We have our winners in the "Win Jason's Hannah Montana Tickets" Sweepstakes!

Well it never goes exactly as planned, does it? Despite our wild ending, we finally have a grand prize winner! He/She will receive my tickets to the Stadium of Fire extravaganza on July 4th featuring Glenn Beck, Hannah Montana and the Blue Man Group.

We also have five runners up. Are you a winner? Watch the video to find out! And if so, please drop me an email pronto. Congrats!

Check out my famous nephew!

One of my sister's 42 kids was featured in this newspaper article today. He made tote bags to haul around his Fablehaven books after author Brandon Mull paid a visit to his school. What a great kid! If you like, drop him a nice comment here and I'll be sure my Sis reads them to him. You'll make his day!

Warning: Only watch these clips if you literally have NOTHING else to accomplish in this life

Jason wears an unnatural amount of makeup on Friday's FoxNews interview

Never have they caked me up so thick with makeup. My face gained 11 pounds with all this gunk!

See Jason's grey hair on BYU-TV tonight

If you’re interested, or bored-to-death, I’ll be on BYU-TV tonight at 6:30, EST. The interview was taped so long ago I have no clue what I said. Hopefully nothing as crazy as giving out my cell phone number!

Lyrics to Love Me if You Can

Quite a few have asked why I posted the song, Love Me if You Can, but not the lyrics. The only easy answer is that I'm a dope :)

“Love Me if You Can”
by Cherie Call

Tonight I tried to write the perfect song of love
But all the words I sang were blue
Because I’ve tried and I’ve tried to win you over
And I’ve done the best I can do
So we may never be together
But my heart is in your hands
And if you ever think about me in your long-lost dreams
Love me if you can

I know that you’ve moved on, it’s what you had to do
I never had the chance to say good-bye
It’s on my list of all the things I never said
It goes on for pages and it keeps me up at night
And my heart is missing pieces
That only you could understand

So if you ever think about it in your long-lost dreams
Love me if you can
So this song I sing is a little sad
And it’s unrehearsed
I just hope you hear that this broken life
Has had a second verse

’Cause in those days gone by, I tried to build you castles
And maybe they just turned to sand
But if you can only love who you wished I could have been
I wish you knew it’s finally who I am
I remember how you needed me
And I know yesterday will never come again
But if you feel me reaching for you in your long- lost dreams
Love me if you can

We have a winner in the Amazon.com review contest!

We have a winner in the Amazon.com Wednesday Letters review contest!

Congrats to P. Brown Wagner (Pennsylvania). Drop us a note with your full contact info and we'll rush out your advance copy of Recovering Charles.

Have an idea for how we could away another copy? Tell us!

Recovering Charles theme song released

I've hinted at this before, but it's finally time for the official release of the theme song for Recovering Charles. It's called, "Love Me if You Can."

The music and lyrics are by my ridiculously talented good friend, Cherie Call. The vocals are by newcomer Paul Jacobsen. The song fits the book's central theme so perfectly! Truly, I'm so blessed to have partnered with them on this project.

Ready to hear it? Click here!

Can't wait to hear what you think...

L.A., B.E.A., and T.I.R.E.D.

Well that was a nice break at home! Kodi and I returned Wednesday evening, recovered Thursday, and Friday morning I got up at 4:00 to head back to the airport for a flight to L.A. for the annual Book Expo America show. It's the Super Bowl of book conventions with authors, publishers, movie reps, agents, etc.

Quite a few awards are given out dring the week, and we just learned that The Wednesday Letters won the Ben Franklin Award for Audio Book of the Year in the fiction category. Congrats to Art Allen! He's the actor who did the audio performance.

Yesterday I met with folks from Penguin about their paperback plans for The Wednesday Letters. They've got big plans for the August 26th release and it will be interesting to see how they differ in distribution and PR from my hardcover publisher. It's all such a fantastic learning experience.

