I'm SO happy to announce that my Rescue Me series has been extended by Sourcebooks Casablanca for a full six books! The series will stay true to the first book, creating two-legged love connections for the staff and volunteers of the High Grove Animal Shelter, and finding forever homes for their four-legged friends. Future books will feature animals from a variety of circumstances that real life dogs and cats experience every day. 
 
The second book in the series, Sit, Stay, Love, will be released April 3, 2018.

I'm happy to share that I’ve had a sneak peak at the cover of Sit, Stay, Love, the second book in the Rescue Me series and love it just as much as the cover for A New Leash on Love!
 
Sit, Stay, Love will be released in April 2018, and is slated for a cover reveal in the coming month. Please sign up for my newsletter for pre-order details and a first glimpse at another great Sourcebooks Casablanca cover!

Stay current on release dates of new titles and other news. Sign up for my author newsletter by Wednesday, June 28th for a chance to win these pawsome goodies!

I’m excited to share that my debut is generating some wonderful reviews! Publishers Weekly gave A New Leash on Love a starred review, saying “Burns’s auspicious debut contemporary is a warm cuddly tale full of dogs, cats, kids, and genuinely likable adults.” Read the full review here: www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4926-5083-6.
 
A New Leash on Love was also given 4 ½ stars and called a Top Pick by RT Book Reviews, saying “Wounded souls of all shapes and sizes, human and animal alike, tug at the heartstrings and evoke the right blend of tears as well as laughter.” RT Book Review’s full review will be available to the public soon.

​Considering my love of animals, rescue organizations, and, of course, love stories, it’s safe to say the flash of inspiration that led to my writing A New Leash on Love was inevitable. While the dogs, shelter workers, and the shelter featured in the story are fictional, the inspiration behind them was real. Every day, amazing and wonderful stories are born in pet adoption shelters.
 
I also found daily inspiration from my family’s two rescue dogs, Hazel and Nala.
 
As a puppy, Hazel was found in a plastic trash bag along with eight of her siblings on the side of a road. Luckily, a concerned man noticed the wiggling bag and took immediate action. Not only did he get the litter to a caring rescue organization where the puppies were treated for neglect, he adopted one of the litter as soon as it was cleared. We adopted Hazel days later. My daughter singled her out from dozens of other dogs right away. Hazel was sweet, cuddly, and in need of some extra love. Not only was she the runt of the litter, but prior to being rescued, Hazel suffered an attack from another dog. Although Hazel was beautiful to us from the start, her facial injuries worsened as she matured and she needed extensive surgery. Thankfully, she’s been fully recovered for several years thanks to our wonderful, talented, and kind-hearted vet.
 
Our newest addition, Nala, was initially surrendered to a high-kill animal control shelter at just four weeks of age. Thankfully, she was picked up by a caring rescue agency and rehabbed for adoption. It’s hard to believe now, but when we adopted her at eight weeks of age, she was the scrawniest and most timid little thing, and getting her to eat wasn’t easy. Now, she’s a bit of a doggie vacuum and has the most eternally playful nature. My family loves that she’s a constant reminder not to take life too seriously and to always find some time for fun.
 
Let's hear from you!​  Have a real-life story about your adopted pet or a remarkable shelter that you’d like to share? Please e-mail me. I’ll be posting personal stories of readers in my quarterly newsletter.

As the proud parent of two rescue dogs, I am a huge advocate for adopting a rescue dog rather than buying from a breeder.  According to the ASPCA, approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year.  No matter what breed of pet you're looking for, your local animal shelters are certain to have the perfect pal for you!
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• Read more Reasons to Adopt a Pet.
• Find a pet to adopt from a local shelter through Petfinder.com.

Let's hear from you!  Share your picture or story of your rescue pet on my Facebook page!

It’s with great happiness I’m announcing I’ve accepted an offer of representation from Jessica Watterson of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency for my contemporary romance, Shelter. Jessica represents my fabulous writer friend, Amanda Heger, and I’ve heard nothing but great things about her for a while now. I probably should admit I’ve also Twitter stalked her, and admire both the stories she chooses to represent, as well as the agency as a whole. So, a week after the offer, I’m still doing a happy dance.

As with every writer I know, my journey to publication’s been neither swift nor easy. I’ve been writing awhile. At first, I wrote simply because I had stories I needed to get on the page and made no real attempt at publication. About five years ago I got serious (quite possibly because it’d be a justifiable reason to keep writing) and did what I’d been dreading. Since I’d accumulated a handful of manuscripts over the years, I picked the one I felt was the strongest and started getting rejected, uh, querying that is.

Occasionally I’d get a request for a partial, get super excited, only to later receive a more personal rejection. Most of the writers reading this know that pain very well. But, it’s part of the industry, and as Jeff Gordon said about racing, he learned more from the races he lost than the races he won.

A little over two years ago, I entered an online pitch contest for a YA urban fantasy I’d written and got lucky. Not only did I get a request for a full, I got an offer of representation that I accepted. After six months of revision, my manuscript went on limited submission. Although no offers came through, the feedback from editors was extremely helpful and offered insight on how to make it stronger. It was right about then the market for urban fantasy tanked. And, so far, has stayed there.

This has been said in many ways but it’s important to remember. I love seeing this somewhat crooked sign at my son’s karate dojo every week.

Fast forward another year and I took the scariest leap of my journey so far. I struck out on my own again, knowing that what I really wanted was an agent to represent my adult work where I’ve done and want to do the bulk of my writing. What I did right—rather than rushing into querying again—was take my time and use everything I’d learned from my first agent (who I will always be thankful for), from being on submission, from critique partners, and from the industry to make the manuscript I’d chosen, Shelter, the best it could be. I originally wrote it five or six years ago and it needed major rewrites. But I loved the story and believed it could be salvaged.

As a result, Shelter went out stronger than anything I’d queried before. So, for those writers reading my journey in hopes of finding inspiration for staying a difficult course, I’ll summarize some of the things I think I did right in the hope it’s helpful:

•  Join the industry. If you’re reading this, you’re doing better than I was for many years. There are so many ways to get involved, but for me writing organizations like the RWA and the SCBWI were instrumentally helpful, as are all the wonderful opportunities and information on Twitter, and in The Writers’ Digest.
• Network! Go to conferences, workshops, writers’ groups, etc. Go to any and all you can. Not only will you meet other authors who may become personal friends and helpful critique partners, you’ll learn a ton.
• Join a critique group or assemble one of your own. Probably the worst advice you can get from readers who are family or friends but not writers is that your work is fabulous. Let’s face it. Even the best of writers still have editors to help make their work stronger. Learning where your work needs to be improved can hurt, but if you’re open to it, it can make you a better writer. I know this did for me.
• Enter contests. Whether or not you win, the feedback from judges (who are often published authors) is invaluable.

And finally,

• Stay the course. The industry may be tough and rejection might suck, but if you’re writing because it fills a need that nothing else does, you’ll find your way, no matter how many ups and downs you’ll encounter along the way.