Friday, April 10, 2009

Writing Journey: Part XIV

Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V
Part VI Part VII Part VIII Part IX
Part X Part XI Part XII Part XIII

When Spires of Stone came out, I was smart enough to take a camera with me more often, so I actually have pictures of things like the LDS Booksellers Association Convention and my giant book cover poster and cool stuff like that.

As I think this series has shown, writing is hard work. It's not a journey for the faint of heart. And even when you cross the "finish line," you're really just beginning a new race with new challenges.

For this post, I thought I'd show some of the fun that has come with my writing journey. Because yes, there are a lot of perks.

Here I am at my LDSBA book signing:




And here's my gigantic book cover poster:




That spring was the 5th Annual LDStorymakers Conference, which Heather (H. B.) Moore and I co-chaired.

Lots of fun, that. Here I am with my co-chair Heather (far left) and the previous year's conference "queens," Josi and Julie:



And of course following the conference was the first-ever Whitney Awards Gala, where I was a finalist for Best Historical novel for Spires of Stone. (I said I'd be okay losing only to Heather. I did, so we're all good.)


Here I am with Heather and Michele, who are both in my critique group:




I got to present the award for Best Romance. I couldn't have been more thrilled to read the name of my dear friend Michele Paige Holmes:




My older sister nominated me for Utah's Best of State medal for fiction (I tell the whole story here). And I won.


My parents were overseas on a church assignment, so they celebrated by treating me to a salon for my hair to be done in an up-do:



This was the first time since our wedding day that my husband wore a tux:



And here I am with my sweet sisters at the Best of State gala:


The year following the release of Spires was definitely more busy, exciting, and rewarding than any other of my writing career. I'd been through enough ups and downs that these moments were ones I cherished and drank in as they came.

Even though at times it would have been nice not to have to scrape and claw my way along the path, I think I appreciated each success more for having fought each step of the way.


Today we have the very last, final tour stops (phew!)*

Compulsive Writer
Creative Chaos

*But I'll still link over to other reviews and fun stuff as they come along.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're very pretty, Annette. I just thought you should know that.

Your journey has been amazing to follow! I'm so glad you put up pictures. Talk about motivation!!! (Now, if only I could look as cute as you do...)

Kristina P. said...

Wow, your hair looks gorgeous! And you've had so many amazing accomplishments!

Lara Neves said...

I'm glad you showed the glamorous part, after reading about all of the blood, sweat and tears!

You look fabulous...that hair is amazing, and I love your shiny pink top. BEAUTIFUL!

Carolyn V. said...

Annette you're so cute! =) I love your hair up. It's so cool that you won the Utah's best of state for fiction! (very awesome!)

Laura said...

Wow. There's a glamorous side to writing. Who knew?

I don't think I've ever owned anything as cute as what you're wearing. Very classy.

One more thing to put on my list of goals in life. Go to fancy dinner all dressed up for a good reason.... :)

CB said...

How fun! I never knew all of those things happened when you go on book tour.

I love that I can read your blog.

I finished "Tower of Strength" a few days ago and I just wanted to let you know how much I loved it.
I loved the characters and the story. Tabitha is so strong. Through a good portion of the book I kept thinking of her in my head as a 19 year old girl but has her strength of character is revealed she really does turn into a virtuous and strong woman.
Sorry I don't want to write a book in your comment section but I really did love the book. Glad I found you and cannot wait to read other things you have written.
Congratulations on your success!

Jen said...

That's really tremendous Annette! You have talent oozing from you and I'm so happy that your work is taking off. I just got done reading Spires of Stone and had a hard time putting it down. I read it in 2 days! And BTW, your updo was beautiful!

Heatherlyn said...

Your hair looked incredibly beautiful.

I'm glad that you can also have fun with your career!

Melanie Jacobson said...

Maybe it's because it's 3 a.m. and I can't sleep, but I teared up a little looking at these pictures. It made me happy to think of how nicely things all worked out.

Erin said...

How fun! I loved all of your pictures! What a neat story, from beginning till now (I was going to say "to end," but your story hasn't ended yet. You're still writing!)

Jan said...

Glam girl huh? That is one pretty hair you have. You are simply beautiful.

Happy Easter to you and your family. Enjoy.

wendy said...

WOW --it's like the grammy's of a Tony or something. after all that hard work it would be totally fun to have an award ceremony and dress up and feel very "gala-esk" I can't --absolutley can't imagine writing a book. Just doing a post on my blog is challenging enough for me. congratulations!!!

Michele Holmes said...

I'm woefully behind on reading blogs, but I just spent several delightful minutes catching up on yours. I laughed and related to your rant about solicitors---most I've discovered simply cannot read, as my sign is largely ignored.

I also loved your comments about paper thin plots in romance novels. Alas, I'm fortunate to have great friends like you to steer me from that all-too-common malady.

An Ordinary Mom said...

You deserve all these fun perks for all the hard work you have done :) !!

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