A Christmas Message

As the 2012 Christmas Season approaches, I thought I'd share a message that is more spiritual in nature than my usual fare. Happy Holidays everyone!

In 2010, Angela Eschler, a former editor of mine approached me with the non-fiction book idea for Christ’s Gifts to Women. At first I was hesitant because co-authoring might sound like it would take half the time as doing a book on one’s own, but in reality, the time spent combining ideas and working out details with another person, can actually be more of a time investment.

From that perspective I knew I needed to be really passionate about the book idea. When I read the introduction that Angela had put together, I loved the idea and knew that I could help. This article is not about my co-authoring experience, but about something I learned along the way about the Savior.

Frequently we hear messages about the Savior—some of them have become buzz words or even car stickers—so much so that we may have stopped hearing the message that’s intended for us. I’ve certainly heard hundreds of tidbits about the Savior in my life. I’ve even lived in the Holy Land and read the New Testament while sitting in the Garden of Gethsemane. I don’t consider myself an expert by any means about the Savior’s life, but it seems that nothing I heard was “new.” 

So it was quite astounding to me when I read something Angela wrote for one of the chapters. In fact, I read it more than once before and after publication. And it’s frequently on my mind. It’s nothing earth-shattering, and I knew it on at least one level, but I had never internalized it. 

Recently an LDS author friend of mine was contacted by a reader who expressed her displeasure that one of the characters in the novel had dressed immodestly. My friend was dismayed to receive such critical feedback about her book—first because the character wasn’t LDS and the story wasn’t LDS fiction so she didn’t feel like she was condoning immodesty, and second, on a deeper level, she felt that she was being chastised for her own worthiness. This was probably not the intention of the reader, but it reminded me of how quick we can be to feel judged by another person, no matter how well-intentioned a comment might be. 

My thoughts went again to what I had learned about the Savior. 

We are familiar with the story of the woman taken into adultery. It is a heartbreaking story of cruelty (by the Pharisees) and humiliation (of the woman). In the day of Christ, it was common for an adulteress to be accused in a public setting, her sins announced to the world, then executed before any repentance or forgiveness could take place.

Apparently the Pharisees esteem Jesus enough that they ask Him if they should stone her, and His reply is: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). We know what happens next. Without even meeting anyone’s gaze, Jesus “stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not” (v. 9). One by one the Pharisees leave, unable to justify casting the first stone. The Pharisees have realized they have no authority from God to judge this woman. 

And Jesus is then left alone with her.

This fact is what struck me so powerfully. She is left alone with the Savior. She’s not standing in front of the Pharisees, in front of her church congregation, in front of her husband, in front of her children. She only faces the Savior. And only the Savior has the power to judge her.

Angela explains this idea in more detail: “Like our sister, who was left alone, no one stands with us in our daily courtrooms but Christ. In spite of the many self-appointed juries in our mortal sphere, who may heap harsh judgments upon us, we too are “left alone” with the only judge who matters. And He is a merciful judge. He, our only legitimate accuser, does not condemn.”

I take comfort in the thought that the Savior is a merciful judge. That He is our only legitimate accuser. And that He does not condemn. 

What a balm to the soul. 

Yet, we seem to listen to the accusers of the world, the ones who would condemn us publically and withhold forgiveness and mercy. 

We’ve been counseled by our church leaders that not only are we to forgive others, but we need to forgive ourselves. It’s one thing to “go and sin no more” (John 8:11), and another to allow ourselves to heal from the pain of sin. 

If we can remember in our moments of despair that the only One authorized to judge us is the Savior. His mercy does not have a limit; it is endless. And the One who judges us came “not . . . to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). 

It can still a hard thing to put our faith in the concept of mercy and becoming clean again, free from regrets, which is probably why I continue to study and read about the Savior and the Atonement. At times I feel as if I only grasp a small part of it. Other times, I am enveloped in a fuller understanding—but that soon becomes crowded out with the perpetual noises of the world. 

So it is my job, and your job, to create those alone moments with the Savior, where it is just us alone with the Savior—feeling of His mercy, His understanding, His love, and seeing ourselves through His lens.


(This article was originally published in Meridian Magazine)

Pleasant Grove Library Fundraiser Author Extravaganza

(I wasn't sure if the title would fit!)

Multi-author Book Signing

August 1^st from 7-9 p.m.

Come join your favorite local authors at the Pleasant Grove City Library (30 E. Center Street) 

and support the cause of literacy!

