My Coolness Factor Just Skyrocketed!

Before I start with all the photos, let me just say that I am the most un-photogenic person I know. Sorry about that.

But these photos of me with my totally cool peeps at the LDStorymakers Conference are just so cool that I had to post them.


First, I got to meet a couple of bloggers that I love and who love me back. (I hope.)

Kymberly—Oops! I put the question mark in the wrong place.
It's Temporary? Insanity

Dan Wells' book is out in the UK. Will be here in the US soon.
(And no, we're not related.) (My maiden name was Wells.)

Luisa is not only a great blogger, but also a gifted writer.
I know. I've read some of her stories. You can too, HERE.

I also got to take some photos with authors who
I am so pleased and grateful to call friends.
Because they are so talented.

Cindy is a soul-sister. I love her to death.
I first met Lori when she designed Cindy's book cover for Rosehaven.
She is a wonderful woman.

Stephanie writes incredibly twisted suspense.
She was one of my first blog friends. I'm so glad she won a Whitney.
Heather (yes, I know her well enough to call her Heather, instead of H.B.)
has done signings at Provident Book.
AND, she loaned me a library book and trusted me to return it on time.
See? I'm not just a groupie. We're friends.

Just before the Whitney Gala, I was pulled aside
to be part of a podcast for LDSWBR.

The podcast isn't posted yet, but I'll let you know when it is.

Shirley Bahlmann was one of the conference photographers.
She is also a great writer. I've read several of her books and liked them—
especially Walker's Gold.
(And yes, Shirley, I spelled your last name without looking it up. :)

Not sure how the photog (Shirley's son) did this
but he's got skillz.

And speaking of Shirley's sons. . .
Bron has a book coming out soon.

Dean Lorey wrote the Nightmare Academy series.

Also several movies and TV shows. (I actually saw My Boyfriend's Back on TV!)

He was the speaker during Friday night dinner. Hilariously funny.
He was very nice. He even SPOKE to me—
we had a couple of (short) conversations during the evening.

James Dashner signed my copies of his books.
I love his 13th Reality series. It won Best Youth Fiction.
I tried not to fawn.

I bought five of Janette Rallison's books. I "discovered" her at last year's conference.

My Fair Godmother sold out at this conference before I could get one. :(
I attended her class and it was great. She inspired me past a plot snag in my WIP.

The coup of the evening was this photo.

I admit, I don't "know" Brandon Sanderson.
(Uhm, I didn't really know Dean Lorey either,
but all the others I know well enough to approach if I saw them at the mall.)
I own ALL of his books. I like them—especially the Alcatraz series.

Normally, I don't stalk authors, nor do I ask complete strangers for photo ops.
But I couldn't help myself.
Plus, I wanted to impress my SIL.

There were so many others I wanted to get photos with—J. Scott Savage, Jessica Day George, Angela Hallstrom, Sarah Eden, Tanya Parker Mills, Nancy Allen, Tristi Pinkston, Julie Coulter Bellon, Kerry Blair, Candace Salima, and many, many more. But they saw me coming!

And P.S.: Did I really wear the same outfit this year as I did last year??? Apparently, yes, I did. But my hair looks much better this year, doesn't it?

© 2010 It's a Book Affair

Whitney Winners

I just finished up a fabulous weekend at the LDStorymakers Writing Conference. It was great and I'm inspired and committed again. I'll be posting a little about it later.

But the breaking news is...the Whitney winners. Some of my picks won, but not in the category I chose for them. The only one I got right was the Youth category—because I picked all of them.

Best General Fiction

Best Historical:



Best Speculative:



Best Youth Fiction:



Best Mystery/Suspense:



Best Romance



Best Novel by a New Author



Best Novel of the Year



© 2010 It's a Book Affair

My Whitney Picks

The LDStorymakers Conference and the Whitney Gala are this weekend and I'm so excited to be going. My writing has sort of stalled out—once again. I'm starting to think I'll never write a complete book. Perhaps I'm a better editor/polisher, than I am a creator. Whatever. Anyway. I know this weekend will be totally inspiring and I'll come home determined to be a writer again.

Like last year, I read all the Whitney nominees. Unlike last year, it was a lot harder to choose winners. There were only a few books that I felt didn't quite deserve the nomination they received, but most of them were very, very good. In most of the categories, it was pretty easy for me to narrow it down to two books but then I was stumped because I could justify either one as a winner. In the Youth category, I wanted them all to win—in a five way tie!

However, after much, much deliberation, here are my picks, with short commentary:




Best General Fiction: My two favs were Bound on Earth by Angela Hallstrom and The Reckoning by Tanya Parker Mills. The Reckoning was a very solid book with a great story. Bound on Earth had a wonderful writing style, examining a family structure and the way their challenges bound them together. Although, in my opinion, it is more a collection of short stories, rather than a novel, I still went with Bound on Earth as the Best General Fiction.





Best Historical: I liked all five of the nominees. They each had a few little weaknesses I'd change, but then, I'm an editor and I was born to pick things apart. This category winner was a tough call. I loved Isabelle Webb's cleverness; I loved the strength of testimony and love shared between Abinadi and his wife; I loved Charlie Mae's spunk; I loved Marie's courage. But the one that really caught me up was the story of Jesus' "adopted" brother in Master by Toni Sorenson.



Best Speculative Fiction: Hands down, The Host by Stephanie Meyer. While I'm only a moderate fan of the Twilight series, I am a raving fan of The Host. I absolutely loved this book. It's on my list of all-time favorites. I loved the slow building romance, the story of two species colliding, and the examination of the human race through the eyes of its conquerors. Please tell me there will be a sequel.




