In my own little bubble, anyway. Of course, the past week has seen horrific news on the global scale, and my thoughts and heart are with the people of Haiti as they continue to suffer the aftereffects of the catastrophic earthquake. But in times like these, it is some comfort to find small reasons to celebrate.

Last weekend, I was invited to speak at the San Diego chapter of Romance Writers of America. I jumped at the chance, seeing as I love RWA and I love San Diego! We rounded up the darelings and made a weekend out of it. I had a wonderful time meeting the chapter members and chatting with the industry professionals in attendance. My speech is sort of a smudge in my memory now, but I think it went okay. I told a lot of embarrassing stories. Anyway, I want to say a big thank you to the members of the RWASD chapter, for making me feel so welcome. I had a great day.

Second, I came home to find some truly thrilling news on the Internet. My debut, Goddess of the Hunt, was shortlisted on the American Library Association's 2010 Reading List, which is put together by the RUSA division of ALA to recognize "outstanding genre literature." This thrilled me for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, because I'm a librarian myself, so any recognition coming from librarians is extra-special to me. Second, because - zomg, did you see that shortlist? My name is there alongside those of Julia Quinn, Nora Roberts, Lauren Willig, and Anthony Strong. How unbelievable is that? Pinch me, and hard.

Lastly, I just received word today that Goddess of the Hunt has been licensed for Turkish translation by publisher Pegasus Yayinlari. Sooo very cool! For anyone interested in the rundown of coming translations:
Goddess of the Hunt will be forthcoming in Japanese, German, Slovak, Thai, and Turkish
Surrender of a Siren and A Lady of Persuasion have thus far been licensed for German, Slovak, and Thai editions.
I owe many, many thanks to the wonderful rights managers at Random House.

I hope good news has been happening to you! I look forward to the good news that my latest manuscript is finished - but that will not happen unless I go work. Like, now.

As I write this, I'm in the lovely (well, rainy and cold...but to me, it is lovely!) Pacific Northwest with my dear friends and critique partners, Courtney Milan and Carey Baldwin. We're celebrating the release of Courtney's amazing book (see previous post) and eating great food and enjoying wonderful conversation. Today we're actually going to write!

I decided to keep the New Year's Resolutions low-key this year. My contractual obligations are enough to keep me busy without added unrealistic goals to the mix! I think my only resolution for 2010 will be: take my vitamins. I always forget.

Whether your corner of the world is rainy, sunny, snowy, or scorching hot - I hope you're kicking off 2010 in grand style!

Happy New Year! 2009 was a fantastic year, thanks to the wonderful family, friends and readers who made my debut trilogy a success. I'm so grateful. It's hard to imagine topping that excitement...but 2010 is shaping up to be pretty darn cool, too. A new back-to-back trilogy will hit stores this summer, starting with One Dance with a Duke on May 25.