Good-bye January, Hello February!

It was a good month.

An exciting month!

You guys, my third novel. THIRD!! I really can't believe it.

Thank you to those who have bought it, read it, reviewed it, blogged about it, tweeted about it, and wrote to me about it. Seriously. THANK YOU. Many are saying it's their favorite book of mine yet, and that makes me very happy, because it means my hard work paid off.

I wish I could tell you that there is only joy and happiness with a book release. Maybe for others, but not for me. With so many amazing debut novels coming out this year along with some highly anticipated follow-up books in trilogies and series and on and on, for a mid-list author like me, it can be pretty scary. Will my book get lost amongst all the others?

I want so much to not be a worrier. To do what I can do, and then let it go. But it's hard. Even harder now that this is my job - not "just for fun" anymore. After all, if I want to keep writing books, I have to sell books. Many books.

So, last week, tired of wondering and worrying, I decided the best thing I could do for myself was to start in on a new project. A new book is always the best kind of distraction. I'm participating in GRAPEMO, a month long writing thing sponsored by the amazingly talented YA author Jeannine Garsee, with a personal goal of adding 12,000 words to my new project.

I won't be blogging every day, but I'll still be here, a couple of days a week or so. I want to share my tips and tricks with you on getting that first draft down on paper. First drafts are hard for many people, me included. In addition, a reader, Jenn, asked me if I'd do a blog post on juggling all the social networking stuff that a writer has these days in addition to the writing. So look for that later this month.

February is here. I have a feeling it's going to be a great month. Let's make it a GREAT month, shall we?