Editor K's birthday in a month

We'll see if we can keep this a SECRET, but . . . Editor Kate's birthday is in a month--November 10th.

As you guys know, she has been very, very sick since May 2010 (a very long time now) and yet she's continued to edit the Canterwood books from home. How amazing is that? She loves the series so much and we're all incredibly lucky to have her play such a huge role role in Canterwood Crest.

This is where you come in.

By November 7th, I'd love to have thoughts from Team Canterwoood to give as a present from you to Kate.

**You can leave a comment on this post, email me (use something like "Kate's bday" in the subject so I can find it easily), or send me a letter/drawing in the mail.

For snail mail:

Jessica Burkhart
C/O Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

For email:

jess _ burkhart AT hotmail DOT com

Write whatever you'd like--even a "Happy birthday, Editor K!" is *perfect.* I am trying to collect as many birthday wishes/thank yous from Team Canterwood to give K on her birthday. It will mean so, so much to her. I'm asking for your help because I'm usually the one to get the fan mail as the author of CC. But what you don't know is how hard Kate works on the books. The series would NOT exist without her. So many of the ideas in the series would never have played out if she hadn't brainstormed with me. Giving her a little love from the best readers ever would be ahhh-mazing. She is my best friend and I'd love to give her this gift. :)

I heart you all!

xoxo

Popular releases tomorrow!

W-O-W--WOW!

I can't believe the *fourteenth* Canterwood Crest book releases on Tuesday! This was a series that started with one book in mind that I wrote in 2009. Ya'll know the story, but I'm feeling nostalgic. I was 19, a senior in college with a full course load and I heard about National Novel Writing Month. It was late October 2006, and NaNo is November 1-30, so I had no ideas, no outline--nothing. I jumped into it and started writing my first ever novel.

Tidbit: It was a YA novel called "High Jumps at Collins Academy" first. :)

I wrote my butt off and actually crossed the 50,000 word mark on or just before November 30. My draft was UGLY. I mean, it was seriously scary! But editing on my own, later edits with my ex-agent and edits from my first editor, Molly, got the book on track. That one book turned into a four book deal and after Molly left S&S (I got the call on my birthday!) I got the greatest gift: High Jumps, now Canterwood Crest, was under the guidance and editorial input of Kate Angelella.

Everything changed after that. Call it two girls clicking over a story. Or maybe it was the beautiful photos. Or the insane, nonstop marketing. Or the schedule of writing a bi-monthly series for a while. All of those things, and more, came into play into getting my series from one book to 20. Those were all important components, but it was, without a doubt, the edits from Editor K that got us to where we are: over 500,000 copies of the series in print.

I am ever so grateful to Kate and Simon & Schuster for embracing a girl with a desperate need for horses in her life, but being unable to do so unless I could write about them. Canterwood allows me to live vicariously through my characters and I couldn't be more immersed in Horse World. Best part? I got to see Kate pet her first horse. Nice coincidence, huh? :)

I'm busy working on MASQUERADE and Kate had her hands full with projects and will soon be editing my book.

I sincerely want to thank all of Team Canterwood for your support. I would NOT be able to live my dream without you. If you could only know how grateful I am!

Let me know if you spot POPULAR! I'm going to be spending release day in Rochester, MN, so I'll sign copies at Barnes & Noble, take pics and let you know where the books are in case you live nearby.

xoxo

Pics from Barnes & Noble signing :)

Barnes & Noble in Tribecca. So pretty!


I. Have. A. Sign. Several, actually! OMG. And those are CC books next to the table.



Just started speaking. I love having a podium to, um, hide behind. :)

Love the green curtain.

Posing with my bestie/Canterwood partner extraordinaire Kate.


Jill aka "Sasha Silver" signing autographs! She's a rock star.

Jill and a reader girly.

Smiling for the camera with Miss Jill. I totally heart her!

Signing for some awesome girls.


More signing!

Smiling because we're having a great chat.

I look very serious here, LOL.



She came on crutches! Aw!


If you click on this pic, you can REALLY see my purple hair tinsel. :)



Signing it a glittery pink pen.



Still signing . . .

