Whitney Award Pictures!!!

I had knots and nerves and butterflies in my stomach during the Storymaker Conference at the Sheraton in Salt Lake City two weeks ago because the culminating event was the Whitney Award dinner Banquet - an event with nearly 300 people all dressed up and two podiums with stairs and microphones and tons of authors with their families as well as editors and agents. Very heart-fluttering!

I wore my purple velvet dress and my purple shoes which made me very tall and wobbly, but I managed the stairs okay without too much slipping. Coming down was harder than going up!

My category, BEST YOUTH GENERAL NOVEL FOR 2010 had some fantastic Finalists and tough competition, and even though I'd had lots of *love* and *kudos* from many people who had read The Healing Spell, I knew that any one of those books would be a very worthy winner, they were that good. I've heard some chatter around the inter-webs that the Youth General Category was a favorite this year and VERY hard to judge. I agree! (Go to this Whitney Link to see all the Finalists!)

It was like the Oscars! Lisa Mangum from Deseret book and Kirk Shaw from Covenant Communications did the presentation of my category and then opened the envelope with the words, "And the winner is . . . " My heart was pounding so hard I could hardly breathe!  ". . . Kimberley Griffiths Little for The Healing Spell!"

Applause! I gasped! I was thrilled, relieved, SO excited!

I manged to make my way up to the stage and gave a shaky acceptance speech. My voice was shaking, but my husband said it didn't sound like it. I said a jumble of words about the long process of writing the book and my editor but there were things I forgot to say and I probably rambled anyway.

Here are some pictures!

Me holding the engraved award. On the left is Annette Lyon who won for best General Adult Novel! 

Her smile is so cute!

 

Walking back to my seat. That very handsome young man is one of my sons.

With Sheila Windley Stanley, part of the Whitney Academy and one of my biggest supporters. I loved getting to know her! Sheila is also a reviewer at LDS Women's Book Review - a very FAB site! 

The Envelope!!!

The Award is an engraved *book* that opens and closes. It's gorgeous.

Award in its gold box!

With Stephanie Black, Winner of the Whitney for Best Mystery!

Thank you to everyone who nominated The Healing Spell, judged it and named it a Finalist, and then voted to declare it the winner! I'm so grateful and thrilled beyond what I can fully express.

Don't forget to nominate books published during 2011! I'll send a link when the nomination ballots open. 

I'm back, Revision turned in - catching up!

Well, um, the subject pretty much says it all . . . ha, ha.

I had a MARVELOUS time at the LDStorymakers conference! Met so many blogger friends, met up with friends from last year, had some great conversations, listened to some amazing workshops!!! (On the Home Page, click the arrow buttons and you'll see me! I just saw that right now for the first time - Wow! It's like I'm really an author!)

AND I WON THE WHITNEY AWARD FOR THE BEST GENERAL YOUTH NOVEL OF 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am THRILLED to pieces about that and I have some fun pictures to show in my gorgeous purple gown and the high heeled purple shoes I coudl barely walk in . . . :-)

More details as the week progresses.

I feel a bit like I'm sick . . . I got home just a week ago and spent a frantic 6 days drafting over 100 new pages for a new plot line and finishing the tearing apart, piecing back together for my YA novel, GODDESS, which will come out in 2012 with Scholastic. A MAJOR re-imagining of the story - but oh, my, it is a *delicious*, forbidden romance!

I sent the manuscript off to my adorable and gorgeous and brilliant editor yesterday and now I'm crawling out from under my rock and blinking in the sunshine and making celebratory cookies, and feeding missionaries for dinner, and catching up on emails and Facebook and blogs, and errands, and paying bills - and got the May issue of SPELLBINDERS DONE.

I'm sort of a red-eyed demon mother/writer/wife right now.

Conference notes coming, pictures coming . . . TOMORROW! Well, or Thursday. See y'all then!

I have cover art!!!

My new book, CIRCLE OF SECRETS, will be pubbed on October 1, 2011 - in less than 5 months and I can finally share it with the world!!!

 

Isn't it STUNNING!!! I love it. And the trim along the edges are blue bottles from the blue bottle tree on the back. And there's very cool Spanish moss dripping along the top. Love, love, love!!! Scholastic designs totally awesome books!

The tag line says . . . "The summer I turned eleven, I found out that ghosts were real . . . "

The artist is the very talented Erin McGuire. Check out her FAB artwork!

PRE-ORDER CIRCLE OF SECRETS ON AMAZON,  AND  BARNES & NOBLE!

Please add Circle of Secrets to your Goodreads reading list, too!

I adore the first paragraph of the description! Wow, I sound like a real author! Hee, hee.

Critically acclaimed author Kimberley Griffiths Little weaves a haunting story of friendship and family and the power of faith, once again set against the lush backdrop of the Lousiana bayou.

Wow, I'm lucky!

I won another ARC on Goodreads! Amazing. Especially when there are thousands of entries.

Can't wait to read this, it just came in the mail!!!

 

LOVE this cover!!! So delicious and spooky and intriguing!

And what does the red ribbon wrapped around her arm mean???

The author, Nova, has the most unusual name. I've been wondering how/where she got that name . . . anyone know her? Anyone read this yet? What do you think? 

Cool Stuff!

Good Monday Morning, Everyone!

On Thursday, I'm headed to Salt Lake City for the 2011 LDStorymakers Conference at the gorgeous Sheraton Hotel -AND the Whitney Award Banquet where I'll find out if I'm the winner for the Youth Fiction category. (THRILLED to be a Finalist!!!)

Working like crazy on my deadline for my 2012 novel before I leave for 5 days (hoping to write in the car while hubby drives, but we'll see how *that* goes!), but I wanted to mention a few very cool things.

First you gotta check out FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES . . . OF MIDDLE-GRADE AUTHORS! We're giving away a couple dozen FREE SKYPE Author visits over the next year. I'll be doing my first Skype Author Visit (learning the ropes). So please enter or spread the word. More details are coming soon!

And the FIRST CATCH THE BUS WINNERS will be announced tomorrow so please read and see if you are a winner!

We even have a very cool video!

And here's a full press release!
Last thing for today before I'm off with my laptop to my secluded writing room given to me by a very kind friend . . . well, after I shower and stuff my face with some food to fortify myself for the day . . . I love this article about Independent Bookstores. Why Brick and Mortar still Rules the World.