Writing
Again I had two books out in one year, with hardcover editions fo my sixth (Just For Fins) and seventh (Sweet Shadows) young adult novels. Fins Are Forever and Sweet Venom came out in paperback. Several foreign editions released, with Forgive My Fins coming out in Brazil, Italy, and Indonesia, and Sweet Venom coming out in the UK. (There are more, I'm sure, but it's so hard to keep track!)
I worked on several secret projects and new proposals (most are still in progress) and I wrote the third book in the Sweet Venom trilogy, Sweet Legacy (which should be out in the Fall and should have a cover very soon). I am so very happy with how the stories for Grace, Gretchen and Greer turned out.
On the self-publishing front, I started the third book in the City Chicks series. This on is Cassie's story, tentatively titled Try It On, but I think that will change before I'm done.
And even though I really, really, really wanted to do NaNoWriMo this year, it didn't work out. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure it fits into my schedule from now on.
Travel
If you've read my blog regularly over the years, you know that I love to travel. A lot. But 2012 was a cray-cray-crazy travel year, even for me. Some of it was theatre-related travel with my mom. A lot of it was writing-related travel. Here's everything I can remember...
- Seattle -- Mom and I packed up my apartment there, putting all of my stuff into a storage container that could be shipped wherever we wanted it to go. I was sad to leave the Emerald City so soon after moving there, but it was a choice I had to make.
- Houston -- TETA TheatreFest
- Austin -- PLASA Focus
- San Francisco -- Sweet Legacy research
- Long Beach -- USITT Annual Conference
- Chicago/Wisconsin/Minneapolis -- RT Convention and visiting family
- Colorado/Las Vegas -- We left Oklahoma, via Colorado, just planning on being in Vegas for the summer until we decided where we wanted to live. But by the end of the summer we had decided to stay here.
- San Diego -- Signing with Tracy Deebs
- Los Angeles -- Cirque du Soleil's Iris
- Houston -- Launch Just For Fins at Blue Willow Bookshop
- Anaheim -- RWA Conference
- Los Angeles -- IKEA
- Miami -- Birthday vacation
- Houston -- Launch Sweet Shadows at Blue Willow Bookshop with Sophie Jordan
- College Station -- Library event
- Tulsa/Missouri -- Family stuff
- Austin/Houston -- More Sweet Shadows signings with Sophie Jordan, Mari Mancusi, and Tracy Deebs
- San Diego -- Escape
- Los Angeles -- Halloween production at RedCat
- Missouri -- Thanksgiving with family
- Fresno -- Christmas with family
- Los Angeles -- Cirque du Soleil's Iris
OMG, no wonder I'm dizzy!
Personal
In 2012 I became a Mac groupie. It really started several years ago when I got my first iPod. Then an iPod shuffle. A couple years later I got my first iPhone (I'm on... number four now) and two years ago I got my first iPad. Now I've ditched my Toshiba for a MacBook Air (LOVE!) and in addition to my iPhone 5 and iPad Mini (also LOVE!) I have an Apple TV and an Airport Extreme router. And as much as I thought the transition would be hard, it's been super easy. I'm a Mac and I'm not looking back.
My mom and I moved from Oklahoma to Las Vegas and, even though I'm not a big Vegas fan in general, I am actually really liking the area where we live. I have made a few new friends and our house is just perfect. Aside from my ultimate dream of moving to LA, I'm pretty happy where I'm at.
Oh, and on an entertainment note, I have to say I am sad (devastated, maybe) that one of my favorite shows ever (Leverage) is over. I know why they did it and it was better to go out on top AND the series finale was just absolutely the perfect ending that mirrored their amazing beginning... but I'm still sad.
So that's it, my 2012 in a (very long) nutshell.
Check out my previous reflections posts:
