Heather Justesen

Prize winners!

2012-01-26T05:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, sorry, I have no idea where the week went (besides multiple book signings, trips out of town, and just trying to keep from drowning in work). So, here are the prize winners I should have announced on Monday:

The 101 Cupcake Recipes book goes to Aimee B!

The Mother's Daze book goes to Glenda C!

All right ladies, let me know how to reach you so I can get your addresses and send these books out to you.

Now for a few blurbs and links from some of my awesome reviewers:

Nichole Giles said:
Also, there are some amazing kissing scenes in this story—the kind that leave the reader’s heart beating a little harder. But don’t worry, it’s absolutely clean. This is such a sweet story. If you’ve never read a Heather Justesen novel, I’d start with this one. For real. It’s fantastic. link here

Liz Adair said: Heather Justesen’s writing style. It’s clean and flows nicely, making an easy read. (and a lot more here.)

Susan Dayley said: "I enjoyed reading Family By Design. I would set up to read and an hour would go by unnoticed. I became so caught up in the characters, that after I had finished, I had to remind myself the book was done." Read more here.

Julie Bellon said: "The romance was the kind that brings to life the butterflies in your stomach and makes you sigh and re-read the last paragraph because it was so good." And so much more here.

Cindy Hogan said: "I didn't realize a book could be a true page-turner without the threat of murder or some kind of violence. This is a fun, quick entertaining read." Read the whole thing here.

More to come as the blog tour continues. A big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to enter the contest--more prizes still to come!

Family by Design blog tour and giveaways!

2012-01-16T05:18:00.010-07:00

Today is the start of my blog tour and I'm really excited. I've got a terrific group of people who are reviewing my book over the next few weeks starting with today.

Wednesday, Jan. 18 Nichole Giles

Thursday, Jan. 19 Liz Adair

Friday, Jan. 20 Susan Dayley

Saturday, Jan. 21 Keith Fisher

Monday, Jan. 23 Robbin Peterson

Tuesday, Jan. 24 Julie Bellon

Wednesday, Jan. 25 Cindy Hogan

Thursday, Jan. 26 Rebecca Talley

Friday, Jan. 27 Kathleen Brebes

Saturday, Jan. 28 Debbie Davis

Monday, Jan. 30 Mindy Holt

Kim Job
Tuesday, Jan. 31 Tristi Pinkston

Wednesday, Feb. 1 Joann Arnold

Thursday, Feb. 2 Christine Bryant

Friday, Feb. 3 Rebecca Blevins

Saturday, Feb. 4 Maria Hoaglund
TBA Danyelle Ferguson

In conjunction with the release of Family by Design, I've recently released a companion novella, Shear Luck, which involves Rena's roommate Chelsea from the first of the book, and starts shortly after Family by Design. This is available as an ebook for 99 cents pretty much everywhere BUT people who buy Family by Design and then go here by Sunday, February 5th, will get a FREE copy of this ebook. It doesn't matter where you purchase the book: online, or at a store (or even at one of my signings). Just follow the link to get your free copy.

ALSO, I'm going to hold giveaways every Friday for people who post comments on my blog, or any of the stops on my blog tour. Entries will be cumulative so if you post to two blog stops each week, by the third week you'll get six entries, and if you post about it on Facebook or Twitter, or link to one of the stops on the blog tour from your blog, you'll get extra entries. Also, you can win more than once, so stop in often.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Shear Luck" cover is here!

2012-01-11T19:06:00.004-07:00

Hey, I just had to share the new cover I just got (hot off the presses) from my cover designer for my novella, Shear Luck (which will be available for purchase as an ebook everywhere--but people who buy Family by Design by February 5th will get for FREE as a bonus!). What do you think? My cover designer, Paul, is very talented and spent TONS of time on this baby (and his prices are amazing!). I'll post links as soon as Amazon and Barnes & Noble have processed and posted it.
And the blurb:

Chelsea Robison has never forgotten the older boy next door whom she crushed on as a teen, so when she runs into him at the restaurant he’s preparing to open, it’s a delightful shock. And learning he’s available again is more than a little tantalizing.

Vaughn Krenshaw had never seen his neighbor as more than a nice kid—but Chelsea had definitely grown up in the decade since they saw each other last. He’s attracted to the feisty red head, but still struggles over his wife’s death the previous year. And then there’s his five-year-old daughter, Molly, who really liked Chelsea—until she realized the woman was dating her dad.

As Chelsea starts to wonder if their love for each other will be enough to make things work, a specter from Vaughn’s past rises, making her question whether she really knew him at all.

Ready for the hunt?

