Happy New Year!

 

Happy New Year!

It's a new year with lots of new things come y'all's way. I have plans, lol. Lots and lots of plans. ;) And may all your troubles be as short as your New Year's resolutions! (Quote from a sign lol)

~M

~Happy New Year and an eBook Giveaway~

And as a treat for the New Year... I'm giving away an eBook copy of Trouble Comes in Threes and Behind the Eight Ball!

*Throws glitter*

Make sure to leave me an email addy and what kind of format you'd like. Contest ends Jan 8th, and I'll announce the winner the next day. 

Also, this is my birthday month so there's going to be stuff happening all through the month lol. 

Confetti being dropped in Times Square during the New Year's celebration.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Fun facts for the first day of January:

*The first New Year was celebrated 4,000 years by the ancient Babylonians.


*It’s tradition to ring in New Year’s with family and friends because the first people you see will either give you good luck or bad luck. So make sure to keep friends close and foes very far away

*More vehicles are stolen on New Year’s Day than any other holiday, statistics from the National Insurance Crime Bureau revealed.

*The top three places to celebrate New Year’s Eve are Las Vegas, Disney World and of course, New York City.  Internationally, one of the biggest celebrations is in Sydney, Australia. More than 80,000 fireworks are set off from Sydney Harbour Bridge.

*Time Square New Year's Eve Ball was first dropped in 1907 after there was a fireworks ban. Back then, a 700-pound ball embellished with 25-watt bulbs made of iron and wood was dropped. Now, however, it weighs 11,875 pounds, is 12 feet in diameter and is adorned with 2,668 Waterford crystals.

*The tradition has continued in Times Square, except for in 1942 and 1943. The ball was not lowered because of wartime restrictions.

*In Italy, people wear red underwear on New Year’s Day to bring good luck all year long.

*In Colombia, Cuba and Puerto Rico, some families stuff a large doll, which is called Mr. Old Year, with memories from the past year. They also dress him in clothes from the outgoing year. At midnight, he is set ablaze, thus burning away the bad memories.

*It’s good luck to eat foods like black eyed peas, ham and cabbage because it is thought they bring prosperity. But if you want to have a happy new year, don’t eat lobster or chicken. Lobsters can move backward and chickens can scratch in reverse, so it is thought these foods could bring a reversal of fortune.

*Chinese New Year is celebrated the second full moon after the winter solstice.

*Jewish New Year is called Rosh Hashanah. Apples and honey are traditionally eaten.

*In ancient Rome the new year began on March 1.

*The traditional New Year’s song, “Auld Lang Syne,” means, “times gone by.”

*The top 10 resolutions are usually to lose weight, eat more healthily, exercise more, stop smoking, stick to a budget, save money, get more organized, be more patient, find a better job and to just be a better person over all.


*Using a baby to signify the New Year began in ancient Greece around 600 B.C.

http://www.ibtimes.com/new-years-eve-facts-trivia-fun-things-know-about-holiday-1523662


Happy New Year, everyone!
~M

A New Year!

Good Lord, where did 2012 get off to? Seems like I barely turned around twice and BAM! Here we are in 2013.  

Looking over the last year, I’d have to say it was a good one. I published seven books ;) with four different publishers. Priceless made DSP Best Seller list (made the top 5) which blew my mind. Perfect and Pure are under contract too. I’ve sent Shadows in the Night and The Harvest: Taken (book #1) to them. These two are novel length, so fingers crossed they’re accepted.

Nighttime Wishes, published through Romance First, was nominated for two awards. LOL, I’m not expecting to win; just being nominated is an award all its own. Nighttime Dreams has been released through RFP and the last book in the series, Nighttime Promises will be coming out in 2013.

I also went over to the dark side with Lust and Ice, published by Changeling Press. *Grin* The Bad Boys Club series isn’t my usual sweet romance. Oh no, this is truly a lesser of two evils type of series. Into the Darkness comes out in January and Haunting the Night comes out in March.

The anthology I did with Storm Moon Press was a lot of fun, and Faded Love is probably one of the sweetest stories I’ve ever done. And it’s the first thing I’ve ever had in print, so that’s cool too!

So yeah, as far as my writing career goes, I’m happy with 2012, lol.

 

My personal life, on the whole, went okay too. The hubby and I have been married nineteen years, and still going good.

 

I think he’s finally figured out that my writing is a job, not just a hobby. Seeing one of my royalty checks even made him raise an eyebrow in shock, lol. Boy, did I enjoy that!

 

Our oldest got in some trouble, but sometimes it takes getting the fear of God put in ya to make a person wake up. And he def got a wakeup call, but he also straightened his ass up too. So, as hard as it was seeing my kid in trouble, it was worth it. Even if I did have to spend several thousand dollars and added a few more white strands to my black hair… it was worth it. He’s doing pretty well now.

 

The younger kiddo is a senior in high school and doing well. She’s president of her high school choir, which means she’s in charge of four choirs, lol. It keeps her busy! She was offered a music scholarship for a university a couple of hours away.

*Beats head again keyboard* She wants to be a high school music teacher. Don’t get me wrong, she has a voice that will bring you to your knees and make you cry… in a good way, lol. But being a teacher is a low paying, often thankless job.

I know firsthand. But then again, she’s talk of being a music teacher since 4^th grade. She also got a job recently. Hahaha, she works at a farm here in town that has paintball. She does paintball, guys, how wild is that??? Works with paintball guns and even ref’s the games. And her brother works at the farm too. *Snicker* they work at the same place! What a hoot!  

So come end of summer, one little birdie will fly the nest. And I am perfectly okay with that. J The older kiddo is talking about moving out too. Wasn’t it just yesterday they were babies???

 

Kitty-Kitty has been with us now for a year. He, ah, keeps me on track... when he isn’t trying to get between me and the laptop!

My goal for 2013 is to get ten books published. I’m half way there with five under contract, and waiting to hear on two more. That leaves just three to write. One will be Nighttime Promises, and the other is a merman story called Entangled I’ve put on hold too often. That will get done this year one way or the other. I have several WIP’s that could end up being the tenth book.  

I also have a co-authored series with Julie Lynn Hayes called Moonlit Skies.  And I plan to attend GRL in Atlanta, GA this October. If you can get over that way, please stop by and say Hi!