Ultimate Christian Living Bundle

03 Nov 2014 Leave a comment

by Sweet-Water-and-Bitter in Christian Life, Literacy or the Lack Thereof Tags: , ,

This amazing sale only runs November 5th thru 10th, so click below for the info. You probably couldn’t buy TWO regular books for this price, and this way you get to choose up to 75 of them! This is an awesome opportunity!

What’s a “Bundle?”

03 Nov 2014 Leave a comment

by Sweet-Water-and-Bitter in Christian Life, Literacy or the Lack Thereof Tags: , ,

I’ve seen other bloggers advertising “bundles,” but until yesterday I never checked into them closely enough to even really know what that meant! Turns out it’s a pretty awesome thing if you like to read. A BUNDLE is a large quantity of Christian reading material at a great price, and I’m excited to bring you this opportunity. Read on below!
___________________________________

 

Who among us doesn’t want to lead a life worth emulating?

With great kids, a loving marriage, a successful career or business and a closer, faith-filled walk with the Lord. But for many of us, making that a reality is big challenge!

Balancing life’s priorities can seem a bit overwhelming at times. The pressures of work, the need for finances, the demands of parenting and the resulting strain on marriage can leave us weathered, weary and wondering what really works in life?

That’s where the Ultimate Christian Living Bundle comes in. Ultimate-Bundles.com called in some best selling authors, leading experts and top business professionals to address the most common challenges faced by families and individuals today – all from a solid, Biblical foundation.

For the ridiculously low price of just $34.95 (for the PDF version) or $39.97 (for the eReader version), you can get access to a carefully curated collection of eBooks and eCourses with a total combined value of over $1,140 that addresses these issues with stunning clarity and practical application.

For the family…

The bundle contains 11 wonderful books focused on incredibly inventive ways you can craft the marriage you signed on for. To complement that subject, they added 8 more books focused on parenting and passing on your faith to your kids. That wouldn’t be complete without books just for kids so they also included 8 children’s books that parents can read with their children. To close out the content for family life, the Singing Bible MP3 version that Focus on the Family so highly praised was added (a $25 value all by itself). It actually teaches children the story of the Bible not just random stories.

For your professional life…

You will find John Muratori and Michael Pink’s six -hour Christian Wealth Building course ($77 value) which was complemented with Bob Lotich’s 31-day devotional Managing Money God’s Way. There are a total of 14 business related books and courses including Zig Ziglar’s powerful Born To Win course (that Seth Godin and Dave Ramsey rave about), Dr. James B. Richards, Wired For Success – Programmed For Failure and Untold Secrets for Creating Wealth by Brig Hart and John Beehner. You’ll even find one of the best selling Christian business books of all time, The Bible Incorporated – In Your Life, Job & Business.

To ignite your faith…

Rounding out the package, Bridge Logos and Moody Press made a series of classic Christian literature available from generals of the faith like Charles Spurgeon, D.L. Moody, A.W. Pink, E.M. Bounds, Calvin, Wesley, Edwards and more who wrote about grace, prayer, faith and an overcoming life.

In addition to these wonderful classics, the Ultimate Bundles team snagged 14 heart-stirring devotionals from authors like A.W. Tozer and Nancy Leigh DeMoss that speak to matters of faith that are sure to inspire. Let’s not forget Gary Chapman’s Extraordinary Grace or Ray Comfort’s Way of the Master for sharing your faith with others. Both heartbreaking and inspiring, don’t miss Philip Cameron’s, They Call Me Dad, the story of one man’s fight to save orphans from human trafficking.

So as you can see, the Ultimate Christian Living Bundle is an extraordinary value.

