Whew!

by Marsha Ward

Wow! It's been crazy around here.

Last week I was consumed with getting my novel broken down into chapters in the right places. I've been sadly absent from the blogosphere. I didn't even put up any author interviews. Perhaps tomorrow I can fix that.

Today was the deadline for members of the Whitney Academy to vote for the best examples in novels written by LDS authors. I'm glad to say I got my vote in before midnight!

Also, there must be some kind of twitching going on in the Internet, since two of my email accounts have been going haywire.

That matters to me because I began a new job that depends heavily on my ability to receive and send files back and forth to my employer. As a last resort, I had to utilize my third email account. Boo-hoo-hoo! Things will be better tomorrow, or as I heard Scarlett O'Hara say when I caught the last 45 minutes of Gone With the Wind the other night: "Tomorrow is another day!"

Love that movie! Love that musical score! Wish I'd seen the other three hours and fifteen minutes!

7 Things About Me

by Marsha Ward

Stephanie Black's "7 Things About Me" tag from the Six LDS Writers and a Frog Blog continues:

1) One of the great things that I've discovered about Blogger is the "Post Options" feature. It allows a poster to customize his or her delivery date and time. So, although I'm posting this a day late, to you it will appear that I'm a normal, on-time sort of person, with all my faculties, instead of an ADD-afflicted klutz. Ha!

Hmmm, I'll go back and make that Number 1. Heh-heh.

2) I finished the manuscript for my next novel yesterday, um, today, er, make that on Wednesday!

3) This is the third time I've "finished" it. It's a totally different book now than it was the first two times.

4) Now I can continue in the frantic novel-reading segment of time that, I suspect, will become a January and February Tradition.

5) That's because I'm a member of the Whitney Academy, and thus a judge in the final round for the Whitney Awards.

6) I'm a member of the Academy because I'm a member of LDStorymakers, Inc.

7) I need to send in my dues. Today! Thank goodness for PayPal!

2007 Whitney Awards Finalists

by Marsha Ward

Congratulations to the 2007 Whitney Awards Finalists!

The Whitney Awards were created by LDStorymakers, Inc., an author's guild, to recognize the best fiction written by LDS authors.

The award winners will be announced at the Whitney Gala on March 22, 2008, in Sandy, Utah. Tickets are available here. They are limited in number, so if you want to be there, don't delay in purchasing your ticket.

Awards will be given in five genre categories, and in two overall categories.

BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR:
Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George; Out of Jerusalem, Vol. 4: Land of Inheritance, by Heather Moore; On the Road to Heaven, by Coke Newell; The Operative, by Willard Boyd Gardner; and Upon the Mountains, by Gale Sears.

BEST NOVEL BY A NEW AUTHOR:
Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George; Wet Desert, by Gary Hansen; Counting Stars, by Michele Holmes; Beyond the Horizon, by Judy C. Olsen; and On the Road to Heaven, by Coke Newell.

BEST ROMANCE / WOMEN’S FICTION:
Counting Stars, by Michele Holmes; Desire of Our Hearts, by Sariah Wilson; Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer; The Independence Club, by Rachel Ann Nunes; and Loyalty's Web, by Joyce DiPastena.

BEST MYSTERY / SUSPENSE:
The Deep End, by Traci Hunter Abramson; Grave Secrets, by Marlene Austen; Hazardous Duty, by Betsy Brannon Green; The Operative, by Willard Boyd Gardner; and Sheep's Clothing, by Josi Kilpack.

BEST YOUNG ADULT / CHILDRENS:
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, by Brandon Sanderson; Bullies in the Headlights, by Matthew Buckley; First Day, by Allyson B. Condie; How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend, by Janette Rallison; and Rise of the Evening Star (Fablehaven, Book II), by Brandon Mull.

BEST SPECULATIVE FICTION:
Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale; Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George; Hunting Gideon, by Jessica Draper; The Lights of Mahonri Moriancumer, by Phyllis Gunderson; and The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, Book II), by Brandon Sanderson.

BEST HISTORICAL:
Beyond the Horizon, by Judy C. Olsen; Out of Jerusalem, Vol. 4: Land of Inheritance, by Heather Moore; On the Road to Heaven, by Coke Newell; Spires of Stone, by Annette Lyon; and Upon the Mountains, by Gale Sears.

Also on the gala evening's list of events is the presentation of LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS to authors Jennie Hansen, Dean Hughes, and Anita Stansfield.