When I found out A NIGHT ON MOON HILL was a 2012 Whitney Finalist for General Fiction last week (on Wednesday night, Feb. 6th), I shared it on Facebook but forgot to blog about it here. I even forgot to tweet about it. (Of course, that’s not surprising since Twitter has yet to become second nature to me. That’s one of my goals for the second half of 2013: Conquer Twitter!)

Anyway, being a Whitney Finalist means even more this year. LDS authors are not only multiplying, their work is getting better and better. If you want some good reading, check out the list of 2012 Finalists.

In case you’re not familiar with this award, it’s only in its sixth year but it, too, has grown a lot! When it debuted in 2007 as an award for fiction written by LDS authors, it included only  five genre categories: Best Romance/Women’s Fiction, Best Mystery/Suspense, Best Youth Fiction, Best Speculative Fiction, and Best Historical. (Fortunately, the following year, they decided to add Best General Fiction to the mix and allow consideration of self-published novels . . . otherwise, THE RECKONING wouldn’t have had a shot.)

This year, there are eight categories: General, Historical, Romance, Mystery/Suspense, Speculative, YA-Speculative, YA-General, and Middle Grade. All the finalists in the first five Adult categories are eligible for “Best Novel of the Year,” and all the finalists in the other three categories are eligible for “Best Novel in Youth Fiction.” In addition, nine finalists are debut authors and, as such, they are eligible for “Best Novel By New Author.”

I’ve attended every Whitney Gala since 2009 (when they were giving out the 2008 awards and THE RECKONING was a finalist), even though I didn’t have a book in the running. Why? Because it’s inspirational to be in a room with so many great writers.

It’s an honor, again, to be a finalist. I don’t expect to win–the competition is humbling–but I will certainly enjoy the company!

Originally posted 2013-02-12 15:35:25.