Big Huge Wonderful News

First of all, some smaller but still great news--I found out last week that Freya, the mama cat I fostered (and Diana's mother) was finally adopted from the shelter. She went to a house with no other cats, which is what she really wanted, and I am sure she is going to make her new person really happy. She was a great mama and a really sweet cat, but after being a stray, she was too defensive with other cats in her territory to be able to stay here, even if I hadn't thought six cats was even crazier than five... So this was absolutely fabulous news, and it made me almost as happy as my other news. Almost.

As many of you know, I lost my contract with Berkley for the fiction books (Baba Yaga and Rider series) about three years ago. Since then I have been diligently writing and sending out partials of various novels (contemporary romance, humorous romance, women's fiction) to various publishers, with no luck. Lots of great rejections telling me they loved my writing, but it is a very tight market, yada yada yada. (I have lots of other author friends in the same position, so I in no way take this personally. Publishing is tough right now.)

I was, in fact, beginning to worry that my fiction career was over, although thankfully the nonfiction is still going strong. (Did I mention that I love you people?) I dabbled a little bit in self-publishing, but I just don't write fast enough to be a success at that.

Last October, my agent Elaine sent out a partial manuscript for a book that was something completely new and different for me. She had suggested that my voice would be a good fit for cozy mysteries. To be honest, I kind of thought she was crazy. But if you have a good agent, you try and do what they say.

Last week, we got word from Berkley's mystery imprint that they wanted the first three books in the "Rundown Rescue" series. So ladies and gentlemen--I'm BACK!

Who is celebrating with me?

Moving Forward in the New Year

Welp, it is a new year. Although oddly enough, it feels pretty much the same. I don't know about you, but I'm hoping for lots of positive changes in the year to come.

 

I don't do New Year's resolutions, but I usually like to have a focus or goal for the new year. Last year it was "Embrace joy." I did pretty well with that one, all things considered, but I think it needed a corollary of "Avoid stress and drama." Well, that one is pretty tough, really, if you are staying involved and aware.

 

So this year's focus is "Keep calm and carry on." (While continuing to try and find and embrace joy wherever I can.) This basically means I'm going to do my best to stay involved and aware without letting it make me as crazy as it has for the last couple of years. We'll see how that goes.

 

In the meanwhile, in more concrete goals, I hope to finish working on the current nonfiction project for Llewellyn by the end of this month, come up with plans for two books in 2020 (probably one fiction and one nonfiction, but I still have to confer with my agent), improve my health, do more magic and meditation, and eat more really good chocolate. Life is short, after all.

 

What are your goals or resolutions for the new year?