Jillian Cantor

A Year Later

2012-01-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

This morning, I went to the grocery store. It was a simple thing to do, something I have done countless other mornings. Something I did last year, this same day. January 8^th. Last year I left the house to go to the grocery store; only, first I was stopping to meet a new friend for coffee. You know what happened next; I wrote about it here, last year. My new friend and I shared a coffee across the parking lot from the shooting. I stared out the window at the first responders as they pulled up, having no idea what had happened, at first.

After my friend and I parted ways that morning, I stopped at the grocery store, just the way I’d planned (not THE Safeway, mind you, but another store, a block away). It was such a simple thing to do, a silly thing almost. I probably should’ve gone straight home. But instead I found myself walking around the store aimlessly, piling things in my cart without really paying attention to what they were or what I needed. I paid; I drove home. I put the groceries away. My hands were shaking. I was numb. The next morning, I could not find half the things I bought at the store, things that were recorded on my receipt as paid for. I checked the car, called the store. Nothing. Half the groceries were gone. In hindsight, I suspect I might have accidentally thrown them away in my stupor rather than putting them away. Because two or three bags of groceries, couldn’t just disappear.

I thought about it this morning. It has been a year, I told myself. And that is the detail I recalled first: the missing groceries. Already, my memory of that morning has become fragmented and hazy, fogged over with shock, I guess. Then I recalled driving back to the store the next day to re-buy the things I’d lost. They were easy to reclaim; they were only things after all. Food. But other things were not so easy for me. Walking back into that grocery store again, the next day, I was suddenly afraid. Anything could happen. Any time. Any place. I felt exposed. I felt that way for weeks, possibly months, this horrible sinking feeling every time I had to leave my house to go out into the world. Worse, I’d imagine how the people closer than I had been were feeling, and I couldn’t comprehend it. I still can’t.

I didn’t write for a while last winter. It’s not that I didn’t want to, but that at first, I couldn’t. I had no words; no stories to tell that seemed worth telling. I read a lot of news, especially about the shooting and the victims, how they were doing, how they were moving on. I stared at a blank Microsoft Word document for weeks. I have always been good at writing my emotions, and so I kept pushing myself just to write something, just to make myself write through it somehow. I knew it would help me. But for a little while, I couldn’t write anything.

Last spring my words came back. Slowly, I forced myself to begin a new novel. At first, I thought I would write a novel about a shooting – because it was what I was thinking about, what I was feeling. I would do what I was good at, writing my emotions. But a few chapters in, I couldn’t do it. Maybe it was too soon. Maybe it will always be too soon?

Then I started something else. Something I’ve been wanting to write for a long time but wasn’t sure how, and then suddenly, I was. I was sure of nothing else but this. I was breathing again. I was writing again. The words were all there, and so were the emotions. -- my new character was experiencing so much of what I had, loss and grief, and also, hope.

After I began writing again, I fell into the story. I slept it, ate it dreamt, obsessed over it, and then, the fear slowly began to subside. Going to the grocery store became just going to the grocery store again.

This morning, I went to the grocery store. I wasn’t afraid anymore. But I was filled with an overwhelming sense of sadness. It has been a year. It feels like a lifetime, or maybe, only hours. My memory is already fragmented, but that doesn't mean I will ever forget.

Honored

2011-11-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I attended the Arizona Library Association's (AZLA) annual conference to accept The Judy Goddard/Libraries Ltd. Award for The Life of Glass! It was such a huge honor that they chose my book this year, and the award is quite possibly the most gorgeous award I've ever seen.

Here I am accepting the award, and giving my acceptance speech!

And here I am doing a panel with the other state award winners, Amanda Noll, Jody Feldman, Me, and Jennifer Ward. That's Mary our excellent moderator on the end :)

Here we are signing books after our panel!

And here is a picture of my AMAZING LOOKING award!!

I'm so grateful to all the amazing librarians in Arizona (and everywhere!) who always support my books. It was a great day, and I felt like a rockstar! I have my award sitting on my desk, where I definitely think it will bring me good luck!!

Penn State

2011-11-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

I have spent the past week thinking a lot about college. I keep thinking I should write something here -- and people who know I went to Penn State have been asking me and emailing me about the events unfolding and wanting to know what I think. But to tell you the truth, I haven't felt I've had the words to say anything meaningful enough. Like so many people, and I guess, PSU alumni especially, I have been glued to all the press coverage. Horrified. Outraged. Shocked. Sickened. My husband (also a PSU alum.) and I have been discussing every new detail, dissecting all of it. Trying to make some sense of any of it. Of course, we can't. How could so many adults stand by and do nothing while children were being harmed in this way, and at our college, while we were going to school there? In many ways, to both of us, I think it's all felt surreal.

I guess it's because us Penn Staters, we feel our college years were something special. We are bonded together by this knowledge of four years spent in the idyllic Happy Valley of central Pennsylvania. I am always surprised, even now living all the way across the country, how often I run into Penn State grads, and how connected I feel to them. Nearly every time I wear my Penn State sweatshirt I find a connection. More than once, a stranger has called out the infamous "We are. . . " from across the street. Not that I don't do the same -- if I spot a Nittany Lion, I'll start talking to a stranger, too. A fellow PSU grad is not a stranger, after all. When I was in graduate school, I had a professor who always confused my undergrad school and thought I'd attended Penn, not Penn State. Sure maybe Penn is ivy league, but so what? I always corrected him. We PSU grads, we are a proud bunch.

And it's not just football. For me, it's not about football at all. Sure, I went to some games when I was there, and that was fun. And yes, when we saw Joe Paterno walking through the dining commons, we'd stop talking and stare, as if we'd spotted a celebrity in our midst. But these are not the things I think or remember when I think about my time at Penn State. I think about the people: my friends and my teachers. And the place: the snow and the brick buildings, the walk-able town. I long for that place sometimes now, the feeling that somewhere an idyllic small town, where people are nice and wholesome, that that still exists. I think about taking my kids to see it, when they're older. I think about what it was like to live there for some of the most formative years of my life. And I think for me, that is what has been taken away this past week. That all the beauty and the wholesomeness, that the entire idyllic backdrop of my college years, that it was a lie. And the worst kind of lie, at that. Because Happy Valley was not a safe and idyllic place after all, was it?

But, there are still the people. And I'm not talking about Paterno or Spanier or any of the rest of them, because these are not the people I think of when I think of Penn State. I think about the friends I made. I think about the graduate students and professors who taught me a lot, and not just about English, writing, sociology, theater, and yes, even astronomy. But about life. I learned to be a reader and a thinker and a dreamer. I made friends who did the same. And when I see another PSU alum, a stranger, these are the kinds of connections I feel I share with them.

One of the first nice things I've read about Penn State this past week led me to this website where Penn State alums are banding together to raise money for abuse victims. Their goal is to raise $500,000 and already, they are more than halfway there. My guess is, they will exceed their goal. That is the kind of Penn State I remember, anyway. I am happy to see that it wasn't all a lie.

In Tragedy, a Writing Lesson

2011-09-12T13:37:00.001-07:00

Ten years ago, when 9/11 happened, I was in graduate school. Yesterday, I was trying to remember that time, that week, and very little of it comes back to me. I know I was sad and terrified and numb, even though I was living across the country from the terror attacks and didn’t personally know anyone who’d been affected. I remember a sense of shock, the feeling that nothing would ever be the same, but I can only remember this in the vaguest sense. Was school cancelled? I was teaching, but what did I say to my students? I have no idea.

There is one odd thing I remember vividly, though. Maybe it was the day the attacks happened or the day after or later that week, but I was sitting in a fiction workshop class. It must’ve been the first one we had in this new world, because the professor, an older and slightly frightening man who I felt would never understand me or my writing (and mostly, I was right about that part), sat in front of the class and began by saying this: So let’s talk about what happened.

It seemed obvious what he was going to talk about, what everyone was talking about then. But then he said something else: “My dog died,” he confessed, “and I can’t get over it.” He went on to talk about how his dog, who’d been with him for years, had passed away over the weekend or maybe on 9/11 – that much I can’t remember now. “I know I should be sadder about 9/11 than about my dog,” he said. “So many people died. But I didn’t know any of them.” Then he added. “My dog was with me for so many years. My house is so empty without her.”

Maybe because it was a fiction writing workshop, and because he felt he was dedicated to teaching us, even when none of us were in the mood for learning, he added that there was a writing lesson in this. “It’s the smallest tragedies that are the ones worth writing about,” he told us.

At the time, it sounded all wrong to me. I couldn’t comprehend what he was saying, or why he was saying it then. I am an animal lover, but still, it felt like the wrong conversation to be having at the time. There were so many other things to say, to think about, to worry about, to mourn.

Yet, something about it has stuck with me all these years later. When I think about the days and weeks surrounding 9/11, this is one of the only things I remember with clarity. In fact, this is one of the only things I remember from two years worth of intense and soul-crushing writing workshops with clarity. Why?

The new book I’ve been working on takes place against the backdrop of an enormous historical tragedy, yet the story I am choosing to tell is a deeply singular and personal story of one woman’s loss. I’m finding the best part of writing it is in the details of this one particular woman and the people closest to her who she has lost and loved.

And I keep thinking about this one professor telling my class about how his dog died on 9/11, how it’s the smallest of tragedies that are worth writing about.

Is he right?

Starting Fresh

2011-08-21T20:01:00.001-07:00

While it's still summer for most of you, in Arizona school has been in session for a few weeks now. It's been exhausting/hectic getting back into the swing of waking up insanely early and walking back and forth to school in the lovely Arizona August heat (oh, and a few crazy monsoon storms that decided to dump tons of rain, wind, and hail on us just as soon as I walked out of my house to go to school pick-up. Did I mention, we WALK to school here?!)

Anyway, something happened this year, that hasn't happened to me in, well, it's been so many years I honestly can't remember. My youngest child started preschool, and so for the first time, both of my kids are in school for some portion of the day most days of the week. In short: I get about three hours to myself. All to myself. Here's that thing I haven't experienced in years: quiet.

My writing career didn't really "officially" start until after I had kids (i.e. I didn't actually get a book contract with a publisher until just after kidlet two was born.) So that means my books were written in the in-between spaces. In between taking care of the kids, teaching a few classes, and just life in general. The majority of my words came during daily afternoon naptimes, at night after the kids went to bed or early mornings on the weekends. I never had a nanny or someone to watch my kids during the day, and I enjoyed the fact that writing allowed me to spend lots of time with them. But also, I learned to write quickly, to economize my time and my words, because really, I had no other choice.

Then, a few weeks ago. I walked back into my house after dropping both kids at school. Quiet. Three empty hours in the morning where I could write. In Quiet.

I sat down at the kitchen table with my laptop and a cup of coffee and opened up my current WIP. (Notice, I did not even consider that I should empty my dishwasher or clean up from breakfast. No, I just shoved the mess aside, and plunked the laptop down on the table!). Anyway, about the WIP, I'd been wavering on it for most of the summer: should I finish it or shouldn't I? Was it too small? Did it need something else? Did it have too much? After about an hour of that aforementioned quiet, I suddenly knew exactly what I needed to do with the book and where to take it. I also knew, that maybe I shouldn't do it right now, that maybe I should let it simmer in the back of my brain for a bit. There was something else I'd been thinking about writing for a while, but I didn't know much about it. The thought of writing it honestly had always felt exhausting, because I knew there would be a lot of research involved. But then, there I was again. It was quiet. And that previously insurmountable research felt like it might even be fun.

So all of us here in my household are starting fresh: my kidlets at school, my husband (a teacher) back at work. And me, with a new project ahead of me. I've been so excited about it these last few weeks, I can barely contain myself. In fact I have not been THIS excited about a project in some time. Maybe it's the quiet, the space to think, the space I now have to do something I might have once considered too much. But in any case, here's to quiet and fresh starts! How's your August shaping up?

In Which I Write Something: Part II

2011-07-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

A few months back, just after the shooting in Tucson, I wrote this blog post, about being there in the shopping center. About how I felt the need to write something, but words were inadequate. That I didn’t know how to write something, or, at the time, anything.

But then a strange thing happened. Just after all this, in the spring, I wrapped up a revision for a book I’d been working on for a long, long time. I suddenly found myself projectless, which is a place I hate to be. I feel uncomfortable in this space, with nothing to work on, nothing specific to write. And I started to mull over what my next book would or should be.

I had a lot of ideas. (I always have a lot of ideas!) I played around with some opening chapters, did a little research on random things. I went on vacation with my family. I read The Hunger Games trilogy. In between all this, I did normal mom things, took the kids to swimming and ran errands, and in doing so, I kept driving by the Safeway. Yes, that Safeway. I drive by it a lot actually. A few times a week, I find myself in that part of town for one reason or another. And every time I drive by, I think about what happened. I can’t drive by without thinking about it, really. Every so often, I’ll turn and say to my husband, if he’s there: “I can’t believe what happened there.” Every time the disbelief feels fresh; all those old feelings from January come pouring back.

Then, some time in the beginning of June, I drove by. I was stopped at the light at the intersection, and I looked over. The shopping center was very crowded. It seemed not at all the way it did that morning. People were just there, doing normal things, living life. Life had somehow moved on. I need to write about this, I thought.

I quickly pushed the thought away. You couldn’t even write a blog post, I reminded myself. How are you going to write a novel?

