Several years ago at a family reunion, my brother, Cougar gave us a new way to think about our extended family (which now consists of more than 35 people, spread across five states) so that we could more readily call upon the love and concern that we have for one another. He asked us if we remembered the Verizon Wireless commercials, where the Verizon Guy, in his signature gray jacket, stood holding his flip phone. He was always surrounded by dozens of people, which visually represented the wireless network, or the support that you would have and feel if you were a Verizon customer. The question, posed by the test guy in most of these commercials, which became the subject of countless jokes, was, “Can you hear me now?” which of course is always a resounding YES, IF you’re lucky enough to own a Verizon phone plan.

About a year ago, I was preparing to write a book. In fact, I was DONE writing the book and was working on photography and final details, when I found out the entire project had been canceled. Details are here. Life moves on and for most of last year I simply forgot about all that work I had done, but now as I am preparing again to teach at RootsTech, I'm remembering and thinking and deciding what I want to do, and I've decided that I simply want to share what I wrote—here on my blog! I mean, duh. Why not? In fact, even though I am NOT a graphic designer, I might even figure out how to flow all this content with images so that the individual chapters/projects/essays would be easy to print for anyone who wants a hard copy—if this is you, leave me a comment!

So, without further delay, Here is the introduction to my (almost) book, with no title ...

Kobi Yamada is one of my heros and mentors. He is the president and creative powerhouse behind Compendium, Inc. and he is the author of the book pictured above. This is a book that speaks to my heart. I LOVE it so much that I'm going to read it to you ...

I'm delighted to announce, or at least help announce the release of a new Deep Dive audio course, produced by Izzy and Noell at Paperclipping.com and featuring ME. The three of use have spent 7+ hours over the last month or so recording the newest iteration of the Photo Freedom message.

It's true and I'm excited, but I need your help!

First, let me tell you how this happened ...
I had the truly awesome opportunity to present a class last February at the RootsTech event in Salt Lake City. I was super nervous, because this was the first time I had presented outside the scrapbooking industry and I wasn't sure if my ideas would resonate with the RootsTech audience, As I've said in my post yesterday, RootsTech was mind-blowing. There were so many people there that even my (first-timer) class was full—standing room only. Once I stood up to teach, the anxiety melted away. I began to talk and there was lots of energy in the room, I realized that the new audience wasn't a problem, because I LOVE photos and stories, and so did they. I was still sharing what I love, just in a new way, so it flowed and I felt surprisingly comfortable. I had tons of support. Geoff flew down to be with me and so did my Mom and Dad—and my Utah family came out in force—even Clark skipped his class and drove up from BYU (about an hour away) and sat on the front row, so mama would have someone to look at if needed! Immediately following my presentation, several people came forward to ask questions and make comments. I was on cloud nine—I had that unmistakable post-presentation feeling of immense relief and I was suddenly very HUNGRY. As I made my way out into the hall, a woman stepped forward and introduced herself as the acquisitions editor for Cedar Fort Publishing and said, "I'd like you to put what you've just shared into a book." Woah. I was momentarily stunned, but then I came to my senses and said something like, "I don't think so, I'm trying to retire!" We chatted for a moment and I then I told her we could talk later and gave her my phone number.