Jessica Shook's Blog, page 3
October 29, 2018
What To Remember So Fear Can’t Hold You Back Anymore
Fear. Why do we allow fear to hold us back from so much? It grabs us by the arms and pins them behind our back. Often at the exact moment we want to move forward.
For me as a writer, fear looks a lot like writer’s block.
Staring at a blinking cursor, fear tells me that the words I’m writing aren’t important enough, aren’t good enough, that nobody wants to read them, nobody cares, that I have nothing to say, that this book won’t be as good as the last, that I’m not a real writer……and on and on...
September 8, 2018
Delays, Disappointments, and Decisions of Grace
This week I released the official title of my new book on my Instagram and Facebook accounts. Seems like it should be a fun relief for a writer to put the title out their for my readers, right? Yes and no. Here’s why: My plan was to launch my book in August of 2018. Now it’s September, and I’m only releasing the title. That’s a big delay, and boy, have I been fighting disappointment.
Oh wait, it gets worse. Originally, I wanted to release the book LAST August.
Have you ever had a delay that w...
August 7, 2018
My Month in Book Reviews – July Reading
Summer is for reading good books, drinking iced coffee and relaxing in the evenings. Or at least in my head it is. But my reading time was hijacked this month, in the best possible way. I spent every spare moment working on editing a book for a fabulous client, and I spent a week away at our church’s kids camp. Yes, I helped wrangle 31 children around a camp in the Texas heat of July. And we had a blast.
All of that to say, my reading list was short this month. But powerful!
Fiction
July 13, 2018
My Month in Book Reviews – June Reading
The past few months have been freeing for me when it comes to my reading. Too often we get caught up in what we should and should not do. Well that happens with choosing books as well. Sometimes I want to mindlessly read books. Sometimes I want to learn something new. Sometimes I want to be moved. Sometimes I want to be motivated.
The amazing thing about books is that no matter what type of reading you are looking for, you can find it!
So this month…and well, all of my reading I guess…is quit...
May 31, 2018
Download FREE Audiobooks All Summer and Reach Your Reading Goals
Heading on a roadtrip this summer or just want an audiobook to listen to whilst laying by the pool? The folks at AudioFile have got you covered! For years they have provided free audiobooks to teens during the summer. But hey, they didn’t want to leave us adults out either, so the audiobooks available to everyone age 13 and up.
Each week on Thursdays, they release two audiobooks for free download. But don’t wait, the titles are only available for free for 7 days. Every Thursday two new picks...
May 4, 2018
Mother’s Day Gifts for the Book Lover in Your Life
Mother’s Day is here, and if you’re like me, flowers don’t always cut it when it comes to unique Mother’s Day ideas. As a fellow book lover, I want to help you out! Here are some of my favorite gift ideas for the book lover in your life!
I adore this mug. I have nothing else to add about it. It’s perfection!
Just One More Chapter pillow cover This is my very own pillow! And it’s my favorite! The link is for the pillow cover only, so make sure you ge...
May 1, 2018
Why I stopped deleting photographs my kids take…even ones of me
Do your kids steal your camera from you as soon as you put it down to sneakily fill your camera roll with photographs and selfies? No? Is it just my camera roll that looks this…?
I usually delete them all immediately. I don’t want all of those pictures filling up the memory on my phone.
Well the past few months I’ve been backing up all of our photographs onto Google Photos. We’ve had hard drive back-ups for years, but I’m hyper-sensitive about losing all our memories somehow, so I decided to...
April 2, 2018
My Month in Books – Everything I Read in March 2018
It’s time for my month in review – book review that is!
This month was a rough reading month. I am a moody reader, meaning that I don’t enjoy a book nearly as much if I am not in the mood to read it. So this month I set aside several books that I started just because I wasn’t in the mood to really get into them. It made for very restless reading. But my favorite thing about books is that one book that may not be for me can draw you in and make you love it. Every reader is individual in their...
March 23, 2018
Get a Vision for Your Family – Part 2
Music was whirling around me, my hands lifted, my heart open. Praise and worship is always sweet, but that morning in particular, I needed an extra dose of God’s presence. I glanced over at the screen projecting the song lyrics, and in my eye-line was a young man from the youth group. He was tall, with short, cropped blonde hair. His hands were raised in worship.
And as I watched the young man worshiping God, I felt it drop in my heart that this young man represented what my eldest son would...
March 9, 2018
Get a Vision for Your Family – Part 1
The past few days, I’ve been mom-ing hard. I don’t know if that’s a real verb, but it is to me. In these days/weeks/months, when it is oh so difficult, we must have some truth to hold on to, some deep rooted strength that keeps us going and moving forward. Something more powerful than the simple will to keep these children alive, right?
A few years ago I read the book Mission for Motherhood by Sally Clarkson, and it revolutionized my parenting. One thing that impacted me most was creating a v...
