Christmas

My kids and I had a great Christmas. I think it's one of my favorite holidays, and not just because of the presents. I'm thankful for the birth of Christ, and what his life and atonement mean to me. I can only try every day to be more like him, and treat other people the way He would have me treat them.

Oh my, what a busy past couple of months. School's in full swing now, with the first quarter over half way over! This year, I'm teaching English to 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th graders, as well as a Creative Writing class for Juniors and Seniors.

Here is a link to the trailer for Passage to Zarahemla. (The movie's better, though)

http://www.mormonwebtv.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=178&Itemid=30

Passage to Zarahemla

My kids and I recently watched a new movie called Passage to Zarahemla based on the novel by Chris Heimerdinger. Oh, boy! What a great movie. All of us highly recommend it. It's a story about a young woman and her brother (Kerra and Brock) who have been recently orphaned. The State wants to split them up, but they're not going to have any of that, I tell you what! Instead, they take off to some relatives they haven't seen in nearly twelve years who live in the little town of Leeds, Utah. Near their cousins' home is an area that's always been believed to have supernatural powers associated with it. Strange noises and flickering shadows in the brush have given the area a reputation for being "haunted". I don't want to give much more away but I will say that the folks Kerra finds when she goes into the woods are anything but ghosts! Although some of them are pretty unfriendly. I highly recommend this movie. It was great to watch, and had a very sweet ending!

Ahh! It's summer! At least I think so.

I find it a bit odd that it's nearly the middle of June, and I still have to wear a jacket when I go outside. Anyway, now that school's over, I'm getting a bit more writing done than before, which is very very nice, but not as much sleep, strangely. Knowing I had to get up at 5:00 am was good motivation to get to bed on time, but now that I'm staying up all hours of the night to write, and then have to get up at 8:00 or 9:00 to take care of my kiddos, it's starting to be a little tiring. But it's so nice to be able to write uninterrupted. And I'm getting close to having my next book finished!!

Is it May already? There are only two weeks left of school before Summer Vacation. I don't know whether to be sad or excited about that. Hopefully, I'll be able to work a bit more on my writing this summer. I have loved teaching this year. These kids are really great.

Congrats to my friend, Janet Jensen!

A friend of mine, a fellow writer, Janet Jensen, has written a book entitled "Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys" a book about a young woman escaping fundamental polygamists to marry a mainstream Mormon. Her book is being advertised in a major Australian online paper, Australia.to. If you are interested in a link to it, here you go. http://www.australia.to/ Janet is a great writer, and I'm very excited for her!

The Whitney Awards Winners

The Whitney Awards Gala was held this last Saturday to end a wonderful weekend at the LDStorymakers Writer's Conference. It was a wonderful event! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Whitney Awards, they are awards given to LDS authors who excel in the creation of quality literature. An award is given for several different genres, and I was excited for the winners. Some of my most favorite people won! I'm very excited to post the winners here.

The Best Novel of the Year for 2007, was

On The Road To Heaven by Coke Newell



The Winner for Best Novel by a New Author was

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George



The Winner for Best Romance/Women's Fiction was

Counting Stars by Michele Paige Holmes



The Winner for Best Mystery/Suspense was

Sheep's Clothing by Josi Kilpack




The Winner for Best Young Adult/Children's was

Fablehaven 2: Rise Of The Evening Star by Brandon Mull



The Winner for Best Speculative was

Book Of A Thousand Days by Shannon Hale



The Winner for Best Historical was

Out Of Jerusalem: Land of Inheritance by Heather Moore



And the Lifetime Achievement Winners who were honored at the Gala were

Jennie Hansen, Dean Hughes, and Anita Stansfield











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Wow! It's March, already. Spring is on the way, and Summer is just around the corner. We're reading Holes by Louis Sacher, and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien in the English Classes I'm teaching. Golly, Holes is a great book. If you haven't read it or seen the movie, I highly recommend that you do. The story has a great message about acceptance and tolerance without getting preachy, and I love that!

Well, it's February, and spring, (hopefully!) is just around the corner. I'm working on a third book when I can, off and on. But it's coming along steadily. I hope my publisher likes it!