Chasing Harry Winston and holiday

The holiday weekend was great! I got a lot of little things done such as updating my Website that I’m building and writing an essay. We were hoping to go to the beach, but our beach was closed when 40 people got caught in rip tides and one guy died. Scary.

Instead, I tore through my TBR pile and finished an outline. I'm STILL working my way through THE HOST. I put it down for a couple of days and hope to resume reading it today. I started rereading Twilight for the first time yesterday. It's fun now that I know what to expect!

We also finished painting, yay! I would insert pics here except, well, I accidentally deleted them when I was taking video for a new Diary of a Debut Author Segment for next month. Urg.

I’m also verrrry excited because Lauren Weisberger’s new book CHASING HARRY WINSTON comes out today. Eee! Lauren did a video for S&S and you can check it out here: http://www.bookvideos.tv/videoid/1145.

Note to self: try to look as chic on camera as Lauren in my next Diary of a Debut Author vid…and damn, the Tallahassee skyline won’t look near as cool at the NYC shot in this video. :)

How was everyone's holiday weekend?

Thanks and Happy Weekend!

Just a quick post on this holiday weekend, but I wanted to thank everyone over at SCWC blog for commenting on my video. Y'all are so sweet and I'm definitely going to keep making Diary of a Debut Author videos. :)

Everyone have a safe and happy weekend! My book bag is full and I'm ready to hit my porch with a Diet Coke and a cup full of watermelon and read:

BRALESS IN WONDERLAND -- Debbie Reed Fischer
HOW TO HOOK A HOTTIE -- Tina Ferraro
THE HOST (still plugging away) --you know, Stephenie Meyer
FOREVER IN BLUE -- Ann Brashares

PS- Check out Julie Prince's article in this month's SCBWI newsletter! Yay, Julie!

Author Visit: Jennifer Bradbury

Please welcome SHIFT author Jennifer Bradbury!

Book: When Chris Collins and Winston Coggans take off on a

post-graduation cross-country bike trek, Chris's hopes are high. He's

looking forward to seeing the country, dodging a dull summer at a

minimum wage job, and having one final adventure with his oldest

friend. The journey from Hurricane, West Virginia to the coast of

Washington state delivers all those things... and more.

So much more that when Chris returns home without Win at the end of

the summer, he's certain their 10 year friendship is all but over. But

when an FBI agent begins asking questions—and raising suspicions about

Chris—he learns that saying goodbye to a friend like Win is never as

simple as riding away. Shift offers an adventure story and a missing

persons tale spinning around a single question: What happens when you

outgrow your best friend?

Here we go...

What was the "oooh, I must write this book!" moment for you?

Honestly? I was just looking for something to keep me busy. I'd thought for years about building a story around a bike trip, but had trouble finding the plot and characters. Finally I decided to just sit down and force myself to plot it out, and characters and conflict emerged. There wasn't really a moment like the one you describe, but there was a moment after I had an outline and started a chapter that I sort of had a flash of insight knowing that it was going to work in a way that my earlier attempts at a novel had not.

What do you hope readers get out of Shift?

I hope they get a great story most of all. Beyond that, it would be cool to learn that some readers identify with the friendship dynamics between Chris and Win, and even better to learn that somebody gets inspired to bike cross-country or have an adventure that stretches and grows them in some other way.

Did you tell anyone when you were writing Shift?

Yes. My husband was actually with me in India where the first draft took shape, and I'd come home from the school where I was teaching each day with a new chapter. He sometimes forgot to greet me in his grab for the flash drive I kept it stored on. :) And I sent the first third or so out to some trusted readers back home before the book was even done, and most of them emailed back quickly to ask for more. I find that kind of encouragement invaluable when I'm drafting.

Your agent, Robin Rue, sold your book three DAYS after agreeing to represent you. Is that some kind of record? :)

It certainly is a record for me! I had no idea what I was doing (and mostly still don't) but Robin is amazing, so I bet she's gone faster. And she was quick to warn me the day before she sent it out that it might be a while, and that we might even have to revise after the first round before resubmitting. But she had a good feeling about the manuscript and my editor, whom she'd recently met and talked with. And she found the perfect fit for both of us.

Did your teaching exchange in India make a lasting impression on you?

Absolutely. I was teaching 11th grade while I was there, so it was amazing to see firsthand how similar kids are all over the world. Even though the educational systems are different and culture is different, there's something fundamental about being a kid that transcends all of that. We're planning to go back this winter to spend some time with friends we made while there. Travel of any kind has the power to alter who we are and how we see things. The fact that I was writing a novel about that while I was living it myself was sort of a way for me to process those changes.

You were a one-day winner on Jeopardy! That's so cool! Do you think that experience will ever pop up in one of your novels?

Thanks! It was a lot of fun. And it was one of those things that I kind of fell into (a bit like writing), but worked out really well. I don't know if I'll ever work it into a novel, but I'm not ruling it out. :)

Do you still bicycle?

Yes! In fact, to celebrate the release of Shift and the sale of my next book, my husband took me out and bought me a new Trek. Its blue and very fast and the shifters work perfectly! Probably most of my rides this summer will be with my daughter to the library or Fred Meyer, but we are planning a family trip up and down the Columbia River Gorge for July. We're trying to do a small bicycle trip every year to get her acclimated, and hope to take off on tandems with her and any other kids we eventually have to knock around other parts of the world. We've some good friends who have taken their 11 and 9 year old kids touring in Europe, and are planning to ride to Mexico this summer. We hope to be as cool as them! :)

What's next for you? What are you most looking forward to this summer?

