MAY WISH LIST WINNERS

Winners for the May Wish List contest are Michelle Cunnah and Judy (no last name given but she is a follower on Notes from Jennie's Desk).  Congratulations to both of you.  Please send me a list of at least five LDS novels on your wish list and I'll send you each one from your list.  I also need your mailing address.  You can contact me at bhansen22 at msn dot com or message me on facebook.

I'm going to suspend the Wish List contest for June and July though I'll still blog as often as possible.  The summer months with vacations and so many activities aren't the best time for contests and this summer seems to be piling up more things on my to do list than usual, so I've decided to wait until August to run the contest again.

A Miracle Came Our Way

What a week this has been!  A week ago Friday we made turning our son and daughter-in-law's office into a nursery a family project.  This involved removing four layers of wallpaper and two layers of paint plus moving all of the office furniture out to make remove for baby furniture.  We knew time was short, but we had no idea how little time we had.  Our newest granddaughter was born about noon on Memorial Day, five weeks early.  Little Gracie's arrival has been unconventional in every way.  After fifteen years of fertility specialists and being told it wasn't going to happen, our daughter-in-law went in for surgery on a painful, swollen knee, only to have the surgery cancelled because the pre-surgery tests said she was pregnant.  A high risk obstetrician confirmed she was not only pregnant, but six months along.  Two months after learning of the pregnancy, the baby arrived, via emergency c-section.  She's healthy, but tiny.  Mom is the one having problems with both her knee and her hip and she must use a wheelchair.

Little Gracie is in NICU and today I got to hold her.  As soon as she gains a little more weight she'll be coming home.  I hope the nursery will be finished in time.  I hope too, her mommy will soon be able to walk again and will be pain free.  We decided to go ahead with the shower scheduled for today.  It was fun and you can read more about it on my daughter's blog, Come Out When You're Happy.  There's a link on the sidebar of this blog.
Our whole family considers this precious little girl our miracle baby.

Along with all of the new baby excitement we had a grandson graduate from AMES Academy, two birthdays, and all kinds of end of school year events take place.

Another View on Becoming a Writer

There's a side to writing that has little to do with words, punctuation, or grammar.  Many of us start out thinking of writing as a solitary profession with little connection to actual people.  Some of us are introverts who imagined writing would involve  some kind of interaction just between "me and my computer". We express our thoughts better on paper than vocally, we're shy, we're easily flustered in social situations, and far more comfortable around imaginary characters than the real deal. Who knew writers were supposed to become salesmen, public speakers, and plan launch parties?  Surprise!  Writing has a great deal to do with connecting with people---not only the reading public, but with other writers. 

Early on most writers discover people watching is a useful tool.  But more is needed than just watching people, their language, and their reactions.  Feelings, empathy, hurt, loneliness, love, hate, disgust are just the beginning.  We can't write what we can't feel.  Taking this a step farther, let's think about the relationship of writers with each other.  At first we may wonder why we should concern ourselves with other writers.  That's another one of those surprises.  Call it networking, critique groups, a guild, or just friendship, but I have found other writers essential to doing my best.  All the way from mentioning that the door of a restaurant in New York I wanted to use in a story happens to be red to a couple of mentors who taught me that we sell more books when we tout each other's books than when we try to push our own.  Writers understand writers and sometimes that makes all the difference.

I really hate driving in Utah County, but over the past two weeks I've made four trips down treacherous, under construction I15.  Each of these trips has had something to do with interacting with people in the name of writing.  First there was the Whitney Gala, an opportunity to honor some of the best writers around who also happen  to be LDS.  The conference and the gala highlighted the efforts of writers to help other writers while honing their own skills.  This was an opportunity to form networks, build friendships, and applaud the success of those who excel in a field important to us. Though each writer would like to be standing at the podium, award in hand, there's little jealousy between writers. We truly aren't competitors.  Even the greatest of egos amongst us sees him or herself deserving of honors also not instead of because we each see ourselves and our gifts as unique.