But it still gets better…

The Ultimate Bundles team asked several sponsors to step up to the plate and with no strings attached, provide meaningful BONUS GIFTS. One of the first to step up was Dayspring Greeting Cards who offered a choice of heart-warming gift card packages to choose from.  Another, is a downloadable DVD workout series for getting in shape and maintaining health. With a retail value of $62.99 it includes a Biblical study guide for stewarding your health. Bonus gifts alone have a total retail value of over $160

So now you know…

For as little as $34.95 you can receive over $1,140 worth of valuable eBooks and eCourses that address the issues of life most of us face at one time or another, from a profoundly Biblical worldview. The BONUS GIFTS alone are worth more than four times the price of the bundle! So, if you want to ignite your faith, strengthen your family and help your professional life, there’s no better place to start! All the hard work has been done for you…

The Ultimate Christian Living Bundle will only be on sale for 6 days – from 8am (EST) on Wednesday, November 5th until 11:59pm (EST) on Monday, November 10th.

But don’t wait until the last moment – there are only 18,500 bundles available and once they’re gone, they’re gone!

You can buy with confidence because your purchase is covered by the Ultimate Bundles 30-day guarantee: you have a full month to enjoy all the books and courses in the bundle, and if you don’t feel like it’s made a huge difference to your family’s life, you’ll get your money back in full!

Here’s what you need to know about the sale:

When? 8 a.m. (EST) Wednesday, November 5th until 11:59 p.m. (EST) Monday, November 10th (or until 18,500 bundles are sold).

What? 75 eBooks plus eCourses and more, PLUS over $160 worth of bonus products you’ll really use!

Where? Purchase the bundle HERE.

How much? Well now, that’s the best part. The entire package is worth over $1,140, and it’s yours for as little as $34.95. Sweet deal, right?

When you’re ready, you can either buy here directly, or right through the website. It’s fast and easy, and you’ll have your bundle sent to you via email within minutes.

Click here for more info or to buy now.

Remember, this bundle is available for 6 days only, from 8 a.m. (EST) on Wednesday, November 5th to 11:59 p.m. (EST) on Monday, November 10th (or until 18,500 bundles are sold).

Want to know exactly what’s included in the bundle?

Take a look through the categories, as well as the full list of included resources.

Business & Personal Finance

Christian Classics Series

Christian Living

Devotional Life

For Children

Inspirational Novels

Married Life

Parenting

Reaching the Lost

Click here for more info or to buy now.

Remember, this bundle is available for 6 days only, from 8 a.m. (EST) on Wednesday, November 5th to 11:59 p.m. (EST) on Monday, November 10th (or until 18,500 bundles are sold).

Disclosure: I have included affiliate links in this post. Read the fine print about this bundle and read the answers to frequently asked questions about the bundle.

Book Price Slashed + My “Brilliant” Career as a Writer

01 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by Sweet-Water-and-Bitter in Literacy or the Lack Thereof Tags: , , , , , , , ,

book

Howdy there. If you’ll scroll down the handy sidebar to your right, you’ll see a link to my book. Click the picture and it will take you right to the site of the publisher, Createspace, where you can now order it for $12.55! At present, Amazon.com is still displaying the higher price, but that may update itself sometime in the near future–really not sure how all that works.

You can click on the Createspace link or navigate on your own to the Amazon site to read a synopsis of the story so I won’t go into that. I will tell you a little more about me as a writer.

I started writing for publication in 2002 and met with immediate acceptance in both national and local (Atlanta) magazines. However, I found quickly I wasn’t crazy about that sort of work. I wasn’t fond of conceiving an idea and pitching it and doing all the work, and then having an editor become the “boss” of my story. I know it’s normal and usual but I just didn’t care for it. I also was not fond of occasions when I picked up a magazine off the newsstand to find–surprise!–my work was inside, without so much as a word from them to let me know they were accepting it, and editing it, sometimes in ways that were abhorrent to me.  I suppose it might have slipped their minds to pay me, too, if I hadn’t happened to catch them.

