I’ve always liked the Chinese Zodiac, probably because I was born in a Year of the Dragon and I’m very proud of that, thank you very much! (I’m also a Libra…and in the Ancient Egyptian zodiac, depending which version you prefer, I’m either subject to Horus the Falcon or Bastet the Cat. I know which one my two household felines would vote for!).

So this is the Year of the Horse and people born in such a year are generally gifted, cunning (inagoodway I’m sure), hot-blooded, hard workers, excellent with money but will give up everything for love. Depending on which time of the year a person is born, they also have sub-characteristics related to Fire, Earth, Water, Metal or Wood. You may also have an inner animal, a “true” animal and a secret animal. I don’t pretend to understand all the ramifications after merely doing a few Google searches but I do find the concepts intriguing. And actually, the Chinese year doesn’t align with the calendar we live under here in the United States, so technically we’re still in the Year of the Snake until February.

Just scratching the surface of fortunetelling based on the many elements in the Chinese Zodiac was fascinating. I could see myself losing quite a few hours of New Year’s Day trying to figure out what this Year of the Green Wooden Horse might bring a Dragon person such as myself but um, no. I have a novel I’m trying very hard to finish and I can cast my own fortune that if I don’t finish the book over my holiday vacation and get the manuscript to my editor, you lovely Readers won’t be reading my story any time soon!

I was pretty satisfied with 2013 – got three new books either published or self published: Escape from Zulaire, Warrior of the Nile (Carina Press) and Dancer of the Nile. Received two awards for a book from 2012, Wreck of the Nebula Dream, which was very encouraging and I was thrilled and grateful. Working with a phenomenal actor, Micheal Riffle, I got the audiobook of Wreck issued this year. Michael and I and Mary Fegreus, a talented actress, plan to issue the audiobook of Escape in 2014.

I learned a lot in 2013 about publishing and self publishing, met many wonderful Readers, Reviewers and fellow Authors, and continued to hone my craft…managed to read some excellent books by other people during the year too, like Nalini Singh’s “Archangel’s Consort” and Jeffe Kennedy’s “Ruby” and Laura Kaye’s Anemoi Series, just to name a few….the day job was busy, including a major audit at the very end of 2013….some day I hope to write full time but as yet, it’s only a dream. Good to have dreams! Good to be able to pay the bills too though…

For 2014 I plan to get four books published, plus issuing the Escape audiobook…that will mean I have to be very disciplined about writing in the evenings and on the weekends…which means less time on twitter (my favorite social media destination). I’m going to keep blogging here and at Word Whores on Saturdays, Here Be Magic once a quarter and Paranormal Romantics the 13th of every month. I love doing the weekly excerpt hops for Weekend Writing Warriors and Science Fiction Romance Brigade – such a cool way to sample other people’s books and WIPs and hopefully let people try my writing in return!

I’ve got two major conferences and one smaller one tentatively pencilled in to attend…

And of course there has to be time for playing withe the cats and doing LEGOs with my grandson!

Best wishes to you for a very peaceful, happy New Year, whatever sign of whichever zodiac you may have been born under!