2012-01-02T14:52:00.004-07:00

My book, Family by Design, is hitting store shelves as we speak and I'm excited to get the word out. Because of this, I decided to give away a prize package including a copy of Tristi Pinkston's newest cozy mystery, "Target and Ties" (which is not quite off the presses yet), some fun swag and other stuff. This goes to the first person who can send me a picture of my book on store shelves. I know it's going to be stocked in some Costcos soon, and Seagull Book (a new excitement for me since they haven't carried many copies of my previous books) as well as independent bookstores. So if you're going to be out and about, pop into a bookstore and see if you can find my book on their shelves--and if you can't find it, you could always ask when they're getting it in. =)

And while you're there, buy a copy of the book and get a free copy of my spin-off novella, Shear Luck, which will be coming out in ebook form everywhere in a week or so (or however long it takes to trickle through the distribution channels). This book will be available for sale, but people who purchase Family by Design before the end of my blog tour (February 4) will get a free download in the format of their choice.

In other news, I just joined Tristi Pinkston's quarterly writing challenge--yeah, me and a gazillion other people. It must be the new year's resolutions pushing something like 50 people to take her challenge this time. Check it out here. I usually dream big and shoot high, but this month with my book coming out, something like 8 signings, my blog tour, and other crazy stuff going on, I'm trying to be realistic so I can reach my goals, so instead of planning on writing 50K or something like that here's what I need to do six nights a week:

Edit at least one chapter of Cami or an equivalent amount on another story (ie, things I'm taking to my crit group).

Do at least one chapter or one hour (whichever is shorter) of critiquing or typesetting for others, as I have a typesetting job lined up, and several critiques I need to get done for people I'm swapping with.

And I really need to get the first couple of episodes to Karissa's story to Big World Network since the second season starts soon (oh and a title wouldn't be a bad idea, either.) Speaking of BWN, the latest installment of Homecoming came out today. If you haven't been reading my serial novella (or listening to it, as it's also available in audio--all for free) pop over and check it out here. There are only three more episodes left in this story before next season begins!

This is on top of my publicity and marketing, planning for some major landscaping projects this spring, and helping my hubby at our business (oh and that full-time job of mine). You might think it's too early to get serious about spring projects, but planning ahead is key to making them go smoothly, and starting early can help spare me insanity if we get constant spring rains again this year, which preclude a lot of yard work when everything turns to a mud puddle.

Gardening during drought without irrigation

2011-12-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know the title seems unbelievable, but apparently it actually works. I ran across this free ebook (sorry, you have to read it from the website) called Gardening Without Irrigation, which I found here. The author, Steve Solomon, said he lives in the Oregon cascades, which frequently go eight weeks without rain, and his irrigation system is less than reliable. Apparently he's able to grow a lot of crops with no water once they're established and some with only infrequent water or over spray from less-hardy plants.

The key seems to be in spreading the plants far apart (four times as far apart as is recommended on the seed package), getting them established while you still have spring rains at your disposal, and ruthlessly keeping the weeds down. This doesn't work unless you have decent dirt at least a few feet deep (eight or more is best) because rocks and gravel don't hold the water content that dirt does, and hard pan is almost impossible for roots to break through (though he gives tips on how to fix this problem.)

While this wouldn't work on my property--I have to do raised beds because the first hundred-plus feet of ground past my back door is far more rock than dirt--it's an interesting concept. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else tries it and what they think of it.

There are a lot of other books on gardening, permaculture, and self-sufficiency on the site, so check them out!

Book Review: "Transcendence" and giveaway!

2011-12-16T07:24:00.002-07:00

Transcendent is a terrific book full of YA paranormal short stories--these are all clean with no swearing or sex and no extreme violence (though there are one or two that are fantastically creepy.) The stories range from ghosts to spirit guides, to vampires, and so much more. I don't usually go in for short stories, but these kept me interested from the start with great characters and some terrific plot twists. And several of them have a romance line mixed in the story (which I'm always a big fan of). Perfect for a quick story fix, I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys clean paranormal stories.

My friend Wendy Swore, who has two stories in this anthology, will be listing the publisher's big giveaway on Monday with a whole bunch of giveaways as part of the book release ranging from SWAG to bigger prizes (including a copy of my book Blank Slate). The giveaway goes through January 3rd, so check out her blog here for details. Also, you can enter to win a copy of the Transcendent ebook from Amazon by commenting here on my blog between now and the end of the month. This is currently available only in ebook, but a paper copy is due out soon. Check out these links for more information:

Paperback on Amazon: Coming Soon for $10.99! (When it does the address will be: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0615572324)
Paperback on Barnes and Noble: Coming Soon!
eBook on Kindle: Purchase today for $0.99! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006JV1NM8

eBook on Nook: Coming Soon!

