You can't go wrong when you start your year off finding non-diseased ticker tape in Times Square. We spent the night with Kelly and Max (and Declan!) in Harlem and in the morning had our annual New Years walk to Times Square to see all the carnage.
I blogged a little about almost dying at the Strand here.
And the year only looked better when I tagged along with Hannah and Jen to ALA Midwinter. It was in Philadelphia this year, so how could I say no? I came home with a truckload of ARCs, prompting Shannon to ask, "These were all free, right??" as he helped me unload the car.
Much thanks to Hannah and Jen who helped me learn the ropes at my first convention!
I spent a lot of time with BFF Kelly in New York. And in May she called me with the biggest surprise of all--she's pregnant with baby #2! She's due any day now so I'll be flooding everyone's feed with the most awesome baby ever.
Fun Fact: Kelly always comes up with the best names. She helps me cast all my characters.
I also spent a lot of time with Ms. Jodi Meadows this year. I crashed on her couch twice this year, once for the Charlottesville for the Virginia Festival of the Book and again for Joy Hensley's book launch for Rites of Passage.
I also got to tag along with her for the Frederick Book Festival in Maryland. Here she is on a panel with the adorable Julie Anne Lindsey!
And here's Jodi with Joy Hensley at the Chapter by Chapter Book Rave in New Rochelle. I was there with BFF Kelly, where we met Jay Crownover, CJ Redwine, Lee Bross, Elizabeth Eulberg and soooo many others.
Funny Story: Kelly and I snuck in early with coffee and waters and anytime security tried to kick us out, we had all the authors say "they're with me."
Clan MacLeod had a ton of book releases this year. In celebration, we began a tradition of posting our pictures in the book's theme in a blog hop. You can see all of mine here. If you want to see everyone's pic, all my pictures are linked to the original blog.
It wasn't all work this year. I spent a lot more time with family, which was something I was really missing. My brother got married, which brought us all together, and I'm excited to see everyone this week where I will CRUSH them with my gift-giving skills in the first annual gift Pollyanna.
I got in some beach time at Cape May with Shannon and Nelly. There's something about that beach town that feels like home to me.
I have a tendency to write while on vacation, and give some tips here.
I read a lot this year. I mean, a few books (*cough 127 at the date of this post*).
Here's a few of my favorites.
And here's a few I'm sooo excited to read in 2015.
In fact, my TBR was so out of control, I had to get two new bookcases (with doors!).
And I was writing the whole time. I turned in a finished manuscript to my agent and started churning out another one. My post-it board began to fill up with ideas and plot points, and hopefully I'll be turning in something else soon.
I got to share a little about my writing process here.
And how to use the Post-It plotting method there.
So I'm going into 2015 feeling pretty good. This was definitely a packed year of people and reading and writing, but I think I'm finally finding a healthy balance of work and fun.
So bring it, New Year! I'm ready.
You can never have enough bookcases. Unfortunately we don't always have enough wall space. :)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous bookshelves, Valerie. Sounds like 2014 was a busy fun year!
ReplyDelete