THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS Giveaway

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!!

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?

Book of the Month (and Denmark)

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

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!

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!!

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!

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.

And the blog tour continues. . .

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

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. . .

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!!!

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!

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!

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!

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

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!!!!!!!

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!

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

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!!!!

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!

More Blog Tour News

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!!!!!