Cover Art Imitates Life

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

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!

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!!!

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.

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

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 :-)

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.