Today I made a decision about something that was completely the opposite of how I ever imagined myself making the decision. I’m not going to go into it too many of the details, but sufficed to say it’s a moment I thought would make me completely jubilant and be the start of something big for me as a writer.

It’s funny how you can imagine these things in your head a million times and yet when the reality comes it is so different. Almost like when you were hoping your man would propose to you, but it wasn’t the way you dreamed or by the time it comes, you’ve already realised he wasn’t the man for you.

Well, thankfully, my man and I are just fine (and have been married 12 years in September) so that’s not an issue here.

But, for me, it was along those lines of a big life/career decision and I wonder if I’ve done the right thing. I’ve spent the last week reviewing different things and it really came down to just a niggle. When I’ve ignored those niggles before I’ve regretted it. 9 times out of 10 when I follow them, I find out I’ve done the right thing.

I certainly hope this isn’t the 1 out of 10 that’s wrong.

While I had wished to start this year off with a bang and a gung ho blogging attitude, it was not to be. Sufficed to say that there are things in my “real” life that have to take precedence right now and the bang I received was not what I expected.

However, in positive news for me this year, I do have a couple of things to celebrate.

1. I am now President of ESPAN RWA and am thrilled at what the year holds for our chapter. We have plans for several fantastic workshops, one of which is already going on right now and has been a huge success (thank you, Angela James, for being our kick-off workshop. You are doing a fantastic job! ) See our website for the list of other workshops we have planned. We are also holding our first ever contest this year – it’s going to be slightly different and a lot of fun! As well, we are going to hold our AGM/party at Nationals in Nashville, so if you are an ESPAN member you won’t want to miss that.

2. My short story, Love Songs , will re-release on Feb 1st with Blade Publishing and it has a fantastic new cover:

When Cam, a former high-school all-star, comes home to deal with his father’s death, he finds a much sweeter deal.

Madison, the Cupcake Queen, hates Valentine’s and thinks love songs are a joke. Will Cam change her mind?

I had a great time writing this story and I hope you all will enjoy reading it!

3. Love’s Blessings is out in Kindle Format. You can find it at Amazon. I don’t know why there is no cover up, but I’ve asked them about it, so hopefully that will be resolved.

4. Also on Amazon (I really do love saying that) is the print copy of Vampire Oracle: Volume III, which includes my novella Harmony.

I hope to have more great news as the year rolls along. Right now I am taking it one day at a time and am thankful.

So, I’m here, but not really. I went to RWA Nationals from July 14-19th (it was so amazingly fantastic and I promise to post about that, with photos).

From July 20-24th I had volunteered at our Summer Kids Camp, which was in the late afternoon/early evening this year and my kids were still in school until the 24th, so it was a completely insane week (and don’t worry I won’t post any more about that and there will be no photos of the 410 wieners I peeled–all individually wrapped–for one night’s hot dog dinner). Then I went straight into a weekend of worship team (singing) which I love, but had no voice left so was amazed I could croak much out.

After that I tried to completely decompress, but you know we had the highest heat here ever, breaking a hundred year old record. So that’s been fantastic! (Once again, no blogs or photos, but I can give you free advice that towels/pillowcases put into the freezer for use at bedtime are your friends when the heat is over 100 and you don’t have AC, because you’ve never really needed it before.)

Add to that my regular Mommy of 3 workload, writing work, querying and just other real life stuff and well, you can see why I haven’t been here. Hopefully.

I will return soon, to post about Nationals. I promise!

So, today’s is my birthday (41) and all of a sudden I’m receiving gifts and/or cards that feature things like this:

or this:

I kind of expected this last year. I think I was given a grace period.

I’m a skeert!