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13096259-transcendent
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Transcendent-Tales-of-the-Paranormal/255603224494043
Book Club Discussion: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/736565-january-transcendent-paranormal-anthology

And below is a list of the other stops on this blog tour if you want more chances to win this ebook.

Winter gardening, the permaculture way

2011-12-13T17:17:00.003-07:00

I’ve spent a lot of time lately studying landscaping and gardening sites again—something that would probably gratify my neighbors since I was a total slacker last summer and hardly even watered, never mind weeding my flower beds (grass, what grass?). Anyway, I ended up on some permaculture sites, studying it again. Maybe it’s the anal retentive part of me, maybe it’s the writer who loves research, but I tend to get a little obsessive when an idea really strikes me and study the heck out of it. Permaculture was this way for me five years ago, and it’s grabbing me by the throat again. Unfortunately the actual classes to study the theory are light years outside my price range (not to mention the drive), but there’s a ton of useful information on the web. I spent days watching Youtube videos about permaculture practices—there’s a terrific series out of Australia, the home of permaculture. I can't find it on Youtube anymore, but you can find it here.

What is permaculture? I’m glad you asked! I know most people have never heard of it, but essentially it’s a way of organizing your landscaping to promote healthy diversity, ease of maintenance, and oh yeah, food production when possible. Of course, there’s a whole lot more to it than this, because the principles of permaculture are as applicable if you’ve only got a balcony, as if you have ten acres and can be applied to city planning or building design. And it’s not just about food, but about using natural systems in planning.

Yeah, so it’s ecologically sound, but it thinks outside the box—okay, outside the box of current agricultural trends (of monoculture—like hundreds of acres of wheat) to more natural systems like in forests. Instead of planting a big spot with pumpkins, and another with peas, and a third with corn, you mix things together, grow plants that complement each other (often called companion planting), and encourage bugs and animals into the garden that eat the bugs that want to eat your prize tomatoes. We call this bio diversity—and it works for many people without bug sprays, and with careful planning, you won’t have to buy fertilizers, either. It means planting flowers like nasturtiums and marigolds that discourage some pests right alongside the veggies that those pests like the best.

I did mention bringing in predators and birds right? Well, this doesn’t just apply to song birds. I opened up my garden fence a week or so ago (and then it snowed), but this morning I cleared the snow off of one garden bed and then my poultry went to town eating the weeds and scratching it all up. Chickens, geese, ducks, guineas, and my lone Tom turkey were out there most of the day. Yeah, I get eggs from my chickens (theoretically, but their lack of winter eggs is a topic for another day). But they’re way more useful than that. Last spring I let them into the back yard—which is totally unlandscaped—and they kept my weeds in check. Now, letting them into the garden when I have plants there would be a Very Bad Idea (I learned this the hard way a few years back) but in the off season they can be seriously useful.

That’s permaculture in action.

PS If you'll notice, I'm holding a Goodreads Giveaway for my book, Blank Slate right now. Click on the box at the top of the page to enter. It runs through Christmas Eve. And come back for another Goodreads Giveaway next month for Family by Design.

My new book cover for Family by Design!

2011-11-21T08:28:00.004-07:00

I've been sitting on this exciting news for a while, waiting for my final draft of the cover to arrive in my inbox, and for the back cover copy, so I'm totally excited to be able to share it now. My next book, published by Cedar Fort, inc. is at the printers right now and will be available for purchase in early January.

Cute, isn't it? I'm totally excited! And here's the back cover blurb:

Before he could think better of it, he blurted out, “I understand your concerns. I’m going to speak to my commander about getting an early discharge. My girlfriend, Rena, and I have talked about getting married. There just hasn’t been any rush.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wondered what he was thinking. Yes, they had discussed marriage, but not to each other! He and Rena had never even dated.

Tucker’s on his way to the biggest challenge of his life. Rena already has it all—except a family of her own. But neither one expected their friendship would take such a dramatic turn.

When Tucker becomes the guardian of his newly orphaned niece and nephew, he knows he can’t handle them alone, not when he might be shipped out with the Marines at any moment. Desperate, he turns to Rena for a major favor. His marriage proposal would give her everything she wants, but can she learn to live without the romance she’s always dreamed of?

As time, prayer, and a life-changing kiss work a little magic in her heart, Rena wonders if someone up there has a plan for her that’s better than anything she could’ve come up with on her own. And though it seems crazy at first, this could become her chance for a marriage that will last for eternity.