The second trip involved a meeting with my editor.  The writer/editor relationship is of utmost importance.  Both the writer and editor have a big stake in the success of any writing project and want to see the best product produced possible.  Fortunate is the writer who has a strong, knowledgeable editor who not only knows how to edit, but is a friend.  I've been blessed with several such editors over the years and am about to lose one of the best to law school.

Unfortunately books don't sell themselves.  There are many, many books to choose from which means writers have to become involved in marketing.  And in today's market there are many formats both for our books and for marketing them.  The third trip south to Utah County involved a group of bloggers and reviewers. We met over lunch and discussed the power of reviews and blogs to inform the public of what's available and to establish working relationships between writers and reviewers.

Since I write reviews for Meridian Magazine, I was invited to a dinner sponsored by one of the major LDS publishers for my fourth trip.  This was a relaxing social event meant to further friendships and award in-house high achievers.  Which brings me back to writers benefitting from befriending other writers.  When one of these writers needs a special bit of research, they're going to think, "Oh yeah, I met so and so once who writes about dutch oven cooking.  We hit it off and I bet he'd be happy to help me with some camping questions I have in the suspense novel I'm writing."  It also boosts spirits and rejuvenates drive to hear words of praise from a fellow writer. 

Royalty checks are nice, achieving approval from the reading public is wonderful, but one of the best things about being a writer is the friendships we form along the way.

LAST WORD ON THE WHITNEYS

This is the article I wrote for Meridian Magazine, but since my computer was messed up all last week and for technical reasons on the other end, it didn't happen, I decided to run it here.  Google is giving me a bad time, so the pictures may not line up quite right and the captions keep disappearing.  I'm just not very good at the technical end of blogging.  Anyway before all of the Whitney shine for this year fades into the past, here goes:

Eleven awards were given at the Whitney Awards Gala at the Provo Marriott Saturday night. Outstanding Achievement awards for contributions to LDS literature and for inspiring both readers and writers went to two retired professors and authors, Jack Weyland and Douglas Thayer.  Weyland has taught at Ricks College (BYU-Idaho) and is the author of 25 books, including the immensely popular Charlie and Sam. Thayer taught at Brigham Young University.  He has authored many short stories and three novels.  Most of his written work carries a "coming of age" theme.

 

Neither of the Novel of the Year winning novels has any connection to the Church though both authors are LDS.  Dan Wells won Novel of the year for his horror novel, I Don't Want to Kill You.  Best Novel by a New Author went to Tess Hilmo for With a Name Like Love, an ageless story of compassion and making choices.

The contest is divided into seven categories with five judges with expertise in each specific genre narrowing the selections down to five for each category. At this point the voting is opened to members of LDStorymakers, representatives of bookstores and publishing companies, reviewers and bloggers who write reviews. Votes can only be cast by those who certify they have read all five finalists in a particular category.  Voters can vote in as many categories as they are qualified by reading the five finalist novels.  Only those who read all thirty-five of the finalists can vote for the best novel of the year categories, which usually isn't many voters.

All seven of the major categories were exceptionally well-represented this year, making choosing a single winner in each a difficult task.  A complete list of finalists can be found at Whitney Finalists.  Winners in each category for exceptional 2012 novels are:

General - Before I Say Goodbye by Rachel Ann Nunes

Historical - Letters in the Jade Dragon Box by Gale Sears Romance - Borrowed Light by Carla Kelly

Mystery/Suspense - Rearview Mirror by Stephanie Black

Speculative - The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

Speculative Youth Fiction - Variant by Robison Wells

General Youth Fiction - With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo

The general public is invited to submit nominations for next year's awards by going to the Whitney site or through links on many LDS writers' blogs including this one.

Three Mother's Day Books

With Mother's Day coming up Sunday, I had planned to review Mother's Day books in my Meridian column this week, but since I review fiction and none of the books that came my way in honor of the day are fiction, I decided to talk about three non-fiction Mother's Day books here on my blog instead.  Any one or all three books will make great Mother's Day gifts or be a thoughtful token of remembrance for any woman.

