Winners of Chosen contest!

I got superlucky and had time to run the # of entrants (plus extra entries) through the generator and the "see-your-name-in-Initiation" contest winners have been chosen at random!

I feel so grateful to have had so many entries. The best part was SEEING you guys! I love putting a face to your names. You all have such beautiful names that I bet some of them pop up in future books. I mean, where better to look for names than Team Canterwood?!

Since we had sooo many fab entrants, I changed it up a little. We are going to have one main winner, as mentioned, and TWO runners up. The main winner's name will appear more frequently and will have dialogue. The runners up with make a brief appearance in a scene in the book.

So, no more torture!

The GRAND PRIZE WINNER IS:

JILL (TEAM ERIC)

~*~*~*~ Yaaaay! Jill, please e-mail (jess _ burkhart AT hotmail DOT com) me with your last initial (if you want it used). Also, I have another question for you in the email. Congratulations!!!! :)

The TWO RUNNERS UP ARE:

Jayllex M.

AND

Kacie F.

Way to go!! I'm so excited for you both to make cameos in INITIATION.

Again, thank you to all who entered and I wish I could use all of your names. I'll be holding another contest like this for a future book, so don't worry. I'm opening this posts to comments and hope if you do post that you'll congratulate the winners.

xoxo

Final entry in Chosen contest!

And we have our final entry in the Chosen contest! Here's Miss Holly S. with her copy!

(Yes, it is May 26th, but I received Holly's entry within the time limit and could not get online until now to to post it.)

I will post the winner who will have their first name and last initial appear in INITIATION as soon as humanly possible. I have 3 doctor appointments with Kate at Mayo today and she is my main focus and reason for being in Minnesota. But I'm hoping to announce the winner tonight.

I'll also be posting the winners of the Gelly Roll pen giveaway. I'll collect your names and addresses and will mail those when I get settled at home--probably the 2nd week of June.

Thank you ALL for participating in this contest! Best of luck! The winner, btw, will be chosen by a random number generator site that I use. That seems to be the most fair.

<3

More Team Canterwood Chosen pics!

Suz C's cat, Sasha Silver!

Suz C.

Kyla G with her gorgeous horse

Another great pic of Kyla!

Kaitlin J! She was a winner in the cover flat contest.

Andrea C.

Wanted to share these awesome photos!

Hello from Rochester, Minnesota!

I've never been to Rochester before. #TeamKate (that's how I'm hash tagging it on Twitter) had some plane trouble, but made it in before 10pm last night.

I just wanted to write a quick post to thank you all sincerely for the well wishes for Kate. She's my best friend in the entire world and your support to her means so much. I knew Team Canterwood cared about me, but the overwhelming well wishes for Kate are astounding. We appreciate so much the Facebook page for her. We check it every day and she and I both carry your thoughts with us.

Just to share a little: Kate has been in extreme stomach pain since May 13, 2010. It just happened out of the blue. No warning. We've been to 29 doctors and 3 NYC hospitals. Not one doctor has been able to help to stop the pain and get her well. Kate has woken up crying for 365 days. And guys, she's TOUGH, she does not cry, and this pain (pain I KNOW I couldn't take) has made her sob.

Kate and I talk about the support she's gotten from all of you and she's asked me the same question probably three times: "Why do your readers care about me? They love you. I'm nobody to them."

I tell her the same thing every time: You all do care about me as the CC author. But I also feel like you're all my friends. I hope you feel the same way. My best friend is very, very sick and because of it, you've all embraced her because you know how much I care about her. It's what friends do for each other. Kate does not get enough support in real life, but she does from Team Canterwood. You all have become our virtual friends and we care about you guys a lot! I know when you say you're praying for Kate--you mean it. Those are not empty words. It means more than you'll ever know. I promise, some how, I will find a way to pay it forward one day.

You've also been amazing support for me. I'm grateful for it, too. Seeing your BFF sobbing and unable to leave the house hardly ever is a gut-ripping feeling. I've been living with her for a year to try and help her mentally and physically. There's been anger. Sadness. Confusion. Frustration. Hope that dwindles and rises.

The Mayo Clinic process starts tomorrow at 7am. It'll probably be a week of tests and hopefully we come out with some answers. I hope that you'll continue to keep Kate in your thoughts this week. I'll update everyone as I can.

