Born in 1987, Jessica Burkhart is the author of the forthcoming Canterwood Crest series by Aladdin MIX. Jess attended public and private schools in Tennessee, Virginia, Florida and Illinois.

If she wasn’t in school, you’d find her in the stables. She owned three Tennessee Walking-mix horses—Jigsaw Sallie, Princess Spice (guess which band was popular then!) and Misty—all of which she rode and trained.

In eighth grade, Jess convinced her parents to let her homeschool. Homeschooling allowed Jess to purse her two passions—writing and volunteering for the Effingham County Humane Society (Effingham, Illinois). Over a couple of years, Jess volunteered over 2000 hours at the cat branch at the ECHS and fostered dozens of cats and kittens, some with special needs. She begged her parents to let her keep each one, but sadly they didn’t agree!

In November 2000, Jess had a spinal fusion at Shriners Hospital for Children in St. Louis. During her recovery, she searched for a way to give back to the hospital. The next year, Jess founded “Str8 Spines for Shriners,” a support group for children and teens facing spinal surgery at any Shriners Hospital across the country. Jess has chatted with dozens of kids, teens and even parents and grandparents.

Jess couldn’t ride horses after the surgery, so she focused on writing. She wrote about everything but horses, since she thought it would remind her she couldn’t ride.

Instead of riding, Jess focused all of her energy on education. She started college at sixteen (dual enrollment) and took night, weekend, online, mini-mester and summer classes for two years. She graduated from Lake City Community College (Lake City, Florida) with an Associate’s Degree in English in fall 2005.

Jess transferred to Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) and in November 2006, during her senior year, she signed up for National Novel Writing Month. The challenge? Write a novel in 30 days. Jess did and Take the Reins was born.

In April 2007, Jess, then twenty, graduated magna cum laude from FSU with a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a minor in humanities.

By May 2007, Jess had signed with an agent and had a four-book deal from Simon & Schuster’s Aladdin MIX imprint. Take the Reins, the first book in the series, hits shelves on January 27, 2009.

Now, Jess is a full-time author and writes tween fiction, young adult fiction and freelances for magazines. She’s currently outlining a screenplay and a spec TV script. You’ll find over 90 pieces of her writing in magazines such as Girls' Life, Guideposts Sweet 16 and Listen. She’s represented by Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident Media Group. Jess is a member of Phi Beta Kappi, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Theta Kappa, Lambda Iota Tau and the SCBWI.  

Enjoy these horsey pics!

F.A.Q.

Where has your writing been published?

You can find my writing in magazines and newspapers such as: A Girls' World, AboutTeens.com, Barefoot Path, Beautiful Girl, Characters, Florida Trend's Next, FSView & Florida Flambeau, Girls' Life, Guideposts Sweet 16, Howl!, Kid Magazine Writers, Lake City Magazine, Listen, NE Chronicle, Positive Teens, Rainy Day Corner, Romance Writers Report, Teen Ink, Teen Scene, Teen Voices, Teenage Christian, The Famuan, The Next Step, The Tattoo, The Writer, Writing for Dollars, Young People's Press and Young Writer.

When did you start writing?

I started writing when I was seven or eight and wrote horrible short stories about horses and cats. I got serious about writing when I was thirteen and my parents enrolled me in college-level writing classes.

Did you major in creative writing?

Nope! I majored in literature with a humanities minor. I took a couple of writing classes in college, but figured I needed to read the greats before I wrote something good. My favorite areas of study are art, film and women's studies. I use all of those things when I write books or magazine articles.

How did you get published?

My aunt sent me a copy of Teen Ink Magazine, which published teen writing. I wrote an article, e-mailed it to Teen Ink and saw it in print a few months later.

Okay, but how did you get to bigger magazines?

I wrote many articles for free for tiny magazines and built up a clip file. Once I had clips to show to editors, they began to take me seriously. Every year, I targeted better and bigger magazines until I broke into glossy teen mags.

When did you write your first book?
 
I wrote my first book when I was nineteen. I signed up for National Novel Writing Month "NaNoWriMo" 2006 and wrote the draft in 30 days. I edited for months after that and signed with my agent in February 2007.

What's your advice on book writing?

It has been said, but read a lot and study your favorite authors. Take writing classes and try short stories before committing to a novel. You'll gain experience first and the tips you learn from short story writing can be later applied to novel writing.

Also, consider taking writing classes online (UCLA, ICL or Gotham). Taking classes online allows more free time and you won't be driving back and forth to a campus.

What did you read as a kid?
 
I loved The Babysitter’s Club, The Saddle Club, the Thoroughbred Series, Riding Academy Series, Black Beauty, The Black Stallion and Misty of Chincoteague. I read anything and everything. If it had horses, I was hooked.

What cities have you lived in?

In Tennessee I've lived in: Goodlettsville, Springfield, Greenbrier and Cedar Hill. In Florida, I've lived in Ocala, Lake City and Tallahassee. In Virginia, I lived in Waynesboro and Effingham/Dieterich was my city of residence in Illinois.

What's next?

I'm writing the second book in the Canterwood Crest series and am working on a young adult novel (with horses!) set out West.

What would you be doing if you weren't writing books?

Writing for film or TV.