The first is probably the most popular book in LDS bookstores at the moment, Forget Me Not by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. President Uchtdorf  uses the five petal forget-me-not flower to illustrate five areas women should remember for happier, more fulfilled lives.  They include being patient with ourselves, to distinguish between wise sacrifices and foolish ones, to be happy now, to focus on the "why" of the gospel, and to know that the Lord loves us infinitely.  As only he can, Uchtdorf charms, informs, and gently teaches women to value themselves.

Recently I did a booksigning with Connie Sokol.  She gave me a copy of her book, Motherhood Matters.  In a series of two and three page chapters she touches on three distinct areas that concern being a mother; The Divinity of Motherhood, The Reality of Motherhood, and the Rewards of Motherhood.  She quotes other well-known people, tells personal stories, and at times becomes deeply spiritual, and sometimes a note of humor creeps in.  She tells of loving a child when he/she is the least lovable, of those inevitable "mother moments" when mom's are less than perfect, of difficult choices between careers or wants and the demands of mothering, the workload shouldered by mothers, and the spiritual as well as physical responsibilities that go with being a mother.  Looking back over the years, Sokol says "I looked forward to a future date when I could actually get a full night's rest.  Then came teenagers.  At last I came to the conclusion that the underlying purpose of parenting is to ensure that we don't adequately sleep for the rest of our lives." She speaks of the intense spiritual rewards that come a woman's way as she struggles to teach and "train up" her children and the joy that a mother experiences when her child becomes a strong, competent adult with a testimony of spiritual truths. For anyone preparing a talk for Mother's Day this little book promises to be an incredible resource and will fuel memories and personal incidents to enrich any talk.  Since I'm one of those people assigned to talk in sacrament meeting this Sunday, I intend to make liberal use of this small gem.

Musings on Motherhood by Susan Corpany is only available so far for e-readers.  It's only.99 this week on Kindle.  This book is filled with humorous anecdotes and valuable lessons gleaned from her years as a young widow with an infant son, then her remarriage and divorce that landed her once again as a single mother, and the eventual successful marriage to a father with four children and her experiences as a stepmother.  And all this is followed by becoming a grandmother.  Corpany has a rare talent for turning every day happenings into humorous episodes and retelling the small tragedies that bring temporary pain and embarrassment  in a way that makes them funny, but often includes a significant lesson learned.  Most mothers need a laugh now and then; Corpany's book provides a lot of them.

I'll sign off by wishing all of the mothers  who read my blog a wonderful, satisfying Mother's Day.

MINDI and MISTY are winners

Mindi Battraw and Misty Moncur are the Wish List winners for April.  Congratulations!  Please send me a wish list of books you would like and your mailing addresses.  I just gave away over a hundred books to the people who attended the classes I taught last week and to a charity I support so my bookshelves aren't overflowing as badly as usual.  This may limit your choices somewhat, but I do have all four books I reviewed on Meridian last month; Family By Design by Heather Justesen, Olivia by Julie Wright, Caller ID by Rachelle J. Christensen, and The Lost Stones by Paul Rimmasch.  You can read the reviews by going here, then search under Books then Book Reviews.

I've got a rotten cold and don't feel well, so I'll start off the next contest in as few words as possible.  The contest begins now and runs through the end of May.  Comments, as long as they're in good taste, to this blog, Notes From Jennie's Desk, to my posts on the V-Formation blog, or to  any of my reviews on Meridian count as entries. You can also be eligible to win one of two books by being a follower on this blog. Multiple entries are fine. One book I have reviewed on Meridian will be awarded to someone who leaves a comment; a second book will go to a winner drawn from the larger pool which includes followers.

GIVE ME BOTH!

Others have talked about electronic readers, some with enthusiasm and some without.  I was slow warming up to the concept, but eventually I could see where one would be an advantage in some situations.  Then my husband gave me a Kindle for Christmas.  The tiny keyboard drives me nuts and I'm much too slow looking up references I can flip to in seconds in a paper book.  From a reader's point of view, I'll admit I prefer holding a real book in my hands, but I've learned to love my Kindle.

