Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Can you believe it's 2010 already? Seems like just yesterday we were worrying about Y2K problems and celebrating the millennium.

Ah, well, I guess the good thing is that I'll have three HIGHLAND GUARD novels for you this year. THE CHIEF is only about 2 1/2 months away (March 23rd), THE HAWK at the end of summer (August 31st) and THE RANGER just in time for the new year (December 29th). It's going to be a busy year! I really hope to be able to mix in a trip to Scotland this year, I have to keep that website up to date. :)

On a very sad note, I came back from Tahoe on Sunday to the horrible news that a friend of mine, fellow Scottish romance writer Kathleen Givens, had passed away unexpectedly. Kath was the very first author I met after joining RWA. I was a huge fan and introduced myself to her at a book signing at the Orange Country RWA conference in 2002 or 2003. Her incredible generosity had a huge impact on me. From day one, she took me under her wing, giving a newbie not only encouragement, but going out of her way to introduce me to industry people (including her editor, booksellers, etc.). We tried to get together at conference every year, and it's so sad to think that I won't see her this July to catch up. My heart goes out to her family and friends.

If you haven't had a chance to read her before, you really can't go wrong with any of her books.

On a happier note, I just turned in THE HAWK to my editor today! Very exciting. It will be my 8th published book, but it is actually the 10th manuscript I've finished since I started writing in 2002. I have two regency historicals that I've never really tried to sell. I ended up selling my first two books (which were both Scottish) and didn't want to muddy the waters. Maybe some day . . .

I'm looking forward to a week of spring cleaning while I wait for my revisions and starting thinking about THE RANGER. With another tight deadline, I'm not going to have much of a break.

No New Year's resolutions for me, what about you? Any projects you are starting or wanting to get done?