Post #29 – Women’s Memoirs, News – Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
Women’s Memoir Prize-
Winner’s Photo Arrives
Recently we posted our February Women’s Memoir Contest winner. When we announced the contest, we imagined the winner would be someone in the US. So we were surprised, but pleasantly surprised, when Mairi Neil from Australia was our winner.
So we packed and mailed her prize, a bar of our Mindfulness Soap that is made exclusively for Women’s Memoirs by two women, Jessicca and Melanie. These two creative women make all their soaps using non-gmo olive oil and other all-natural vegetable oils, essential oils, and organic herbs. They rely on the cold process method of soap making, pouring the mixture into small wooden molds they have made for themselves. After two days the soap is cut. Jessicca then hand bevels each edge and puts the bars on drying racks to cure for 4 to 6 weeks, resulting in firm, mild, long-lasting, satisfying soaps.
Kendra and I believe that soap making and memoir writing are similar creative efforts. Jessicca says, “Soap making is a long process that requires patience and a sense of humor, but the resulting soap is worth the effort.” We feel the same way about memoir writing – that’s why in our Mindfulness Soap we’ve had Jessicca and Melanie add rosemary for mental alertness and lavender buds for the joy that both contribute to a mindful state as we write our memoirs.
Mairi Neil with her contest prize -- Mindfulness Soap
We asked Mairi to send a picture after her prize arrived. Here’s what she wrote when she emailed her photo:
“Received the lovely soap yesterday. I now have it sitting beside my computer as I put the finishing touches on my next KitchenScraps story about Mum’s culinary efforts.
“Mindfulness Soap – such a beautiful and apt name and the scent not only awakens the senses and memory but is indeed refreshing and pleasant.
“Thank you and Kendra for the thoughtful gift and Jessicca and Melanie for their talented effort.”
Women’s Memoirs, of course, wants to again thank Mairi. By the way, if you didn’t read her last story, Mum’s Legendary Scones, here’s the link.
If you’d like to purchase your own Mindfulness Soap for yourself or a writer friend, please visit our store.
Our New Memoir Writing Contest
Want to enter our current contest for the best KitchenScraps story with recipe and photos? Here’s the link to the contest rules.
Kendra persuaded me that in addition to publishing the KitchenScraps stories submitted by our winner and runner-ups on our website, we should also award the first place winner The [Essential] Women’s Memoirs Writing Workshop on DVD (a 5-DVD set). This is a $132 value gift. Click here for more information on this highly-praised product.