ANYWAY…I decided to focus on fiction which was my true love, although the fiction market is much harder to crack. Did you know 80% of Americans say they want to write a book someday? And not much short fiction gets published in the US anymore. Remember how, years ago, there would be a short story in the middle of women’s magazines? Not so much anymore. If you want to publish fiction, you start with literary magazines (often put out by universities). The general public doesn’t read them much, but you hope maybe an agent will, and maybe you’ll get a book deal. (I was approached by an agent that way once…but he was an old Jewish gentleman from NYC and I don’t think he really related very well to my story about Baptists in Georgia. ;-) )

I was over the moon when I first got published in The Bellevue Literary Review. Even more so when, several months later, they invited me to come to New York and read at the launch party for the issue of the magazine that contained my story. I had to work with the editor quite a bit on that particular story, but the next few that were published in different magazines were accepted much more easily with barely a word changed.

In 2008, I was accepted to the Sewanee Writers Conference, an uppity 2-week affair held at The University of the South in Sewanee, TN. I was excited to meet and work directly with some of my Southern literature idols, but frankly the whole thing was a bust. I thought it would be fun, but it felt like a two-week-long job interview (with no job at the end!). Lots of very competitive folks with prickly egos around there. The most enjoyable part was the knowledge that I, with my high school diploma, was as good a writer as anybody I met there, and a sight better than some. (I think, seriously, I was the least educated person there, but some of their writing was pretty stinky.) I held my own just fine, but I never got any real benefit out of going. :-(

All the years that this was going on, I was working on my book. Sometimes I’d work steadily and sometimes it would gather dust for a while, but finally I finished it. Through the Atlanta Writers’ Club, I had the opportunity to pitch it (in person, not via mail or “over the transom” as the saying goes) to several literary agents from New York. The first year, my novel wasn’t finished and I just pitched it for the practice. I was blindsided when the agent requested to see the whole thing (angels come out of the sky and sing “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” when that happens). I had to admit it wasn’t complete, and busy agents don’t look at partial manuscripts in fiction the way they do non-fiction. The next year, the book was finished and I pitched it to three agents at one conference and they all wanted to see it. (See, I’m trying to convince you it’s a pretty decent thing that I spent YEARS OF MY LIFE writing!)

I had a serious bite from one agent. I mean I thought the magic was HAPPENING. I was about ready to celebrate. I was emailing my real-professional-writer acquaintances to see if they would do a blurb for the cover. (Agents like that because it’s like a recommendation that helps sell the book.) But in the end, this agent decided that well, she wasn’t entirely happy with this one CHARACTER ( a major one who appeared on pretty much every page) and certain other points that would have required major re-writing of something that I had labored for years to get exactly the way I wanted it. Well, but still,  the name of the game is publishing and SELLING the thing, so I would have done it–IF she had only said, “Do these things, make these changes, and we’ve got a deal.” But she didn’t. She wanted these changes made, and then she would be willing to LOOK AT IT again and then maybe, maaaaaaaaaaaaybe…represent me. All the risk was on my side of the table, and I just couldn’t see myself doing it.

So I shelved it and moved on with my life. I had some major things going on, such as moving to Florida, so I put a “period” at the end of my sentence and knew that I would no longer pursue publication of that particular work. But then after a few years, I decided I would like to have it put into book form, just so my children would have a BOOK someday when I was dead and gone, and not just a bunch of loose papers. I did this through Createspace, a print-on-demand company. And if you’re interested in that for yourself, let me just share that it didn’t cost me a doggone thing except some time. I did all the formatting and a friend of mine agreed to donate the cover photo if only I would credit him and send him a copy of the book, which I was happy to do. When people order the book, they print one up and keep their share and send me a royalty. I recommend it to any writer, far and away above those vanity presses that make you buy 100 copies of your book or something.

I have been longwinded as usual. But check out the book and let me know if you enjoy it. :-) (If you look at it on Amazon’s site you can read the first few pages.)  One word of warning–while it does deal heavily with Christian people and ideas about God and religion, it is not a “Christian novel” of the variety sold at Christian bookstores. I was unchurched at the time I wrote it, and it has some cuss words. If it were a movie it might be PG-13. I dunno, maybe just PG; I’m not sure how they rate them exactly. Did you ever read The Rapture of Canaan? If not, you should–great book. Anyway I hoped that mine might be a little bit like that.  If I can answer any questions, I will be glad to! Leave a comment or just email me at sweetwaterandbitter@gmail.com.