But the characters came to me right away. I held them in my head for a few days, not wanting to let them out or talk about them or even admit to myself that they existed, but I couldn’t stop thinking about them and their stories. So I slowly started to write them down. They are fictional characters, but in a lot of ways their stories are my own and my city’s and maybe anyone else’s who followed the events that day.

I’ll just write the first chapter, I told myself. Just to see. Then I thought, I’ll just try adding in one more point of view. And then, maybe, this other one. I’ve told a few people about the novel and its origins, but I keep qualifying it with, I’m not sure if I’m even going to write it. Or, if I should write it. But then every morning I find myself sitting down at the computer, and more of the story comes out. And suddenly nearly fifty pages seem to have appeared, almost magically, in this document I keep minimized on my laptop called “untitledsomething.” (catchy, yes?)

Sometimes books are gifts. They come as they are, and you can’t ask questions. This doesn’t happen very often – at least not to me. Okay, it has only ever happened to me once. But that’s what this is beginning to feel like to me now. It is scary and sad and in a way, empowering, for me to sit down every morning and tell this story. But now it has become a story I have to tell. So maybe the least I will do is finally admit it to myself: this is the book I’m writing next.

Where Am I?

2011-07-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

Last week, we were away visiting family in Pennsylvania, and my husband and I got to sneak away for the night to celebrate our anniversary a little early. After much debate on where to go, we decided on an inn in New Jersey, not too far from where we grew up.

As we walked around the surrounding town and reveled in our (very rare) alone time, I couldn't help but notice a sign. It was an insignificant sign really, just a street sign, that said the name of the township we were in, "West --" I pointed it out to my husband, who had no idea why I was pointing it out to him.

"You know what's in 'East --!" I told him. He still had no idea, and then I told him, it was where a portion of the book I'd just finished writing had taken place. A real, historical portion, and it hit me, standing there, that we must not be too far away.

And thus began the portion of our romantic getaway where I dragged my husband through the backwoods of New Jersey, in search of this place I'd written about, lived, and breathed for nearly the last year and a half of my life, and had thus far witnessed only through old pictures and Google Earth. It didn't seem to matter that the book was already written, revised, and that I'd already begun to think about writing something entirely new. I had to see it! Luckily, my husband had heard enough about the book and the research and had read enough drafts, that he wanted to see it too. Or at least, he knew enough to pretend for my sake.

Only about 20 minutes from the inn, we ended up on the smallest most wooded road I've ever seen, complete with a one lane bridge, six or seven deer wandering right into the road to eat off the trees, and a path so windy, I couldn't imagine it had changed all that much in the past 80 or so years since the time I'd been writing about. "These are the woods I wrote about," I told him. "And they look just like I described them!" My husband pointed out that they looked like. . . woods. But that didn't lessen my excitement at seeing them.

Then we arrived at the specific location. These days it's owned by the state of New Jersey, and there was a large sign in front telling us if we went any further we'd be trespassing and violating laws. So I took a picture of what we could see from the road. It's small and a little hard to decipher, but I felt satisfied in having been there, in that exact same place where my characters end up in the past and the present portions of my book.

Can you figure out where we are? If you can, send me an e-mail with your guess (jill(at)jilliancantor.com), and if you're right, I'll send you a signed copy of one of my first three books (your choice which one!)

Goodbye, Hair

2011-04-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I read about Pantene Beautiful Lengths, a program where you send Pantene at least eight inches of your hair and they use it to make wigs to donate to women with cancer. I wanted to do it. Sometimes, in my life as a writer, I feel very solitary and selfish, always worried about my words and my books. I spend my days thinking about things like self-promotion and selling my next book. It’s very, me, me, me. Don’t get me wrong – I love writing. But I also think it’s important to remember that there are bigger things out there. So I made a promise to myself, I guess a New Year’s Resolution of sorts, that I was going to try, this year, to focus on a few things outside of myself, a few things that would help other people.

At first, my hair wasn’t long enough. So I decided I would let it grow. Then, my hair was long enough, and I was scared to cut it all off. So I waited. And I waited. And my split ends were starting to take on a life of their own, since, by this point, it had been months and months since I had any sort of hair cut. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to call and make an appointment to get my hair cut because then I felt like I’d be going back on a promise. A promise I’d made to myself, but still. Every morning, I found myself looking at my hair, thinking that it really, really needed to be cut. But I didn't do anything about it.

Last night, I blew my hair out straight and measured it again. And yes, it was more than long enough. I bundled it in a ponytail at the nape of my neck and asked my husband to cut the ponytail off. Just cut straight, I told him. He insisted that he could not cut straight, that he was afraid of messing it up. Just do it. I told him, handing him the scissors. Just cut straight.

He was right. He could not cut straight. A few minutes later, he handed me the most crooked lopped off ponytail ever. I imagine the people at Pantene may even start laughing when they see it, trying to imagine what I look like on the other end.

One side of my hair was about two inches shorter than the other. I told you I couldn’t do it, my husband was insisting. Yes, in his defense, he had. You should’ve let me cut it, my kindergartner said. Yes, I should have. Next time, I told him.

So I took the scissors and straightened it out the best I could. My hair is curly anyway, so it’s fine. It’s just that now, it’s really really short, just below my ears.

After this whole debacle we went out last night to a concert. I kept wondering if people were staring at my slightly crooked hair, or if people who knew me where silently critiquing my way-too-short cut. I woke up this morning, searching through my drawers for cute barrettes, and when I couldn’t find any, made a promise to myself that this will be my first errand of the day. Maybe with a headband it wouldn’t be so bad, I tried to convince myself.

I packaged up my ponytail and addressed the envelope. I thought about the woman who will get this crooked ponytail, eventually. (The Pantene site says it takes six of them to make a wig, so that will mean five other people like me will also need to do this to help one woman.) I thought about her, and how maybe all her hair has fallen out from cancer treatment. How her problems cannot be solved by cute barrettes or headbands. How she has much bigger things to worry about than crooked ends.

I showed my kids the ponytail and told them I was going to send it to help someone who was sick get a wig. Cool, my kindergartener said. Then he added, Mom, you look so beautiful with your new hair.

So it’s almost summer and my hair is really short. So what?

I will grow it back, and then I’ll do this again, I promise myself.

Only next time, I will ask someone else to cut!

For All the Teachers Who Told Me I Can

2011-04-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

My kindergartener spent the majority of our ten-minute walk to school this morning excited about the fact that today was a Thursday, which meant today he had library class. Which meant he would get to go to the library and check out a book. Even in the early hours of the morning, he was debating which book he might choose (Flat Stanley or Geronimo Stilton or maybe something else entirely – He marveled at the possibilities.) And suddenly, there I was, reminded what it felt like to be that age, to have just learned to read entire books by oneself, and to discover the possibilities that are contained inside a library. I wondered for a brief moment, would he grow up to be like me? Would he want to be a writer? Then I had another thought: by the time he’s old enough, will that even be possible, or will schools have been decimated to the point where writing, maybe even the arts in general, cease to exist?

What brought this on for me was the news that Penn State (my undergraduate alma mater) is cutting its top-ranked MFA program. This particularly hit home for me because this feels like my school. Though I didn’t get my MFA here, my undergraduate degree was in English, with a creative writing emphasis, so I worked with the MFA faculty, and Penn State was the place where I first realized I could and would become a writer.

When you’re a writer, or I imagine in any artistic field, there will always be what feels like a million people telling you you can’t. Rejection becomes a way of life. Few and far between will be those people who tell you, you can. And most of those people in my life were teachers. There was the humanities teacher in fourth grade who assigned me to write stories every week and then told me mine were good. The ninth grade English teacher who pushed me to think harder about what stories meant. The twelfth grade English teacher who made me memorize Hamlet and (even--gasp) like Chaucer. At Penn State, there was the MFA student who taught the first real fiction writing class I ever took. He was brutally honest, to everyone, and so when he told me my stories showed promise, I took that to mean that I should keep writing. Then there was the professor who I’d go on to take several fiction writing workshops with and who would become my advisor for my undergraduate thesis (a short collection of stories). She was (and is, I’m sure) wise and kind and encouraging. She called me into her office and said things like “Jill, let’s talk about your work,” as if the stories I was writing were something worth talking about, as if my work was important. She tirelessly read my revisions, answered my questions and e-mails, and even said she was happy to write me recommendations for the 15 (yes, 15) MFA programs I applied for.

In writing this, maybe I’m making it sound like everything was easy, that people were always encouraging to me. But the truth is, I’m leaving out the vast majority, the people who told me can’t. The friends and family who told me that writing wasn’t a real/viable career. The 11^th grade English teacher who told me I couldn’t write. The non-fiction professor who once told me my writing was “boring,”(and for that matter, so was my life.). The twelve MFA programs that said, no thanks. The countless agents and then editors who would go on to sometimes nicely (sometimes not so nicely) reject my work.

But amidst all of that, I’ve somehow always able to drown out the no’s with the words of the teachers who told me I could do it. In the five years between when I wrote my first novel and sold it, the one thing that often kept me pushing forward, despite the countless rejections, were the words of a professor I worked with in graduate school, who once told me she was positive my novel would be published. She believed, and thus, I had to, too.

I sometimes wonder where I would be without all those teachers who told me I can. What I would be doing now if that 4^th grade teacher hadn’t asked me to write a story, if that MFA student hadn’t told me I showed promise, if that professor hadn’t called me into her office and talked about my writing as if it were important?

I feel a deep sadness at the thought of this being eradicated from Penn State, from the place I feel so deeply indebted to for my writing career. But even sadder, to me, is that this only caught my attention because it hits so close to home. Penn State is right now just one unfortunate example, in a sea of them lately. It feels like the new trend is to cut, cut, cut education, the arts especially. I’ve heard so much of it, that I’ve almost started to drown it out. It has become shockingly “normal.”

And so I wonder, if you start taking away those teachers who tell people like me that we can, what will we be left with in ten years? In twenty? Will there be anyone left “crazy” enough to write, or for that matter, play music, paint, take pictures, make movies? When my son is one day taking his own child to school, will he even know what a library is? I hope so.

Dreams

2011-03-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

If you’ve read The Transformation of Things, then you’ve probably guessed that I’ve always been interested in dreams, in what they mean, where they come from, how they affect us. Yes, the book takes a bit of a fantasy spin on all this, but it’s rooted in the fact that dreams have always interested me. As a kid, I had a dream dictionary that I used to use religiously, every morning, looking up what my dreams from the night before meant. As an adult, I hang on to dreams, sometimes write them down, often think about them, analyze them, try to seek some sort of meaning from them.

In almost all my memorable dreams, I’m in the house I grew up in. We moved from this house before I started high school, but I hardly ever dream about that later house, or even the one I live in now, or anything in between. Often my dreams also involve my best friend (who I’ve been friends with since kindergarten), and maybe it’s because I have so many memories of the two of us spending summer days in that old house. I’m not sure. But a large part of my dreams are very rooted in these aspects from my childhood, even when that makes absolutely no sense with what’s going on in the dream.

Lately I’ve been dreaming about my dead grandfather. A lot. He died over three years ago, but the dreams have only begun lately, a month or two ago. In the first dream, he was with me and my best friend at a historical landmark pulled directly from the book I’m working on. (Okay, it probably doesn’t take a genius to figure out how that wormed its way into my subconscious!) Anyway, he was our tour guide in the dream, and he showed my friend and me around, in the process telling us that everything was going to be okay and that we needed to stop worrying so much. I hung onto that dream for weeks, because it felt so real – not the tour guide at the historical landmark part, but his words. When he was alive, he’d always ask me about my writing, and at the time, the submission process for my first book. I talked to him every Sunday, and every Sunday he’d ask. At first about getting an agent, then whether the book had sold to a publisher. Every Sunday for probably two or three years, I’d say something like, “I don’t know if this book is ever going to get published.” And he’d say. “Don’t worry about it. Everything is going to be beautiful, Babydoll!” That’s also what he told me, in the midst of his tour, in my dream.

This past week, I've dreamt about him almost every night. Wherever I am, whomever I’m with, he’s been there. Sometimes tagging along with my family; sometimes he works at whatever place we’re at and appears later. It’s been bizarre and creepy and lovely -- waking up every morning, feeling as if I’ve just seen him and talked with him.

I mentioned these dreams to my mom the other day, and she said maybe the dreams mean he’s somewhere, watching over me right now. I laughed and said, if he was somewhere, watching anything this past week, I was sure it would’ve be the March Madness Tournament instead, which he used to LOVE beyond almost anything else.

The rational side of me could list off various reasons why he’s tumbled into my subconscious lately, and thus, why he's probably been so present in my dreams. But then there's this other part of me, the part that believes that every dream must mean something. That part wonders, if maybe my mom's (joking) words are right, and maybe he's been sneaking in to check on me, even if just for a few minutes, during half-time!

How I Found Kindness Again

2011-02-24T12:47:00.000-08:00

I read something a few days after the shooting in Tucson. It was an article talking about how to explain the events to children. The psychologist who was being interviewed suggested that parents emphasize that though there are bad people in the world, there are good people, too. More good people, in fact. And because it seemed like a good thing to say, I told this to my children. Did I believe it myself? Sort of. Not really. Maybe?

Then a few weeks after the shooting, I was in a Safeway (not the Safeway) but one only a few miles from there, and I was with my son. We were buying only a few things, but very obviously for a birthday party, and the elderly man in front of me in line started asking me and my son questions. When was his birthday? How old was he? My son, well-versed in not talking to strangers, looked at me but didn’t answer, but the man seemed friendly enough, so I did. We started talking, and I learned that his birthday, as well as the birthdays of his numerous brothers and sisters were all the same week as my son’s.