I'll be revising my next novel for Atheneum this summer. Its tentatively titled APART, and I'm excited to start working on it. And I've got two other stories that I'm hoping we might submit soon, but they're very different from what I've written for Atheneum so far. We'll see. Mostly I'm looking forward to being outside in Washington--summers here are fantastic. So I'll have to tear myself away from the laptop as much as possible.

Bio: Jennifer Bradbury is a former high school English teacher,

cross-country cyclist, Fulbright exchange teacher, and one day

Jeopardy! champion. Currently, she spends her days seeking balance

between her roles of stay at home mom to a lovely, demanding two-year

old and a writer of often incorrigible first drafts. So far, her own

manuscripts are more prone to tantrums than her daughter.

Website: www.jennifer-bradbury.com

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Shift-Jennifer-Bradbury/dp/1416947329/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210179056&sr=8-1

JB: Thank you, Jen! SHIFT sounds like a great book and I can't wait to read it! :)

Yay David Cook!

Yay, David Cook! I thought Archie had it wrapped, but DC won! :)





And Simon's apology? Seriously? Either he thought he cost Cook the show (at that point) and thought Cook deserved to win but would lose against Archuleta OR he already knew Archuleta had lost. Interesting.

The night was great overall--one of the best finales ever. Carrie Underwood totally rocked it out. I loved her flow-y outfit.

Did your fav win last night?

Painting!

Pretty paint colors!

I heart Crimson Silk

What a soothing name

First, I had to draw a new winner for FRENEMIES! Marjolein, you win! Please e-mail me with your address to ship your prize. :)

So, we're painting this week! We started over the weekend, so I've been sleeping in the living room for a few days because my room was first and it smells paint-y. My room was a kind of starchy white and now it's a creamy, pretty French Vanilla color called "Innocence." Pics are coming!

The bathroom...oh, yes. It was a muddy/brownish/? color and now wait till you see. So. Lovely.

I was in awe of the many, many color choices. How much fun would it be to say, "Ah, yes my walls are "crimson silk" and my hallway is "violet bouquet." Mine aren't, but you get the idea. My bathroom, however, is now "Honeydew."

Thanks to everyone who wished my hand a speedy recovery! I'm not whining (so much) as I type today. ;) I'm trying to get a lot of work done early since I've got my hands on THE HOST and HOME (Julie Andrews' memoir) and I can't wait to get reading.

Cat scratch...ow & news

So, I had a minor accident on Sunday evening.

It was almost 7pm and I just got back from a walk. All of our screen doors and windows are open because we’re painting. (I’ll show you the colors tomorrow!) I sat in front of the door leading out to the back porch and slid open the screen door so I could pet the outside cat who comes to visit. And eat. And get her fix of cat nip.

I’m petting her and she’s purring and being sweet. She’s also intrigued because the door’s open and that NEVER happens. She’s not allowed inside, since she’s not my cat and I’m not sure if she’s been in a house before. I’m guessing she’s an indoor/outdoor cat, but I really don’t know.

Okay, so I’m petting her and then in a flash, she rocks back on her haunches and leaps over my shoulder into the house. Remember how I said we’re painting? Yeah, all we need is for the cat to get into the paint and get sick. I’d feel awful! In the split second that I see her launching over my shoulder, I stick out my hand to grab her and I get just under the back of her stomach and somehow she manages to use my left hand as a launch pad. I feel a searing pain in my hand but quickly forget because there’s a strange cat in the house and she’s suddenly become super-freaked.

I manage to calmly herd her outside before she touches any paint. Whew. I go over to the kitchen sink and realize, “Oh. Blood. My hand’s bleeding.” I’ve had a LOT of cat scratches. You don’t work in a Humane Society for two years trapping feral cats and working with moody strays and not get scratched. But these scratches were pretty bad. The worst I've had. The adrenaline wears off and I take a peek at my hand as I start to wash it. And then IT happens. Yep, I faint. In the kitchen. My mom saves me from smacking my head on the ceramic floor and I come to with her fanning me with a towel. Lovely.

That’s my cat adventure for the week. :)

The hand, luckily, is my left one so it’s not the hand I wear my brace for carpal. Whew. I took a picture of it, but won't post it. It's just not pretty.

Edit:

Just wanted to share with you guys that my latest video was picked up by the Southern California Writer's Conference Blog. Thank you, Michael Steven Gregory! :)

http://scwc.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/diary-of-a-debut-author-video/

Diary of a Debut Author video and Frenemies winners

Okay! We have two lucky winners of FRENEMIES! Drumroll.... Sara and Book Adorer! Congrats! You two have 48 hours to e-mail (jessica [at] jessicaburkhart [dot] com) me your name and an address for Alexa to send the book. If I don' t hear from you within two days, I have to draw a new winner. Thank you to Alexa and check the sidebar for new contests!

Onto other things...

This is a new video that I made over the weekend. It's almost my one year anniversary in publishing since I got The Call that TAKE THE REINS was going to be a book. So, this video looks back at my year and shows a few things that I love and keep close to me. I hope you enjoy the video! :) (And isn't my shirt SO TTR appropriate?!)