2012 is almost over, and we’re all still here! I’ve been enjoying a relaxing week with my family leading up to Christmas. I’ve baked. I’ve written. I’ve read. A Lord of the Rings movie marathon followed our family reading and trip to see the Hobbit on the big screen. It’s been a good week, and it’s been a good year.

 

I am so glad to have spent another year blogging with you all in this fantastic community. Many thanks are due to Brenda Drake for all the work she does for fellow writers, and I am so excited to say that the awesome, startacular, brilliant Deana Barnhart, chose me as her teammate and mentee for Brenda’s Pitch Wars, a pitchfest involving 37 teams and 16 agents, continuing to the final round on January 23-24. For more information about Brenda and Pitch Wars, click here. And please check out my mentor Deana here!

 

In writing, I’ve sailed my YA fantasy Trespassers through more revisions than I can count, and I’ve nearly finished the first draft of my NaNoWriMo magical realism project.

 

In reading, the bookshelves keep overflowing. My TBR list continues to grow, and there are never enough hours in the day to read. I wanted to wrap-up with some of my top reads of the year.

 

Best New Voice:

The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Best Contemporary:

Counting Backwards by Laura Lascarso

 

Best Fantasy World Building:

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

 

Midnight City by J. Baron Mitchell 

 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 

Black Heart by Holly Black

 

 

 

And for my music of the day, I picked my favorite new album of 2012:

Synthetica by Metric

 

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year everyone! May your stockings be filled with books, and your homes filled loved ones!