Ah, see the tinsel now! :)

Signing a book for Jill.


Pretty smile. :)

I had so much fun at my B&N signing! We had special guests--Jill aka Sasha and Editor K.

Also, instead of reading from UNFRIENDLY COMPETITION, I read an excerpt from CHOSEN and showed the full front and back of the cover.

I also announced that . . .

I'm incredibly excited to announce that I've signed a new four-book deal to continue Canterwood! We're up to *20* books, guys!!! YAY! And how lucky are we to have Editor K on board. Sooo excited.

I've got video of the event that I'll upload soon so YOU can see me read from CHOSEN.

Hope you like the pics!

xoxo

I think it's prize time!! :D

I think it's time to kick off December's ahhh-mazing giveaway a little early! What do you think??

To start off an awesome line up of prizes, I'm giving away a copy of THE SHAPE SHIFTER'S CURSE, the second book in the Magic Repair Shop series by my friend Amanda Marrone. It's edited by Editor K, so you KNOW it's good. :) I'm excited to start giving fun things to Team Canterwood!

To enter, leave a comment here, on my LiveJournal or in both places. You have until Saturday, December 4 at midnight EST to enter. I only ship to US addresses. All comments have to be screened, so yours won't appear until I read it. You must leave me a way to contact you and you'll get your prize 3-4 week after we get in touch, but likely sooner.

I'm excited to start giving fun things to Team Canterwood!

You'll get an extra entry in the contest, btw, if you blog about it, post a note on your Facebook, Tweet about the contest, etc. Just leave me a link in your comment.

Good luck and enter right now to win this superfun book!

xoxo

PS--I owe signed books to at least 3 people who have been incredibly patient. They are going in the mail this week. I promise! Thank you for understanding!

Happy birthday, Kate!

Happy birthday, Kate!

Thank you sooo much, Team Canterwood, for your birthday emails! I gave Kate her present this morning in a Zac Efron folder (just like how Sasha described Jacob for the first time) and she looooved it. She even took it to work to show all of her co-workers what you'd written. You guys are the best and it's making her birthday more sparkly with each letter she reads.

And since we're on the topic of her awesome books, I'm reading K's copy of Kekla Magoon's CAMO GIRL next (out Jan '11) and from everything she's told me, it's going to be fantastic. It even got a mention in Publishers Weekly!

Super Secret Project Update :) Prize!

Sooo many of you have been superkind and generous and have sent birthday e-mails (and a few other notes) to me to give to the fab Editor K on her birthday.

And . . .

I decided to give something back.

If you've already sent me a birthday note

OR

You send me one via e-mail (jess_burkhart AT hotmail DOT com (this is the easiest for me to print :))

then you're entered into a random drawing to win one of two *signed* copies of SCANDALS, RUMORS, LIES, when I get them. Yaaay!

Deadline: November 7th

Thank you, Team Canterwood, it has meant so much to read all of your birthday notes and I can't wait to pass them on. :D

Shhh . . . secret and I need Team Canterwood's help!

Okay, so . . .

Editor K's birthday is November 10th. As you know, she's the one who made Canterwood possible. She has worked on every book to make it as fun, fast, and horsey as can be and she's the reason why there are going to be 16 books.

I want her birthday to be a big deal.

So, guys, I'm asking for a favor--a really, really important one.

If you could, whenever you like, e-mail me (long, short, whatever you like!) a happy birthday note to Kate, I'll save them all, print them and give them to her on her birthday.

If you don't want to send an email, then maybe you could Tweet at her--she's @EditorK on Twitter on 11/10.

This would mean SO much to me and I really want to give something back to the amazing person who has done so much for our favorite books. We owe her a ton of thanks and I want this to be a supersparkly birthday.

And guess what else? You can also send cards to:

Kate Angelella

c/0 Simon & Schuster

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

Thank you all. Much love! <3

Second summer reading rec: NANCY DREW: SECRET SABOTAGE

It's time for the second summer recommended read!

You HAVE to read NANCY DREW: SECRET SABOTAGE by Carolyn Keene. The book was written by the very famous Editor K, so you *know* it's good!

