ago, I started a children’s yoga blog. I had my blog name and a good website address. I wrote innovative content, I had my target audience, I made videos, I offered free content. Eventually, I even wrote on guest blogs. I was doing everything everyone was telling me to do to get my name out there, and still, I was not getting more than 50 hits a month.

What was I doing wrong? Why couldn’t I break into the market?

Trying a New Tactic

I couldn’t figure it out, but then last year I found this little gem that made me think: “As of this writing, there are over 500 million blogs available on the Internet. By contrast, Google claims to have indexed two million podcasts, and in 2018, Apple claimed that there were 525,000 active podcasts. Would you rather try to be noticeable in a room of 500 people, or a room with two?”

I did some more researching to see if podcasts would really make that big of a difference. Again, this is what I found:

75% of the US population is familiar with the term “podcasting”
55% (155 million) of the US population has listened to a podcast
16 million people in the US are “avid podcast fans”

With such a surprisingly large potential audience waiting, I had to try this out.

I rebranded everything I owned to one name. I made sure all of my social media accounts pointed to my website and blog and that I owned the simplest domain for my new brand. Then I started my podcast, Read and Yoga. Same brand, same content, same audience, just a different platform.

A podcast set up with microphone and computer.

The Results

In two months, I had 100 downloads on my podcast. While 100 downloads in two months didn’t mean instant podcaster celebrity status for me, it came with great side effects:

I went from 50 unique visits a month on my website to 150 unique visits to my website.
Since there are only 15 podcasters in my genre, I don’t have as much competition to get my content noticed in that sphere.
I have been featured as a guest on two other podcasts, with a third coming up next month. And my podcast has received a shoutout from one of the top podcasters in my genre. These opportunities have drawn new readers and listeners to my blog and podcast from those podcasters’ audiences.
My social media page has grown faster in the last two months than in the last two years.

The steps for starting a podcast are very similar to starting a blog . . . and there is no one saying you can’t have both. My podcast allows me to reach my audience where they are in ways that my blog can’t. While my blog talks mostly to caregivers and teachers, my podcast can reach straight out to yogis.

You can find the same benefits from starting your own podcast! Reach people where they are, and don’t be afraid to change.

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Ashley Fontes graduated from Brigham Young University (Provo) with a BA in Humanities. She continued exploring her love for cultures by becoming a certified Iyengar yoga teacher, instructing both children and adults. While raising a family, writing, and teaching yoga, she has been active in the Deaf community, and in 2018 she co-founded a non-profit organization, ASL Junction.

Website: www.readandyoga.com

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Be sure to check out LDSPMA’s new podcast! You can find the first episode here.

How To Build A Book Launch Team

March 17, 2021 By LDSPMA Leave a Comment

By Bradley Salmond

Before your book is published, one of the best ways to generate sales is to build a book launch team. This is a group of people who commit to you to read your book and promote your book by:

Posting a review of your book.
Potentially sending out a social media post to promote your book.
Calling book stores to request that they carry your book.

Amazon will promote your book by moving it under the “books you also might like” section the more reviews you have. Reviews also boost book sales. If you can get over 20 reviews in the first week, it will create serious momentum for your book rankings. It is great social proof that you have written a good book and people are taking interest in it.

How to Build the Team

Build your team by making a list of 20-30 people that you can contact directly. These can be business contacts, online relationships, or subscribers to your email list. Keep in mind that not everyone on your team will follow through. This is why you have to communicate clearly to the book launch team what actions you want them to take, when, and how.

From the beginning, your expectations should be clear.

What to Expect of Your Team

Here are some things you could ask them:

Read your book before the date of your book launch.
Give feedback if they find errors.
Write an honest review of your book and post it to Amazon during the launch week, preferably within the first 72 hours of launch.
Share their review of your book on their social platforms. This could also include in tweets, Facebook posts, or Goodreads reviews, or they could post the cover to Pinterest and Instagram.
Share promotional ideas within the launch group. A private Facebook group would work well for this. Members can easily post ideas and swap strategies for promoting the book.

It is important that you reach out to each one of them personally. Resist the temptation to send out huge group emails to them. Their commitment to you and your book will be stronger if your interactions are done on a one-to-one communication level. It will be a lot of work, but it is 100% worth it.

A pile of books with a bright red "sale" sign on top. One of the tactics of a book launch includes putting the book on sale for $.99.

Incentives for Your Book Launch Team

To incentivize your launch team to act, you can offer them a free PDF of your book before anyone else sees it. You might also consider some of the following ideas.