Today's my official signing of the advance reader copies of Recovering Charles. (1:00-2:00 PM, if you're at BEA) I look forward to hearing reactions from folks; it's always a bit nerve wracking! You can count on about 8 fingers the number of people who've read the book thus far, but that will change in a hurry after today and it's pins and needles waiting to hear feedback.

Finally, I have to post two pictures from Peru. Kodi took these and they might be my favorite from the whole trip. The first was taken as we approached Machu Picchu, the second from just inside the ruins. I love the tree in the second photo. Looks like the tree of life, eh?

I'll be posting many more on my Facebook page if you're interested.

More soon!

Winding down from Peru

Terribly sorry I haven't been able to post more during our trip. Internet access was actually OK most of the time, but I simply didn't have much time to sit and breathe, much less write!

Right now I am sitting in the amazing lobby of the Libertador Hotel in Cusco. It's a fantastic hotel by any standards. I'll try to post video later.

We leave in an hour for the airport to return to Lima. We'll spend the day seeing the sights before heading for the airport this evening and flying home at about midnight. I'll be home in VA in time to greet my kids as they get off the bus tomorrow. Can't wait! I've missed them terribly.

So many unforgettable memories from this trip. People and images I will never forget. I promise to post more - including photos - when I'm home.

Quick not about the panda. I take him everywhere I travel and always send back pictures of his adventures to my wife and kids. In this case, of course, just the kids. This panda has seen his share of excitement, that's for sure! In this pic, Panda is sitting atop the west side of the ruins at Macchu Picchu overlooking the river.

More soon.

Greetings from Peru!

Hola! Kodi and I are safely in Cusco and having a grand old time. Today we see a few more sites near the city and then take a train to Aquas Calientes, the "base camp" - for lack of a better term - for Machu Picchu. Aguas Calientes is probably my favorite little city on the trip. It's tucked tightly between two huge mountain ranges and the houses and hostels are built literally right against the sheer mountain faces.



Here's a photo from yesterday. If possible we'll post again tomorrow after our adventure to Machu Picchu. It's truly one of the most magnificent things I've ever seen, and I can't wait to share it with my wife and a whole new group of travelers.

Adios!

Thanks San Diego!

What a week! I'm frantically trying to get packed and ready to leave for Peru on Wednesday morning. I'll try to check in from the road; we'll see how well I'm able to connect.

My wife Kodi is coming along this year. Thank goodness for grandmothers! Kodi's mom has flown in to watch our four little vandals while we're gone.

Also, I'm embarrassed it's taken me so long to say this, but thanks, thanks, thanks to the many wonderful women who attended the Time Out for Women conference in San Diego last weekend. We had such a great time and I fell in love with your fantastic city.

Most of all I'm so glad I able to see my Aunt Annabelle and crazy Cousin Cheryl. (pictured) Thanks for coming! It's always nice to look out at a crowd of 1,000 faces and see one or two you actually recognize :)

San Diego was my last event of the TOFW spring schedule. This fall I look forward to meeting thousands more wonderful folks in Nashville, Sacramento, Portland, San Antonio, Springfield, and St. Louis.

Sneak peek of Recovering Charles is FINALLY online

Moments ago I posted the long-awaited, much-teased sneak peek of the new novel, Recovering Charles. My fabulous editor is frantically editing so they can go to press with a few thousand ARC's tomorrow. (ARC's are Advance Reading Copies. These are sent to reviewers, book store buyers, managers, newspapers, VIP's etc. They're paperback and are produced quick and cheap.)

So without further ado, click here to read the Prologue, Chapter 1, and a snippet of Chapter 2. I hope it whets yer whistle!

I'm off to a Time Out for Women Event in San Diego. I can't wait to leave my Virginia allergies at the airport...

Win Jason's Hannah Montana tickets

So here's the scoop. Have you heard about the sold out Stadium of Fire event in Provo, Utah on July 4th? This is a huge annual extravaganza, even without Miley Cyrus. Throw in the fact that Glenn Beck is emceeing and you have one of this summer's hottest tickets.

