Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I celebrate the last year of my 30s. I get to spend the afternoon cheering my 6th-grade daughter on at her second cross country meet of the year, where she was the honor of representing her school as one of the Top 10 female runners. That's a pretty great gift, in my book!

Next year I plan on celebrating the next big milestone somewhere tropical, with fruity drinks and a few of my closest friends. But for this year, I decided to focus on some of the highlights of my past year. Here are just a few I came up with:

• I took the first ten pages of my YA novel, Between, to the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Carolinas Conference, where I received positive feedback and encouragement from a fellow YA author and a respected literary agent.

• I hunkered down in November and cranked out the rough draft of a second YA, tentatively titled Under My Skin.

• As a blog tour manager, I assisted ten authors with virtual blog tours through WOW! Women on Writing, resulting in new friends and professional relationships.

• I contributed 25 blog posts to WOW! Women on Writing, along with several interviews with writers.

• I wrote nine articles/profiles for Lake Norman CURRENTS magazine.

• I wrote numerous pieces of content for Little Ones Magazine, along with editing duties.

• I completed the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Summer Reading Challenge, putting in more than 30 hours of reading this summer.

• I took some fun trips with my family, to places like Boone, N.C., Carolina Beach, N.C., and Hilton Head Island, S.C., resulting in memories like these:

And a fun night at an Ingrid Michaelson concert!

 So . . . I've been a little busy. It's been great, and I look forward to the new opportunities this next year will bring.