The Joy and Benefits of Collaboration

Celebrating my collaboration with April Edwards and sharing her beautiful work

The year 2022 was my year to learn how to be a full-time, serious writer and self-publisher. I joined a couple of writing organizations and they were tremendously helpful.

One of the best tools used by one organization was online discussion groups. In one of these groups I met April Edwards.

April is a godly homeschooling mother in Phoenix. She writes encouraging articles for women who feel overwhelmed by the pressures of life. After struggling to manage a jumble of unrealistic expectations and eventually reaching burnout, April became determined to “subtly resist” the pressures to conform to internal and external expectations. She began to study ways to rebuild life in a way that would create calm, rest, efficiency, and balance.

We stayed in contact after the group ended, and April invited me to join an online writer group hosted by her aunt. This allowed me to get to know her better, and we freely encouraged one another in our respective writing projects. She has enthusiastically supported the publication of both of my books.

While upgrading my website, I wanted to create a resource for new email subscribers. I had an idea for the topic and content, and wanted it to be visually interesting and beautiful. I asked April to collaborate with me. I would help her edit and improve the evolving manuscript for her book, and she would use her Canva chops to design and format my PDF booklet.

She did a beautiful job with it and taught me how to use Canva while she was at it! I discovered that April’s children—and her readers—are blessed with a wise, patient, and effective teacher. She loves to help people grow.

I recently wanted to start a Substack, as an alternative to the platform I had been using. April became my teacher again, walking me through all the steps, and trouble-shooting with me on Zoom calls when I had problems.

I appreciate knowing April and value her contributions to so many lives. She provides guidance for home management, planning, scheduling, prioritizing, sabbath-keeping, and so much more, encouraging others to experience the greater ease, joy, and grace she has come to know.

I happily endorse her recent essay titled, How to Be Kind to My Future Self. This is a perfect example of the kind of writing that I’ve described. Enjoy it and follow or subscribe to April’s Substack to receive more of her helpful articles.

And do check out her newly published book, Subtle Resistance: Practical Tips to Live Deliberately and Avoid Overwhelm, is now available on Amazon.

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While on the subject of Collaboration, I offer a blog I about how I let go of the comparison trap and began enjoying collaborating with people who were better at things than I.

When my kids were little, I never was great at planning their birthday parties. My daughter Bethany’s birthday is in early November, between Halloween and Thanksgiving, and it always snuck up on me. It still does…Read more…

Stay salty, kind, devoted, and wholehearted, wherever God has you!

Blessings, Ruth