It's the first in a brand new three book arc and it's super, super exciting to have a book written by the BFF on shelves now. Since you've been sending me books to sign, if you'd like to send this book for Editor K to autograph, send your book the way you've been sending Canterwood books. Directions are here:

Snail mail:

Jessica Burkhart
C/O Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

*Include a SASE if you want a reply! :)

Want me or Editor K to sign your book?

Carefully follow these instructions:

* Put the book and an envelope (unsealed! And do make sure this envelope is big enough to hold the book) with six stamps on it into another envelope with seven stamps on it.

* Address the envelope with seven stamps to me at the snail mail address above.

* Make sure you write your return address at the top of this envelope (the one with seven stamps), otherwise I won't know where to mail back your book.

* Write "media mail" on the envelope w/seven stamps, just to make sure it gets to me.

* If you like, include a note about who you'd like the book signed for.

That's it! :)

If you have multiple books that you'd like me to sign, just follow the same directions for each book.

Summer vlogs--yay!

Hi, Team Canterwood!

I hope everyone's out of school by now (yaaay, summer!) or at least very close to getting out.

Summer seems like the perfect time to share things that I love, so I'm going to be doing a series of fun summer vlogs!

I'll be doing vlogs with summer book recommendations of my fave reads, a view of my sparkly lipgloss collection and lots of *very* fun things. Plus, as a superawesome bonus BFF/Editor K will be filming some of these so I'm able to move the camera better and be more active in the vlogs. Yay!

Happy summer! :D

PS--The Canterwood Website will be getting a MAJOR makeover this summer and I'll be sure to post when the changes are up.

Prize giveaway! THE MULTIPLYING MENACE

I'm lucky to read a lot of ARCS (advanced reader copies) from Simon & Schuster. One of my new faves is the first in a series by Amanda Marrone and edited by Editor K. It's called THE MAGIC REPAIR SHOP: THE MULTIPLYING MENACE.

I read it and loooved it. So, I think you guys might, too! It doesn't come out until August 24, so yay for an early copy!

Since we had serious problems with comments last time, I'll have to screen them all. So your comment will *not* be posted until I've reviewed it and then I'll let it go through. Just comment once, like usual, and when I can, I'll read it and post it. If you'd like to be entered to win an early copy of the book, just leave a comment. :)

It's a really, really fun book and I love it!

You have until Monday, May 10th at midnight to enter. I'll post the winner that week and you'll have your book soon after. :) Be sure to check back to see if you've won so I can give you info about how to contact me. If I don't hear from you, I can't mail your prize! (US addresses only)

PS: If you sent me a book to sign, it WILL be coming to you. I've been out of town a lot and am just getting back to reader mail.

Congratulations, Kate!

(Note: this is NOT a real gun--it's a stunt gun used for a Nancy Drew cover shoot. Also, please note her signature Diet Coke in the background...)

This lovely editor, aka Kate Angelella, was promoted to Associate Editor at Simon & Schuster's Aladdin. In addition to being my editor, Kate also edits the sparkly Lauren Barnholdt and the amazing Kekla Magoon among other awesome authors. I'm superproud and thrilled that Kate was promoted. She's an amazing editor AND writer who has both a commercial and literary eye. That's hard to find--no doubt.

Congratulations, Kate! We're all so, so proud! :)

Oklahoma City conference update

It's day three (well, two and a half) in Oklahoma City. Kate's taking pitches so I hijacked her Mac (this is saying something cuz I'm a PC girl and it usually takes prodding to get me to use her computer.) But! We did our editor/author panel yesterday and I think it went well. :) I had a speech early this morning and Kate's is this afternoon. Don't know yet what the rest of our schedule is, but we've barely seen the inside of our very nice room. (Thanks, Embassy Suites!)

Our flight leaves...hmmm...don't know when tomorrow and I've got to run down to the biz center and print our boarding passes. I love that I got pulled aside at LaGuardia (I was scaaared!) and had my suitcase searched. The item that set off the detectors? A book in my suitcase. Yes, really. TSA...*shakes head*

But we've met a lot of lovely people and it's been sooo warm and nice here. Everyone's superfriendly and the conference has been a blast.