And I have four of them! (and they're great, great seats)

Guess what? I'm going to give them away. No strings, no purchase necessary, no see stores for details, and no some restrictions apply must be 18 to enter nonsense.

The question is, how?

Traditional drawing? A video drawing like I did last time with my kids? A letter writing contest?

I'm open to suggestions. Let's hear them!

Recovering Charles already on Amazon?

What a hoot. A book that I'm still editing is already available for pre-order on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Recovering-Charles-Jason-Wright/dp/1590389646/

The cover isn't up yet, but you can still get your copy ordered today! (hint hint) ;-)

Also, be sure to check back soon for a sneak peak of the Prologue and Chapter One. They should be up by the end of the week.

A rare Sunday at home and the rise of self-publishing

It seems I'm hardly home anymore on Sundays to attend church in my own branch (congregation). So despite some very unfortunate drama between primary and relief society today (don't you love church drama?), it was nice to be among friends and wake up this morning in my own bed.

I often get asked about self-publishing. In fact, it's one of the most common questions I get at signings, speeches, etc. What are the pros? Cons? Have I had any experience with it?

I've never self-published myself, but I know quite a bit about the process from my previous life when I worked in politics and my former think-tank published a couple of books with iUniverse, a very popular print-on-demand publisher.

Today I stumbled across this article in the NYT and I thought it might be worth passing along. It answers a lot of common questions about the process and offers some fascinating numbers on the growth of the industry.

Click here to read.

Wow, who knew I loved Oklahoma?

I've just returned from another terrific Time Out for Women event, this one in Oklahoma City. What a great crowd! They were so receptive and kind. They even put up with me calling my wife, Kodi, on stage at the beginning of my presentation. She said a friendly "hello" to them as I held the mic up to the phone. They shouted back so enthusiastically, Kodi said her ears rang for an hour!

I can't say enough how much I loved meeting these incredible, inspiring women. It seemed every single one had a story to share with me of how a letter, or series of letters, impacted their lives.

On my way to the airport on Saturday we swung by the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. Yesterday was coincidentally the 13th anniversary of that tragic day. I saw people milling about, arms around one another, some with a personal connection, others with no connection other than memories from new coverage. The sights were powerful, but the spirit and resilience I felt from that amazing city will stick me longer than anything I saw with my eyes.

Sincere thanks, again, to the wonderful women who attended for making me (and the other presenters, I'm sure!) feel so welcome. Can't wait to come back!

Thanks to the SVMFG

I just returned from speaking to the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival Guild. Great lunch, great people! Most of all, it was held at the Holiday Inn Express where I lived last week. Now that's good karma.

Many thanks to Melissa Price for twisting my arm and getting me there. For more information about the Festival and the fabulous show they put on each summer, click here.

Thanks to Harpers Ferry!

Last night I drove to Harpers Ferry, WV to speak to the fabulous women (and a few brave men) of the Harpers Ferry Ward and Charles Town Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've done more events like this than I can count over the last four years, but this was honestly one of my very favorite. They were so kind, so welcoming, so funny, so smart!

We talked about Christmas Jars, Wednesday Letters, where the books came from, and this crazy journey I've been on. They even got a sneak peek at the new novel, Recovering Charles, and asked some great questions.

So a big thanks to the gang that put it together, especially Amy and Heidi. It was worth every mile of the drive!

And yes, I'm the plumpish one in the middle between Amy (my right) and her twin sister, April (my left), who just happened to be visiting blustery Rexburg, ID. Thanks for coming all the way out to see me, April! ;-)

And yes, I found a few pounds during the last couple months that I intend to lose again, pronto!

We made it!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Have not slept since Wednesday night and I'm zonked.

My very favorite line of any book is the very last. It's a total thrill to write. What's the very last line of Recovering Charles?

"Alone."

See you when I wake up from hibernation.