Book Drawing Winners & Upcoming Signings

Congrats to the following Fab Five who won copies of Land of Inheritance!

Krista of Wyoming

Mary of Arizona

Karen of Utah

Danyelle of Kansas

Alex of Utah

You know who you are--I'll be emailing you separately.

Upcoming Book Signings:

December 4, 2009 - Lindon Seagull Book 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Friday. I’ll be signing “Alma” and “All is Bright” (Christmas Story Compilation) during Friday Lunch Hour! 677 North State Street, Lindon, Utah

December 11, 2009 - Sandy Seagull Book 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Friday. I’ll be signing “Alma” and “All is Bright” (Christmas Story Compilation) during Friday Lunch Hour! 31 West 10600 South, Sandy, Utah

December 18, 2009 - Orem Seagull Book 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., Friday. I’ll be signing “Alma” and “All is Bright” (Christmas Story Compilation) during Friday Lunch Hour! 111 South State Street, Orem, Utah

December 19, 2009 - Spanish Fork Seagull Book 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Saturday. I’ll be signing “Alma” and “All is Bright” (Christmas Story Compilation) with Annette Lyon and Julie Wright! 1052 South Main, Spanish Fork, Utah

Happy Thanksgiving!

FIVE Book Giveaway!!

FIVE BOOK GIVEAWAY!! Extended through Monday!

The holidays are coming and what better gift than a book? So to get everyone motivated I'm giving away FIVE copies of Land of Inheritance--hardcover edition. This is the 4th in the Out of Jerusalem series and won the 2007 Whitney Award for Best Historical.

How to enter the drawing: Go to my website and sign up for my newsletter here.

On Tuesday, November 24, I'll draw five names from those who signed up between November 19-23. I'll announce the winners here and notify each one individually. You can request a personalization.

Good luck!

Editing & More Editing

Since I'm taking the day off from editing, I thought I'd update.

Alma the Younger is finished! At least as far as I can get it without extra eyes. On Friday I sent it off to the alpha readers. Soon I'll be back to working on revisions to get it into shape for submission. So far, I've received great advice from the alpha readers, and the most important news is that the story works. Yes, there's some fine tuning to be done, but overall, no major changes.

As I'm waiting for final verdicts, I've started working on the evaluations for Women of the Book of Mormon. If you remember, this book was accepted last summer by my publisher. But since there wasn't a firm release date, I moved forward with drafting Alma the Younger and put off revisions until I was notified by the publisher. Well, I was notified a few days ago to get going (in a nice way, of course!).

With a bit of trepedition, I pulled up the three evaluations. I had read them in the summer and remembered that there were some specific things I had to work on. So I wasn't sure if I would be dreading it or feeling confident that they were changes I could successfully make. I read through the evals again and came away with several things to improve and felt they were very doable! So I was relieved and won't be spending a week or two on it like I anticipated, but maybe 4-5 days.

THANKS to Walt Eddy of Death & Taxes 4 Writers! His review of Alma popped up on Goodreads awhile ago, but it was only today that I clued in to his blog post. It's one of the most interesting reviews that I've read :-)

Quick Time Out

First, thanks to Carroll Morris who reviewed Alma on her blog, Crusty Old Ladies. You may know Carroll from her best-selling series, Almost Sisters, that she co-writes with Lael Littke and Nancy Anderson. I actually reviewed on of their books, Surprise Packages, here. Thanks, Carroll!

Also, I'm finalizing Alma the Younger. I'm about 250 pages into the revision. The book right now is about 340 pages. There might be a scene or two to add, but it will top out around 90,000 words. Then onto the readers before I turn it over to the publisher.

Many of you writers are doing the NaNo challenge--you are a bit crazy, but I understand the zombie-writer state. Remember if you're looking for editing advice after getting those 50K words completed, check out my writing/editing blog Writing on the Wall that I share with Lu Ann Staheli, Julie Wright, Josi Kilpack, and Annette Lyon.

Burnt Cookies & 85K

My advice, don't bake and write at the same time.

These lovely black cookies were snickerdoodles in dough form. My 5 year old loves to bake cookies with me on Sunday, but yesterday one thing after another cropped up and we didn't get around to it. So this morning we decided to make a batch of snickerdoodles. My daughter loves to mix the cookies until her hand gets tired, then it's "Mom's turn."

So it's her job to tell me when the buzzer is ringing. Unless I'm in the kitchen I rarely hear the timer due to other household noises such as radios, washing machine, tv or (heaven forbid) the computer.

We did well for the first two pans, then on the third pan my daughter decided to go and play with a friend. I let her, thinking I'd listen extra carefully for the buzzer. Some time later as I was merrily typing away, I smelled something burning. I immediately suspected the small heater in my office that sometimes gives off a burnt smell. Then I realized . . . cookies. At least I got to the smoke before the smoke detector could go off.

But in less smelly news, I hit 85,000 words today in my WIP--Alma the Younger. This was my first draft goal! Basically I'm connecting chapters that I wrote out of order. I hope to finish it by this weekend, then for the straight read-through (which can be quite scary). Once I get through the 2nd draft, the book will probably be about 90,000, then onto the alpha readers!

