January 2008 Comment Contest Winners

Here are the winners of the January Comment Contest, randomly selected from the comments made during the month of January.

Thanks again to our sponsors. Please take a moment to read their bio info here.


Powerful Tips for Powerful Teachers

by C.S. Bezas

Winner: Rebecca Talley
Commenting on January 2008 Sponsors


Reasonable Doubt

by Marcia Mickelson

Winner: Marsha Ward
Commenting on Author Branding and Platforms


Staying in Tune

by Carmen Rasmusen

Winner: Don
Commenting on Straight or Not

To claim your prize, you must e-mail your mailing address to me by Friday, February 8, 2008.

(This is a change in the rules for the comment contests. Unclaimed prizes will be up for grabs on Monday, February 11th.)

Click here to learn how you can win a copy of one of our sponsoring books.

December 2007 Comment Contest Winners

Here are the winners of the December Comment Contest, randomly selected from all of the comments made during the month of December.

Thanks again to our sponsors. Please take a moment to read their bio info here.

Revenge of the Cheerleaders

by Janette Rallison

Winner: kpscent

Dead on Arrival

by Jeff Savage

Winner: Vickey

My Mom’s a Mortician

by Patricia Wiles

Winner: Rachelle

Winners, send me your full name and mailing address ASAP.

Click here to learn how you can win a copy of one of our sponsoring books.

January 2008 Sponsors

Please take a moment to learn more about our wonderfully generous sponsors.

Powerful Tips for Powerful Teachers by C.S. Bezas


The “well” has run dry—I feel so burned out. Why won’t they listen to me? Am I getting through at all?

Ever had these thoughts? If so, you’re not alone! Whether you have been called to work with youth, or are a parent, teaching teens can be a most exhilarating, yet demanding commitment. Powerful Tips for Powerful Teachers is a crucial guide to working with today’s dynamic youth. Compelling, yet simple, these tips will help you burst beyond fatigue and frustration, launching you toward powerful moments with today’s young men and women.

C.S. Bezas has drawn together a variety of preparation tools to help you succeed in your efforts to help the teens under your stewardship find their spiritual wings. Covering topics like No Throwaway Kids, Spiritual Bumblebees, Dissension in the Classroom, and The Language of the Spirit, this book is filled with thought-provoking essays and reflective questions. Powerful Tips for Powerful Teachers is sure to keep your “well” fresh and full of the living waters of gospel inspiration.

C.S. Bezas graduated from BYU in communications, with an emphasis in developing training programs. She has conducted trainings and workshops for audiences both large and small on a wide variety of topics and has won recognition for her writings and stage musicals. She also writes regularly for Meridian Magazine and Bella Online.

C.S. Bezas has appeared as a keynote speaker in a variety of locations in the United States and also has performed before audiences on television, stage, and film, most recently appearing as Anne Frank with the Florida Orchestra. She and her husband have four children and relish the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Reasonable Doubt by Marcia Mickelson


A beautiful and promising athlete is dead. The only suspect—her fiancé—has been apprehended. And as a defense attorney, it is Julia’s job to prove that Mick is innocent. But Julia believes he is guilty. No stranger to the crimes that men commit against women, Julia can easily believe that rich, talented, spoiled Mick did indeed kill Avery. Both were basketball stars at the University of Utah, and both were popular; yet everyone—except Mick’s family and Julia’s boss—believes that Mick is the murderer. As the evidence against Mick mounts, Julia stumbles across a secret Avery had kept hidden from everyone, even Mick. Julia realizes that perhaps she may have more than just reasonable doubt to support Mick’s case—if she can face her past and reveal her own secret. Meanwhile, Pablo, Julia’s new co-counsel, becomes convinced that Mick did not murder Avery, but can he convince Julia? Guilty or innocent? With Pablo’s help, Julia may be able to overcome her own fears and uncover the truth about Avery at the same time—if the murderer doesn’t find her first.

Marcia Argueta Mickelson was born in Guatemala but grew up mostly in New Jersey. In high school, she started writing her first novel, which she didn’t finish until ten years later. She followed her sister to BYU where she met her husband, Nolan. Marcia received her degree in American Studies. Upon graduating, she began working for a nonprofit organization in Salt Lake City. She ran a foster care program, which helped place children in foster homes, trained the foster parents, and provided mentoring services for the children.

Marcia is a stay-at-home mom who does some substitute teaching in local elementary schools, spending most of her nights in front of the computer, writing. When she’s not busy with mothering, writing, and primary, she enjoys reading, movies, scrapbooking, and watching BYU football games with her husband.

Staying in Tune by Carmen Rasmusen


After becoming an overnight success on the hit TV show American Idol, Carmen Rasmusen has remained in the public eye. Along with the spotlight came many temptations and worldly pressures associated with the entertainment business. Through it all, she has stuck to her goal of staying true to the Young Women values, including modesty, chastity, and obedience to the Word of Wisdom.