As we were talking, the cashier was ringing up the man’s order, and just as he was about to pay, the man turned to the cashier and asked him to ring up my order and add it on to his bill. I protested, but he insisted, and the cashier listened. Before I really knew what happened, the elderly man, a perfect stranger, had paid for my things. “You’re all set,” the cashier said to me, motioning me to get out line so he could ring up the woman behind me. The elderly man waved to us, wished my son a happy birthday, told me to take care, and walked out of the store.

“What just happened?” My son asked, confused.

“That man paid for your balloons,” I told him

“Why?” he asked.

“Because he wanted to do something nice, I guess,” I said.

“Isn’t that weird?” he asked me.

“I don’t know,” I said. Because honestly, my first inclination was to feel, well, weird about it. Leaving the store, without a receipt, my things paid for by a stranger, I almost felt like I was doing something wrong. But then I wondered, was the thing that was weird was that I was so flabbergasted by kindness?

A few weeks later, Valentine’s Day, I was in Target. I knew it was the last day The Transformation of Things would be on the shelves there, so impulsively, I threw the last two copies in my cart. As the cashier rang up my things we started talking, and she examined the book as she rang it up. “Do you like to read?” I asked.

“I LOVE to read,” she exclaimed. “I’m always reading.”

After she rang up my book, I handed it back to her. “Here you go,” I said, explaining to her what the book was and that I had written it. (Nevermind that I have a bunch of free copies at home or that I didn’t even know her. I’d just bought her book!) She was beyond thrilled and asked me to sign it – I did. And then I gave the other copy to the other cashier, who, it also turned out, loved to read, and was thrilled.

Did they find it as strange as I did when that man paid for my things? Maybe. But I felt pretty good about it as I walked out of the store. Maybe we should all buy things for strangers once in a while.

In Which I Write Something

2011-01-27T17:08:00.000-08:00

Since I am a writer, whenever things happen people always tell me to write about them. But there are some things that are impossible for me to write. Things that defy words. This happened to me a few years ago, when my family asked me to write my grandfather’s eulogy. I wasn’t able to attend his funeral (which happened quickly, across the country, and I had a two-month old at the time). So everyone in my family implored me to write something instead for someone to read. I did. It took me an entire day to come up with two paragraphs. What I wrote was awful. I’m certain. There were no words to really express what I felt or thought or missed, already.

I’ve been reminded of that feeling these past few weeks, in the aftermath of the shooting that happened in Tucson. My city. My home. I’ve had the feeling that I should have something to say, that writing something would somehow make things. . . better. Or at least, that it would somehow make me make more sense of them. Writing is, after all, my way of understanding the world. But the truth is, I have written nothing in the past few weeks, not about this, or anything else. I just haven’t been able to.

I was in the shopping center where the shooting happened, when it happened. I was having coffee, with a friend, a new friend who I’d met in person for the first time only ten minutes earlier, a friend who I feel I will now forever be connected to. We were talking preschools and our children, and I could see, out the floor to ceiling windows behind her, the front of the Safeway. I had no idea Gabrielle Giffords was having an event outside. (Thank goodness, several people have remarked to me in the past few weeks, or I may have been curious to stop by and meet her. Would I have? I’m not sure.) Though we were probably only about fifty feet away, it was loud enough inside the bakery so that we did not hear the gunshots. We didn’t see them either, since the cars in the Safeway parking lot blocked our view. My first cue that something wasn’t right was when I saw one police car pull into the shopping center, lights flashing, followed a few minutes later by four or five others. I watched as the police officers jumped from their cars, running and pulling things from their trunks. “What do you think is going on behind you?” I asked my friend.

She turned around. We made nervous guesses. Was there a traffic stop? A robbery in the bank in the front of Safeway? Were those more sirens in the distance?

Then a man dressed in bike-riding gear ran inside the bakery. “There’s a shooter in the Safeway,” he yelled.

We looked at each other. I suggested that we leave. I felt the urge to not just leave but run. If there was a shooter, anywhere in the shopping center, I wanted to get the hell out of there. Fast. We debated it for a minute. Was it safer to leave or stay? My car was right out front. Hers was in the Safeway parking lot. So we decided to both run to my car, and we got in quickly. We had no idea what was going on, but we figured it couldn’t actually be serious, that we were probably silly to leave in such in rush. But we’re both moms and writers, with vivid imaginations.

We noticed police starting to tape off the exits, and she wondered if she maybe she should get her car. I drove her to it, on the edge of the Safeway lot. We still had no idea what was going on, but the decision to run felt like the right one, then. We decided to meet at another coffee shop a few blocks up the road. “If I don’t make it there. Come back and look for me,” she joked.

“This is going in one of our next books,” I quipped back.

Ten minutes later we were sipping coffee in another quiet shopping center. It felt very far away from the police cars, sirens, the rumor of a shooter. It was probably just something silly, we decided. Though, I still felt shaky, and even now I have very little memory of what we talked about in those few moments until a woman ran in and told everyone what had happened. We stared at each other, gripped with shock. Disbelief. Then we couldn’t drink coffee anymore. We left. When I got home, my hands were still shaking; my brain was numb. My children ate lunch and gave me hugs, as if nothing had happened, but suddenly they looked different to me.

We’d been so close. And so far away.

Unbelievably, this had happened to me once before, nearly 15 years ago. When I was a freshman in college, a mentally deranged woman hid in the bushes on the lawn of my college’s student union, with a rifle. She sat there, early in the morning, in the rain, watching students walk by. On the way back from my 8 AM Spanish class, I was one of them. Shortly after I passed her, she started shooting, and she killed one student and injured another. As a new college freshman, I was struck by how easy it was to die, senselessly, just like that. It is a feeling I’ve never completely gotten over. The kind of thing that every so often, when I remember it, it still makes me uneasy.

And when I got home on January 8th, from what was supposed to be an innocent coffee with a new friend, my husband (who was my boyfriend at the time of the college shooting) looked at me, and said (only half-kidding, I’m sure), “How did you manage to do this twice? You’re never leaving the house again.”

Looking at my children, something about that didn’t even sound that ridiculous.

I did, of course. Leave the house. And nearly every time I did in the first few days that followed this shooting, I talked to someone who knew one of the killed or injured, somehow. Then I watched these victims on national news, with the knowledge of which of my friends and family knew them, and how. These people were heroes, and also, my neighbors.

The first week our local newspaper was overstuffed with triple-sized headlines and articles. Every morning I read them and found myself crying. (I am not, by the way, usually a crier.) But everything felt so personal and sad to me, the way I know it did to so many other people, and not just because I’d drunk coffee nearby or because I live so close (though these things, I’m sure, made everything feel even worse) but because I am a mom, a woman, a human being.

Why don’t you write something about it? Countless people have suggested this to me in the past few weeks. But I think I’ve been afraid to put this into words, to relive it, to make it real. In the past 15 years, I have never once even tried to write something about that shooting at my college. I’ve thought about it. But words have never felt adequate.

Maybe it’s because when I write, I have something to say. And about this, about any of this, I don’t. I have no answers, no way to understand this, no words to make sense of any of it.

In writing all of this down, I know I haven’t said anything new or interesting or even important. But I am a writer. So I wrote it anyway.

Target!!!!

2010-12-29T19:03:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to announce that starting this week The Transformation of Things is a Target Emerging authors pick!!!!

A few years back, when I had a newborn in the house, I would often find myself sleep-deprived in the middle of the Target diaper aisle (often with a crying baby in tow). Luckily, the diaper aisle in my Target is located just across from the books, and there were many, many times when I'd swing by the Emerging Authors shelf and pick up a new book just to save my sanity. I was never disappointed!

Which is why I'm so honored that The Transformation of Things is sitting on that shelf right now. If you happen to find it there as you stuff your cart with diapers and onesies and diaper genie refills, I hope you enjoy!

Books Make Great Holiday Gifts!!

2010-11-13T17:09:00.001-08:00

It's true, books do make great holiday gifts! Even better gifts are books signed and personalized for a specific friend or family member on your list!

So if you buy yourself a copy of The Transformation of Things between now and December 1st, I will send you another free signed and personalized copy for you to give as a gift to a family member or friend of your choice. All you need to do is:

1.) Purchase the book. (Find it easily on Amazon or in person in Barnes & Noble, Borders, or nearly any bookstore!)

2.) E-mail me at jill(at)jilliancantor.com with the specific information about where and when you purchased the book.

3.) Let me know how you want your free holiday gift book signed and where you want it sent.

Could I make your holiday shopping any easier?!

Release Day Contest!

2010-11-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS is out in a few more hours! And to celebrate, I'm holding a contest here. The first 10 people who leave me a comment on this post, letting me know that they have purchased THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS will receive another one of Avon A's fabulous titles FOR FREE courtesy of Avon! I'll also throw in a signed The Transformation of Things bookmark!

That's right, if you are one of the first ten people to let me know that you bought The Transformation of Things, Avon will send you another book for free! And I'll send you a pretty signed bookmark :-)

Please include your name, e-mail address (so we can contact you to send your free book), and where you purchased the book in your comment. Or if you'd rather, you can just leave a comment saying you purchased and e-mail the rest of the info. to me at jill(at)jilliancantor.com.

One More Day!

2010-11-01T06:29:00.001-07:00

To celebrate the release of THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS tomorrow, Melissa Senate and I are holding a contest today over at my Facebook author page! Click here to head over there, or if you're already Facebook friends with me, you can find it there as well. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. One grand prize winner will win a signed copy of THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS and a signed copy of the fabulous Melissa Senate's new release THE LOVE GODDESS' COOKING SCHOOL. Two other winners will each win one of the two books. The contest ends at midnight tonight, just in time for me to start my amazing release day contest tomorrow right here on this blog. (Check back tomorrow for details!).

Contest!

2010-10-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS will be out one week from today!! In honor of my launch and the launch of Melissa Senate's new book, THE LOVE GODDESS' COOKING SCHOOL, Melissa and I will be holding two joint contests -- one today for her release day, and one next week for mine.

It's easy to enter, all you need to do today is leave a comment for Melissa on her Facebook page. One grand prize winner (announced tomorrow) will win copies of both books, and two runners up will each receive a copy of one of our books. I'll post the details for my launch day contest next week!

And more contests and some fun guest blog posts coming up later this week. Stay tuned. . .!

News & Upcoming Events

2010-09-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS is out in less than two months, and I have some good news to update you on! First, I got my first review from Booklist and it was a nice one, saying, "Cantor puts a unique spin on this tale of a woman in transition."

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS is also going to be a featured alternate during the holidays in The Doubleday Book Club and will be available in the online club at BOMC2. I'm so, so, so excited for this book to come out and thrilled that you guys will be able to find it here!

And, if you're in the Tucson area, I'll be doing a reading, signing and talk with Janni Lee Simner and Adam Rex on September 24th at Antigone Bookstore. The press release is below. Hope to see you there!

Please join us for an upcoming event at Antigone Books

Friday September 24 at 7 PM:

Join us for a fabulous event for teens, aspiring writers, teachers and librarians with three local authors: Jillian Cantor, Adam Rex and Janni Lee Simner.

Janni Lee Simner will read from Thief Eyes (Random House, $16.99). In this intense new fantasy, 16-year-old Haley accompanies her geologist father to Iceland, where she's determined to discover exactly what happened the previous year when her mother disappeared. Adam Rex will read from Fat Vampire (Harper, $16.99). In this delightfully macabre spoof on the current vampire craze, Doug Lee is a 15 year-old overweight vampire and will be for eternity. Jillian Cantor will read from The Life of Glass (Harper, $16.99). High-school freshman Melissa's beloved father has recently died of cancer, leaving her struggling to find her way and learning how to come to terms with her grief without giving up her memories of him.

The reading will be followed by a question and answer period.
Refreshments will be served.

Antigone Books

411 N. 4th Avenue

Tucson, AZ 85705

(520) 792-3715

Remember Me?

2010-08-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

Why yes, it has been an embarrassingly long time since I've posted anything to this blog. And yes, I am still here. And yes, I do have an excuse for my absence. Sort of. I've been writing. A lot. Hard at work on two different books that hopefully, I'll be able to tell you more about in the near future. And when I'm writing fiction, it's hard for me to think about writing (or reading) anything else. If you think this blog had been horribly neglected, you should see my to-be-read pile, aka those enormous leaning towers of books in the space that used to occupy my night table.

But anyway, I've finally come up for some air, and I've realized that it is less than three months until THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS comes out! And in the spirit of transformation, I've decided to start a new blog, in which I transform myself, do a sort of negativity detox if you will. I hope you'll follow along because I'm hoping it'll be a fun and maybe even funny journey for me over the next few months. As my mom said when I sent her the link -- "How will you *ever* be able to find that many things to be positive about?" If nothing else, I love to prove my mom wrong!

If you become a follower of my new blog (click here) -- I'll enter you to win a signed ARC of THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS. I'll pick a winner next Friday!

In the meantime, I'll still be blogging about writing/author related news over. Yes, I promise. I really will!

Coming Soon. . .

2010-03-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

The cover for my adult debut, THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS -- out 11/2/10 from Avon/HarperCollins!