It's definitely nice to slip my e-reader into my purse before a trip to the doctor's office, my hairdresser, or any of those places where I may be stuck with an indeterminate wait.  No more leafing through boring old magazines!

I think I've been a judge in some category for the Whitneys since the awards academy was started. It was nice this year to be able to read so many of the nominees on my small light-weight e-reader in an easy chair with my feet up instead of being trapped at my computer to read the electronic submissions. 

Our family has a favorite vacation spot high in the mountains in Idaho.  Unfortunately the only wifi connection is in the ranch house and I dislike hauling around a stack of books along with all of our vacation gear---but I like to read while on vacation.  This year I'll take along my Kindle, all preloaded with books, to read wherever I like. 

As a writer, I was leery of having my books posted on an e-reader site.  Because books are generally cheaper there, I worried my royalties would drop.  Not so.  I've found my royalties are just fine.  It's true my publisher gets a larger cut than I do for my books they post, but my share is comparable to my print royalties.  For my oldest books, which I'm posting myself since they're no longer in print and my publisher has returned the rights to me, my royalties are wonderful.  Without the e-reader market, I'd be earning nothing on these older, out-of-print books.

One of the nicest bonuses for readers and writers with the proliferation of e-readers is the availability of books which are not carried in local bookstores.  The difficulty of members of the LDS Church, who live outside of the areas served by LDS bookstores, finding affordable LDS books has long been a problem.  Now with e-readers these people, whether they live in Maine or Hong Kong, have access to the new LDS books as fast as those who live along the Wasatch front without paying horrendous postage costs.

I'm not an all or nothing person when it comes to e-readers versus print.  I'll cheerfully take both.

(This month's Wish List contest ends Monday!)

BACK TO BLOGGING

The last two weeks have been on the crazy side. I've hardly had time to catch my breath.  First there was the convention and I'm happy to say most of my candidates made it, though some still face a primary.  Leading up to the  convention I did a lot of background checking, record checking, emptying my mailbox, and gritting my teeth while listening politely to phone call after phone call. I was once a  believer in the caucus/convention system in Utah and I'm a firm believer in representative government, but frankly there were a few delegates at that convention I wouldn't care to think represent me.  It was long, exhausting, and not run as well as conventions I remember in the past, but I survived. 

I taught a class last Saturday--three times.  By the time I got to the third session I couldn't remember what I'd covered and what I hadn't.  The class was on selecting books and media.  Music and movies are definitely not my area of expertise, but I had a lot of fun with books. The class was well attended all three times and I gave away about sixty books, some by me, but mostly ones I've reviewed or considered for review.  I accumulate so many more books than I can possibly keep or give away on this blog.  I usually give some to local charities, but the class seemed like a good opportunity to introduce a large number of women to LDS fiction.  I'll admit I hesitated before giving away some that I particularly enjoyed. 

Today was Grandparents Day at my eight-year-old grandson's school.  It was a lot of fun and very crowded.  Signing in and waiting for some of the activities required a lot of waiting in line.  I think far more grandparents came than had been anticipated.  One activity was a big world map; everyone was invited to place a star on the map representing the place where he or she was born. Looking at that map I decided my grandson's classmates are a mini United Nations.  Growing up, I complained a lot about school lunches, but we certainly had better lunches than today's kids.  My grandson had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a tiny carton of chocolate milk, a pile of pickles, and an apple (it was a cooking variety, not an eating apple!)  He could have had a dollar size hamburger instead of the PB&J sandwich.  It took him about five minutes to eat his lunch, then I think he'd had enough of grandparents, and was more interested in playing soccer with his best friend, Madelyn. Madelyn is a great best friend; she's not only the prettiest second grade girl in the school, but the toughest kid too.  Heaven help any kid, boy or girl, who thinks they can push her or her friends around! 