Book Review: "Bound" by CK Bryant and giveaways

2011-11-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

The blurb:

When a photo shoot ends in tragedy, Kira discovers her best friend, Lydia, has been keeping a secret. Knowing the truth, and accepting it, will change Kira’s life forever and thrust her into a world of ancient curses, magical objects, and savage enemies. What happens next will challenge everything Kira knows about her world, herself and the shape-shifting warrior she’s falling in love with. No longer the timid mouse her mother accused her of being, but a woman who finds the mental and physical strength to endure and survive.

BOUND is a heroic tale of true friendship, infinite sacrifice and untamed love.

My take: I read this story the first time several years back when CK and I exchanged critiques on our manuscripts and enjoyed it even then. There have been significant rewrites since, including switching it from adult to YA and some great plot changes. The story starts of strong and keeps the action flowing at a good clip all the way through. The characters are interesting and well rounded, and the story is unique. I'd definitely recommended it to young women who enjoy clean paranormal stories that veer away from vampires, werewolves and the like.

About the author:

Christine has always been a writer. Even before she could compose a single word with pen, she scribbled her version of cursive along the open page just to see what it looked like. As a teen, she swiped her dad's old Royal typewriter so her muse could breathe life into what her vivid imagination had created.

She's spent the last twenty-five years married to the man of her dreams and raising their two sons. After helping run the family restaurant for most of their marriage, Christine finally broken away to pursue her dream of being an author.

When she's not with her family or tickling the computer keys, she loves camping, reading, scrapbooking, listening to all kinds of music, and making new friends.

Christine currently living in the middle of sage brush and lava rock with a spectacular view of the Snake River Canyon in South Central Idaho.

Bound is available in paperback from Amazon.com and in ebook nearly anywhere ebooks are sold.

You can read a first chapter, order an autographed copy, and learn more about the author here. Bound is part of the Dark Carma tour, featuring three clean paranormal books that all launched last week. stop by and check the others out as well. You'll find them here, along with how to enter their giveaways--which ends in a few days, so don't wait!

Read My Novella "Homecoming" for Free

2011-11-16T21:59:00.005-07:00

Yes, I said that right, except you don't have to read it, you could listen to the audio instead. How, you ask? Pop over to Big World Network and check it out, or any of the other fourteen stories being posted as serials. Serials, you ask? Did you know Charles Dickens posted his stories as serials in a paper he published--which means he posted a new section in each publication and people followed it for months (let me tell you, with the length of some of his books, that must have taken a very long time.) So why is this different? Well for one thing, there's the issue with the free audio downloads, and before long they hope to be able to package the episodes for Kindle so you can subscribe and they'll automatically download to your Kindle device (or Kindle ap for you phone or computer). Yeah, I think that's pretty cool, too. There are lots of stories covering different genres and ratings--which are clearly displayed when you glance at the banners, so you'll know if the story is right for you from the beginning.

Also, today I did an interview with Jennifer Walker on Blog Talk Radio where we talked about my books, critique groups and other fun writing questions. A big thanks to Jennifer for having me on her show. You can check the interview out here.

Listen to internet radio with Jennifer Walker on Blog Talk Radio

How I Won Nano in Five Days

2011-11-07T00:04:00.004-07:00

Nope, that's not a typo, I really did open a new document at 12:01 a.m. on November 1st and pen the 50,000th word by seven p.m. on November 5th. You want to know my secret? Keep reading.

First, I have to explain that I've done Nano six times, and never reached the 50K mark in November until last year. It seemed that every year something came up mid month that derailed me from my goal, leaving me stranded around the 30K mark. Last year I decided to burn through my first draft as fast as possible and actually reached my Nano goal on the 8th. This year I finished on the 5th. I don't know that I'll ever manage that many words so fast again, but keeping in mind some of the elements that made this possible can make any of us far more productive than we think we can be.

I'd like to say that the stars aligned and the sun was in the equinox and someone sprinkled me with pixie dust, but the truth is that though there were a lot of things that came together for me just right, I got to my goal not by magic, but by simply following the rule of BIC. Butt in Chair.

First, you have to understand that I'm a very fast typist. Some friends and I did timed speed drills and I consistently reached above 1100 words in twenty minutes. If you only type thirty words per minute, you're not going to finish a novel this fast, but it doesn't mean that you can't get more efficient in your writing. Everyone in our group who typed in that upper range had been writing for a long time and penned several novels, whether they were published or not. If you haven' t been writing long, chances are you won't write this fast but a series of sprints can really make your time more efficient.