·        Julie Coulter Bellon

·        Monique Bucheger

·        Rachelle Christensen

·        Loralee Evans

·        Julie N. Ford

·        Nichole Giles

·        Heather Justesen

·        Angie Lofthouse

·        Heather (H.B.) Moore

·        L.L. Muir

·        Andrea Pearson

·        Tristi Pinkston

·        Suze Reese

Proceeds from the silent auction will go to benefit the library, as will a portion of the proceeds from book sales.

Refreshments!

First Blog Reviews are in!

It's always a bit of a knuckle-biter waiting for the first round of reviews to start coming in. Last week I mailed out review copies for Christ's Gifts to Women. So when the first two were posted, I was a bit nervous to read them. But, so far, all is well.

Colleen of For the Love of Books, said, "Being out of work for so long and having some personal struggles right now in my life, this book has opened my eyes and gives me the strength to not give up and move on with my life, it could be worse." Full review here.

Sheila of Why Not, Because I Said So, said, "Even though I loved the entire book, the chapter that meant the most to me is, The Gift of Nurturing. The words found there brought a sense of peace to my heart." Full review here.


Upcoming signings:

March 23, 2012- I'll be signing during the CITY CREEK grand opening week at the Downtown Deseret Book, SLC, Flagship Store. 11:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

March 24, 2012 - I'll be signing at Celebrating Sisterhood, 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m., Seagull Book in American Fork.

March 31, 2012 - Angela Eschler and I will be signing at Ladies Night, Deseret Book, Valley Fair Mall, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Reviewers Needed: Christ's Gifts to Women

2/6/12 update: I have all the review book assigned. Thanks, everyone!

February is finally here, which means only one month until the release of Christ's Gifts to Women. I'm very excited to offer this book to reviewers. When Angela Eschler contacted me Fall 2010 and asked if I was interested in co-authoring with her, I was very honored. But I didn't want to commit unless I felt that I could be a contributor and the project would be something I was passionate about.

When I read Angela's introduction, I knew it would be a perfect fit. We submitted the book in November 2010, and it will be 16 months from submission to the time it hits stores. When you get the book in the mail, you'll understand why. The book is a work of art. Literally. There are 25 paintings/illustrations throughout the 37-page gift book.

Just to give you a flavor of the text . . . in The Gift of Mercy chapter, in discussing the New Testament story of the woman taken in adultery, we learn that after all the accusers have left, "Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst" (John 8:9).

We can compare this to our lives: "The implications of this detail are thought-provoking. Like our sister who was left alone, we stand in our daily courtrooms with no one but Christ. In spite of the many self-appointed juries in our mortal sphere who may heap harsh judgments upon us, we too are 'left alone' with the only Judge who matters. And He is a merciful judge. He, our only legitimate accuser, does not condemn" (Christ's Gifts to Women, 2).

You can also see sample pages on Deseret Book's website.

I'm currently seeking 15 reviewers who are willing to read a copy (will be mailing beginning of March) and take the time to also post a review.

If you are interested, please email me: heather (at) hbmoore (dot) com

I'll send you the details once I get your email.

Cover Reveal: Christ's Gifts to Women

I’m extremely excited to post the cover of Christ’s Gifts to Women. (Cover Art by Howard Lyon) Like all books, this one has been in the making for awhile. It's almost exactly a year to the day when I was first approached by Angela Eschler about co-writing this book. I wish I could show you the interior since it is probably the most gorgeous interiors I have seen. There are 25 paintings inside. But you'll have to wait until release date, March 2012.

Below, I’ve included a rundown of the project and how it all came to be:

On September 25, 2010, Angela Eschler emailed me about a project she’d been working on for awhile. She’d already pitched it to her publisher (which was also my publisher), but because she’d had a baby and was running a home business, she was having a hard time completing the project.

I had great respect for Angela, and we’d actually worked together on one of my books before—she was my editor for a short time—but I had recently turned down other co-author projects because they weren’t a good fit for me. So I wanted to make sure it was a project I could be passionate about and not do it because I was flattered by the invitation.

I agreed to look at what Angela had done so far, and by the time I finished reading it, I knew 2 things. I could help her, and I was excited about the project. The focus was on the women who knew and/or interacted with Christ during His lifetime and had received special gifts from Him. Then the book would answer the questions of how those gifts can be embraced by women today.

We decided to organize the book into two portions. Angela focused on the Intro and the first two chapters, and I focused on the last three chapters. The book wouldn’t be long, only about 35 pages of text. We foresaw it as a gift book for women, something that would make a good Mother’s Day book.

