Monday, December 31, 2012

So ends one year, so begins another. (And a Contest)

Here in Nebraska, we're down to a few remaining hours of 2012.  I've often caught myself a little sad on New Year's, looking forward to the next year but kinda bummed to see the previous one end. This year, I don't really feel that way.

2012 wasn't a bad year. In fact, it was a great year. It was my first year back in the States. Spent quite a bit of time with my parents for once, since I visited them in Seattle, went to Maui with them, and they came to visit us here in Nebraska. After living away from home for nine years, it's nice to be able to see them more than just once in a blue moon.

Just a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I celebrated our ten-year anniversary. Where does the time go, right? Love you, Eddie! Here's to a few more decades of shenanigans!

Careerwise, it was a great year. I made my goal of 1,000,000 words, and released 10 novels, 4 novellas, and 3 short stories. I joined forces with Marie Sexton and Heidi Cullinan for the Tucker Springs series.


I also got to go to some conferences in 2012, where I had the privilege of meeting a number of amazing authors, readers, reviewers, bloggers, editors, cover artists, and snarky bartenders. I put some faces with names, and had an absolutely amazing time. The only real downside to any of them was coming home from Authors After Dark with pneumobronchebolaflupox, which I maintain was the fault of Typhoid Damon the Suede. Jerk.

I had the tremendous honor of being a finalist for several awards, including the Lambda Literary Award and the Epic Awards, and even managed to win a few.


Stuff like that seriously blows my mind. Being an author has always been my dream, and even three years after my first book was published, it's still mind-boggling to be living it. Five years ago, I was a miserable customer service representative, wondering where my life was going and why it was going there without me, so to be a full-time writer surrounded by amazing people is... folks, I make my living putting life into words, and I still can't come up with the words to describe what I feel about the way my life and my career have turned out. I may never make millions, or see my name on the NYT Bestseller List, but I get to live my dream, and that's something I'm grateful for every minute of every day.

And as a bonus, the world didn't end on December 21st.

Also, this picture happened at some point, and I nearly died laughing:


Which leads me to the single greatest thing 2012 brought us.

Grumpy cat.



The year had its drama and its headaches, of course. What year doesn't?  It was an election year, which always blows donkey balls. There were events in the news I'm pretty sure I don't need to repeat.  There were good things, there were bad things, and all in all, it was anything but an uneventful year.

That's not why I'm ready for 2012 to be over, though. It's not even a "good riddance" kind of feeling.

I'm just that ready for 2013.

Why? Because 2013 is going to freaking rock.

There will be more books coming out, of course. I've got all kinds of things brewing for you, my awesome readers, even if it's not all on the Coming Soon page yet. I'm seriously excited.

As many of you know, I recently started collaborating for the first time. All the Tucker Springs books are written solo (except one Marie and Heidi wrote together), but in November, Aleksandr Voinov and I started writing together. That has been an absolutely staggering and amazing experience, one that has so far resulted in a novel, two novellas, a couple of shorts, and two more books currently in-progress. I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to working with Aleks in 2013, and I still might once in a while kind of have a fangirl moment when I see our names on a book cover together.
*squeak*

(Quid Pro Quo will be available January 7th, BTW)

I'm also working with the lovely and talented Cat Grant on a contemporary military romance. It doesn't have a title yet, but stay tuned for details on that as 2013 goes on.


What else is coming up in the new year?  Eddie and I are heading to the UK for three weeks as part of a late celebration of being married ten years and not killing each other. There will be hilarity and shenanigans, no doubt, especially when we're causing chaos with Aleks. Expect pictures and commentary.

We're still waiting on confirmation from the military, but there's a good chance we're moving again this fall. Not 100% sure where, or if it'll happen at all, but fingers crossed.

So, goodbye, 2012! Welcome, 2013! Please rock as hard as I think you will.

NOW.  I promised a contest, didn't I? 

And it's an easy one.  Just leave a comment with a highlight from 2012 (something you did that was exciting, anything), and something you're looking forward to in 2013.  That's it.

Random poster wins two ebooks of their choice off my backlist.  Contest ends at midnight, Central time, on January 7th. Good luck!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

27 comments:

  1. "Closet cowboy" still makes me giggle :D

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  2. I won the EPIC Award for Best Erotica. Hmm...who else was up for that? :P

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  3. Sorry, exciting is not in my vocabulary but neither is mundane. So, I discovered you, Aleksandr Voinov,G.B. Gordon, James Buchanan, a shit load of other authors, Riptide Publishing and an ever stronger desire to read everything under the sun.
    Made oodles of new friends with "social networking" , and I lost my best friend who had the greatest laugh you could ever hear.
    I'm glad to see 2012 leave, I welcome 2013. Looking forward one step at a time.

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  4. I survived a myocardial infarction, diabetes, and thyroid disease. Plus I took two train trips to Texas, and plotzed in a PhD program. I survived! :-D

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  5. GRL, hands down the most exciting part of 2012! It was my first ever trip overseas, and while that was both exciting and scary prospect at the time, I'm so glad I made myself do it. I travelled all the way from Australia, on my own, and after 30 odd hours of travelling, got to meet the most amazing bunch of friends face to face for the first time even though some of us had known each other for 3 or 4 years via author message boards and Facebook. THEN I got to meet, and even hang out with, some of my favourite authors! Wow, talk about the cherry on top! Lol. 2012 had its ups and downs, but that alone made it one of the best years ever. I fully intend to do it all again in Atlanta 2013! Oh, and I also got my first tattoo and turned 40!

