I wanted to give a shout out to Tammy Robbins at Shriners Hospital for Children in St. Louis. Tammy helped get this story posted on Shriners’ Website. Thank you, Tammy! 🙂
Things are SO busy! I just got off the phone with a newspaper reporter and, for once, I didn’t say anything dumb! 🙂 That’s been my trademark in many interviews, but I made it through this one without a problem. Maybe working with the media really is something that takes practice.
Just a quick note! An announcement went up at Girls Horse Club about my visit. I’m so, so excited! On February 7-14, I’ll be answering questions from horse crazy girls. It’ll be so much fun and I’m honored that I was asked to visit. Terri Farley was a previous guest, so I’m kind of nervous. 🙂
I’m also just starting to organize trip pix and will get them up soon. Likely on Monday or Tuesday. Woo!
I’m in super draft mode at the moment and am doing the I-can-barely-pull-myself-away-from-the-laptop sort of thing. I just broke 30k. Yep. More coffee.
So, a girl goes away to NYC for a few days (details to come) and comes back to lots of link love! 🙂 My poor blog has never felt so abandoned, but that’ll change…
Harmony at Harmony Book Reviews posted a review for Take the Reins! Thank you sooo much, girl! 🙂 Read it here.
Agent Sistah Sarah MacLean interviewed me on her blog. Check it out! Thank you, Sarah! 🙂
Arya on LiveJournal also interviewed me. It was so much fun and thanks for hosting me, Arya.
Simon & Schuster revamped their Website. It’s sooo awesome. Authors have their own portals with special S&S blog entries, exclusive Q&As, my life in eight words, videos and more. One of my fave questions–“Who is your favorite fictional villian?” My answer will probably surprise you. My page is up and you can see it here.
Yesterday, I started mailing my “Hi! I’m a local author!” packets to local elementary and middle schools. Who knew there were so many in my area?! Awesome. So, I included a postcard and letter. (Yes, I blurred stuff.) But all of the letters will go to the school librarians. It’s not a hard sell type of pitch, but rather a way to let them know my book is coming out and that I’m available for talks.
Also, there’s a B-I-G article about Canterwood Crest coming out in March/April (that means it’ll be out in Feb) and I’m keeping it a secret for now (just want to make sure it’s not yanked at the last second for whatever reason), but it’s soooo exciting. I can’t wait!
And, Google-stalking produced a new find! I have an article in the Florida SCBWI Newsletter for fall 2008–“Vlogging: The New “It” Thing.” You can read the article (in PDF form) on page 2. Then, on page 4, there’s member news and a bit about TAKE THE REINS. Yay! The newsletter is even cooler because friends Danette Haworth, Mindy Alyse Weiss and Debbie Reed Fischer all got mentions or wrote articles.
Today, I went here! That’s the Tallahassee Democrat. 🙂
Nice sign, huh?
I did a follow up interview with Kathleen Laufenberg, the writer who interviewed me when I got the book deal. I was excited about going and had so much fun!
Kathleen asked me to read the first chapter of Take the Reins and it will go up on the Democrat’s Website as a podcast. Yay! 🙂 I was such a dork while I was reading, LOL. I had to redo it at least 5 times because I got distracted and/or messed up simple words. But I think the final result turned out okay. I’ll post a link when it goes live!
Thank you, Kathleen, for the interview.
I’m sooo excited to announce that I’m the January Author of the Month (AOM) at Harmony Book Reviews! Yaaay! Thank you, Harmony, for choosing me. I’m honored and super-excited!
Want to read Harmony’s announcement? Check it out here!
P.S. She said, and I quote, “the book is fab.” OMG! 🙂
OMG! GalleyCat picked up my comment about National Novel Writing Month and did a little shout out. Thanks, GC! 🙂
Read it here!
I’ve got an interview up with Amy over at 3 Questions…and Answers. Thank you, Amy!!
Tropical Storm Fay Update:
We’ve had 6 inches of rain, 50 mph wind gusts and my backyard could double as a pond. It’s STILL pouring and if I can get a good pic of the yard, I’ll post it here.
It’s dark and gloomy so I’m reading a grown up book (OMG–something that’s not YA or MG!) and watching Little League.
Jessica Burkhart 