Changing Hands Signing

2010-02-28T19:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I did a signing at the fabulous Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, AZ, where I got to meet some really great Phoenix area readers, including the very cool blogger, I Heart Monster. I didn't realize it at the time, but she recorded my reading, and she did an awesome job. So if you weren't able to be there, you can watch her video. I talk a little bit about THE LIFE OF GLASS and read three short sections from the book.

Jillian Cantor Book Signing Event from I Heart Monster on Vimeo.

Blog Tour Giveaway Winners

2010-02-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my blog tour contest! I enjoyed all of your e-mails, and it was so nice to hear that so many people are looking forward to reading the book!!

I used random.org to help me select the winners, and if you are one of the winners you should have received an e-mail from me. Please respond so I can get you your prizes.

The Grand Prize Winner of signed copies of THE LIFE OF GLASS & THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS & Two Glass Spirit Stones is: Kate of The Neverending Shelf

The two runners up, both winners of a signed copy of THE LIFE OF GLASS are: Carol M. and Leann

Congrats to all the winners!!

The Good and The Bad

2010-01-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

THE LIFE OF GLASS will be out in just over two weeks, which means two things for me right now: One, my blog tour & awesome blog tour contest start to-morrow!!, and two, I’m in the midst of prime review time for the book. This means nearly every time I open up my e-mail I’ve been seeing another Google alert with yet another review on there.

I’ve blogged before about reviews, about how waiting for that first one is one of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve gone through as a writer. And I’m not sure it’ll ever get any easier for me. This is my second book, so I’ve been through this once before (doesn’t matter, still not any easier.)

I’ve been really fortunate to have received a good number of glowing reviews for THE LIFE OF GLASS so far, including, some gorgeous pre-publication blurbs from Beth Kephart and Cecilia Galante, very, very nice reviews from both Kirkus and Booklist, a review from BookPage that was so beautiful it made me cry, and, just today, amazing reviews from both The Compulsive Reader and The Shelf Elf.

And yet, I have also seen one or two that are not so glowing. I understand that not everyone is going to like my book, and honestly, I’m okay with that. There are plenty of books I love that other people don’t and vice versa. But it is still hard to read and brush it off and forget about it, because even if I get 50 glowing reviews and one bad one, it’s the bad one that sticks in my head far longer. Why is that?

I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because a book, words, something I created is, in a way, a part of me. Every compliment feels personal, and every negative comment, even more so. Or maybe it’s some sort of deep seeded insecurity – I hang onto these negative comments, this little voice in the back of my head wondering, wondering, could it be . . . right?

One thing every author knows is that we can’t (or we shouldn’t) respond to negative reviews, and I don’t. Ever. Which is sometimes hard when I see things written about my books that are just plain factually inaccurate or completely misread. Which is hard because sometimes a book feels like a child, who you might want to defend (even if you should really just let them battle it out on the playground themselves.). It’s hard because, also, deep down, don’t we really all crave positive feedback? Don’t we all want people to like us, to like anything that’s a part of us?

My point is, I guess, that having a book come out, being in the midst of all these reviews is like being on a merry-go-round with constant ups and downs and highs and lows. There are moments when I read a review so lovely that it brings tears to my eyes, and moments where I read things that just make me feel pretty awful.

Someone recently suggested to me that I just stop looking, that I turn off the Google alerts and just look away. I have other things to do. Other books to write and revise. But I can’t stop looking. Good or bad, I feel like I need to know.

The funny thing is, I did not sit down and intend to write this post. I intended to write about my blog tour (the details of which, I will, I’m certain, bombard you with over the next three weeks!) But just before I opened up my blog, I logged onto Goodreads, and there I saw some new reviews and ratings of both THE SEPTEMBERS SISTERS and THE LIFE OF GLASS. And there I felt compelled to check them out. And there I saw that someone who I knew in high school – not someone who was a friend or an enemy but just an acquaintance -- gave one of my books a low rating. She is, of course, entitled to her opinion. But as she left only a rating and not a review, I began to wonder, why she didn’t like the book? Or, was it me she didn’t like – had she hated me back in high school and I hadn’t known? Did I ever really talk to her in high school? I couldn’t remember.

Coming up in the next three weeks, you’ll be able to read a bunch of interviews and guest posts and reviews of THE LIFE OF GLASS, and you can learn a lot about me and how I came to write this particular book and what’s up next for me as a writer and how I feel about beauty. But today I give you this, a glimpse into what’s going on in my head, as my book is about to journey into the world.

Upcoming Events

2010-01-18T18:23:00.000-08:00

THE LIFE OF GLASS will be out in three short weeks, and, if you've noticed my absence from this blog it's because I've been literally swamped working on promotional materials, interview questions, and oh yeah, revising two other books that I've got in the works! But I've got a lot of exciting things coming up that I wanted to take a moment to share.

On January 25th (next Monday) I kick off my three-week blog tour, starting with an interview over at Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf. You can find the complete tour schedule on the left sidebar or on my website here. In addition to having some great interviews and guest posts during the three weeks, I'll also be running a cool blog-tour contest where you'll have the chance to win signed copies of my books and fun prizes!

If you're in Arizona, I'll be doing a bunch of in-person events starting in February (Click here for the complete schedule.) And here's the invitation to my B&N signing on 2/20. If you're in Tucson I hope to see you there!

Twitter Contest

2009-12-15T20:59:00.001-08:00

I'm having a Twitter contest to give away two ARCS of THE LIFE OF GLASS!! It's super-easy to enter. All you have to do is retweet my contest tweet by Friday 12/18 to enter, which you can find here. I'll pick two winners at random on Friday. Each retweet gets you one contest entry, and you can enter as often as you'd like!

The First Review

2009-12-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

As a writer, I've come to learn that there are few things scarier than waiting for reviews. This is true whether it's a "review" from my agent or my editor who is reading my draft for the first time and offering notes, or even a "review" from an editor who might be considering buying a new book from me, a review that will come in the form of an offer or a pass letter. I always find it nervewracking, waiting to see what other people will say, how they will react to a book that I love, that I have poured my life into for a significant period of time, that I have revised and edited and labored over, a book filled with characters that I love enough to feel like they are real, true, important people in my life.

A very wise author friend told, just around the release of The September Sisters last year, that not everyone was going to love my book. No matter what. People have opinions, and they like different things, and of course, there are plenty of books that other people love that I don't. And that's okay. But still, when it's your own book, it's hard to remember this. Waiting for reviews is scary. Especially that first review.

Which brings me to the point of this post: I got to see the first review for THE LIFE OF GLASS this week. When I saw the e-mail in my inbox from my editor, with the subject heading "Booklist Review," I kind of wanted to throw up. I was dying to know what it said, but terrified to see it. Up until that moment, up until right then, the book still felt like mine and only mine, but once I read the review, once I read what probably thousands of other people would, I'd see the book differently. I'd see it through someone else's eyes.

I sat there for a few minutes just staring at it, before I got the courage to open it and see what it said. And then I read it, and it was lovely. All of it, every single word.

Among other nice things Booklist said: "Themes of memory, beauty, and secrets come together in this thoughtful, uplifting book. . . a gentle portrait of a girl growing through her grief."

I read it. I read it again.
And then I exhaled.

Contest Winner

2009-11-19T19:46:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who entered and shared your beautiful moments with me. I loved reading all of them! I used random.org to pick the winner of the $25 Sephora giftcard and the signed ARC of THE LIFE OF GLASS. And the winner is: Jessica Kennedy! Jessica, I've sent you an e-mail so write back with your address, and I'll get the prize out to you.

Three-Months-and-Counting Contest

2009-11-08T19:34:00.001-08:00

THE LIFE OF GLASS will be out on February 9, 2010, exactly three months from tomorrow, so to celebrate I'm having a contest!!!

THE LIFE OF GLASS is a book about sisters, high school, loss, and first love. (You can read the jacket description if you click here.) But, above all, I think it's really a book about beauty, about what it means to feel and be beautiful both inside and out.

In the book, the main character Melissa never saw herself as a beautiful person. She was always the smart one, the funny one, the tomboy. And yet, it seems like everyone around her is beautiful: her mother was once a beauty queen, her older sister is obsessed with competing in beauty pageants, and as she starts high school, her best friend Ryan starts ignoring her after he begins dating the beautiful new girl at school.

Melissa is someone I can relate to a lot, because back in high school, I felt the same way. It seemed like so many girls around me were beautiful and perfect: beautiful straight shiny hair, gorgeous tall figures, perfect clothes. And I was always the short girl with the frizzy hair, who felt the most comfortable in jeans and sweatshirts. (Lucky me, though, I didn't have a mom and a sister who competed in beauty pageants.)

And this is why I love fiction: in the book Melissa eventually does get her moment to shine, to feel beautiful. (And her older sister, Ashley, the beauty queen, gets her moment to finally feel what it's like not to be beautiful.)

So now for the contest: I'll be giving away a signed ARC plus a $25 giftcard to Sephora!

Here's what you can do to enter:

+1 Leave a comment sharing a moment when you felt beautiful

+2 Link to this contest on your blog
+2 add my countdown widget (on the left sidebar) to your blog
+2 add The Life of Glass to your Goodreads list

+5 Tweet about this contest
+ 5 become a new follower of this blog
+5 become a new follower on Twitter (click here)

+10 blog about The Life of Glass and why you want to read it!

Please leave your entries and points in a comment on this post.

Contest Ends November 18th at Midnight. Good luck!

THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS Giveaway

2009-10-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

The lovely Book Butterfly is hosting a THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS giveaway at her blog. Check out the interview she has with me, and comment for a chance to win one of two copies of THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS. Also, check out the pictures she put up with the interview -- pictures of me and my sister from from when we were in elementary school!!

Dear Diary

2009-10-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Recently, Jill Wolfson, the author of the fabulous book Cold Hands, Warm Heart, asked me if I would participate in a "Dear Diary" feature on her blog and share some excerpts from my teenage diary. I said yes, and searched out my old diary and began reading through it. And then I sort of freaked out thinking about how embarassing it would be to share!

But I changed the names and did it anyway, because I thought it was a cool feature and because Melissa, the main character in THE LIFE OF GLASS keeps a journal that's an important part of the book. (Thankfully, Melissa's journal is much more interesting and less ditzy than mine was!)

You can read my post w/the diary excerpts on Jill's blog here.

And stop by and check out my website which now has a whole new look to match THE LIFE OF GLASS!

Cover Art Imitates Life

2009-09-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

Over at The Novel Girls this week, it's my turn to give something away for our month-long blogoversary celebration, and I'll be giving away an ARC of THE LIFE OF GLASS! It's really easy to enter -- all you have to do is comment on a post over there this week and/or do any of the other things listed on our sidebar. Plus, if you enter, you'll also be put into a drawing to win $100 to Amazon at the end of the month. Click here to head on over to The Novel Girls and enter.

And since I'm talking about THE LIFE OF GLASS (which I seem to be doing a lot lately. . .), I wanted to share something with you about the cover. First let me say that I absolutely LOVE the cover -- I think the design team at HarperCollins did a fabulous job. But the first time I saw it, I was struck by this strange sense of it being familiar. It took me a few days, but then I figured out what it was. The girl's profile on the cover, looks almost exactly like my mom did when she was younger. I remembered seeing some similar looking pictures of her in an old photo album, and I finally got her to scan some in and send them to me. So here, you can see for yourself.

Here's THE LIFE OF GLASS cover (Look closely at the girl's profile shot):

This is my mom in the late 1970s (And that baby in the picture is me!):

And here are two pictures of her a bit earlier, circa 1973:

What do you think? Can you see the resemblence? To me it kind of seems like this cover was meant to be!

Reality TV: My Summer Fun

2009-09-09T21:15:00.001-07:00

Head on over to The Novel Girls to check out my thoughts on Ellen DeGeneres replacing Paula on Idol. We're having a month-long blogoversary extravaganza, so while you're there you can comment on my post or become a follower to enter to win this week's prize (a signed copy of A BUMP IN THE ROAD by Maureen Lipinski) AND the grand prize, a $100 giftcard to Amazon.

And I'm also going to post my take on reality TV here. This is what I was about to post at The Novel Girls until I heard the AI news. So here you have it, my fascination with celebrity reality TV:

In the fall, winter, and spring, when “real” TV shows are in season, I limit my reality show consumption. In the summer, though, I am admittedly, a reality TV junkie. And since there’s nothing else on, I actually let myself believe that these shows are good! This summer I relished Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, Denise Richards: So Complicated, and Guiliana & Bill.

I guess there’s something about watching celebrity lives that fascinates me, because, yes, I got joy out of watching Tori Spelling deal with her toddler’s tantrums and thinking about how similar our lives are. (Of course, I don’t have my own live-in baby nurse, but you get the point.) There’s also something about living vicariously through a celebrity’s life. Kathy Griffin may think she’s D-List, but she got to do some pretty fabulous things and hang out with some fabulous people this past season. And she’s funny, so what’s not to like about a reality show that makes me laugh? I set my DVR to watch as many reality/celebrity shows as I could find this summer, and I may have actually even procrastinated writing to watch them.

But I have to admit, I’m excited it’s September now and actual scripted shows are coming back with new episodes. There’s no contest for me between Merideth Grey and McDreamy and Tori and Dean. MerDer wins hands down! And by the end of this month, I’ll happily worm myself back into my favorite fictional characters’ lives, and will all but leave reality TV behind until next May. Of course, if a really good new celebrity show comes on, I’m sure I’ll still record it. It’ll just have to get in line in the DVR queue behind all my real favorite shows.

