Friday, October 31, 2008

Three Items of Importance

First, I'm not a huge Halloweener, but here's my effort at being festive for you:




This is the costume my youngest wore a couple of years ago and the one I'm most proud of making (even counting the elaborate lion I slaved over and spent way too much on when #1 was two).

That year, her brother was Obi Wan and one of her older sisters was Princess Lea. So Hubby thought it'd be awesome to carry on the Star Wars theme and make her Yoda. She was too young to have much say in the matter, so we went ahead with it, and she was the neighborhood hit.

(Props to #3, who refused to be a Star Wars lemming and insisted instead on being Cinderella.)

Second, Notice the link at the top right? It'll soon be replaced with a fancy schmancy button, which will be up for the entire month of November.

Starting tomorrow, November 1, go there often to bid on some rockin' awesome items, from jewelry to chocolate to Twilight shirts to autographed books to professional edits (including one by yours truly) to a massage.

(Wait. Forget I said that one. I want to bid on the massage.)

New items will be posted every week, and some of the coolest ones will be later in the month, so be sure to drop by often to get some of your Christmas shopping done early. All proceeds go to straight to the Whitney Awards to help fund the 2008 program.

And while we're talking Whitneys, be sure to visit the Whitney Awards site to nominate your favorite LDS-writers' books published in 2008. We need readers to tell us their favorites! Nominations will be taken through December 31, but don't put it off. Don't assume that your favorite 2008 release has already gotten enough nominations to be considered (each book needs five readers to nominate it).

Scroll down on LDS Publisher's sidebar to find an updated list of eligible books.

Third, a glorious moment of celebration: I turned in my manuscript today! And it wasn't even at midnight. (It happened on a national day of candy and chocolate . . . quite appropriate.)

This is the first contemporary book I've written in many years. It's quite a departure for me, but it's been a blast, and I loved writing it.

The characters are so real to me that yesterday as I was finalizing some research questions, I came this close to saying aloud, "Yeah, so when that happened to Marianne . . ."

I bit my tongue pretty quickly, but Blondie might have noticed my slip-up anyway. She's known me for nearly three decades, so even if she noticed, she probably wrote it off as another of my (many, many) quirks.

I'll keep you updated on the status of the book (if it gets officially accepted, release dates, yada yada).

In summary:
1) Yay Yoda! (Happy Halloween!)
2) Whitney Auction! Go, go, go! (Bid, bid, bid!)
3) Book turned in. (Time to celebrate!)

19 comments:

Kristina P. said...

Love the costume. And Yoda is awesome.

Melanie Jacobson said...

'Kay, Yoda rocks and I'm totally excited for this auction. Whoo-hoo! Also, is there a link with current info for the next Storymakers conference?

Melanie Jacobson said...

Nevermind! I found it!

Cheryl said...

Hooray on the book! And even more hooray for chocolate...now where did those kids put the Halloween candy? Hmmm...

Btw, the costume is adorable. :)

annie valentine said...

I'm the last minute costume queen. We wear something different to every party (with the exception of Indian Jones, he's had chest hair every day after school for a week).

Janette Rallison said...

You win for best Mom for the cute costume. And congrats on turning in the manuscript. It's a great feeling, isn't it?

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

What a lot to be excited about crammed into a short space of time! Heck, it even deserves multiple exclamation marks, I think, and I'm usually pretty stingy with those!!

Heffalump said...

We had a Star Wars theme for our costumes last year...I spent HOURS making Jango Fett's helmet out of cardboard, spackle and spray paint...
This year was much easier.
Congratulations on turning in your manuscript!

Luisa Perkins said...

You turned it in! Fantastic! Celebrate good times, come on!

Cheryl said...

Hey, Annette? Could you email me? happymeetscrazy at gmail dot com.

Thanks!

Karlene said...

Yea on the book.

I donated a UB warmer and fragrance to the Whitney auction. :)

samiam said...

I think you are a creative genius with that yoda costume and a die-hard writer to get yet another book off the press--I don't know how you manage to do it all! :)

Heather Moore said...

That Yoda costume was awesome! Congrats on getting the book turned in. Can't wait till it's in print :)

Julie Wright said...

argh! I posted and nothing happened . . . so either you're blocking me or i am a techno-moron. Anyway Yada rocks! And you rock too for getting your manuscript in and done and all that. :) congratulations!

Jan said...

Wow. You had a lot going on. Love the costumes. You did great on your book getting done and turned in. Yay...

Alison Wonderland said...

Yay for turning in your ms! Put your feet up, or, just start another one. Whatever.

Lara Neves said...

I just saw your last comment on kristina's blog, and thought I'd come say hi. It would seem you graduated with my husband.

Congrats on turning in your manuscript!

Cheryl said...

Annette-
Okay, I sent you another email with the other email I sent you on Saturday and YES, it must be going straight to your Spam Filter which makes me kind of sad thinking your computer identifies me as Spam. Although I guess being Spam-worthy isn't a bad thing, although I was never a Spam Fan, so I'm kind of conflicted about how I feel about it. :)

Should I write you again? If you didn't get the email, then please email me at that address again (because I got it!) and I'll try a different address.
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

So you write historical Mormon novels right? I can't say I've ever read any novels with Mormon characters in them at all. Maybe I ought to try finding one of your books on amazon

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