Category: Take the Reins

Some celebratory shopping

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I got some exciting news yesterday! It led to the purchase of the suuuperfun hoodie and the tank below from the place where, um, most of my paycheck goes–VS’s PINK line.

The news? Take the Reins earned out its advance! Yay! It wouldn’t have happened without *you,* the readers, and my ridiculously talented editor, Kate Angelella.

We decided some celebratory online shopping was in order, so I snagged that doodle zip hoodie and the pretty tank. I love that mix of blue and gray! Plus, I’m always cold, so I can’t get enough hoodies.

Again, I’m so grateful that Take the Reins is doing so well and in it’s . . . 6th (?–I should check that . . .) printing. I’ll be working as I start to feel better on Initiation this weekend and I’m counting down the days until Chosen releases in May. I’ve got a lot of fun giveaways during release week! 🙂

Anyone else a PINK fanatic? What’s your go-to store when you want to celebrate with clothes, accessories–whatever?

Happy book birthday, TAKE THE REINS!

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Wow. It’s crazy to think that two years ago on January 27, TAKE THE REINS was released into the world. I was a total newbie author with a four-book deal and had no idea if I was doing anything right. The only thing I knew for sure: I had a book that I loved and was passionate about.

I have to first thank Molly McGuire for acquiring the series. Then, all thanks, praise and hearts go to Kate Angelella for turning a four book series into twenty books including a super special. It’s rare to find an editor who turns books such as THE ROCK AND THE RIVER into an award winner and a commercial series like Canterwood into a long-running series. I am incredibly grateful to Kate for the countless hours she has put into my books. But she wasn’t just focused on Canterwood or award winners. She stayed at the office till 11 many nights (I was there!) and worked all weekend on her projects. I’m friends with several of her authors (hello, Lauren Barnholdt!) and wish they could have seen her in action.

Now, as TAKE THE REINS is almost 2 years old, book 12 has just released–ending Sasha’s reign as the narrator of Canterwood. It’s an exciting, happy, sad thing all at once!

I cannot wait until May when you will all get to meet our new narrator in the JUMBO sized super special. (Seriously, it’s HUGE.) 🙂

I’m working on #13 INITIATION and Kate and I are preparing to bring you something amazing in between waiting for Canterwood–our new e-book novella series–WELLINGTON PREP. More details to come as we move forward on this new venture.

Thank you all, Team Canterwood, for sticking with me since the first book. I owe you many thanks because you allow me to do the job I love. Thank you. ❤

Here’s the post I wrote in 2009. 🙂

Exciting news!

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Editor K gave me the go ahead to share the news that TAKE THE REINS went into its second printing! Yaaay! I’m super excited about it and thank you to everyone for supporting the book. I so appreciate it.

Also, I have finished copies of BEHIND THE BIT, which comes out May 19. I’ll take pics and will post them soon.

The blog is a little quiet since I’m finishing up edits on BEST ENEMIES. But regular blogging will resume soon. 🙂

Happy Monday!

rambling thoughts on marketing a series

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Megfuzzle on LiveJournal was cool enough to review Take the Reins AND post a pic! That’s Mac, her horse, and he’s reading TTR too. 🙂 Love, love this pic.

Yesterday, I traded my ancient, falling apart Gateway laptop for a pink (!) Sony. OMG. I’m in love with it. Have I mentioned that it’s pink? Uh-huh. 🙂 It’s pink. I’ve been playing with it and transferring all of my stuff from one comp to the next.

After today’s phone interview, I think I’ve tapped all of the local press. I’m kind of glad to take a step back from that now and get back to my REAL job–writing. It had to go on the back burner while I did PR. Then again, going out on interviews broke up my crazy writing schedule and I’ve met a lot of cool people. I do think I got better (well, at least I hope so!) as the interviews went on. I felt less grilled and more as if I was talking to friends by the end.

But things are settling down now and I’m trying to get back on track for book five. I won’t have enough time to really figure out what “worked” PR-wise for TTR that I can shift over to CHASING BLUE, but I hope to be much better at PR when BEHIND THE BIT releases.

I wonder how marketing will be different for CB. It comes out on March 24–just 8 weeks after TTR. So, obviously, I can’t get the same newspapers and magazines to cover me so soon after January. I’m guessing I should start looking for different markets. Maybe let the bigger, statewide magazines know that local mags and newspapers have covered me and use those clips to get their attention. Hmmm. Seems like a phone call to Publicist Nicole will be necessary. 🙂 She will have Answers.

