About the Book

Book: Sermons from a Soapbox, Messages of Hope and Encouragement

Author: Ladonna Shanks

Genre: Devotional, based on personal experience; Memoir; Adult Nonfiction; “Life Lesson Essays”

Release Date: April 8, 2025

“What is God like?

Does He even exist, other than as a figment of the imagination?

Or is He real, a part of daily life and our world?

In Sermons from a Soapbox, Ladonna Shanks shares her personal spiritual journey of more than seventy-five years. “I cannot write what I have not experienced,” serves as the base of her easy-to-read, anecdotal essays. The short “sermons” challenge the reader to think, question, search, and consider living where God is . . . in the spiritual, long-term, instead of humankind’s physical, short-term.

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Ladonna Shanks was born and raised in Oregon’s lush Willamette Valley. During her several decades of life, she has been an entrepreneur, a small business owner, and, most recently, a writer. Her first book, Tidbits and Pearls, A Book of Essays on Living Everyday Life with God was published in 2019. Ladonna’s family, including five grandgirls, and her commitment to God serve as her priorities.

 

 

 

 

More from Ladonna

The desire and passion to share God’s quest for friendship with humankind has driven me to write of my personal experiences with Him. “I cannot write what I have not experienced” is my mantra.

The easy-to-read anecdotal essays make up both of my books: Tidbits and Pearls, A Book of Essays on Living Everyday Life with God and my newly published Sermons from a Soapbox, Messages of Hope and Encouragement. (My editor calls them “Life’s Lessons Essays.)

I never preach, but I share my life. My desire is to challenge the reader to consider life in the long-term, eternal instead of the short-term, physical. I want them to think.

I am open, honest, and transparent as I present my weaknesses, failures, and inadequacies in contrast to God’s faithfulness, care, and love.

Interview with the Author

• Does writing energize or exhaust you?

I always know I have written a “good” essay when its message speaks to me. If I am moved and touched by the words that have come from my fingertips, then I know the reader will be affected as well. When God says, “That’s a good one,” I am satisfied. Though I might not say I am energized, writing feeds my soul and my spirit.

• What do you like to do when you are not writing?

When I’m not writing, you will find me either making Christmas ornaments, gardening, or playing online scrabble. For the past twenty-six years, I have been making a beaded ornament for each of my family members. Made from kits, they are quite detailed, and I allow myself a month to create each one. I deliver them at Thanksgiving. Then, I start all over again. Three years ago, I retired from a self-employed gardening business. Since then, I am able to spend time in my own garden rather than the gardens of my clients. I do love my garden. I also try to walk regularly.

• Share something your readers wouldn’t know about you.

My readers would not know that I learned to drive at the age of eight on my dad’s tractor. After the alfalfa crop is cut and baled, the hay bales need to be picked up and stored in the barn. Dad and my two brothers would walk alongside the trailer, hoist the bales onto the trailer, and stack them while I operated the tractor. It was in granny gear, a slow crawl, so I wasn’t able to run into anything except for a hay bale. But I learned to put the clutch in, place my foot on the brake and hold it until it was time to move forward—all skills necessary to drive a car.

• Favorite quote?

My favorite quote, given to me many years ago: “It will be worth it all.”

• When did you start writing?

I am eighty-one years old. I started writing around ten years ago, driven by a passion and need to share God’s desire for friendship with us. I began by posting some essays on FaceBook, then created a blog. That led to a compilation of essays for my first book and now, this one.

 

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, November 13

Simple Harvest Reads, November 14 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, November 15

Artistic Nobody, November 16 (Author Interview)

Guild Master, November 17 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 17

The Sacred Line, November 18

Lots of Helpers, November 19

Fiction Book Lover, November 20 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 21

Vicky Sluiter, November 22 (Author Interview)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, November 23

For the Love of Literature, November 24 (Author Interview)

Because I said So, November 24

Tell Tale Book Reviews, November 25 (Author Interview)

Girls in White Dresses, November 26

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Ladonna is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card, copy of my book, and a set of 6 blank note cards created by myself using floral photos!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/3d5a0/sermons-from-a-soapbox-celebration-tour-giveaway