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  6. I graduated School with my bachelors in June this year. The last three years were hard on my because I was balacning a full time job, my son (who turned six this year) and my daughter (who turned three this year) all while going to school full time. So that was exciting to finally be done. Something I look forward too in 2013 is time to catch up on reading and hopefully a better paying job for my family :)

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  7. What a wonderful year you had!
    My best experience was the month I spent in Italy studying art history this summer! It was the perfect way to finish out my time at college. I guess I also count graduating college December 14th in my best things this year! ;)
    And as for 2013 I will be studying for my Florida teaching certification in art and hoping to get a big girl career. Half excited and half afraid this will cut into my reading time...
    Happy New Year!
    OceanAkers @ aol.com

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  8. It was a great year & I hope 2013 is even better! Don't enter me. Just wanted to say Happy New Year to you & Eddie. And yes RT was memorable ;)

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  9. hmm.. highlight from 2012... My 5 year old started Kindergarten and my 1 year old started walking...

    Looking forward to in 2013... Not really sure...

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  10. I started an online book discussion forum with some friends. Www.InnerGoddessForum.com and met some wonderful authors.

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  11. 2012 highlights? In April I discovred MM romance literature - yay! In August, wentto the Olympics. The rest of the year has been quite quiet
    Suze
    Littlesuze at hotmail dot om

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  12. Actually 2012 wasn't that great a year for me so I don't have much to highlight. I guess finding Goodreads and joining so I can read and learn about some great books and authors.

    I usually don't make plans so I can't say I'm looking forward to anything. Whatever happens, happens :)

    penumbrareads(at)gmail(dot)com

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  13. hmmm...2012 was kinda boring not counting all the wonderful books and authors I discovered. 2013 on the other hand is gonna be interesting as I'm gonna finally go to college(at 46)!

    Thanks, chellebee66(at)gmail.com

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  14. I read a whole lot of books. I was able to fit in a wonderful trip to the mountains of Jasper and Banff. And it was my 25th anniversary with my wonderful husband. Looking forward to a whole lot more books in 2013.

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  15. I just enjoyed my first full year of being retired. I did a lot of volunteer work and worked on recovering from some surgery by going to the gym and swimming when I wanted to. It was just enjoyable doing what I wanted and when I wanted. I was very disappointed that I wasn't able to go to GRL in 2012 but look out Atlanta because I'll be there this year.

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  16. Hmm... Well, I didn't do much this past year. Haha... I'm not much of an adventurous person.. But I guess what I did do was get back into art. Graphics making and drawing. I always loved being artistic but since graduating high school I kind of stopped.
    It's been a few years and I was glad to finally get back into it. :D heh....

    Now I hope I can get my creative mind going and my fingers flowing cuz I wanna try my hand at some stories other than fanfiction. XD

    Judi
    arella3173_loveless@yahoo(dot)com

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  17. In 2012, I FINALLY got out of a call center/customer service job and got back into teaching (hallelujah!). I look forward to completing another degree and maybe traveling this summer!

    Ann
    Kyreadinggirl@yahoo.com

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    Replies
    1. I work in a callcenter in VA. I dont miind it. And I got a BS in special and elementary educatiin. But I dont teach anymore. How simular!

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  18. Attended GRL in ABQ! :)

    Looking forward to spring and the return of green to MN.

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  19. 2012 was not a great year for me, to say the least. But I got to see Redd Kross play an amazing show in San Francisco in August! (Can't believe the McDonald brothers are pushing 50--they looked like teenaged guys with a garage band, and rocked so hard that they wore us all out!) I'm hoping for the return of NHL hockey (damn it!) in 2013, and can't wait for the Pete and Pete reunion show at SF Sketchfest this month!

    vitajex(at)aol(Dot)com

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  20. I celebrated my 60th birthday in 2012 and have lots of wonderful plans of things to do, places to go in 2013. Sadly, said goodbye to my old Siamese who was 21 and had a very good life.

    avaliereads(at)aol(dot)com

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  21. It would be getting into the whole new and different world of eBooks and getting a Kindle. My credit card has suffered but I'm happy.

    strive4bst(At) yahoo(Dot) com

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  22. Oooh...something exciting I did in 2012...hmm...well, a friend of mine took me trick flying in his plane. That was probably the most adrenaline inducing incident I've participated in this year. And although it was super fun...I never want to do it again :D

    morris(dot)crissy(at)gmail(dot)com

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  23. Best thing of 2012 for me was finishing up college getting my degree. I'm not one to plan so I don't have anything planned for 2013, I'm just going to go with the flow and see what goodies 2013 will bring.

    H.B.
    humhumbum@yahoo.com

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  24. Best of 2012? Reading my first L A Witt book, Out of Focus. Then finding and reading all the others over and over. It was a very stressful year with several medical problems and trying to find a place to live after being flooded out of my apartment. So finding a talented author who can draw me into her world with every book is priceless. As for 2013. All I want is a place to live for my cat and I. And more books! LOL
    Cathye C.

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  25. I'm a blogger/reviewer and we switched from Blogger to WP. Hopefully making the blog, Under the Covers bigger and better for new things in 2013!

    Annie
    alltherhage AT gmail DOT com

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  26. 2012 was a good year for me too, the birth of my son and a promotion in work. Hopefully things will get better this year as i intend to set up an online store and also run a dodge ball league in my native town as well as spending time with my 2 boys as the youngest is now starting to walk...exciting times ahead

    http://strictlyadultfun.blogspot.com

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