Contest Winner and THE LIFE OF GLASS news!

2009-09-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

First, thank you so much to everyone who entered my The Life of Glass ARC giveaway! It's so great to see so many people excited about the book, and I wish I had an ARC to send to each and every one of you. . . but I had to pick a winner, so I used random.org and it picked. . . Kristen. Kristen, I'm sending you an e-mail -- but please send me your address to jill(at)jilliancantor.com and I'll get the ARC out to you!

If you didn't win, I'll be having more giveaways this fall. Check back here in October for another ARC giveaway. And this month, over at my group blog, The Novel Girls, we're celebrating our one year blogoversary with a giveaway extravaganza. Each week one of us will give away a prize (five total) for the whole month of September -- and then everyone who enters for the entire month will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 giftcard to Amazon!! I'll be up the week of September 14th, and I'll be giving away an ARC of The Life of Glass & a copy of The September Sisters to the winner!

I'm also really excited to share a blurb for The Life of Glass from the fabulous Cecilia Galante. Her book, The Patron Saint of Butterflies, is one of my all-time favorites! Here's what she had to say about The Life of Glass: "The Life of Glass is a beautifully rendered novel. Cantor is pitch-perfect, capturing the thoughts and mind-set of her characters with a precise familiarity that will have teenagers nodding their head in recognition and adults wistfully looking back. A must read."

THE LIFE OF GLASS ARC giveaway!!!

2009-08-09T13:15:00.001-07:00

I know I've been terrible about posting here lately, and my excuse is that I've been writing. I finished a draft of what will (hopefully) be my third YA book, and then I finished some edits for my adult book, THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS. Then I took a little bit of a break, and for the last three weeks, I've spent hardly any time at the computer. I read a few books, watched a lot of movies, and oh, actually cleaned my house. Yes, that was the last straw, and now I'm back -- to the blogging world and getting ready to start on a new book for adults. Right now I'm in the process of researching names -- which I love!

And today I really wanted to blog because when I woke up this morning, I realized that it was the 9th -- which means exactly six months from today my second YA book, THE LIFE OF GLASS will be out and in the world on February 9th, 2010 (If you want to read the jacket description and see the cover, click here). I finished writing this book nearly a year ago, and at the time, winter 2010 felt so very far away. But now, it's just around the corner.

So. . . I decided I'm going to have the first official THE LIFE OF GLASS contest, where I'll be giving away one ARC of THE LIFE OF GLASS. To enter you can do any or all of the following (You get one entry for each):

1.) Add THE LIFE OF GLASS to your list on Goodreads
2.) Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/jilliancantor
3) Become a follower of this blog.

For extra entries you can:
1.) Tweet about the contest and link to this post
2:) Mention the contest on your blog

Leave a comment on this post letting me know your e-mail and how you entered. (If you already do any or all of the above, leave a comment to let me know, and you can enter that way, too!) I'll leave the contest open until September 1st. Good luck!!

Hello. Goodbye.

2009-07-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

It's Tracy Madison's release week over at The Novel Girls this week, so if you stop by and comment on my post or any of the others, you'll be entered for a chance to win a copy of Tracy's first book, A TASTE OF MAGIC! We're blogging about our magical powers this week, so it's lots of fun.

And I have to say that I see I haven't posted here in a nearly month. And I really have no good excuse, except to say I've been writing. A lot. All the time. See, a few weeks ago, I officially quit my adjunct professor job, which has lit a major fire under me to finish my current work in progress, if only so I can make my status as full-time writer/mom something permenant. This means I've been setting lots of unattainable goals for myself, like write 10 pages every day, and then beating myself up when I don't always meet them.

Anyway, I am crawling back into the writing cave. Will be back out in a few weeks with a (hopefully) finished project to talk about.

Happy July!

Good News and Setting

2009-06-05T15:16:00.000-07:00

First a bit of good news: The September Sisters has been nominated as a YALSA "Best Book for Young Adults!" I'm so honored to be included on a list with so many other great books!!

And yesterday, The September Sisters was featured in The Phildelphia Daily News. Click here to read the article. It was very exciting to be in a paper from my hometown, and talking with the reporter about my childhood near Philadelphia made me remember how much I enjoyed writing the book and letting Abby grow up in a similar place to where I did.

The reporter actually was very curious to know why I chose to set the book near Philadelphia even though I'd already moved to Arizona when I wrote it. I had a hard time answering that question, but if you want to see what I came up with, there's a bit about that in the article!

Then it occurred to me that I've been switching back and forth for setting -- every other book I write is alternately set in Philadelphia or Arizona. For example, my next book, THE LIFE OF GLASS, is set in Arizona. Then my third book, THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS, is set in a fake suburb of Philadelphia. And the book I'm working on now, is very, very crucially set in the desert of Arizona.

Weird, huh?

But I love the way setting can mean so many things to a book -- in my Philadelphia set books snow and cold weather help shape the story, and conversely, in my Arizona set books heat and dry air, monsoon storms, scorpions, and mountains become integral to the story. I can't imagine The September Sisters without Abby and Tommy sledding down a snowy hill or holding hands in the snow, and in The Life of Glass, Melissa and her best friend Ryan have a habit of riding their bikes in a desert wash, which becomes integral to the book.

And yet, I don't feel like I chose these settings. I feel like they flowed sort of naturally from the characters and the situations I dreamed up. I'm curious, for you other writers out there: how do you choose your settings? Or like me, do you feel they choose you?

Publisher's Weekly :-)

2009-05-26T21:17:00.001-07:00

The sale of my adult novel, THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS, made it into Publisher's Weekly today! Click here to read the blurb.

Back when I was an un-agented, unpublished writer, I used to read the deals page in PW all the time and wonder what it would feel like to someday see my name in there. And then, this morning, there it was! It was surreal and exciting, and also, there was something about seeing the news of my sale, in print, in Publisher's Weekly no less, that made it start to actually feel real for the first time.

THE LIFE OF GLASS cover!

2009-05-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

I've been talking about my next YA book, THE LIFE OF GLASS, for a while here on my blog. But finally I have a gorgeous cover to share!!!

And here's the jacket description of the book:

Before he died, Melissa’s father told her about stars. He told her that the brightest stars weren’t always the most beautiful—that if people took the time to look at the smaller stars, if they looked with a telescope at the true essence of the star, they would find real beauty. But even though Melissa knows that beauty isn’t only skin deep, the people around her don’t seem to feel that way. There’s her gorgeous sister Ashley who will barely acknowledge Melissa at school, there's her best friend Ryan, who may be falling in love with the sophisticated Courtney, and there’s Melissa’s mother who’s dating someone new, someone who Melissa knows will never be able to replace her father.

To make sure she doesn’t lose her father completely, Melissa spends her time trying to piece together the last of his secrets and completing a journal her father began—one about love and relationships and the remarkable ways people find one another. But when tragedy strikes, Melissa has to start living and loving in the present, as she realizes that being beautiful on the outside doesn't mean you can't be beautiful on the inside.

This is a lyrical tale of love, loss and self-discovery from the author of THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS.

Now it's feeling like a real book, and I can't wait for it to come out. Is it winter 2010 yet?!

Fabulous News!!!

2009-05-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to announce that I've sold my first adult women's fiction book, THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS!!! I was beyond thrilled to accept an offer from Avon (HarperCollins) this afternoon!

I really didn't think anything could top the excitement I felt after selling THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS, but today I realized that selling a book is absolutely just as exciting the second time around (and conversely, having a book out there on submission to editors is just as nervewracking)!

I've felt such a particular attachment to this novel, that I'm so happy I'm going to get to watch it bloom and transform now into an actual published book. And also, I'm so, so grateful that I get to keep on doing what I love.

More details about the book to come -- stay tuned!!

Book of the Month (and Denmark)

2009-05-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

I was so honored to find out that Michelle's Bookshelf has named The September Sisters "Book of the Month" for May! And check out this cool graphic from her blog:

I also learned that the Danish version of The September Sisters (or as it's called over there, September Sostre) is out. Check out the Danish cover:

Now if only I could read Danish . . . !

Project Book Babe

2009-04-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

If you've been wanting to get a copy of The September Sisters, here's a great way to do it!

A signed copy is being auctioned on E-bay this week as part of Project Book Babe's auction. If you haven't heard of Project Book Babe you should click here to check out their website, but the "Book Babe" is a children's book buyer who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Proceeds from the auction will help support her as she undergoes treatment.

I'm excited that I get to be involved in a very small way with this cool auction, so click here to head on over to E-bay and bid! It's for a great cause.

April ALAN pick!

2009-04-14T14:04:00.001-07:00

I was really honored to see that The September Sisters was named an ALAN (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents) pick for April. In their review of the book they said, "With echoes of The Lovely Bones and even To Kill A Mockingbird, Cantor unflinchingly explores loss through its many incarnations."

I'm also excited to be a part of the awesome "blogoversary" going on over at Bookluver-Carol's blog this week. You can check out my interview here, and stay tuned over there for a giveaway from me as well!

Award Nominations!!

2009-04-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

I feel so honored to have been nominated for an award over at YA Reads! They're currently hosting Reader's Choice awards, and I was nominated for Best Debut Author and Best Author, and The September Sisters was nominated for Best Book. I'm so flattered to be in such great company, and if you head on over and vote, you can be entered for a chance to win The September Sisters and other fabulous books: Fade, The Fetch, Wherever Nina Lies, Shadowed Summer, and Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side.

Click here to see all the nominees and to vote.

A Rejection Letter and a Great Review!

2009-04-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

The other day I opened my mailbox, and saw staring back at me a self-addressed stamped envelope, written in my own handwriting. Strange. I hadn't gotten one of those since the days when I was querying agents, back in the summer of 2006. So I was shocked to open it up and find this: (my comments are in red)

Dear Ms. Cantor:
My apologies for the unforgivable delay (more than two and a half years) in responding to EVEN TO THE EDGE (The original title of The September Sisters). A number of submissions got squirreled away, and your partial was among them. I'm sorry.

I read over the manuscript and am sadly passing on it. Even though I admired much about it, I'm afraid I wasn't as completely as engaged by EVEN TO THE EDGE as I'd hoped to be.

Thanks for sending me the partial to consider, however, and I hope that in the meantime you've found thoroughly enthusiastic representation.

As I read this I couldn't help but laugh! I can't tell you how many nearly identical letters I received when I was trying to find an agent, and how soul crushing each one felt. But this just goes to show you, how little these rejections can mean. While this one agent "squirreled" my first three chapters away, another agent took me on and sold the book, at auction. So to all you aspiring writers, don't let the rejection letters get you down!

Oh, and just after I got this, I also got my very, very awesome Publisher's Weekly Review. They call The September Sisters a "memorable debut novel" and the story "startlingly real." You can click here to read the whole thing.

Time to Read

2009-03-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

I sort of have a rule against writing a book and reading a book at the same time. Really, the reason is that I find it too confusing. When I'm writing, my head is totally immersed in my characters and my story -- no room in there for anyone else's. And when I'm reading, I really like to get involved in that story, and think about those characters in the space in between when I reading about them. So yeah, too confusing.

But I've spent most of the past year, writing and revising, non-stop. I've taken a break to read a book or two, here or there. Once I even broke my rule and read a book while I was writing -- but then a character in the book I was reading and a character in the book I was writing were coincidentally both named Stella. Totally confusing. And I ended up having to change the name of the character in my book, just to get away from the image of that other Stella, in the book I was reading. See, even my explanation is confusing.

So right now, I'm printing out a revised draft of my adult novel to send back to my agent tomorrow. I'm also stewing over this new YA novel I just started, and I just happened to glance at the to-read pile on my night table. It's getting ready to topple, and I decided I must take a small break from writing just to begin to tackle it.

Here's what's on top: Up first is The Nightingale by Morgana Gallaway. I met Morgana a few months ago -- she lives just down the road from me -- and strangely enough our debut books both came out in February. Plus, this book looks really interesting, and I feel guilty that I haven't read it yet. Then I've got Freaked by J.T. Dutton -- this one was just released from Harperteen, and I read the first chapter on Amazon and really loved the writing. From there, I've got Goldengrove by Francine Prose (My editor sent this one for Christmas and I'm intrigued -- it looks like it has similar sister themes to The September Sisters), Shelter Me by Juliette Fay (My mom told me this is a must read.), and Life Sentences by Laura Lippman (I read a few really good reviews of this one.) And, in case you're keeping track, I'm still only on page 75 of Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed. Yes, I know -- I started this months ago!

So what's in your to-read pile?

Music and Writing

2009-03-18T22:09:00.001-07:00

As I've been doing interviews in the past few months for The September Sisters, one question I've been getting a lot is about music, more specifically, what kind of music I listen to while I write. And I've been giving the rather boring answer of none, because I like quiet while I write. Music only distracts me.

But I've been revising my adult book like a crazy women for the past few weeks, and it occurred to me recently that although I don't listen to music while I write, I sometimes do have particular songs in my head while I'm writing. Right now, it's "My Life Would Suck Without You" by Kelly Clarkson -- totally the theme song for the book I'm revising. Which is funny, because it doesn't even necessarily encapsulate what the book is about overall, but the part I've been working on is the relationship between the main character and her husband, and I keep picturing her singing this to herself as I'm working on her dialogue. Weird, huh? Oh, and right now I'm taking a little revising break, but I still can't get the song out of my head.