Second, I had a plan for my story. We won't call it an outline, because it wasn't one. I wrote a mystery, which started with character sketches for the protagonist, my victim, and four suspects. I knew how the victim died and where, why each of the suspects would want him dead, and I wrote journal entries from each of their heads so I could get to know them better, learn the way they talked, learn about their home lives and attitudes, and better understand what they hated about the suspect. Then I made a very simple map explaining what the first ten or twelve scenes were going to be in my novel.

That's it, really. But that's a lot of story lines to track, so when I finished writing those scenes, I considered where they were each going next and plotted out another dozen scenes and wrote those, then re-evaluated and planned the ones after that. I did not start out knowing who the murderer was, or what my protagonists character arc was going to be, they grew out of the story, but I had a good beginning point, some plans for the story and an ending point and that kept me--mostly--on track.

Knowing where your story is going is key to writing fast. If you're feeling your way through the whole thing it's hard to be really productive, or to create a cohesive story that won't end in you tossing most of the manuscript. And while finishing the manuscript at all is a huge, huge accomplishment, having at least a good portion of the story be usable for your final version is a major bonus. I definitely need revisions, but the majority of what I wrote will stay.

Third, I was able to devote blocks of time to my writing with few distractions. The first two days I wrote almost five hours straight, then I went on a writing retreat with a bunch of friends and was able to devote the third evening, all day on the 4th, and most of the 5th to my story. We had breaks for meals, and to compare numbers on our speed competitions, but the rest of the time I tuned any chatter out and focused on my writing. The lack of regular internet access definitely helped keep my focused.

Fourth--and this was a big one for me the past few years--was friendly competition. Yeah, see, I've never been all that competitive, but having some really terrific, speedy writers who I was trying to beat really helped to keep my motivated--and the timed contests were a major boon. During the rest of November a lot of my friends will congregate on Twitter or Sprint Writers Central and do speed writing to help keep them motivated. Knowing you're going to have to admit that you spent half of your sprint time on Facebook instead of writing can force you to focus on the task at hand.

My story is finished, I wrote the final scene, but it's incredibly lean. My first drafts tend to be very dialogue heavy with only basic reactions and actions for cues. In my second drafts I go back and add all of the settings and descriptions, the emotions and wonderful things that make that dialogue really come alive so the story will end somewhere upwards of 60K, the one I wrote during my last Nano (the first in this series) is just under 70K.

That's how I work--I don't go back and make changes when I do my first draft--I make notes that I need to change something and plow ahead as if I already did. I don't edit, I don't get distracted, I just keep working (I may go back and add a new scene, but I don't correct old scenes to make it fit, I just plop it in there and get back to work). I know I'm going to have to do several drafts, but until I finish the first one, I don't know everything I need to do to the story to fix it, so it's more efficient to finish the story and go back to make the story corrections all at once.

The rest of my month will be spent penning a novella to go along with a book I'm releasing next spring and working on revisions for this mystery. I still need to come up with a few character names for smaller characters and work on recipes (it's a culinary mystery), but that will be much easier now that the big push is out of the way.

Whether you're trying to write a novel in a week or just trying to stay on task for your general writing goal (Nano or not), a plan, focus and support can really help you soar to new heights.

For more information about NanoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month) visit this site.

Book Review: "The Alias" by Mandi Slack

2011-10-28T08:03:00.001-06:00

What happens when two FBI agents start to dog your footsteps and you’re afraid your violent ex-husband is going to track you down and make you pay for taking away his son (even with the court’s approval?). Obviously it’s time to get away—and how better than to take an alias and go somewhere he won’t expect?

When Jacey is faced with this exact problem, she takes her old college roommate up on the offer to visit an aunt and uncle the roommate had never met—in Mona. Utah, of all places--and assumes Melissa's identity. Jacey's son, Blaze falls instantly in love with the tiny farming community, with the horses and cows on the farm, and settles into life with the people they’re lying to. Jacey loves them as well, but their son, Grant rubs her wrong. Maybe it’s the way he scowls at her from the first moment they meet or the fact that as they get to know each other, she finds herself attracted to more than just his good looks. The question remains—will she stay safe with this family for long enough to get her feet under her and start over again, or will trouble come knocking on her door?

The Alias is a fun story with a sweet romance, great characters and a suspenseful plot that keeps moving. At barely two-hundred pages, it was all too short--stories like this are always too short--but it was a great story for first time author, Mandi Slack. I look forward to seeing what else she’s got up her sleeve. Oh, and I met Mandi at Authorpalooza in Orem last week--and she's a totally nice person, which is always a plus in my opinion.

You can purchase Mandi's book on Amazon here and it's also available on ebook for only $3.99--which is a great deal for an LDS novel. You can learn more about Mandi and her projects on her blog.