**More book reviews of Alma came in. Check them out:

Review from the Association for Mormon Letters. Thanks to reviewer Kathleen Dalton Woodbury!

Review from Six LDS Writers and A Frog. Thanks to Julie Coulter Bellon! She is the published author of several suspense novels, including the recent All's Fair. I was really blown away by her review. Julie is a tough editor and her review really gave me a lot of motivation to get this next book finished on time!

Whitney Nominations and 2 more reviews

Thanks to Cheri Chesley, aspiring writer, for her review of Alma here. She read Alma first, then Abinadi (as I saw on GoodReads). So it can be done :)

Also, thanks to author Tristi Pinkston, who also reviewed Alma here. I've really enjoyed all of Tristi's books and you can see my review of her mystery, Agent in Old Lace, here.

Okay, so I read a lot of books, and I review quite a few. Mostly I just rate them on GoodReads. It's been a very handy tool to find out what my "friends" are reading and what they recommend. It's easy to put together a "to-read" list and then to print it out and stick it in my purse. I often make purchase requests at my library or I buy the books through Amazon, Costco, sometimes Target. Reading has always been a passion of mine, and I really credit reading to starting my journey to becoming a published writer.

The Whitney Awards is an academy that recognizes excellence in fiction written by LDS writers (not to be confused with the LDS genre, but it encompasses that as well). Anyone can nominate a book by an LDS writer by going to http://www.whitneyawards.com/. There are several categories, including Suspense, Romance, Speculative, Historical, General, YA, etc. etc. The deadline to nominate is December 31, 2009, so I am assessing my list of books that I still have to read. A complete (and continually updated) list of books by LDS writers can be found on the LDS Publisher blog.

I know I won't be able to read every book, but I'm trying to make a dent so that I can nominate the best of the best for 2009.

Just for fun, here is a list of the books I've read so far this year that qualify for the Whitney nomination. My reviews of these books are on GoodReads or LDSReaders. I haven't turned in my nominations yet, because I think there are still about 6-7 must-reads before I make a final decision.


Far World 2: Land Keep by J. Scott Savage

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Hunt for the Dark Infinity by James Dashner

The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum

Tower of Strength by Annette Lyon

The Last Waltz by GG Vandagriff

All the Stars in Heaven by Michele Paige Holmes

Lemon Tart by Josi S. Kilpack

English Trifle by Josi S. Kilpack

Methods of Madness by Stephanie Black

Agent in Old Lace by Tristi Pinkston

The Forgotten Warrior by Kathi Oram Peterson

Eyes Like Mine by Julie Wright

Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis

Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

Forest Born by Shannon Hale

The Chosen One by Carole Lynch Williams

Pursued by Lynn Gardner

Illuminations of the Heart by Joyce diPastena

The Sister Pact by Cami Checketts

Torn Apart by Diony George

Trail of Storms by Marsha Ward

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Heroes of the Fallen by David West

Alma by H.B. Moore (of course!)

The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Christmas Jars Reunion by Jason F. Wright


On my immediate to-read list, I have:
Shudder by Jennie Hansen
Saving Madeline by Rachel Ann Nunes
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison
The Ball’s In Her Court by Heather Justesen
The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans

I know that books are still coming out--what are the books that you think are must-reads? I will add them to my list!

NEW BOOK & More reviews

This past week, I received some author copies of All Is Bright--a new Christmas compilation. The final version has a small change. I was thinking I might actually be published under my "real" name--Heather Moore, but nope, the final has H.B. Moore. Oh well :-) I've read through most of the Christmas stories and have really enjoyed them. The best part is that the book retails for just a few dollars and will make a great neighbor gift (ready, neighbors?).

Update on Alma the Younger: I haven't written for several days since it was Fall Break and the kids were out of school. So we went to the Arches National Park. My son has been wanting to go forever. Well, he wore us out, even to the point that he was carrying my five year old on his back so we could hike to that next scenic view. So . . . I'm about 230 pages into Alma the Younger. I think it's shaping up pretty well. I have most of Alma the Younger's scenes written, so when I finish, I'll go back through and insert Alma the Elder's point of view scenes.

More Reviews on ALMA:

Thanks to Laurie LC Lewis, who is a historian and author of the historical Free Men and Dreamers series. I was a little nervous about her reading the book because she is very detailed researcher, so check out her review here: Laurie LC Lewis: Book Nook


And thanks to Kate Palmer, who posted an interview on her blog. She has a beautiful webpage and posts all kinds of recipes with step by step pictures. She asked several thought-provoking questions, such as why I chose to write in the view points of the Book of Mormon prophets.


Teri Rodeman is an avid reader and reviewer. She reads a ton, so I was very interested to see what she thought of my book. She compared the story to what our country is facing today. Hmm. There is some truth in that!


Also, prolific author, Sherry Ann Miller, reviewed Alma. She is the author of many books, including the recent Mama's Lemon Pie. Sherry pointed out that she enjoyed the research, selecting the use of rubber in Mesoamerica as an example. I love hearing how each reader comes up with something new that stands out.


And many thanks to Sandra of The Dance, who reviewed Alma as well. I met Sandra at a book group when Provident Books was around. She has become a faithful reader, and I love to visit her blog. She has a great outlook on life.