Also, as a side-note, I've received several pictures of you with your copies of CHOSEN. Thank you and I'll post them when I get home.

Since I'll be gone all week, I'm going to extend the contest. If you haven't already, you can leave a comment on the original post. You may also send me a photo of you with your copy of CHOSEN (paperback or on an e-reader) to my e-mail (jess_burkhart AT hotmail DOT com.)

The contest NOW ends on May 25th at 11:59pm EST.

I hope you're all having a good weekend!

Much love. xoxo

Cool pix, Alicia K!

Thank you SO much, Alicia K. for these suuupercool pix of you and Sassafras! (And check out Alicia's sis, Sarah, in pink!) Plus, how could I not post her pink boots?! Love!

Here's Caty C!

Caty's my Facebook friend and she let me take this from her album. <3 it!

More Team Canterwood pix!

Molly G.

Team Canterwood is on a roll! Here are two more FAB pics! I looove them and thank you, girls!













Caroline H.

Yaay! Another Team Canterwood pic!

You guys are so awesome! Here's another pic for two extra entries in the "see your name in INITIATION" contest. Thank you soo much, Sam N. for e-mailing this! :)

Team Canterwood member pic with Chosen

Here's the first member of Team Canterwood to submit a photo of herself with Chosen! Connie L. 's mom e-mailed me the photo (with permission to post it on my blog) and Connie gets two extra entries in the contest below. Yay! I love seeing pics of you all with Chosen! :)

Happy reading!

xo

Happy Chosen release day & last contest!

I'm soooo excited that my first Super Special is hitting all stores TODAY! As a kid, I *loved* super specials and having my own is beyond my wildest dreams. I hope you all like it and have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

*throws confetti sparkles in the air*

In honor of this Super Special, I'm doing a final SUPER contest for Chosen!

How would you like YOUR first name and to appear as a minor (with the possibility to turn into a major character . . . you never know!) character in INITIATION? If you like, you can also include the first initial of your last name like "Sasha S." And I'll make up the last name.

Here's what to do:

This is open to EVERYONE--US and international--yay! Leave a comment here with your first name (and optional last name first initial) and tell me what you'd do if you saw your name in a CC book. :)

Want *two* bonus entries? Send me a photo of YOU with your copy of Chosen! It must come from your parent's e-mail address and they have to give the okay for me to put the photo on my blog. I will NOT use your name. I just want to share the photos with Team Canterwood!

The contest is open now and you have TWO WEEKS to enter. It closes Tuesday, May 17th at midnight. I will be out of town that week, so it might take me a week or so to announce the winner.

Good luck to everyone! :)

Win awesome Gelly Roll pens!

Anybody interested in PRIZES? In CHOSEN, the main character, Lauren, is obsessed with pens. (Um, as am I and Editor K). Lucky for us, Sakura, the makers of the fabulously cool Gelly Roll pens as well as many others, gave me four sets of pink and purple pen to give away to Team Canterwood! Yay!

Each pack of three are "ice cream smooth" and they have a glitter pen, a metallic pen and a medium pen. So, if you win, you'll get three pink rose pens and three purple violet pens. Total win! :)

Want to enter? Here's how:

If you're a US resident, leave a comment here and tell me what your fave Canterwood book is and why. :) You'll get TWO extra entries if you Tweet, blog, Facebook, vlog, etc., about the release of CHOSEN. Just tell me in your comment here if you did any of those things and give me a link. You must also leave me a way to contact you.

The contest closes on May 5th at 8am EST. I'll email the winners within a week, so be on the look out for an e-mail from me. Good luck to everyone who enters!

Thank you, Sakura, for your generous give away prizes. For more on Sakura's fun Gelly Roll pens, visit www.jellyroll.com.

Enter away!

Chosen out early! :D

Ahhhh, those magic words! IN STOCK! Yaaay! That means Amazon (and BarnesandNoble.com) are shipping copies of CHOSEN! I looove it when they come out early. It. Is. So. Exciting.

Photograph Copyright © 2010 Monica Stevenson

And, I'd like to welcome Lauren, (in photo above), who is making her debut in this super special.

Let me know when you get your copy!

Chosen cover flat contest!