Book Review: "The Outer Edge of Heaven" by Jaclyn Hawkes

2011-10-14T07:48:00.004-06:00

Charlie (short for Charlene) is twenty-three, a college graduate (with a double major in business management for her parents and elementary education for herself) and independent--but her parents would rather she weren't. They are determined she will go to law school, become a successful lawyer and marry their up-and-coming neighbor, the divorce lawyer (who marries those anyway, isn't it just asking for trouble?) who leaves her cold.

Though she's willing to bend on law school against her inclination, she isn't willing to go home and be courted by the man of their choice, so when her best friend, Fo (short for Forest) suggests she go with him to stay at his uncle's ranch in Montana for the summer, she jumps at it.

What ensues is kitchen mayhem, muddy dogs, a ranch hand who stalks her, one rancher's son who comes on to her every day, while the one she is interested in grows elusive just as things start to look interesting.

The characters were fun and well rounded, the action moved at a steady pace and the hero was well worth the wait. I did feel like she put too many of the early scenes in narration instead of letting me watch the scene unfold, because she had killer dialogue. It was definitely a fun read.

You can purchase The Outer Edge of Heaven here.

How do You Train the Monkey?

2011-10-12T08:16:00.003-06:00

I was reading a book recently and came across an interesting passage where Fo (short for Forest) talks about the difference in the way his best friend reacts to himself versus other people. In it he refers to that reaction as how they 'trained the monkey.'

I thought it was a really interesting way to explain how we condition people to react to us based on how we treat them and it got me thinking off in other ways that we, every day, with every person we meet, train the monkey to behave in a certain way.

This doesn't just apply in how we train our kids (do we say no, then give in, thus training them that if they just wheedle and coax long enough, they will get what they want), but also in whether or not they trust us to confide in. If I as a parent (okay, so I'm not a parent, but I'm using my experience as a former foster parent here) maintain a dialogue with my child, and respond to their crisis in a way that doesn't make them wish they hadn't come to me, they are more likely to confide in the future.

For example: I spoke with a parent recently whose child was caught looking at porn. One parent raked the kid over the coals for over an hour while the other had a calm discussion about what happened, and what they were going to do about it so it didn't happen again. Which parent do you think that child is going to confide in if they have a problem down the road?

My boss likes to get a rise out of people and when I first started work (before he was my boss), he used to poke at me verbally, teasing, and okay, sometimes crossing the line into mean. I didn't react to his teasing, he never got a rise out of me, so now I only get good-natured teasing. I 'trained' him to treat me nicely by not giving him the response he craved.

When I was growing up there was a kid I knew and well into his teen years he was a favorite for others to pick on--but he laughed and goaded them into it as often as not. He didn't like being dumped in the trash can, but his reactions reinforced their bad behavior (people don't often get that laughing can be a defensive action, and generally mistake it for enjoyment). He didn't know it, and they didn't realize, but he 'trained' them to continue treating him that way. It didn't stop until he got big enough to push back--and the guts to follow through.

By the way, this works in reverse too, now he often sees offense where it wasn't intended and blows up at people who are trying to honestly be helpful because people around him trained him too.

People who work in customer service can either make life-time customers, or destroy relationships by how they treat people.

We all 'train the monkey' with every person we encounter every day. We may be training them for other people to deal with (if enough people mistreat someone, they'll become difficult for everyone else, even if someone hasn't given them an excuse), or training them to treat us with respect or disrespect.

The good news, we can always make a conscious decision to undo the way we've been trained to react and to start treating others differently. What can be trained can almost always be untrained.

PS, the book was The Outer Edge of Heaven by Jaclyn Hawkes, which I'll be reviewing on Friday.

Why I Love the LDStorymakers Writing Conference

2011-10-10T09:12:00.001-06:00

For anyone who attended last year's LDStorymaker's writing conference, or who wants to go this year, here's a fun video that shows you what we're all about!

Registration for this year's conference should open Dec 1, and we have a terrific lineup planned with four (yes, 4) agents doing pitch sessions this year. I'll post a link to the conference page when we get it posted! The conference is being held May 4-5 at the Provo Marriot.

Book Review: Fall by Jennifer Hurst

2011-10-07T09:00:00.002-06:00

I admit to picking up this book knowing only that it had romance elements, and that the female character was heading a construction crew. (I love to see book where female characters work in non-traditional jobs.) What I got was that and a whole bag of chips. You see, the old two-story school

house/church/social hall that she’s redoing into a bed and breakfast holds a secret—a big box that houses demons waiting for judgment.

And they want out.