Homeschooling Moms: Spelling and Grammar

04 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Sweet-Water-and-Bitter in Literacy or the Lack Thereof, Uncategorized Tags: , , ,

amos-sewell-parent-teacher-conference-december-12-1959

My friends call me a grammar nazi, but that’s not true. I’m not a stickler for perfect schoolmarm grammar in casual situations. I am actually a spelling nazi, because in my opinion, there’s never ever a time when bad spelling is acceptable. No, not even when you text. Definitely not when you’re on Facebook…not that I call individual people out about their spelling. No, I just make general posts about how annoyed I am by the illiteracy in the world today, and those who know themselves to be functionally illiterate  naturally respond and say things like, “I’m on here to relax, I’m not worried about all that.” Apparently they consider spelling words correctly to be quite an effort; something to be done when making a good appearance is an absolute requirement.. like dressing up for a job interview requires wearing pantyhose and heels instead of comfy flip-flops.

I’m afraid I don’t buy it, though. How to spell the common, everyday words in our language is something that should already be stored in the brain of every adult, and if the words are there, you will use them no matter whether you’re writing a letter to the President or scribbling a grocery list. If the words are not in your brain,  you will not know them no matter how formal the occasion might be, so please don’t try to pretend that you knew the right way and just didn’t bother to get fancy.

Now these are just my broad complaints about the world in general, but today I am particularly concerned with parents who homeschool. I read the blogs of many of these ladies, and by the way, I’m by no means a homeschool basher. I always did think it was an interesting idea and I would love to have taught my children at home, had my life situation been favorable to that. Additionally, I have no doubt that your children, by and large, probably finish up with a better general education than the average public school student. (Public schools are mired in silliness nowadays, and I think plenty of kids spend the days just shuffling from one class to another, waiting for the time to pass by.) So anyway, homeschool moms, I like you. I’m your fan. But I read a lot of your blogs and I am worried about your spelling and (although I’m not a nazi) your grammar. I see a lot of mistakes that are not typos. I see that some of you don’t know when to use your and you’re, loose and lose, their and there. I see  you writing about scarfs and roofs. You don’t know where apostrophes go. You talk about floors that “need vacuumed.” It worries me so much I want to put  my head down on my desk.

Because, you see, you are so much of your child’s universe. My own mother, for example, always said “stoled” instead of “stole.” This was a mistake on her part, but I had the chance to hear so many other people using the word correctly that I never picked up her mistake or carried it into adulthood. Your children hear (or read, or learn) the same mistakes from both their teacher and their mother, and if you have a large family, likely from all their peers! If you’re doing it wrong, there’s no one to point it out. Your child simply learns it wrong.

The problem is that of course we all think we’re doing it right. (Believe me, I proofread the work of a number of people at my job, and even after these smart professionals do their very best to hand in a perfect document, many times errors still exist.) The mistakes that are most deeply ingrained in you are probably the ones you’re least aware of. So what can you do to make sure your spelling and grammar are up to par? Well, I can’t personally check all your work (though secretly I would really love to!). But do you have a friend who has that grammar/spelling nazi reputation? That is the very person you should ask. It’s not enough for the person to be bright or to have a college degree. (One of my aforementioned coworkers is a college graduate who spells such words as “leesh,” “debrie,” and “nusicance.”) College means little in this circumstance, when what you need is simply a real stickler. Find that person and let him or her know how important it is to you that errors on your part are not passed on to your students, and I’m sure they will be overjoyed to help. If they’re like me, they’ve been dying to correct you already. :-)

 

Buy at Art.com
“Parent – Teacher Conference”, Decemb…
Buy From Art.com

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 48 other followers