Tallahassee Writers Conference pics part 2

Finally getting around to sharing pics from the Tallahassee Writers Conference. It was a great event and I had a lot of fun going with Editor K and showing her the Florida State University campus. (Go, Noles!)

I think I'm giving the audience the tip of when writing for tweens, "Don't use outdated slang aka 'get up in my grill foshizzle'". :)


More of my PowerPoint about writing for tweens.

And finally, I'm holding onto that clicker. I kind of loved it and want one. Thanks Editor K for snapping the shots! I'm still booking conferences for 2010 and 2011, so if interested, shoot me an e-mail at jess_burkhart [at] hotmail [dot] com.

Happy release day, HOME SWEET DRAMA!

I can't believe it's time for book #8 in the Canterwood Crest series! Ahhh!! We're at the halfway point now of sixteen books and it's. . . well, hard to articulate how I feel. Excited. Humbled. Scared. (And scared because I don't want to disappoint my reader girlies with any book.) Thrilled. Etc.

After eight books, I'm in love with my characters as ever and their horses. The adventures at Canterwood are continuing and I love being along for the ride.

Shout outs and sparkles to the Simon & Schuster team, our photographer, amazing models and the readers who allow me to live my dream to write. Special xoxo to Editor Kate for working her magic and putting her talent into this book.

Yaaaay, HSD! :D

So, since it's a special day, I'm opening comments! I want you to tell me what YOUR sparkle is! :) Mine, of course, is lip gloss and hanging out with my BFF.

Leave a comment here or Tweet at me or Editor K. We can't wait to hear about your sparkle!

PS: Comments have gotten sticky in the past, so please keep them clean. If there's any drama, I'll have to close them and that would be sad. :( So post away on what makes you happy and yaaay HOME SWEET DRAMA!

Big, big, big annoucement!

The past few days have been busy with sad personal issues related to a friend, but I think it's time for a *little* good news on a Saturday.

I'm shocked, thrilled, beyond excited and SOOOOO happy to announce that Editor K and the team at S&S have decided they'd like FOUR MORE CANTERWOOD BOOKS! So, 13-16, here we come! The official deal will go up on Pub Lunch soon, but I couldn't hold it in any longer and got the okay to share.

I'm incredibly grateful that not only do I get to keep writing these books that I love, but more so that I'm able to work with Kate. We're already brainstorming concepts and I'm just freaking out with excitement about these!

I've got to say thank you so much to Bethany, Mara, Fiona, Liesa and Jon for backing the books and being excited. Team S&S!

Cheers to four more books! :)

Writing like whoa

I got two new freelance assignments last week that are due in March. Both are on SUCH different topics--one is very serious--huffing and inhalants. The other is about horseback riding! That article will discuss options about how to ride if you don't own a horse and what you can do to get lessons for a reduced cost or even for free.

It'll be fun to switch to non-fiction for those pieces. I don't actively query anymore--I just don't have time. I love it when editors send me ideas for pieces they need done. So, I'll be working on that later in the month.

But first--back to book writing!

Hope everyone had a fab weekend!

And, if you haven't already, go congratulate Editor K on signing with an awesome agent. She's a talented writer who doesn't even realize her own potential and I can't wait to see her writing career bloom.

Another Canterwood Crest photo shoot pic

I wanted to share my fave pic from the Canterwood shoot on Wednesday. I'm posing with this lovely bay horse and the famous Editor Kate. Now if you see her on the street and you want an early copy of Canterwood--chase her down. She'll love it. ;)

So. Glad. It's. Friday. But it's gonna be a working weekend. Like, crazy-working. But I'm just happy to be home and not on a plane or at an airport. I'm trying to respond to reader email (I've, um, got 15 pages of new messages to go through), but I'm working on it. You guys have been sooo patient and I really appreciate it! :) Also, if you sent me a book to sign, I mailed back a couple of them yesterday as well as responded to a couple of snail mail letters, so be on the look out for those. :) Special shout out to an awesome reader who sent me tiny plastic horses in the mail. <3 them!! Thank you!

What's everyone else doing this weekend?