It’s finally 2015.

I’ve been looking forward to this year for so long that its arrival is almost anticlimactic. It doesn’t feel real.

But it’s plenty real. I have all kinds of proof. Things are starting to take shape in ways that make this whole “published author” thing almost tangible. I’ve got my final cover art, I’ve submitted the final edits, I’ve filled out the publicity questionnaire. I’ve made a Facebook author page. I’ve started setting up library and bookstore events in April and May, as well as blog stops for a mini-blog tour around launch time. GROUNDED is listed on Amazon, Goodreads, Indie Bound, and Barnes and Noble. It even popped up on a cool teen reader’s blog.

Scholastic also asked me to supply an author photo. Author photo… yikes. Posing for photographs is definitely not an area where I am filled with vast personal confidence, so I did my research and ended up going to Studio B Portraits. The whole experience was relaxed and fun, and I very much enjoyed Brooke and the atmosphere that she created in her studio (I’m very happy with the photo, too).

A brand-new website is also in the works. It’ll be up sometime in February, and I’ll be importing this blog to that space at that time. More on that soon.

As for the new year, my resolution from September still holds: to be grateful for this wonderful opportunity, no matter what glitches there might be. So far so good with that one.

Two days before Christmas, I turned in the revision of Book 2 in the Tyme series, and then I stopped writing for a couple of weeks. I needed a solid break, mentally and creatively. So I turned my attention to my family, and the holiday break was fantastic – lots of toys, books, movies, and frosty cold walks outside with my husband and son, and lots of Dragon Age Inquisition for me (BioWare RPGs are so wonderful – I love their storytelling and have happily submerged in it).

On Monday, I’ll get back to work.

Happy New Year!