And speaking of music and American Idols, did anyone else want to cry for poor Alexis at the end of the AI elimination tonight? She so did not deserve to go home yet. Right????

Tucson Festival of Books!

2009-03-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

I have my first in-person author appearance and book signing tomorrow, at the Tucson Festival of Books! I'll be doing a panel discussion with the fabulous Janette Rallison and Jill Wolfson at 1:00 PM, called "Finding Inspiration: Writing Books Teens Will Read." Then I'll be signing books, immediately after at 2:00 PM.

If you're in the Tucson area, stop by and see me, and check out the rest of the festival, too, which looks like it's going to be awesome, with 400 authors!!

I'm so excited -- not only do I get to spend the whole day with other authors, readers, and book-lovers, but also my husband is on kid duty all day. One whole day out of the house. By myself. With books. I can't wait!!!

And the blog tour continues. . .

2009-03-10T23:21:00.000-07:00

I've been having so much fun stopping by other people's blogs for chats and guest posts, that I'm going to extend my unofficial blog tour! I'm lining up dates now for April and May, so if you're interested in getting involved, send me an e-mail: jill@jilliancantor.com . I also have a few more books available for contests AND I've got about 900 very awesome bookmarks lying around, too!

Speaking of contests: It's your last chance to enter to win a signed copy of The September Sisters over at Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf and YA Book Realm, and Kelsey at Reading Keeps You Sane is hosting a contest this week as well!

As for my latest blog tour stops, I'm talking about the evolution of my title (it's a pretty twisty evolution!) over at Reading Keeps You Sane, my love for American Idol over at Shalonda's Blog, and my life as a band geek over at The Not So Closet Geeks (All week is Geek Fest over there, and it's really fantastic, so check it out!).

And American Idol -- awesome tonight, no? Who'd you vote for? I must admit, I voted for six of them! How will I ever decide what to do this year?!

Back to Writing

2009-03-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

I know I've been slightly absent from the blog world this week, but earlier in the week it occurred to me, after a few crazy busy post-release days last week, that I had some actual revising to do. Oh yeah. Right! I'm a writer! Funny, how I lost that for a little while in all the swirl of release madness.

So I've spent some time this week dissecting my latest work-in-progress. It's a novel for adults, and after a little time away from it, I'm seeing it with new eyes. My agent read it a few weeks ago, and pointed out that my main character wasn't likeable enough. And now that I'm going through it again, I see exactly what she meant. Which is funny, because when I wrote the first draft, I saw the main character in my head as this really nice person. But now on the page, I see how she's coming across as too cold. I have a habit of doing this, not being able to see my characters for who they really are until someone else points it out to me. I wonder if I'm the only writer that this happens to?

I did have some more release stuff going on this week, too. An interview with The Frenetic Reader and a guest post over at Look at That Book. Next week I'll be participating in Geek Fest over at The Not So Closet Geeks, On the Outside over at Reading Keeps You Sane, and I'll be doing a guest post with Shalonda.

Last night, I went to Barnes and Noble to sign all their stock copies of The September Sisters! So if you're in Tucson, The Barnes and Noble at the Foothills Mall now has signed copies of the book out.

Fellow Novel Girl, Lisa Patton, also sent me this picture of The September Sisters on the shelves at Davis-Kidd bookstore in Nashville. Yay! I'm in Nashville!

Last Chance to Win. . .

2009-02-28T19:55:00.000-08:00

A signed copy of The September Sisters (by me!) and A Taste of Magic (by Tracy Madison) over at The Novel Girls. It's easy to enter -- all you have to do is leave a comment on tomorrow's post or any other post from last week. Each comment gets you one entry into the contest.

So stop by the blog and join in the fun. The Novel Girls did some really great interviews with me and Tracy last week -- we even did a fantasy movie casting on Friday!

The September Sisters Book Trailer!!!

2009-02-27T09:08:00.001-08:00

Check out this book trailer for The September Sisters, made by the fabulously talented Compulsive Reader! She was so nice to make this for me, and I think she did an awesome job with it, too!

And yesterday, I was featured over at The Story Siren in her Author Tales. She's running a contest with it, too. So check it out!

It's Here! It's Here!

2009-02-24T12:42:00.001-08:00

The September Sisters release day, that is! I'm so excited that the book is finally out!!

So far to celebrate, I took the kids to the bakery to get cookies, and then we sat outside (it's 80 degrees here today) and ate them, having what my son dubbed "a cookie book party!"

On the web, I'm blogging over at the Harperteen MySpace page today about how the book was "born." Click here to check it out! And it's Maureen Lipinski's turn to interview me and Tracy Madison over at The Novel Girls! Remember, if you leave a comment on any post all week, you're entered to win a signed copy of The September Sisters or A Taste of Magic.

Hope of Hope's Bookshelf put up a great review of The September Sisters yesterday, and Kelsey over at Reading Keeps You Sane put up another great review today! Hope posted an interview and contest today as well!

And don't forget my contest, which I've linked on the sidebar! I'm eager to hear where you see the book, especially because I have yet to see it in a bookstore myself!

Win a Signed Copy of The September Sisters!

2009-02-23T20:11:00.000-08:00

Here's my official contest to celebrate my release day, which is now less than three hours away!! The contest begins now and ends March 15th.

To enter, e-mail me at jill@jilliancantor.com if you see The September Sisters in a bookstore. Let me know which bookstore and in what city you saw it.

If you want two entries into the contest, e-mail me with the above info. plus an actual picture of the book in the store!

I'll pick one winner at random from all the entries to win a signed copy of The September Sisters and some awesome matching bookmarks for you and your friends.

More Ways to Win!

2009-02-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

All week The Novel Girls are celebrating both my release of The September Sisters and the release of Tracy Madison's A Taste of Magic. We're also giving away signed copies of both books. All you need to do to enter is comment on a post this week, so stop on over and visit us. The Novel Girls are interviewing both me and Tracy all week, and they've come up with some pretty interesting questions so I think it's going to be a great release week over there!

I've also posted some new contest links on my sidebar - Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf and Book Chic are both giving away signed copies of The September Sisters! I'll have more info. about more contests at more blogs, later in the week, including my very own contest that I'll be hosting right here.

First Contest

2009-02-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

The awesome YA Book Realm put up the first official contest to win a hardcover copy of The September Sisters!! Visit her blog http://www.yabookrealm.blogspot.com/ to find out how to enter or click here for the post about the contest.

More contests coming later in the week and next week!

And check out the awesome "Browse Inside" widget I took from the HarperCollins site -- it's over on the left sidebar!!

One Week!!!!!!!

2009-02-17T12:28:00.000-08:00

I am officially one week away from The September Sisters release. ONE WEEK!!! And all of a sudden I'm feeling very busy -- you can find me lots of places in the blogosphere this week.

The Story Siren posted a great review of The September Sisters yesterday, and Lauren from Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf posted an awesome review today.

Book Chic posted a Vlog of himself reading an excerpt from The September Sisters today -- he does a great job reading it! I'm also one of Book Chic's Fresh New Voice of YA authors for the month of February (along with Saundra Mitchell author of Shadowed Summer), so tomorrow he'll be posting a guest blog from me, Thursday an interview, and Friday a review of the book.

YA Book Realm posted a guest blog I wrote about my sister (and check out my sister's comment at the end -- she's so cute!). Friday I'll be taking part in Inspired Fridays over at Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf.

Oh, and the best part -- the contests will be starting soon!! I'll post up the details when I have them, and if you missed anything, I've also linked all my guest blogs/interviews/reviews on my sidebar.

A Great Review!

2009-02-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share this really great review of The September Sisters posted by BookKids. They called The September Sisters a "MUST pick up" book, and said the book is, ". . . a touching, beautiful story about one girl’s struggle to find love in the rubble left by a whirlwind of unimaginable events. The September Sisters is both tragic and sweet, captured perfectly with Cantor’s striking voice." You can click here to read the whole review.

I poked around their site, and found out that BookKids is the children's section of the largest independent book store in Texas, BookPeople. It looks and sounds so awesome --I'm totally wishing I lived close enough to Austin to go hang out there!

And. . . have you noticed the countdown widget? That's right. Single digits!!! In 9 short days The September Sisters will be released! It recently occurred to me that I should do something on my release day. Any suggestions?

Why I heart my copy-edits

2009-02-11T21:21:00.000-08:00

Today I got the first round of copy edits for my second book, which is going to be out next winter (2010) from HarperCollins. I promised awhile back, I'd give more details about this book, but lately I've been thinking/talking/writing so much about The September Sisters, that in a strange way I'd almost forgotten about this second book.

Then today, I started looking through it again as I looked at the copy-edits, and I felt this overwhelming rush of emotion. I LOVE this book, and suddenly, I was so excited about it that I couldn't believe I'm going to have to wait a whole other year to see it in print!!

So here's what I can tell you about it now (and more to come in the next few months, I promise.) It's called The Life of Glass, and it follows a 14-year-old girl through her freshman year of high school as she comes to terms with life, love, loss, and what it really means to be beautiful. My editor has written the amazing jacket copy (and as soon as I get the go ahead I'll share it here).

I also realized that although going through copy-edits can sometimes be a little tedious, I am so, so glad for the distraction. The closer it gets to The September Sisters release, the more I alternate between being so excited that I want to scream and so terrified that I'm about to have a panic attack.

Which leads me to the best pre-book release moment of the week, hands down: when I saw the UPS man walking up my front walk carrying a huge box adorned with the HarperCollins logo and packing tape that read "New Release." I think I frightened the poor guy when I started shouting "My books are here! My books are here!" as he handed over the box.

In other book release news, I also have a bunch of cool interviews and guest blogs lined up for the next week when you'll find me at YA Book Realm, Book Chic, 52 Books and 52 Weeks, and Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf. (I'll link the posts on the sidebar when they're up.) And, oh yeah, did I mention, there's gonna be some giveaways involved?! Stay Tuned!

Actual Copies of The Book!!!!

2009-02-04T21:33:00.000-08:00

When I opened up my mailbox this afternoon, I had the most amazing surprise -- two early copies of The September Sisters, that my lovely editor was nice enough to send in advance of my author copies, direct from the printer. They are GORGEOUS!! And I spent most of the afternoon staring at them, gushing about how gorgeous they are to anyone who would listen, taking pictures, posting said pictures on Facebook, and then gushing over them again on Facebook. So yeah, not a real productive afternoon. But -- who cares!! I've got real (did I mention gorgeous?) books sitting in front of me. Here I am holding one!

And here I posed them and took some shots of them alone!

What do you think? I think that HarperCollins rocks and did an awesome job with them! I can't wait to see them on an actual shelf in a actual bookstore in a few weeks!

Updates

2009-02-03T20:43:00.000-08:00

I put all the blog tour info. up on the left sidebar, so you can see where I'm headed and where I've been. After each post is up, I'm linking directly to the post, so if you want to read my guest blog or interview, just click. Also, if you've e-mailed me and you're not up there, it's just because we haven't confirmed a date yet, so I'll get your link up after we do. I'm having so much fun with the interviews and the guest blogging, so I hope people are enjoying reading them!

In other news, I now have an official Facebook fan page! If you want to join, click here (and it should take you to the site -- I think you have to sign in to join, though.)

I'm also trying to figure out how to use Goodreads, and wondering if I'm the only one that finds it confusing? For some reason it takes me forever to figure out how to do something on there, and I have a hard time finding the people I want to friend. It could be cuz I always seem to be on there late at night when I'm tired! But, hey, if you're on Goodreads, and you've got it figured out, send me a friend request. I love seeing what other people are reading!!

More Blog Tour News

2009-01-31T12:55:00.000-08:00

I've got a lot of stops on my blog tour coming up soon that I'm really excited about!! Here's are some of the confirmed ones (and I've got some others in the works that I'm excited about, too!).

In February, you'll be able to find me at YA Book Realm, TruNerd, 52 Books & 52 Weeks, Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf, Hope's Bookshelf, Book Chic, and The Story Siren. In March you can find me at The Compulsive Reader, Reading Keeps You Sane, The Not-So-Closet-Geeks, and Nocturnal Reviews.

It's not too late to join the tour! If you're interested in participating, e-mail me at jill@jilliancantor.com.

And it's February tomorrow!!! The September Sisters release month is finally here!!!!!

The Blog Tour Begins!

2009-01-28T12:25:00.001-08:00

Today I'm kicking off my blog tour with an interview with Stephanie over at Juiciliciousss Reviews. (Actually, it's not really a blog tour as much as a bunch of interviews and guest posts with some very fun book bloggers that I've got lined up in the next few weeks -- but blog tour sounds cooler so I'm sticking with it!) If you want to read the interview click here.

If you want to join in on my blog tour fun by hosting me on your blog with a guest post, interview, author chat, etc. just drop me an e-mail at jill@jilliancantor.com.

And only 26 days till The September Sisters hits bookstores!!!

Contest Winners!

2009-01-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the contest! I wish I had ARCs to send to all of you, but unfortunately I don't, so I had to use www.random.org to pick only two of you.

The winners are. . .Kelsey (from Reading Keeps You Sane) and Shalonda.

E-mail me with your addresses and how you'd like the book signed.

The good news is The September Sisters will be out in bookstores in 32 days! One month!! And I'm planning on a contest to give away a signed hardcover copy of the book around that time. So if you didn't win this time, you'll have more chances to win!

