Please Welcome Shirley Brosius, Former Stringer Turned Author, Speaker, and Teacher



Shirley Brosius

 I was almost a spunky senior when I debuted as a writer at age 53. I needed to make a job change and had a yen to write. My husband suggested I try it for a year and see what happens. Almost 20 years, five grandchildren and two books later, I’m still clicking those keys.

Starting out as a newspaper “stringer” helped me learn to express myself concisely. My editor’s red pencil taught me to “kill my darlings,” those flowery little descriptions that add nothing but word count. I loved interviewing people who had won awards, served their communities or excelled in one way or another. In those days, newspapers used more feature stories and I completed almost weekly assignments.

Of course, if I wouldn’t have had a husband to buy the ice cream, I would not have been able to write. 

Shirley doing a presentation
including her memorization of
the entire book of Philippians.

One of my interests is memorizing scripture, then presenting it from memory at women's events. I've memorized the entire book of Philippians, the first three chapters of the gospel of John along with a few Psalms. Don't ever think you're too old to memorize. I'm still at it at age 72.

I also taught classes at a seminary as an adjunct, and it was there I stumbled upon the idea for my first book. Researching a course on women in ministry opened my eyes to the many ways women have contributed to the church down through the centuries. I thought this was important for all women to realize, but who sits around reading history books?
 
 

So I wrote Sisterhood of Faith: 365 Life-Changing Stories about Women Who Made a Difference. The profiles include martyrs and missionaries, teachers and writers, singers and homemakers, to name just a few categories. God uses ordinary women in so many ways, and I wanted to spotlight what women had done. The book was released in 2006.
Buy Link: http://amzn.com/158229576X

Long before that book was a flicker behind my eyelids, two women, Janine Boyer, Kim Messinger, young enough to be my daughters, had asked me to mentor them. We began meeting weekly to discuss Christian books. Eventually we decided we wanted to serve God together, and we offered to lead women’s retreats for area churches. We call ourselves Friends of the Heart and lead about 17 events a year throughout the East.


Kim Messinger, Janine Boyer, and Shirley Brosius doing a skit at a women's retreat.

 At a writer’s conference an agent suggested that because we speak together we should write together. Since guilt is always poking one of us and we noticed guilt is a common denominator of the women who attend our retreats, we chose it as the topic of our book.

Turning Guilt Trips into Joy Rides offers six months worth of daily readings that open with “A Guilt Trip to Avoid.” For instance: Faulting yourself for messing things up; wanting ministry to be perfect; setting a poor example, living an imperfect life, and the list goes on. After offering a scripture verse to consider, we share a personal story that relates to the guilt trip. Each reading closes with a way to “Take the Joy Ride,” a paragraph that applies the day’s scripture to the guilt trip. The book was released earlier this year.

http://amzn.com/B006QLFEVC Kindle Link
 http://amzn.com/1449732631 Paperback
We got dozens of good reviews during a recent Blog Tour with LitFuse. While the contest has ended, you can read lots of comments about the book at this site:
http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/13480254/guilttrips

Besides writing, I love playing board games with my grandchildren. I just added an app to do Word Games on Facebook. I also am a regular at chair aerobics and besides speaking with my friends, I am a Stonecroft Ministries speaker.

For fun, I love walking, embroidering and watching Jeopardy and American Idol.


After a lifetime of raising kids and working hard—eight years as a public school teacher and ten years as a director of Christian education—what could be better than being a spunky senior who writes?

Visit http://www.friendsoftheheart.us/ or www.shirleybrosius.blogspot.com.

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Shirley Brosius

Author and Speaker

http://www.shirleybrosius.com/

http://www.friendsoftheheart.us/

http://www.shirleybrosius.blogspot.com/

CoAuthor of Turning Guilt Trips into Joy Rides

Author of Sisterhood of Faith: 365 Life-Changing Stories about Women Who Made a Difference

Member of Friends of the Heart, three women who share God’s love through personal testimony, drama and song.