One surprising benefit of having Gifted published, is that I became a member of the Whitney Academy. For those of you who don't know what the Whitney Academy is, it's an awards program for LDS authors. The books don't have to be LDS fiction, they just have to be written by a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In fact, last year's new author winner was Jamie Ford who wrote Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, not LDS fiction, but a book I thoroughly enjoyed. I was happy to learn he'd won this award.
As a member of the academy, I get to vote for my favorites. Of course, to vote, I had to have read all of the books in a particular category. I wanted to read every book so I could vote in every category, but there are eight categories with five books in each category. I just couldn't do them all, so I chose a couple of categories I wanted to be able to vote in and read those books.
I enjoyed all the books, but the biggest surprise was how much I enjoyed the books I typically wouldn't have read. There were some really clever and original stories and some talented authors. It was a lot of fun. Maybe it would be good for all of us to read something different than our usual picks.
Now I've voted and it will be fun to see if my favorite books win.
And while we're on the subject of the Whitney Awards, let me say thank you to those of you who have nominated Gifted for a 2011 award. It would be so exciting if it gets enough nominations to move on to the next level. I love Anna and Kelsey and Susan and Brent and their story. That any of you enjoyed it enough to think it was worthy of a nomination, I want you to know I'm very honored. Thank you.
(Image from free clip art site: http://parenting.leehansen.com/downloads/clipart/school/images/trophy.gif)
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