Provide a free hardcopy of the book delivered right to their door.
Host a webinar or a Facebook Live Q&A session: this allows you to get close and personal with your team by hosting a live webinar where you talk about the book, get into behind-the-scenes strategies of the launch, and share inside tactics that nobody else can get.
Exclusive access to a private Facebook group. Here you can post videos, share posts, and converse with your team in real-time as they get excited about the launch.
Send them training videos based on the content of your book.
Provide an advance copy of a workbook that you will be offering to subscribers.
Provide early access to course material that won’t be available until the book is launched.

You want to provide them with as much value as possible in return for their help in making your book launch a success.

Launching the Book

In the first week of your launch, offer your e-book for ninety-nine cents in the first week to give your launch team a chance to buy the book at a discounted price. If they buy your book and then leave a review, Amazon will consider the review “verified.” The review will also be stronger in Amazon’s eyes if they scroll through the first 50% of the pages after they buy the book.

A launch team can be crucial to the success of your book. If you have already published a book, it’s not too late. You can re-launch your book and give it a fresh start. Build your launch team and make your book a success.

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Bradley “BJ” Salmond is a native of Utah. BJ, and his wife, Stacey, have six children and live in American Fork. He authored the book Grudges and Grace from the Trial and Triumph series. He enjoys family history research, old-fashioned music, and chess. BJ also loves Church history and American history. He received his MBA from the University of Phoenix, a BA from Southern Utah University, and two Associate of Applied Science degrees from the Community College of the Air Force.

The Arts as a Superpower

February 24, 2021 By LDSPMA Leave a Comment

By Shaun Stahle

“What is the most powerful weapon in the world?” I asked a class of fifth graders in Fielding Elementary School many years ago.

The Gulf War was raging at the time. Every news cast led with horrific scenes of destruction. “The Apache Helicopter with laser-guided smart bombs,” blurted one boy. “Nah,” said another. “Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from warships.”

The boys grew animated with some coming out of their chairs in mock imitation. These sparkly-faced boys knew their weapons of mass destruction.

After the teacher restored order, I suggested that neither the laser-guided missiles nor the Apache Helicopter—as powerful as they were to level big buildings into little pieces of rubble—were the most power weapons in the world.

More guesses followed. “How about nuclear bombs?” asked another.

“No,” I said long and slow, squeezing every second to build tension. “The most powerful weapon in the world…is words.”

Three illustrated people with speech bubbles. Using words and conversation.

Words: the Most Powerful Weapon in the World

The class went thunderously quiet. Faces contorted. The mental torture of trying to figure how words trumped bombs in causing agony. “Words?” someone finally bellowed. “When did words ever win a war?”

“Think about it,” I suggested, trying to ease their pain before their faces froze in those positions. “When mean words are said, you get angry. When you get angry, you could throw a punch. If nations say enough mean words, people get angry and tempers flare. They sometimes hurl bombs. But do you feel like poking someone’s nose who has complimented you?”

I’m not sure the students understood my analogy. I’m not sure the teacher did either. But I still think the premise has merit. Words tell stories. Stories evoke emotions of virtue such as beauty and love. Such emotions build into peace and contentment and gracious living. Harmony and unity are the result.

Words can also fan the flames of hate and animosity. Words of deceit and injustice can enrage to violence. Instead of unity, we see others as a lower species.

Words Turn Enemies to Friends

President Dallin H. Oaks in his October general conference address recommended that we heed the counsel of a famous musical and make more effort to get to know each other.

He should know. As one who has stood in the heat of intense adversarial debate trying many cases—50, I think—before the US Supreme Court, and as a man deeply cultured in the affections of the Spirit, he knows how to turn enemies into friends.

That’s where we come in. Those who tell stories help society get to know each other. Words and images and sounds are our superpower. The more we use our powers to tell the plight of another, the more we defuse the ugly and demeaning and debase that confronts us.

Most of us will never be introduced in the Rose Garden. None of us will have a finger on the big red nuclear bomb button. But we still have power. “The kind words we give, shall in memory live.”

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Shaun Stahle was yanked from a comfortable bed early one morning at age five to cart newspapers off his grandfather’s printing press and has been cursed with ink in the blood ever since. He spent 17 years detailing the growth of the Church with the Church News. His retirement plan is to find a shoe box full of unmarked bills along the road someday. He says he has saved his wife of 33 years from a life of fame and prosperity.