Best Youth Fiction: Of all the categories, this was the hardest to judge and I'd really be fine if any one of the five nominees won. I loved every. single. one. The 13^th Reality by James Dashner was fabulous. I loved how Tick has good friends and a stable family. Alcatraz vs. The Scrivner’s Bones by Brandon Sanderson was a fabulous story. The chapter beginnings were hilariously funny. Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague (Book 3) by Brandon Mull had such good (but highly entertaining) lessons about good vs evil and the consequences of our choices. Far World: Water Keep by J. Scott Savage has a handicapped main character, which alone is a huge plus. And the theme of the magic being inside was just great. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George was written in such a beautiful voice. All of these books had wonderful, interesting characters, solid and unpredictable plotting, great pacing, great dialog, great. . . everything! How to choose? How to choose?

Okay, I choose either The 13^th Reality or Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow . Or Alcatraz vs. The Scrivner’s Bones. No, wait. I choose Far World: Water Keep. No, Fablehaven. No. . .aarrgh! I give up.




Best Mystery/Suspense: Another hard category. I liked all of them. I had to get nit-picky about these. First, I ruled out Above and Beyond by Betsy Brannon Green because I didn't think this sequel quite lived up to the first volume. I also ruled out Royal Target by Traci Hunter Abramson because I think it's first a romance, and second a mystery, and was mis-categorized. I really liked the basic idea behind Do No Harm by Gregg Luke but I felt it needed a little tighter edit. That left Fool Me Twice by Stephanie Black and Freefall by Traci Hunter Abramson—both of which I absolutely loved. But I chose Freefall because I'm saving Fool Me Twice for—oops! spoiler.





Best Romance: This is the category that I usually like least but I was even pleased with the selections here. They are what they are, and if you're looking for a good romance, I think you'll like all of them. If Royal Target had been in this category, it might have been a harder choice for me, but as it was, Seeking Persephone by Sarah Eden was the clear winner for me. It reminded me some of Jane Austen's work. It was charming and not completely predicatable. Loved it.





Best Novel by a New Author: Although I think Traitor by Sandra Grey will probably win, I'm choosing The Reckoning by Tanya Parker Mills. It was a great story that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It wasn't perfect, there were some issues with timing and the ages of the characters that I felt were off. But over all, I was impressed with Mills' handling of the realism, the strength of her characters, and the story line.





Best Novel of the Year: This was a very hard category. All of the books were so good. For me, it came down to Fool Me Twice by Stephanie Black and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George. I loved them both. Fool Me Twice had a wonderful twisty-turny plot line that kept me totally engrossed in the story, the characters were great. I just couldn't put it down. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow had such a beautiful voice. It's my favorite retelling of this particular fairy tale, and one of my favorite retellings of a fairy tale, period. However, in the end, I went with Fool Me Twice because it just plain takes a genius to come up with something that twisted and warped.

And that's it for me. We'll see how close my predictions were on Saturday.

© 2010 It's a Book Affair

Life is Tough by Stacy Gooch-Anderson

Life Is Tough: I Doubt I'll Make It Out Alive
by Stacy Gooch-Anderson

Inspirational
192 pages, softcover
Target Reader: Adults

Cedar Fort
978-1599551760
Release Date: February 11, 2009



From the publisher:

Stacy Anderson, author of The Santa Letters, has had her share of trials as a mother. From making decisions about her career and future to dealing with illness in her family, she has learned that life will continue to teach her lessons in all circumstances. Join Stacy as she shares 28 life lessons that changed her perspective and helped her grow in character. Filled with humor and practical advice, Life is Tough I Doubt I ll Make It Out Alive is sure to inspire mothers everywhere!

Being the perfect mother that I am, when one of my dear children would come to me, crushed by life's blows, I'd impart these loving words of wisdom to them, "Life sucks and then you die."

I think they got the message because they generally face life head-on and rarely whine or complain to me.

However, if I had it to do over again, I think instead I'd try Stacy's approach to life's lessons. She uses a healthy dose of humor, a sprinkling of laughter and a generous dollop of wit as she shares with us some of life's lessons and how to deal with them.

I loved Stacy's book. I read it late one night when my daughter was out with "that boy" she hangs with and DH was at work. The book is a quick read and it had me laughing out loud in several places, wishing I had someone close by with which to share the humor. I very much liked Stacy's first book, The Santa Letters, but I think I liked this one even better.

One part that I particularly loved came from Life Lesson #23, "Life is like a roller coaster. You can scream every time you hit a bump or throw your hands up in the air and enjoy the ride." That's a big one for me. I tend to get a little overwhelmed and stressed out over life's little ups and downs. I need to regularly be reminded that life happens, and I can choose to be miserable or I can choose to enjoy the ride.

Another of my favorites is when Stacy compares marriage (and it works equally well when applied to children, siblings, parents and other relationships) with the family dog. "It's a pain in the neck and always in the way, but you love it anyway and treat it with respect."


Stacy has a blog where she posts a daily life saver. A life saver is a little "gem of wisdom" that helps us get through the day or deal with a particular challenge. Like her book, the life savers are very funny but leave you a little wiser.

One of Stacy's first life savers was: "Fat people are harder to kidnap." I could appreciate Stacy's story about that, having dealt with my own weight issues for years.

A personal life saver that I've used for years comes from a Star Trek TMG episode, when event after event goes awry, the normally stuffy Capt. Picard laughs and says, "Sometimes... you just have to bow to the absurd." On those days when so many things go wrong that I find myself looking up at the sky and yelling, "Are you kidding me?!" that little life saver reminds me to laugh and go on.

The life saver for today is "All power corrupts but we need the electricity." I can't wait to see what Stacy writes about that one.

You can read up on Stacy's life savers HERE.

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© 2010 It's a Book Affair