I sit here eating homemade vegan chili for breakfast at 10:20 a.m. (thank goodness for staycation & sleeping in!) contemplating 2010 and imagining what’s to come in 2011.

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions because as one astute blogger puts it, it’s a promise to fail. Instead, I try to theme my years; a practice learned from my esteemed boss, Joanna Pineda. For me, 2010 was a year of change–the good kind–and a year of new experiences. Things I’d always wanted to happen, happened. I spent a great deal of the year saying things like OMG! and WOW! because, you know, it actually was pretty much full of that.

In 2010, I:

• was asked to be in 2 short story anthologies (something I’d been wanting to happen)
• sold 2 more essays to SmartPop Books (A TASTE OF TRUE BLOOD; FILLED WITH GLEE)
• was asked to guest blog at several places (always awesome!)
• was asked to participate in Whedonistas, an anthology by the same folks who brought us Chicks Who Dig Time Lords ! (so very cool!)
• went to Comic-Con as a pro!! (this was on my bucket list!)
• got asked to be on a committee that I can’t actually talk about* (another thing I’d wanted)
• finished book 5, Blood Sacrifice (OMG, BOOK FIVE???!!!)

On the personal front, I:

• moved to a new apartment, closer to my job and twice the size of my old place for only $135 a month more in rent
• got a great cat
• got my red couch (something I’d wanted since I read Jenny Crusie’s

  Crazy for You)

• got TiVo (on my wish list for years)
• set up a nifty home office
• began my get-healthy plan (I’m down 43 lbs & feel great!)

So much good happened in 2010, what’s in store for 2011?

Since I can’t tell the future, I can only tell you the things I know and the things I wish.

What I know for 2011:

• Whedonistas: A Celebration of the Worlds of Joss Whedon by the Women Who Love Them will be out in March
• San Diego Noir will be out in June
• Blood Sacrifice will be out in late August (it’s a September release – 2 months earlier than normal)
• I’m scheduled to go to Boskone in February; to VA Festival of the Book in March; to Bouchercon in September

Currently, I have no new book contracts, nor story contracts, but I am working on a couple of proposals to send to my amazing agent and perhaps a short story for an anthology contest. Will there be a Blood Lines 6? I don’t know yet. Will there be more stuff from me after 2011? I darned well hope so!

What I hope for 2011:

• To complete and sell at least one or more of the proposals I’m working on
• To complete and sell the short story I’m pondering
• To continue my get-healthy plan and convert to stay-healthy
• To conquer finances/debt/income vs. outgo

My theme for 2011? Efficiency. Declutterization of my life, my spaces and my brain. As much as 2010 was a great year for new things, places and ideas, it’s time for me to streamline stuff. I have a lot of it. Less than I did before I moved, but still, a LOT. I’ve begun during this week-long staycation, by beginning the sort & purge. It’s down to the nitty gritty now. A ton of stuff got purged this spring when I moved, now I’m hitting this hard-core and purging things I don’t need, rarely use and could perhaps garner a little $$ via eBay. That, plus I have managed to go down nearly 3 sizes in my get-healthy plan, so I’m sorting through the closet and packing up the too-big clothing to donate.

It’s tough being this tough. I want to keep All The Things! But frankly, there are too many darned things. I have art that is still in a box–more than 10 years after I moved to the east coast. Tons and tons of stuff that is good, but in boxes and bins. The art isn’t doing anyone good just sitting in a box or on a shelf. The DVDs aren’t getting played. The books–well, that’s a whole other story. Some I am keeping because they are signed to me. Some I’m keeping because they are brilliant and don’t exist in e-format. Research books I keep because I prefer print for those, hard to put a post-it in an e-file!

Overall, I’d like 2011 to be a year of getting to the root of happy, steady, content and healthy Maria. I don’t need all the stuff, nor am I planning to get rid of it all, just the extraneous. I want to be house proud and life proud. To be able to say, 2011 was an awesome year, just like I can for 2010.

I’d love to hear from you all…what are your goals for the next year? What amazing things happened to you in 2010?

Happy Yule, y’all!

Catch you all on the flip side!

Today, I bought a goat…and books & school supplies for kids.

I realized that this year, my budget was too tight to do my usual special design holiday cards with attendant gift items for family, friends and associates.

Instead, I decided to take my money and put it to better use. Thus the goat & stuff for the kids. I figured that my measly $111 would go further by donating to Oxfam, than in buying cards, gifts and paying for postage.

In celebration of the giving season, I’d like to extend a challenge to my readers: if you donate a minimum of $25 to one of my favorite charities (listed below), I’ll send a copy of one of my books to you (or to your local library for their collection), autographed appropriately.

Simply email me a copy of your donation receipt (or a photo of it), the snail mail address where I should send the book, and how it should be inscribed. It’s that easy!

Please feel free to let other folks know!

Charity list:
The Trevor Project
Oxfam
Doctors Without Borders
Kids Need to Read
Organization for Transformative Works

The most beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful words in the world….(at least for right now): THE. END.

Yes, friends and fans, I typed those words at about 11:45 p.m. last night EST. BLOOD SACRIFICE draft is DONE* after a Power!Writing day consisting of peanut butter sandwiches, lots of water, diet coke, veggie pizza, 16 hours at a hot keyboard and a grand total net for the day of 18,834 words.

My brain, though not broken is rather numb right now. On a good day, most writers get about 1000-2000 words accomplished. Me? I’m a freak. I tend to write in small spurts at the beginning, then when I get about halfway or a bit more, then I have these insane marathon sessions where the words that have been forming in my brain just force their way out and onto the electronic page. That’s how I roll. (though, frankly, I’d be a lot less crazed if I could do the steady 1k-2k daily, but my brain just doesn’t seem to process fiction that way).

Today, I am going to rest.

I’m going to ignore the clutter in my apartment.

I’m going to ignore the wee voice in my head that wants to go back and tweak the book right nao.

I’m going to lay on the couch, watch my recorded episodes of Supernatural and whatever else I’ve missed, then watch some more of season 2 West Wing.

I’m going to read something that I did not write. Fiction, not research.

I’m going to nap.

I’m also going to give thanks to the powers that be for all you fans, who allow me to indulge in my insanity and get paid to do so. Thank you.

*Done: all values of done which equal complete story delivered to nitpicky beta for review. Final tweaks to be done at the end of this week before delivery to editor.