JD (she refuses to go by her given name) was abandoned by her mother, has no clue who her father was, and was raised by a grandfather who spent his whole life putting his business first. He’s getting on in years and JD is in line to inherit his half of the business—but he’s not exactly let her prove herself at a construction site before, though her building plans are known for their brilliance.

So city girl ends up in the middle of nowhere Torrey, Utah (and yes, I’ve been in that area, and no, there’s really not much civilization in that part of the world, but it’s totally beautiful). There’s no high-speed internet. There’s no cell signal. And her town has one tiny shop where she can buy food—at outrageous prices, (but, hey, live in a small town and you have to deal with the drawbacks.)

Almost from day one things start to go wrong—including her developing feelings for bad-boy demolition crewman Matthew Rigo (who is totally off limits because he works for her.) There are plenty of highs and lows with some of local color thrown in and more than one very drool-worthy guy.

There were a few more typos than I like to see (and while there are EMTs in that area—not so much with the paramedics, though I suppose that’s being picky since most people don’t seem to understand that not everyone on an ambulance is a paramedic, and most especially not in a small town), but the writing was solid, the story was interesting, and the heroine well worth rooting for.

My question? When’s the next book coming out?

In conjunction with this blog tour, Jennifer is holding a contest. It will involve any of the blogs that Jennifer visits or where her book is featured and will close on December 31st, 2011. The entrants have to answer three questions about the book they’ve read (bought, borrowed, or stolen - shame on you) and post a link to Jennifer's website on their Twitter, Facebook, or blog (need link for verification).

Then the names will be entered in a random name picker generator (http://textmechanic.com/Random-Line-Picker.html) and announced on Jennifer's website (www.jenniferhurst.com) on January 31st, 2012. The winner will receive a gift certificate for a night’s stay at the actual bed and breakfast where the story takes place.

Other prizes include an autographed copy of FALL, and she will randomly select 3 contestants’ names to use in the sequel to FALL. Plus, they will receive a free copy of that book when it is published.

Each blog that Jennifer Hurst visits will have a different set of questions people can answer, and they may enter as many times as they want - but they can enter once per blog site that they visit. So the more sites you visit, the more you can enter your name, thus increasing your chances of winning the gift certificate, a copy of the book FALL, and your name in the sequel.

Get the book, read the book, and then read over the questions below. Once you have your answers, e-mail them to Jennifer. fall.jenniferhurst@gmail.com

Your privacy is respected and your email address will NOT be used for anything but the contest. Once the contest is over - your email address will be deleted from the database.

Here are the questions for you to answer:

What color is Roy's hat?

Who drew the floor plans for the renovation?

Who was JD talking to when she said, "Stop it, fiend!".

If you would like to visit the other sites, go here for the master list of all participating sites: http://fallbyjenniferhurst.wordpress.com/

Best of luck, and thanks for participating!

Author interview about "Blank Slate"

2011-10-03T07:51:00.000-06:00

Last May during the LDStorymakers Writer's conference my author's guild did a few video interviews--and I got to be one of the lucky people they spoke with. Here Frank Cole (author of the picture book series starting with Hashbrown Winters) asks me about my latest book, Blank Slate, and what's coming up next.

I've seen the cover for my next book, Family by Design and as soon as I get an official final version from my publisher I'll share it.

My October Challenge Goal

2011-09-29T01:00:00.003-06:00

So I just signed up for Tristi Pinkston's October writing/editing challenge. She usually does these the first month of each quarter and has at least ten of us signed up for this one (there's still time to join in if you like). Unlike Nanowrimo, which requires you to write a 50K minimum novel in November to 'win,' with Tristi's challenge you can sign up for whatever goal you need to reach--need some encouragement to push through that last 10,000 words? Need to edit your draft, start submitting, or do your pre-writing and planning for Nano? Whatever the case, it's up to you. It's your goal, so go for it. There's still time to get on the bandwagon, so pop by Tristi's blog to sign up!

My goals this month are to finish drafting Sage's story and do my pre-writing for Nano--and if that isn't enough, I've got piles of editing to do, but that would just be gravy.

What are your goals for the month?

Book Review: "Hang 'em High" by Tristi Pinkston

2011-09-16T10:31:00.006-06:00

If you aren't familiar with Tristi Pinkston's Secret Sisters cozy mystery series yet, you're in for a treat with this one. Here's the blurb:

When Ida Mae Babbitt receives an invitation to visit her son Keith's dude ranch in Montana, she's excited to mend their broken relationship, but not so excited about spending time with cows. Arlette and Tansy go along with her, ready to take a vacation that does not involve dead bodies or mysteries of any sort - one must have a break from time to time. But it seems a no-good scoundrel has moseyed into Dodge City and is bent on causing all sorts of trouble for the ranch. Unable to keep her curiosity in check - especially when it seems her own son is the most likely culprit - Ida Mae decides to investigate. Can she lasso the varmint and get him to the sheriff in time?