I've grabbed any minute I could to work in my badly neglected garden, there's been my days at the temple, grocery shopping, laundry, books to read and review, a couple of days tending my little granddaughter, and on and on. 

So what's the connection between these events other than they kept me from blogging?  I could say that as a writer they are all tiny slices of life that enhance my ability to create realistic characters and scenes, but there's something more.  On Easter I roasted a turkey and baked a ham.  I loaded the counter with all kinds of toppings, cheese, and vegies to make great hoagie sandwiches. At one point I looked over at a table where our five youngest grandsons sat.  They'd fixed their own hoagies.  One filled his bun with corn chips, one sported two slices of cheese, one had a lettuce and Miracle Whip sandwich,  one was eating just the plain bun with no filling, and the last one had lined up a row of jelly beans in his. Life is like that.  It seldom goes as planned and for each of us it's different. We each get a giant heaping of both good and bad, along with a lot of so-so days.  Some days we just need a jelly bean sandwich.

Blogging and Priorities

   

 Excuse time again!My blogging has been a bit nonexistent the past week.I've been kind of busy. First there was Ladies Night at Deseret Book and Conference.) Thanks to all of you who came to see me at the book signing.)Then my allergies led to a sore throat and ear ache. I had some getting ready for Easter and Easter which took some time, but it was so fun to have all of my kids and grandkids here for supper and an egg hunt for the little ones.Best of all was the news that my son and daughter-in-law who have been wanting a baby for fifteen years are finally expecting and if that isn't enough surprise, the baby is due in three months! I'm afraid blogging slid down a few points on my priority scale.  

 Speaking of priorities, I'm a firm believer in setting priorities in our lives. For me family, Church, and country rank right up at the top.  But each day is filled with priorities.  On arising most of us have a rough list of things to get done that day.  Some people prepare a written "to do" list. Others of us have a list in our heads, and some of us muddle through each day flitting from crisis to crisis.  All of us do a bit of shifting our priorities to deal with emergencies.

Some years ago a very wise lady taught me something about setting priorities when my "to do" list begins to feel insurmountable.  She said I should look at each task in my life and ask four questions 1) Is it my responsibility?  2) Can it be done by someone else?  3) Is it important to me or to someone I care about? 4) Does it have to be done right now?  It's funny how those four simple questions can put my "to do" list in perspective. 

Right now I have two big items on my calendar that are consuming a great deal of time. I'm a delegate to the County Convention this Saturday and I'm teaching a Women's Conference class In the Kearns West Stake the following Saturday. However I consider them both very important.  That means I won't be reading as many books in the coming two weeks as I usually do, I won't be on face book much, I'll shift some tasks to my husband who is a good sport when it comes to helping me accomplish difficult or time consuming projects, and my house won't get the cleaning attention it would otherwise. Some things such as my two days serving at the temple, being on call if necessary to pick up a grandchild who suddenly becomes ill or tend my one-year-old granddaughter as needed, and take care of my weekly Meridian column can't be set aside. Blogs may be few and far between for awhile (I'll entertain the possibility of a guest blog if anyone wishes to volunteer). 

Right now the leftovers from Easter dinner are my priority.  Talk to you later.

Time to Announce the Winners

Melanie Jacobson and Megan are the winners of my March give away contest.  They will each receive a copy of my new book, The Heirs of Southbridge.  Congratulations!  I appreciate all of you who commented this past month.  It was fun to get your views of some of the Whitney finalists. I've already turned my ballot in and will be anxious to hear which books get the final nod.  Megan and Melanie, please contact me at bhansen22 at msn dot com before April 7.   I need a mailing address to send you your prize. Prizes that aren't claimed will go to the next name I draw from March's entries.

A new Wish List contest will begin immediately.  Prizes (2) will be books I have reviewed on Meridian, discussed here, or will review or discuss this month.  I have many, but not all, of the Whitney finalists and nominees; they are up for grabs too.  To enter comment on any or every blog or review I write this month. Previous winners are eligible. Any thoughtful comment will count.  (Crude or tasteless comments will be tossed).