Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Saying goodbye to 2013

Very soon the crystal ball will drop in Times Square as we usher in a New Year. As resolutions are thought up, lists are created, and champagne flutes are filled, I have some things I need to mention before we say farewell to 2013. 

As a writer I was finally able to call myself "author" this year as I saw four of my short stories accepted and printed in four anthologies: Urban Harvest, In Vein, Stalkers and Wild Cards. I wrote a Young Adult/New Adult urban fantasy ("Wished Away"), New Adult paranormal romance ("Powerless"), Young Adult contemporary with a touch of paranormal ("Creep"), and adult paranormal romance. I was excited to see the books go live and being able to read them on my Kindle was totally cool. Holding the paperback of Stalkers made me extremely proud. This is just the beginning of what I hope will be a satisfying writing career. 


I attended a handful of conferences from the always great Unicorn Writers Conference to the Eastern NY SCBWI Conference and the Children's Writers of the Hudson Valley Conference. I also sat in on Chris Cheng's Toolbox workshop and Eileen Charbonneau's yearly Elements of the Novel day long class. I was also accepted to the Falling Leaves Master Class in Novel Writing weekend retreat and sat down for a wonderful critique with Kathy Dawson. 


And I cannot forget to highlight the numerous book signings I attended thanks to the Hudson Valley YA Society at Oblong Books. So many great events! Meeting two of my favorite authors at different events--Maggie Stiefvater and Holly Black--was awesome! I also continued to attend my local SCBWI meetings and cherish those Saturday mornings. I meet the nicest people there each month.


Stepping aside from writing, with my family I saw my oldest daughter graduate high school and begin college. Saying goodbye and being apart from her did get better with time. I delighted in watching my other daughter dance and perform in four different numbers in her dance school's recital and look forward to seeing One Direction with her next year. As for my youngest, I'm always amazed at his technical prowess with computers and his ability to create dynamic landscapes in Minecraft. 


2013 ultimately became The Year of The Doctor. I am a proud Whovian and cherished the opportunity to see The Day of The Doctor movie on a theater screen in 3-D. Celebrating the tremendous milestone of 50 years of this beloved show with a week-long slate of BBC America specials and episodes had this Whovian thrilled for weeks. On a sad note, saying goodbye to Matt Smith has been hard. He carved a special place in my heart alongside David Tennant. I adored his youthful exuberant portrayal. He certainly brought something magical and many touches of whimsy to each episode he was in. I loved the entire Amy Pond/Rory/River Song story arc. Just thinking about those characters brings a smile to my face. The writing of Mr. Moffat and others also has to be mentioned. My favorite TV show continues to delight and surprise me.


So goodbye 2013, goodbye Mr. Smith! Greetings to 2014! 


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