Happy New Year, Everyone!

I started writing this post last week but the Interwebs did not cooperate, so better late than never, right? (Hopefully it wasn't a sign of things to come).

New Years are always a time for reflection, for looking back on the year that has passed and thinking about the months to come. It's an artificial line of demarcation, of course--there was a time not so long ago when the English new year actually began in late March. Think about that: the year 1751 began on March 25th and lasted just 282 days, with 1752 then beginning on 1 January. Now that really would have been unsettling, especially for those of us who like to make New Years' resolutions: three less months to get things right!

My resolutions tend to be the same ones, over and over: try to lose weight, exercise more consistently, get more sleep, make time to relax, get organized, etc. Some years I do well, some years I don't. I've spent the better part of the past month alternately enjoying my family and the holidays and tackling my huge long To Do list that runs the gamut from "wash all curtains" and "fix drainage on east side of house" to "get Midnight Confessions ready to self-publish" and "make book video for Falcons" and "get Rent-a-Nerd guy to out and come fix all these bloody technical problems." I've been working like a dog on that list and I don't seem to have made a lot of progress. Nor have I yet started the resolved diet, and a seriously wonky back is making the exercise resolution difficult. Oh, and that long To Do list is not good for either relaxation or sleep. But I'm going great guns on the Get Organized part!

At any rate, looking ahead, I have a wonderful starred review for WHEN FALCONS FALL from Booklist that I'll be posting in a few days. I am working on that book video and it should be available soon. And Midnight Confessions and Beyond Sunrise are both about ready to go up for preorder. I've essentially finished Where the Dead Lie, the twelfth Sebastian St. Cyr book (but hush because I don't want my editor to hear--that To Do List is still far too long!). I've started brainstorming Sebastian #13, which involves Princess Charlotte and Hero and Alexi Sauvage, and at this point I'm pretty excited about it (but then, this is the honeymoon stage, before the actually plotting begins and things get hard).


As for last year, I had my first ever real book tour, I finally made it back to London for a wonderful research trip, I spent a glorious ten days in the mountains of Idaho with my sister, we made a whirlwind visit to San Antonio to be there for my Air Force captain-doctor's wedding, and What Angels Fear hit #34 on Amazon for an entire day, thanks to a Book Bub ad I've been pushing to get for years and finally scored. We had some heartache, namely the loss of my little Indie cat, but all in all it was a pretty wonderful year.

Here's hoping for a great new year for all of us! Cheers.