CHOSEN OUT MAY 3RD

Hooray CHOSEN release that's coming up next week! In honor of this *very* sparkly Super Special, I think a giveaway is in order.

Anyone interested in winning a signed cover flat of CHOSEN? (That's the cover of the book without the actual book inside. Just like the image above.) :)

I've got FIVE signed copies to give away. Here's the deal: if you're a US resident, leave a comment here. Tell me why you're THE ultimate Canterwood Crest fan. :) I'll draw five winners at random. If you're on Twitter and Tweet about the contest, make sure to Tweet at me and it'll count as an extra entry. Also, it counts double if you blog, Facebook or use the Internet in another way to tell your friends about the release of CHOSEN.

The contest ends on Friday, April 29th.

I'll announce the winners the following weekend or week. Be sure to leave me a way to contact you in case you're a winner.

This book is extremely special to Editor K and me--we infused so many of our fave products, colors, traits, cities, etc., that we both agree it's out favorite book in the series. Thank you, Team Canterwood, for allowing me to have my first Super Special!

xoxo

Initiation cover

Cover copyright © 2010 Simon & Schuster. Photo © Monica Stevenson.

My supercool designer, Jessica Handelman, sent me the hi-res version of the INITIATION cover. Yay!! Click on it to see a bigger version. I love, love it and our new models are so fun. I don't want to give away the character names yet, but the model in the front is Dayton and the model in the back is Kyra. Editor K and I weren't able to make this shoot, but from everything we heard the models were awesome and I think it shows in the cover.

Are you getting ready for the release of CHOSEN? It's almost here!

2 weeks till Chosen!

It's kind of crazy to think that CHOSEN officially releases in two weeks. Canterwood books have been known to pop up in book stores a week to a week and a half early, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of you start to find it soon.

I am incredibly proud of this book. It's 295 pages of pure sweat, all-nighters, crazy revising and mile-long outlines. Just when Kate and I had thought we'd finished the book, we realized there were LOTS of things we wanted to change. And with a deadline that couldn't be moved, we had to do them fast. Kate stayed up with me for 2 nights in a row, yes, 48 hours of no sleep, to help me edit CHOSEN to make it a true Super Special.

I can't wait for everyone to read it!

Prizes, anyone?

So the time is faaast approaching! Chosen, the first EVER Canterwood Super Special, hits stores on May 3rd. The books usually release early, so I'm guessing it'll be out in about 3ish weeks.

Anyone interested in winning a superawesome secret prize that I'll reveal soon?

Rules are SUPER simple:

The first *THREE* people (US residents only, sorry!) to e-mail me a pic of themselves with their copy of CHOSEN and have parental permission (I need an e-mail from your parent's address giving the okay) will win. I'll only use your first name and age in the blog post if you're a winner along with your photo of you with CHOSEN. Remember, you can't win unless I get parental permission.

So, be on the look out for it and many, MANY more fun giveaways to come around the release of a beyond special book.

Much love.

Chosen trailer

I thought it was time for a new trailer, so . . . here you go! This will *definitely* answer the question that everyone's been asking:

Who's the new girl?



Hope you like it! :)

xo

Compare these...

Compare this above to...

This. I kept meaning to post it! Look. At. The. Gold. Foil. *shiny*

:)

Scroll below to enter my now fixed UNFRIENDLY COMPETITION give away! :)

Next week is gonna be busy!

This weekend, I'm in The Cave. You know, the 24/7 writing cave. As long as my arm holds out, with the help of medication, I'm working my way through CHOSEN. And man, it's FUN. I think, well, hope, it's going to be a great book and the voice is very different as are the horses, boys, characters and drama!

Next week, I've got 2 Skype classroom visits. If you want me to visit your classroom, have your teacher contact me. I'd love to "meet" you! :)

Back to work--got an orange cat and a sick :( BFF next to me. What's everyone else up to?

Thank you, all!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped participate in the super secret project! I'll email the winners this week, so check your inbox by Friday to see if you've won a signed copy of SRL.

And who's counting down with me to the release of it?? I sure am! I can't wait! This was one of the most fun books to write in the entire series and I hope you'll all love it!

Tomorrow's going to be superbusy--I've got a lot of work to do on CHOSEN. Gotta live up to that gorge cover. :)