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!

Well, Christmas is over, the presents unwrapped, and the torn wrapping paper (mostly) cleaned up. It was a lovely Christmas altogether, especially the surprise bag of presents my family and I found by our door on Christmas Eve after we'd been out. It was very heartwarming to find it there, and we're very grateful, though we're not sure who to be grateful to. So perhaps we should just make an extra effort to be nice to everyone, since anyone could have done it.

A neighbor introduced me to a new tradition that I would like to try out with my family in Christmases to come. It's called The White Stocking. And here's how it goes:

THE WHITE STOCKING

It wasn't that anyone had really been forgotten,
no child had been slighted or made unhappy
and no adult had been left unremembered.
The presents had all been distributed and
all the stockings were beautifully filled--all
that is except one; one stocking that had never
even been hung. It was the stocking intended for the
Child of Bethlehem.

Of all the people belonging at that Christmas
gathering, only He had been forgotten.
Only he had been left out of the festivities.
This didn't seem quite right, inasmuch as it
was His birthday that was being celebrated.
Since then, the little white stocking has been hung
in a special place in our home. On Christmas Eve
after our special dinner, we gather in the living room
and have a program. During this time we reach
into the stocking and pass out the papers
that were placed in the stocking the year before.
Each person then writes a new gift for
Jesus to be placed in the stocking.
Your gift could include: personal goals, ways you will
be of service to others in the coming year, or
relationships you wish to improve.
Wishing You A Special Holiday Season.

The Hobbit!!

Those of you who know me personally, know I am a huge fan of Tolkien and his stories. So it gives me great pleasure to express my joy at the official announcement that Peter Jackson is teaming up with MGM and New Line Cinema to produce The Hobbit in two parts. Principal photography is tentatively set to begin in 2009, and the release of The Hobbit set for 2010 with its sequel in 2011.

I can't adequately express how ecstatic I am about this! I think Peter Jackson did a phenomenal job with translating The Lord of the Rings trilogy into movies while staying true to the story line and the spirit that Tolkien created in his books. A tough job, I have no doubt, but I think he did it splendidly.

I look forward to the magic he will create with The Hobbit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since Thanksgiving is almost here, I want to mention the things I am grateful for. For one, and most importantly, my children. I am also thankful for good friends, for my health, my job, my cute little house, and for my parents. I don't know where I would be without them.