Piggyback Rides and Slippery Slides by Lynnae W. Allred is a collection of the author’s favorite playtime activities — things children and adults can do together to have fun. Order it on Amazon.com.
Books are one of my favorite hobbies. From reading them, to writing them, to editing books others have written, great reading, novel ideas, and life-changing literature have always been an important part of my life. I remember sitting in a class when I was in the 9th grade, and a teacher asked us to write down 5 life goals. I don’t know why, but the thought jumped into my head to put down “write a book.”
In 2007, a publisher approached me and asked me to write a book on the importance of play, and that was my first real exposure to some of the academic research. But it was the hands-on research that changed my life. I had so much fun testing out ideas with my family that play quickly became part of our family culture. The book, Piggyback Rides and Slippery Slides: How to Have Fun Raising First-Rate Children, is still my favorite answer when anyone asks me what advice I have for dealing with a difficult teenager, an introverted 4-year-old, or a struggling family. This website is my labor of love intended to help share some of what I have learned with other families with the hope that someday, they’ll enjoy their family relationships as much as I do.
The second book I worked on was actually authored by my mother, Joyce L. Whiting. At my suggestion, she compiled some of her favorite family recipes and submitted them for publication. When the publisher asked who was going to photograph all of her recipes, I jumped at the opportunity to pull out my camera and learn to use the “manual” setting. My sister, Karlyn helped me style the photos and contributed several photos of her own. That book, Finger Foods: Bite-Sized Eats and Tasty Treats for Every Occasion, was released in 2015. Today, my mom runs her own blog, TableForFifty.com, and I’m a regular contributor. My Mom was the one who taught me how to play and food is the most important part of her own play history.
Line Upon Line: an LDS Young Woman’s Q & A Journal is a journal I authored in 2015 for the Young Women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was serving as a leader to my ward’s Beehive class at the time, and during a winter girl’s camp, several of them helped me think of questions they would like to see in the book. To get them thinking, I asked,”what question would you like to ask your own Mom about when she was your age?”
Early in 2014, I had an opportunity to go to work as an acquisitions editor for an independent publisher, and that began a fascinating journey into the world of publishing. I remember the first rejection letter I sent, with the realization that of the dozens of books that I encountered as submissions every month, only a few of them would ever be published, and that I had the responsibility to choose the very best ones I could find. I’ve discovered that authors tend to be especially kind, devoted, thoughtful human beings, and I love working one-on-one with them.
By 2015, I had learned a little about book acquisition and one day the sales manager approached me about finding an author to create a series of journals that would help people write and record their life story. I knew just the author–me. With help from my co-author, Angie Harrison, the “Storybook Journals” were published that spring. They were some of my final “acquisitions” before I left the position to return to my work helping to manage and run a family-owned eCommerce business. These journals helped me discover part of my own play history. For years, I’d been videotaping, recording and photographing my own family stories. I am discovering that hidden within the confines of our own family stories, we’ll find clues about how to have a happier life and pass on joy to the next generation. My strictly amateur photography and videography skills continue to develop as I learn how to gather and record stories inside and outside of my own family.
