Thursday, October 25, 2007

All good things must come to an end...but what a finale!

The past few months have been literally a whirlwind of excitement for me with the back-to-back releases of all three books. It actually feels strange not to have a new book out next week. :) Honestly, I've been pretty overwhelmed by everything that has happened. Hitting "the lists" (The New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists) has been a huge part of that. All three books hit the USA Today; and Highlander Unmasked & Highlander Unchained both hit the NY Times. Up until yesterday (the lists are released on Wednesday), I'd actually been on the NY Times extended list for 5 weeks in a row (2 weeks with Unmasked and 3 with Unchained).

It seemed fitting then that the semi-surprise dinner some of my friends planned for me was last night. It was an amazing way to mark the end of a significant step in my writing career and I can't say a big enough thank you to Bella Andre (who, along with Jami Alden , is a CP partner extraordinaire) for spearheading it and everyone for coming and helping to make it such a special evening. We all met for dinner at a restaurant in the city (San Francisco) and talked until we basically almost shut the place down.

Starting from the lower left: Anne Mallory, moi, Penny Williamson, Carol Grace/Culver, Tracy Grant, Barbara Freethy, Veronica Wolff (website coming soon), Candice Hern, Jami & Bella.

I don't know what I would do without these guys. I'm incredibly fortunate to have a huge vault of knowledge and experience to tap into. One of the pieces of wisdom that has most resonated with me came from Tracy and Penny who told me to celebrate all accomplishments--no matter how big or small--because this is such a roller-coaster ride of a business you never know what is coming next. It's so true. I'm incredibly grateful for how things have gone so far, but I know there are bound to potholes in the road in the future. Last night was a night to put in the memory bank for those times. So thanks again guys!

What about you try to celebrate accomplishments?