Blogging elsewhere. . .

2009-01-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

Today I'm blogging over at the Harperteen MySpace page about when I first knew I wanted to be a writer. You can click here to read it -- and if you haven't already, friend me on MySpace while you're there!

Yesterday, I blogged about my grandfather over at The Novel Girls. He was involved in many of my fondest and most embarassing memories, as you can see from the post if you click here.

Only a few days left in my contest. You have until Tuesday to enter, and Wednesday I'll announce the winner!!

Happy Weekend!
Jillian

Guest post at The Novel Girls

2009-01-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

Over at The Novel Girls today, Maureen Lipinski posted her interview with literary agent, Holly Root. It's a great interview -- especially if you're looking for an agent of your own, or even if you want an insider's take on what's selling right now.

The rest of us are blogging about our embarassing moments this week, so tune in on Thursday for mine. I'm still contemplating what I'm going to write about -- there are so many to choose from, but most I don't think I'm willing to share with the blogosphere!

And don't forget, you have until Jan. 20th to enter my contest.

Six weeks and counting

2009-01-10T13:34:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last year thinking of myself as a debut author, and even though The September Sisters isn't even out yet, I got a little taste this week of what it might feel like not to be a debut author any more! I got to see a draft of the jacket copy for my second book, which reminded me that the book was done, in copy-editing, and wow, coming out in another year! (Hopefully, I'll be able to share this jacket copy very soon!).

But I will say that I was especially excited about the part that referred to me as "The author of The September Sisters" and also the spaces on the back cover where the publisher is planning on putting praise for The September Sisters. It made me realize how fast this whole debut thing is going to whirl by, and how I should enjoy it while it lasts, every little bit of it.

At the same time, I also started to feel a little nervous this week for the first time, thinking about upcoming reviews and The September Sisters hitting shelves in only six weeks. I've been so excited about the book's release for so long, that I never expected to feel nervous, like first-day-of school nervous, at that. I wonder if it will always feel this way, or if it's just something debuters feel?

Anyway, I also finished a draft of my new adult novel, printed it, and mailed it off to my agent this week. So by mid-week, I found myself projectless, which meant I actually cleaned my house a little bit and went to bed before midnight a few nights in a row. (I can't remember the last time I've done this.) But okay. That's enough. I'm ready to dig in and start something new. Because really, I just don't feel like myself unless I'm sleep-deprived.

Don't forget, you have until Jan. 20th to enter my contest to win a signed ARC of The September Sisters.

New Contest

2009-01-05T20:23:00.000-08:00

I'm having another contest, and I'll be giving away another signed Advanced Review Copy of The September Sisters. There are a few ways to enter, and the more ways you enter, the more chances you get to win.

1.) Post The September Sisters countdown widget on your blog, site, or myspace page. (To get the widget, scroll down the left hand sidebar, and click on "share.") E-mail me at jill@jilliancantor.com to let me know where you've put the widget. Each place gets you one entry into the contest.

2.) Add The September Sisters to your wishlist or to-read list on Goodreads, Shelfari, Librarything, Visual Bookshelf (or any similiar site that I don't even know about. I'm sorta new to all the reading/networking sites!). E-mail me at jill@jilliancantor.com to let me know about any or all the sites where you've added the book. Each one gets you an entry (If you've already added it and you're interested in entering, e-mail me to let me know and I'll enter you in the contest).

3.) Post a link to this contest post on your site or blog, e-mail me to let me know, and you'll get another entry into the contest.

This contest deadline is January 20th, so you've got two weeks! Good luck!!
Jillian

Contest Winner!

2009-01-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

I used random.org to randomly select one follower to win a signed ARC of The September Sisters. And the winner is. . .Carol(ina). E-mail me your address and how you'd like the book signed to jill@jilliancantor.com so I can send your copy.

I'm going to have another contest starting next week, so stay tuned for details!

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009

2008-12-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

Over at The Novel Girls this week, we're talking about New Year's resolutions. I haven't actually figured out any good ones to write about yet (check back Thursday to see what I come up with!)But I have been reflecting on the past year this week.

2008 was a really great year for me, and in a way, I'm sad to see it go. The highlight may have been in January, when The September Sisters sold at auction-- after having been rejected in one way or another in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. I thought that was a very good sign for my writing life in 2008-- and I was right!.

In fact, 2008 was the first year I came to think of myself as a real writer -- as in I could tell other people that I was a writer without having to feel like an imposter when they asked me exactly what I had written. Which means while I was writing my second book, I could tell people I was working and have it be true, since I was actually getting paid to do it. (A thought which still boggles my mind.)

Looking back, I've also done a lot more writing this year than I ever, ever have in my life. I wrote and revised and polished my second novel (which will be out in 2010 from Harperteen), and I just this week I completed a draft of what I hope will be my first adult novel. It's not that I had more ideas this year or even more time to write (In fact, I probably actually had less time than I've had in the past.). But 2008 was the year I started having enough confidence in my writing to really, really, really work at it. To make myself sit at the computer for two hours every night after the kids went to sleep and just write. Even if I was tired. Even if Grey's Anatomy was on! Because it was the first time I believed that if I kept at it, it would be worthwhile, that I could be writing something other people would eventually read.

But for the last part of 2008 I've also felt like I've been waiting, waiting for The September Sisters to come out, waiting to see it in a bookstore, waiting nervously for reviews, waiting for my real writing life to start. So I'm excited for 2009, excited for the possibility of what it might bring both for my writing and for my life as well. I love fresh beginnings, new starts, new years, because you never know what might be waiting for you just around the corner. (Can you tell I'm an optimist?!)

So what were your 2008 highlights, and what are you looking forward to in 2009? I'd love to hear.

Happy New Year!!
Jillian

PS. Don't forget, Thursday is the last day to enter my contest and the contest over at The Novel Girls!

Wondrous Strange Release!

2008-12-23T20:21:00.000-08:00

My cyber writer friend and fellow Novel Girl, Lesley Livingston, had her debut novel, Wondrous Strange hit bookstores today! (I'll be blogging more about my excitement for the book over at The Novel Girls on Thursday, which will include my sighting of the book on a real live display at Borders yesterday!!!)

My copy is, according to Amazon, arriving tomorrow, upon which I'm planning on rippng open the box and reading it right away. I've heard so many wonderful (wondrous?!) things about the book, and when I saw it at Borders I was blown away by how gorgeous it looks.

And if you want to enter to win your very own signed copy, all you need to do is become a follower of The Novel Girls by January 1st!

Review!

2008-12-23T12:33:00.000-08:00

I came across an awesome review of THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS over at YA Book Realm, and I was so excited and awed to read it!!

Among other lovely things, YA BR says, "Jillian Cantor’s debut novel, was unforgettable with the perfect mixture of realism, great character development, and plot. . .The moment I started reading it, I seriously could not put it down until I learned more about the disappearance of Becky."

You can click here to read the whole review.

And don't forget, a little over a week left to enter my contest for the chance to win an ARC of THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS.

Happy Holidays!
Jillian

Blogging with Harperteen!

2008-12-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

Today I'm blogging over at the Harperteen MySpace site about the old writing adage, write what you know. You can click here to read it. One thing I left out of the post is how a writing teacher of mine in college, once referred to my life (after reading an autobiographical piece I'd written), as "tragically boring!" (And that was definitely not a compliment in his eyes.) But you can see how I sort of figured out how to write what I know anyway!

And if you haven't already, enter my contest for a chance to win a signed Advanced Review Copy of The September Sisters!

Contests!!

2008-12-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

If you'll notice from the title of this post, I said "contests" plural. That's because I have two great contests to tell you about!!

First, as promised, I'm having a contest to give away a signed Advanced Review Copy of THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS. All you have to do is become a follower of my blog by January 1, 2009. (Click on "follow this blog" on the left hand side -- you might have to scroll down a little bit to see it.) If you're already a follower, then you're already entered to win! I will pick one winner, at random, after Jan. 1st.

Contest number 2 is going on over at my group blog, The Novel Girls. We're giving away a signed, hardcover copy of Lesley Livingston's WONDROUS STRANGE, in celebration of her December 23rd release. (If you click over, you can find the details, but really all you need to do is become a follower of The Novel Girls.)

It's simple, so enter them both! And good luck!!

Do you follow?

2008-12-10T22:42:00.001-08:00

Head on over to The Novel Girls to check out my post about Abby's (the main character in The September Sisters) favorite things. You'll get to learn a little bit about the book, and I promise no spoilers.

Earlier today, I figured out how to add the cool "followers" feature to my blog, only, I sadly don't have any followers yet :-(.

There's going to be lots more blogging in the new year, and I'm even planning some contests for January, where I'll be giving away a few advanced copies of The September Sisters!!! So follow away, or, at least check back soon for the contest details.

I'm Still Here. . .

2008-12-07T20:27:00.000-08:00

I know I've been neglecting this blog as of late, and I have to apologize. But I've been busy, busy busy writing what I hope (fingers crossed) will end up being my debut novel for adults. I'm working on the end now, and when I'm done, when I come out of this writing fog that is consuming my life at this moment, I may get back into other things, like blogging, or say, cleaning my house.

I've also officially finished revising my second YA book, which will be out from Harperteen in Winter 2010. I'm super-excited about this book, and I think the details about it, the writing of it, and the title, deserve their own blog post, which I promise will come soon, probably in January.

For now, it's back to writing for me, back to pushing through this first draft so I can spend my holiday break from teaching revising.

You can still find me every Thursday on The Novel Girls. Last week we blogged about names, and I discussed the importance of nicknames, both for me and my characters. This week we're going to blog about our favorite things, just like Oprah or um, Maria Von Trapp. (Only don't ask me to sing. Really. Don't.)

Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T21:26:00.000-08:00

Here's an update: I'm still only on page 75 of Wally Lamb's new book -- which means I've got a long way to go till the end. But I haven't read much in the past two weeks. I've been working furiously on my new adult book, and I have a problem with reading another book while I'm really in the midst of writing my own. There are only so many characters I can allow in my head at once! But I'm going to get back to Wally Lamb, just as soon as I finish my draft. In fact, maybe I will make it my New Year's resolution.

But it's today it's Thanksgiving, which means I'll be cooking instead of reading or writing. So head on over to The Novel Girls to check out my Thanksgiving post! (I've even added a picture of my ugly but tasty pineapple upside down cake from earlier in the week.)

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

752 Pages!

2008-11-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to get Wally Lamb's new book, The Hour I First Believed, in the mail yesterday. (Of course I pre-ordered it from Amazon weeks ago!). I'm only 40 pages into it, but I'm enjoying it immensely so far. No one can make a character, a story, or a voice come alive like Wally Lamb. I was hooked on the first page, and I've been thinking about the book all day, wanting to get back to it. The good news is that the book is 752 pages, which means I'll be able to savor it; I'll be able to look forward to reading something good every night. The bad news is that the book is 752 pages, because, well, I barely have time to sleep as it is.

I read the acknowledgments first (as I always do), and he mentioned that it took him 9 years to write the book. 9 years!! I can't even imagine the patience and the painstaking work that must have gone into that. I'm absolutely awed!

So I'll let you know when I finish the book, and what I think of the 752 pages in the end. But I'm already crossing my fingers that he'll get an Oprah Book Club three-peat.

PS. Over at The Novel Girls, we're blogging about recipes this week. Click on over to read about my disasters in baking!

Blogging with Harperteen

2008-11-11T08:49:00.000-08:00

Harperteen invited me to blog on their MySpace page today! Since first love is an important aspect of THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS, I wrote about my own first love!

Click here to check it out, and while you're there check out the awesome Harperteen MySpace site!

An Author, A President

2008-11-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

I came across this article this morning that talks about President-elect Obama as a writer. I was interested in the interviews with some of my all-time favorite authors, Toni Morrison and Jane Smiley, but also in the whole idea the article purports that Obama is actually a "peer" to other authors.

After you check that out, be sure to stop by The Novel Girls and check out my post on revision.

And coming next week, I'll be blogging on the Harperteen Myspace site. (More details to come.)But in the meantime, the site is lots of fun, so drop on by.

Halloween and New Links

2008-10-31T13:33:00.000-07:00

The good news is, after an exhaustive search, I've finally found some orange knee socks -- well, orange with brown trim actually, but that's going to be good enough. My Velma outfit is complete!!

I haven't been blogging much lately, but I've been hard at work on three separate projects. Just finished another round of copy-edits on The September Sisters, I'm finishing up revisions on YA Book 2 (Title coming soon -- I promise!), and I'm also deep into a new adult book that is practically leaping out of my head. I figure if I had an extra five hours or so every day, I might actually have the time to write the book on the computer as fast as my mind is concocting it. But I don't, so I'm seriously exhausted now from not sleeping enough this week.

At The Novel Girls this week, we blogged about Halloween -- and I wrote about my orange and black kitties who like to hang out together, and who we call, collectively, "Halloween." There's a cute picture of them and everything, so pop on over and check it out!

And check out a few new links: This first one is a blog post about the HarperCollins spring preview. Check out the nice mention and the picture of The September Sisters cover!

And I'm also up on the HarperCollins site now, with my own countdown widget and everything! Click here to check it out.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!!!!

Sales and Socks

2008-10-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

The Novel Girls are blogging about our book sale calls this week!

Though I love the story of my book sale, it always makes me sad to think about it because my book sold the same week my grandfather died. He was the first person that I was really close to, to die, so it was an oddly surreal time for me. The excitement and the sadness, all at once, was a lot to handle. If you want to read the whole story, click here.