In this book, Carmen shares never-before-published photos and stories, such as her experiences as an American Idol finalist, her opportunities in Nashville as a country music artist, the joy of her temple marriage, and why the gospel will always be her top priority. Staying in Tune is an exciting, behind-the-scenes look at how a young woman has stayed in harmony with the gospel while achieving her dreams.

Carmen Rasmusen has appeared on numerous TV programs, including the Today show and David Letterman. She is an accomplished musician, and she recently completed a three-month concert tour throughout the United States. Her latest CD, Nothin’ Like the Summer, was released through Lofton Creek Records in Nashville and is garnering strong reviews.

Throughout all of her experiences, Carmen has stuck to her goal of staying true to the Young Women values, including modesty, chastity, and obedience to the Word of Wisdom. She shares many of these experience in her book Staying in Tune, which is an exciting, behind-the-scenes look at how a young woman has stayed in harmony with the gospel while achieving her dreams.

December 2007 Sponsors

Please take a moment to learn more about our wonderfully generous sponsors.

Revenge of the Cheerleaders by Janette Rallison

Chelsea’s school year has taken a turn for the worse. After being dumped by her boyfriend and humiliated at the pep assembly by her younger sister’s boyfriend, Rick, she’s just concentrating on avoiding any other major embarrassments.

That’s when Rick and his band debut their new album, complete with a whole set of songs bashing cheerleaders. Chelsea’s humiliation has reached a whole new level now that everyone is walking down the halls singing the words to “Dangerously Blonde.”

It’s time to make Rick pay. All he wants is to win the High School Idol audition, so he can be on his way to rock star fame and fortune. But with the help of her best friends, Aubrie and Samantha, Chelsea is going to steal his victory right out from under him.

The characters from All’s Fair in Love, War and High School are back, only this time it’s payback.

Janette wrote her first story when she was six years old. (“Wrote,” in this case, meaning she bugged her parents until they agreed to write down what she dictated.) It was several pages of notebook paper stapled together. Over the years she continued to write longer and longer stories, some of which received glowing reviews from her fifth grade teacher.

Janette first became serious about publishing as a young mother when she rediscovered that writing was much more fun than cleaning the house. In fact, she attributes her long and successful writing career to complete avoidance of housework.

Over the years, and countless dirty fridges later, she has published Playing the Field; All’s Fair in Love, War, and High School; Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Free Throws; Fame Glory, and Other Things on My To Do List; It’s a Mall World After All, How To Take the Ex Out Of Ex-boyfriend; and Revenge of the Cheerleaders.

She has five children who keep her well supplied with plot ideas, sometimes even making cameo appearances in her novels.

Dead on Arrival by Jeff Savage

Curiosity can be a curse, and just like the proverbial cat, feisty Shandra Covington could soon end up dead.

As a newspaper reporter, Shandra meets unusual people every day. But Pinky Templeton is the first one who has claimed, quite vocally, to be dead! She would just ignore him as another nut case, except life-threatening events are happening to those close to her. And Pinky seems to be involved–although the official records show he did die in 1957. Now that he’s gone and died again, Shandra feels she must find out the truth–even if her friend, police officer Bobby Richter, doesn’t want to help. After all, how many times can one man die? With Pinky, it’s hard to tell.

Feel the rain pounding on your face as you shiver along with the interesting, and often funny, characters in this rollercoaster of a mystery that will leave you wanting another ride.


Jeffrey Savage is the author of Cutting Edge, Into the Fire, and the Shandra Covington Mystery Series. Upcoming novels include Farworld–a national YA fantasy series with Shadow Mountain, Dark Memories, the first mainstream Mormon horror novel, and the next Shandra book. Jeff loves doing anything with his family, anything Disney, medium well steaks, and the Oakland Raiders. He is firmly against prologues and SASEs.

My Mom’s a Mortician by Patricia Wiles


Poor Kevin. It’s hard enough to move to a new house, let alone to a funeral home. The thought of sleeping in the same house with dead bodies doesn’t thrill Kevin. But when one of the “deceased” starts giving him advice, Kevin really has his hands full. And then there’s the family secret: Kevin’s parents used to be Mormons until a tragedy drove them away from God. What will Kevin do? Find out in this exciting new series.


Patricia Wiles began her writing career as a public radio commentator and newspaper columnist. Her essays and commentary have appeared in Writer’s Digest, The Writer, and the 2001 Writer’s Handbook. She is the assistant regional advisor of the Midsouth chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and works as a staff writer for a daily newspaper.

Patricia’s first and second novels in the Kevin Kirk Chronicles series, My Mom’s a Mortician and Funeral Home Evenings, received awards for middle grade and Young Adult fiction from the Association for Mormon Letters. The other two books in the series are Early Morning Cemetery and The Final Farewell.

Patricia and her husband have two daughters and a son–all of whom have left the nest. Their cat, however, is a moocher who refuses to move out and get his own place.

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