The New Testament “year” was just around the corner as well. We thought it was probably too late to make an early 2011 release, even though the book was short, and even though the publisher was expecting the full manuscript soon. And of course we didn’t want to wait until 2015 (the next NT year). The solution we came up with was that it didn’t need a “New Testament year” push, but would focus on the women who knew Christ (who happen to be in the New Testament), and how their experiences could be applied to ours.

Right away, Angela and I started working on our chapters, trading emails and quotes back and forth. We worked together pretty quickly, and I was surprised that I did have some things to say about my assigned “gifts.” We finished the first working draft in October and sent to three readers to gain feedback. Overall, we were told the book was a great concept, and we just had to work out some of the nitty gritty details.

By the first of November, we were happy with our manuscript. We put together a cover letter explaining the book concept (of illustrations, singling out certain quotes, and how this book can now be a general release).

Below is the general outline of the book’s process (slow but steady):

November 2, 2010: Submitted to publisher, Covenant Communications

January 18, 2011: Committee requested revisions before contract can be offered

January 26: Submitted request to the LDS Church’s Intellectual Property Reserve for permission to use Church General Authority quotes

February 3: Submitted revision

March 24: Official acceptance; release date assigned: March 2012 (one whole year away!)

June: Final editing/copy editing with publisher

July 12: Permissions to quote Church General Authorities granted

September 27: Cover finished; interior ready for final proof

Good Day so far . . .

In the writing side of my life, it's been a decent couple of days.

This morning I heard from my publisher that the non-fiction book I co-wrote with Angela Eschler was officially accepted. Not as the World Giveth: Christ's Gifts to Women will be released March 2012 in time for Mother's Day (unless the world comes to an end first).

Also, today I finished the 2nd draft stage of my YA Speculative novel and 'maybe' solidified the pitch. I was able to answer some of the bigger picture questions that were proving quite elusive.

Yesterday, I got a sneak peak at the cover for my next book: AMMON. It will be out in June. I'll be doing the final proofread pretty soon (which can be a painful process because I can't really change anything, just fix typos or formatting stuff).



In the next few weeks, I'll start to recruit reviewers for AMMON and come up with a several week giveaway leading up to the release date. Stay tuned . . .

Happy writing and reading everyone!

My Publishing Journey--Part 6

Writing update: Yesterday I turned in a non-fiction book with my co-author, Angela Eschler. We are really excited for the book to go through the evaluation process. It's called: Not as the World Giveth: Christ's Gifts to Women.

Read Part 5 here.


My Publishing Journey

Part 6
I started writing “Of Goodly Parents” (my first book published) in the summer of 2002. It came out in the fall of 2004.

27 months.

It sounds like forever. But it’s the business. Some of my manuscripts wouldn’t be published, others would take much longer than 27 months, my 2010-release novel (Alma the Younger) was as short as 11 months from first word to release date.

The difference between writing my “first” book (as in the book that was actually published) and my “second” book was the timeline and the feeling of pressure. My first book was all self-motivated, with a deadline in mind, but very open-ended. My second book was the opposite. Every word written and every hour spent on research was with a deadline facing me. And with the thought of “someone will be reading or editing the paragraph I’m now writing.” That thought was very surreal. Now that I had experienced the creation of a novel from start to finish, it was pretty amazing to begin the process all over again.

It also took a lot of motivation and patience. Motivation to crank out my daily and weekly writing goals, and patience to know that eventually the few pages I was able to write each day WOULD become a full-length manuscript in a few months.

You’ll be happy to know that I did meet my Dec 1 deadline, but Christmas shopping would have to wait. I was called as Primary President in my ward right before Thanksgiving. And as you know, December is probably the busiest month for that assignment. I remember one comment from a lady at a ward Christmas party was, “I guess you won’t be writing books anymore since you’re primary president.” I don’t think the lady knew I’d just spent two months getting up at 4 a.m.

I survived December (and January! Which is also busy) and did so for the next four years. Serving as Primary President did keep me busy, but it also kept me serving, which is always a good thing.

Edits for book two came around, and luckily I had the same editor for my second book as my first. One of the first things he said to me was to cut down the number of points of view in the novel. I had 9 and he wanted 4. I think I ended up keeping 5 points of view, but it was a major undertaking. It didn’t change the plot or the characters, but it took time to go into each scene and revise so that we were in a different point of view.

Now, looking back, point of view is a very important writing tool. The point of view character in each scene should be the character who will be the most effected in that scene.