And be sure to check out the posts by the other The Novel Girls, too! There's nothing I enjoy reading about more than triumph in the publishing world. And these posts have all been pretty inspirational so far.

Next week, we're blogging about Halloween. Which reminds me, I still have to finish getting my costume together. That's right, for the first time in probably, um, 15 years, I'll be dressing up, at the request of my son. So, please, if anyone knows where I can buy a pair of bright orange knee-socks, drop me a line. I've been searching all over, and big surprise, they're kinda hard to find!

Favorites

2008-10-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

Asking a writer to choose her favorite books is like asking someone with a sweet tooth to choose her favorite dessert. ( I know this one because I fit into both categories!) Seriously, there is nothing more exciting to me than walking into Barnes and Noble, the store aglow with all the pretty, pretty covers.

But it's favorite books week over at The Novel Girls, so I've been agonizing all week about which books to write about. There are so many that I love. If you want to see what I chose, click here to read my post.

Something that I left out is the fact that lately I've been immersing myself in YA books. It's mainly because THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS and my second book (which I'm almost finished revising!! Yay!) are both YA books. So what are my most recent, favorite YA picks? I'll have to say Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin and The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante, two books which I couldn't put down and made me think.

What are some of your favorites? I'd love to hear!

An Anniversary of Sorts

2008-10-08T21:24:00.001-07:00

It occured to me that it will be exactly a year next week since I finished my final revision of The September Sisters and sent it off to my agent. That means a year ago from now, I still had no book deal, I felt at the end of my rope in terms of revising the book, and I was more than a little pessimistic about whether or not the book would ever find a home. What a difference a year makes!! The September Sisters will be out in a little over four months, and I'm in the process of revising my second novel, which will be published by HarperCollins in 2010.

I wrote the first draft of The September Sisters in 2003, and it went through dozens and dozens of (maybe more?) different revisions before that final one last October. If you head on over to The Novel Girls you can check out my post on first drafts and read about how it all began for me writing that book.

Of course, in the end, I think it was the revisions that really mattered more than anything, but first things first. Getting it all down on paper has to count for something!

A Terrific Review!!!!

2008-10-04T11:27:00.001-07:00

The Compulsive Reader posted an amazing early review of THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS on her blog today!! To read it, click here.

Her review is so beautiful that it made me tear up to read it! She calls the book "beautifully penned and emotional," and she says "Cantor is an extremely sensitive and yet savvy writer, and aptly describes each and every dynamic aspect of the girls' lives, giving the book a haunting and persistently real quality. "

My favorite part is the end where she says, "Cantor's impressive debut is a beautiful and heartfelt novel that will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen, and should not be missed. "

Knowing that someone else (well, aside from my mom) read the book and truly loved it, makes me unbelievably happy! So thanks to the Compulsive Reader for a lovely review!!!

TV Resolutions

2008-09-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

Since it's Fall TV week over at The Novel Girls this week, and it's also The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, I decided to come up with some TV related New Year's resolutions.

As in, I watch way too much TV and some of it needs to stop. In fact, I have so many shows that have recently come back on that I can't even possibly tape them all, even with two DVRs that can both tape two shows at once. That's four shows at one time, people!! (Yes, I think it has reached the level of addiction!) And then there's the issue of not having time to watch all of it -- two kids to take care of, two books to work on, three college classes to teach, one house to clean (Well, who am I kidding, my house is actually a mess). But still, you get the point. So I am resolving to kick some of these shows to the curb. Here's what and why:

1.) Dancing with the Stars: I think I've seen one too many quick-steps at this point. And this is 2 hours twice a week -- way too long!!
2.) Heroes: This is sad, because I was such a huge, huge fan the first season. But last season, they kinda lost me with all the time travel stuff, and I've still been unable to make it through the entire premiere episode -- so gross -- that scene with Claire and Sylar (if you watched you know what I'm talking about). Plus how many times can they save the world? Really!
3.) Ugly Betty -- I was a little bored with the premiere show. Okay, I was multi-tasking and only half watching, but I didn't rewind back to see what I missed. Gone.
4.) Real World/Road Rules Challenge: They don't even do any actual challenges this season! They sit around and argue (and drink) and besides, I'm 30 now. I may be the only 30-year-old who thinks she's still young enough to watch this. Gotta go.
5.) Fringe: I saw the first episode and I really liked it -- but it scared me, no, terrified me. And I still can't get the image of translucent, melting skin out of my head.
6.) House: I was so mad about the end of last season, that I vowed never to watch it again. (I did already slip up and watch the premiere episode). But I'm gonna try to kick the habit for real now.

So there, I've freed up 8 hours a week. Now if only I can stick with it, I may actually get more work done and go to bed earlier, too. . . And free up some space on the DVR for the important shows, like Sesame Street and The Wiggles.

If you want to hear what TV I'm not giving up on, stop by The Novel Girls on Thursday!

Just cuz it's Thursday. . .

2008-09-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday again, so that means it's time to head on over to The Novel Girls to check out my weekly post. This week, I wrote about how the first day of autumn, and the seasons in general, feel much different to me since I've been living in Arizona.

And hey, Thursdays are getting even better again now that Grey's Anatomy comes back on TV tonight. I can't wait to see what's going to happen with Meredith and McDreamy. Really, I'm even slightly forgetting about the fact that I'm exhausted and I have lots of work to do -- that's how excited I am!

My First Review!!!!

2008-09-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

Kidliterate posted an early review for THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS today!! Click here to read it.

I absolutely love the way the reviewer describes Abby (the main character) and her emotions. My favorite part is where she says "Very nicely written. I thought Cantor [THAT'S ME!!!] did a great job with Abby and her very complex all-over-the-map emotions."

So thanks to Kidliterate for a lovely first review!

Balzer & Bray, Bushnell, and . . . Me?

2008-09-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

Check out this little tidbit from Publishers Weekly about Candace Bushnell's deal with Balzer & Bray to write two teen books about Carrie Bradshaw's (of Sex and the City) high school years, with the first book to be out in Fall 2010.

This is so exciting to me on so many levels! First, I absolutely can't wait to read these books!! What was the fabulous Carrie like in high school?? And who was she friends with? And who did she date? Seriously, I'm going to be first in line to pre-order this.

And, perhaps even more exciting, I've recently found out that I, too, am going to be a Balzer & Bray author in 2010. My lovely editor, Jill Santopolo, is moving to that imprint and taking me with her for my second (still untitled) book to be out in winter 2010.

Imagine that, me at the same imprint as Candace Bushnell, Carrie Bradshaw coming alive in the very same rooms as my protagonists! I never would have believed it a few years back, at a time in my life when I was up to my ears in agent rejection letters, and I was prone to staying up very, very late to watch Sex and the City marathons.

(And speaking of agents. . . Don't forget to check out my post at The Novel Girls tomorrow to read about how I found my fabulous agent, Jessica Regel, without whom, I would still undoubtably be watching Sex and the City re-runs right now rather than writing this post. Though, to be honest, I'm probably going to go do that after I post this. . .)

Something's Awesome in the State of Denmark. . .

2008-09-11T08:58:00.001-07:00

And that is that the Danish rights to THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS have sold to the publisher Forlaget Thorup!!

I can't tell you how excited I am that my work is going to be translated into another language! And what better place than Denmark, birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson, and setting for Hamlet?!

Friendship Week

2008-09-07T23:01:00.001-07:00

The Novel Girls are going to be groggin' about friendship all week this week. Which has gotten me thinking about some of my own friendships and what I'm going to write about in my post on Thursday.

My best friend Monica and I have known each other for 25 years. (I even have this really embarassing picture of the two of us wearing matching hot pink and black outfits to a dance in junior high.) If only my hair had been a little less frizzy back then, I may have considered posting it. . .

But as a fairly new Facebook & Myspace obsessee, I've also started to think about how friendship has taken on a whole new meaning in this Internet age that we live in these days.

So, more on my take on friendship on Thursday. If you stop by, leave me a comment, and while you're at it, friend me on Myspace, too!

Book-it!

2008-09-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

If you head on over to The Novel Girls blog, you can read my first Thursday post. In fact if you haven't already read it, you should "book it" on over there. Hehe.

Seems I wasn't the only one obssessed with The Pizza Hut Book-It program as a child. (I would've read the books anyway, I swear! But who can resist those personal pan pizzas??)

I checked out their website today, and they actually have an Alumni page!!

Okay, now I really want a piece of pizza. . .

The Novel Girls

2008-08-29T14:20:00.001-07:00

Starting Monday, September 1st, my new group blog will be up and running!

Check us out at http://www.thenovelgirls.blogspot.com/.

We're a group of six new authors, all debuting in the upcoming year, and we're going to blog about life, writing, and friendship.

I can't wait to get started blogging with these fabulous writers: Tracy Madison, Maureen Lipinski, Lisa Patton, Lesley Livingston, and Carolyn McTighe.

Look for my posts every Thursday, starting next week!

Cover!

2008-08-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

Check out the cover for The September Sisters!

Pretty great, huh? The HarperCollins design team did absolutely beautiful work, and I'm so happy that this is what they came up with. Wanna know why there's a lovely blue heart against a shimmery pool background? Guess you'll have to read the book!

What's In A Name?

2008-07-18T16:07:00.001-07:00

I recently received some beautiful looking Advanced Review Copies of The September Sisters compliments of the lovely people at HarperCollins. So, Meg Cabot (or any other amazing, talented, published authors), if you happen to be reading this, and you are dying to read The September Sisters and write a beautiful quote for the back cover, just drop me an e-mail and I'll send you your very own copy!!

In other news, after lots of late nights and babysitting by my wonderful husband, I finally have something that might resemble a rough draft of my second novel (which will be out in Winter 2010 from HarperCollins). I had this brief feeling of accomplishment, for all of about an hour, and then I started thinking about how I need to revise the heck out of this thing before it's fit for anyone else to see.

I always think it's kinda fun to write a rough draft because I know in the back of my mind that I'm going to have to go back and fix it anyway, so I just let the creative juices flow and write whatever comes into my head. Not so fun, is going back and reading through and realizing how much work there is to be done!

But right now, I'm still at the stage where I love my characters and it makes me happy to work on them (Much, much later after many, many hours of tireless revision, I sometimes secretly plot about how to kill them off in the last chapter!)

So the work continues, and hopefully soon I'll be able to post more info. about this second book including a title (well, assuming I can come up with one).

Sort of Like Doing Research. . .

2008-06-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

I confess. My obsession with reality TV has sunk to a new low. I am now looking forward to Tuesday nights, so I can watch Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood. Don't ask me why I watch. I'm not exactly a Tori Spelling fan. But there is something about it that keeps me coming back. Maybe it's the fact that she's pregnant and over-emotional (and boy, have I been there), or the fact that she has problems just like the rest of us (a dog who won't stop pooping in the house).

Last night, I spent an entire hour watching a very pregnant Tori obssess over her husband's young, dark, and beautiful scuba instructor, then take charge by spending a miserable day, sea sick, out on the boat with him just to keep an eye on things.

Not that I could relate to any of this, and honestly I didn't care one bit. Instead of watching I could've/should've been a.) working on my latest book, b.)reading a good book or c.)catching up on some much needed sleep. But did I turn off the TV? Nope.

Alas, summer reality season only comes around once a year. And besides, this season is going to follow Tori as her first book comes out and she goes on her book tour. So, really, it's all going to be quite educational. Sort of like doing research.

Happy Birthday to Me (And My Sister!)

2008-06-22T23:48:00.000-07:00

In The September Sisters, the main character, Abby, and her sister, Becky, have birthdays that are one day apart in September. This was one element of the book where I really drew on real life! My sister, Rachel, and I also have birthdays one day apart -- in June. Last week I turned 30, and the next day, she turned 27.

When we were kids, we used to hate having our birthdays a day apart. Just like in the book, my sister would literally hold a countdown to her birthday all day on my birthday. It was so annoying and infuriating! It was as if she'd decided to be born six weeks early just to ruin my birthday.

But now that we're grown-ups, it's been fun spending our birthdays together. What cooler way to celebrate your birthday than with your sister who is also celebrating her birthday? This year was the first time in a few years that we were not able to be together on our birthdays, and I have to say that I missed her. So, Happy Birthday, Rachel! And now that your birthday is over, it's my birthday next!!

The Beginning

2008-05-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally started my own blog! After reading lots of blogs by other authors, I decided it was my turn to jump in. Actually, this is harder than I thought it would be. I feel awfully self-conscious thinking that people might actually read this. . . But here I am.

So I should say that my first novel for young adults, The September Sisters, will be published by HarperCollins/Laura Geringer books in early 2009. This book has been a long time in the making for me. If you want to read more about this, click on over to my website. http://www.jilliancantor.com/ and check out the "about me" section.

But I am really, really excited for the book to be out. It's crazy how long it takes from the time you sell your book until the time it actually comes out. (In my case, about a year, I think.) I mean, that is longer than it takes to have a baby -- and believe me, I've had two, and that nine months feels like forever. I guess in a lot of ways, a book is like a baby. But I digress.

Anyway, at this point I'm in the middle of reading the author galley, in which I get to see the book look like a real book with formatted chapters and cool font. Very exciting!! I love the way the inside of the book is designed. As I read through it, it's making this very surreal publishing experience seem real to me.