True to form, Tristi's third mystery is full of laughs, sneaky old ladies and a twisty plot that will keep you on your toes. Tansy still makes me laugh with her off-the-wall comments and Arlette is as crotchety as ever--and Ida Mae actually wears a pair of jeans!

You can learn more about Tristi and her books on her website or her blog. You can purchase her book from Deseret Book, or Amazon.

To celebrate the release of Tristi's eighth book, she's holding a contest! If you leave a comment on this review, you will be entered into a drawing for a free manuscript evaluation, done by Tristi Pinkston Editing http://www.tristipinkstonediting.blogspot.com In fact, you can leave comments on all the blogs participating in this virtual book tour! Go to Tristi Pinkston's blog at http://www.tristipinkston.blogspot.com for a list. The deadline is October 5th at midnight MST. If you win and you're not a writer, you can give this evaluation to a friend.

Seriously folks, an edit by Tristi is a major prize--she's saved my hide more times than I can count.

Dream Big and Become Crazy Good

2011-09-12T04:22:00.007-06:00

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a performance by Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand, a group based out of Ogden, Utah. I was bummed to miss the first half hour of the show due to circumstances WAAAY out of my control, but it was well worth showing up late.

I enjoy their unique sounds, sense of fun, and great songs--one in particular I haven't heard for a while really hit me right now as I'm trying to focus on specific projects and decide which road I want to take in my career. Here's their music video for their song Dream Big.

If that doesn't work (it isn't showing on my computer for some reason), you can find the video here.

The next day I was reading through my email and came across a recent one sent out by David Farland in his Daily Kick for writers (which you can sign up for here). He talks about how in order to compete in the rapidly-changing publishing market, writers are going to have to become "crazy good" at what they do. Here's a tiny snippet: "...They said that no one would make it in film once people got to watch television for free. I believe that people will still make it {in publishing}, and some authors will even become bigger superstars than ever before, but we may have to up our game in order to do so.

In order to build a name for ourselves, each one of us as authors will have to become Crazy Good.

So that’s the goal for today. Write beautifully from the depths of your soul. Go to extremes. Do something that no one else would consider doing."

The world is changing, the way we interact with it is different, the options available to us are expanding exponentially, and we have to be willing to change the way we work, the way we do business--regardless of who we are, what we do, and what our goals are.

Here's the thing: no matter what we want to do, there's no point in striving for mediocrity, for settling for less than what we can be. That doesn't mean we all have to be superstars or New York Times Bestsellers--there's nothing wrong with being the best piano teacher, the best seamstress, the best mom or gardener you can be without striving to compete against the best in the world--and no one can be the best at everything, so just pick whatever is most important to you. But in whatever venue you want to succeed, give it your all, be your best. All of us, regardless of our dreams, should dream big, and strive to be 'crazy good.'

Write Campaign flash fiction challenge

2011-09-08T11:10:00.003-06:00

I've never participated in flash fiction before, but since I was challenged to write something for the Writer's Platform challenge #1, I thought I'd explore a snippet of an idea that came from a dream a few nights back. It's YA and sci-fi? dystopian? AU? Not sure, exactly, but it's intriguing me more than I ever expected. I may have to actually write this book. (I only have three or four projects vying for immediate attention already, so why not toss one more in the mix?)

Challenge: Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “The door swung open” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words: "the door swung shut."

For those who want an even greater challenge, make your story exactly 200 words--amd because I love a challenge, mine is 200 words!

Awakening

The door swung open and a bright light flashed in her eyes. She shielded her face and turned her head toward the shelves behind her, trying to protect herself.

“Are you hurt?” a young man’s voice asked. The light moved from her face and he reached a hand to her as she uncovered her eyes. “Are you hurt? You don’t want to be found here.”

“Where am I?” All she remembered was the low chanting, the movement of feathers, then the swirling vortex that brought on a pounding headache and the desire to puke. A glance around her showed a supply closet full of plastic tubing, boxes of gauze and other things she didn’t recognize.

“Are you hurt?” He pulled on her hand and helped her up. “We need to get out of here before someone finds us." Gentle fingers touched her forehead. “You’re bleeding, but I don’t think it’s serious. Come on.”

She stood and stumbled after him when he tugged on her hand, too disoriented to do anything else. They entered the sterile white halls of a hospital. Footsteps clicked down a corridor and the boy’s eyes widened in fear. “Someone’s coming.” Behind them, the door swung shut.