Tomorrow is my last day at Girls Horse Club! We’ve having so much fun over there and I love all of the girls! They’re so smart and funny. If you’re a young writer looking for writing advice, definitely check out the thread.

And thank you to everyone who has emailed me about the YOUNG RIDER article. You guys are the best! You’re so sweet to take time to write me and I’m emailing each of you back, I promise. 🙂 I don’t think it says so in the article, but YOUNG RIDER was one of the first places I queried. Poor Lesley Ward got an awful query from me and she sent a polite rejection back. That was in 2003. And guess what? I still have her rejection letter! 🙂

And, if you haven’t heard by now, Alyson Noel’s EVERMORE is on the NYT Best Seller list and the USA Today Best Seller list. Seriously awesome, Alyson!! 🙂

Tomorrow, Sarah MacLean is here and she’s answering questions about THE SEASON. Sarah’s super awesome, so def check back for that.

Canterwood Crest in Young Rider Magazine

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I finally found the March/April issue of YOUNG RIDER at my local Books-a-Million. See that “true story” bit at the bottom left corner? That’s the article about Canterwood Crest. If you see the issue, check it out. There’s a Canterwood giveaway inside, tons of pics and a fun Q&A. A few girls have already emailed me about the issue–thanks for saying hi! 🙂

Big thanks to Lesley and Allison for running the article!

Yesterday, I met Jennifer from Tallahassee Magazine. We had a great chat at Starbucks and talked about Canterwood, mean girls and more. Thanks for interviewing me, Jennifer!

I’ve got a phone interview with the Lake City Reporter on Thursday. That means I don’t have to get dressed in my fancy interview clothes. Or, maybe I still will…I kind of like the idea of getting out of my usual writer clothes even for a phone thing. 🙂

I just finished the outline for Canterwood Crest #5 and feel that relief of, “Oh, good. I didn’t forget how to outline or come up with ideas.” 🙂 I *always* have that fear when I open a blank Word doc to start an outline. I’m convinced of the following:

1) I’ll have zero ideas.

or

2) My ideas will be super awful.

and

3) Agent A and Editor K will be like, “Um. What is this?”

But I made it through the outline. Whew.

And, finally, big congrats to agent sis Lauren Barnholdt! She posted a bunch of great news yesterday, including a new YA sale. Yay, L!

Thanks, Tallahassee!

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First, thanks to S&S for featuring me on the author page. How awesome! And I love my quote, LOL. Maybe I shouldn’t have told people that I greet animals. 🙂

Yesterday, I meet the awesome Jessi for an interview for the NE Chronicle. That was so much fun. 🙂 Thanks, Jessi!

Then, I drove around and visited Tallahassee’s Borders, Books-a-Million and Barnes & Noble. Borders and BAM were sold out of TTR, but more are on order. B&N had two copies left, which are now signed. In purple. Just in case it matters. 😉

Thanks so much, Tally people! I’ll keep visiting stores and signing stock as they come in. The local support has been amazing–thanks!

Next week, I meet with a writer for Tallahassee Magazine. It’s a gorgeous local publication and I’m super excited to be included in an upcoming issue.

And, perhaps most exciting of all, I turned in Triple Fault (Canterwood Crest #4) to Agent A yesterday. Now I’m staying busy by plotting CC #5 (it has the coolest title!) and am not driving myself crazy with “she’s going to hate it” thoughts. 🙂 Not at all.

I also can’t seem to ignore my new YA WIP. It keeps bugging me and I’m finally like, “Fine! Okay! Okay! I’ll type just a little bit.”

What’s everyone working on?

Yay and thank you Jen!

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Thank you, thank you to Jen (wldhrsjen3 on LJ) for her sweet review of Take the Reins. You rock, Jen! Thank you! 🙂

I was especially nervous to have Miss Jen read my book because she’s a horse fanatic too. But she did ask me to name her new horse, if she gets another, so I think I passed.

Off to:

Meet an extern for my interview
(We’re meeting at Starbucks and I’m going to get hyped on caffeine.) 🙂
Sign stock at Barnes & Noble
and Books-a-Million
and Borders