2012, we hardly knew ye.  Actually, 2012 was kind of a loudmouth year, and one that many people will be happy to leave behind, but before we send it packing, there are a couple of loose ends to tie up around here.

I don’t do New Years “Resolutions.”  Partly because I feel like the word “resolution” is used by our culture in this context as a synonym for “setting yourself up for failure,” after which point you will presumably be called upon to punish yourself for not getting skinny enough or not running enough marathons or for drinking too much coffee.  My skinny days are behind me, there’s no such thing as “too much coffee,” and one marathon — New York City,  1993 — was plenty, thank you.  I’m not a big fan of self-flagellation (odd for someone brought up in the Catholic tradition, I know), but I’m a firm believer both in setting intentions and in positive reinforcement, and when I meet goals, there’s always a minute of Yay, Me!, and often champagne.  (And maybe a big dinner out, which is why “Get Skinny” is no longer on my list of Things To Do.)

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One of my main intentions for 2012 was to craft, from scratch, a short story and send it out in the world.  A call went out over the summer for Olympics-themed stories and, Michael Phelps being a somewhat bottomless font of inspiration where me writing about men is concerned, “Hot Shots” was born.  I was thrilled with EM Lynley‘s anthology, Going for Gold, in which “Hot Shots” found a home, and I was apparently not the only one: G4G was nominated by an M/M Romance Group on Goodreads for Best Anthology.  You don’t have to be a member of the group to vote, but tomorrow (the 31st) is the last day.  I know we all did kind of a lot of voting in 2012, but if you got one more in you, you can vote for Going for Gold for Best M/M Anthology of the Year here.

2012 will go down in my own personal history (in addition to the year I turned 40 and the year I got the best massage ever — on the same day, even) as the year I published my First Novel.  The Last Day of the Year is also the Last Day to enter to WIN a copy of Kiss Me, Straight on Goodreads.  You will want in on that action, natch, but if you’re not the lucky weiner, take heart: JMS Books is happy to sell you your very own copy, be it electronic or paper.  JMS is also helping me usher in 2013 with a writerly bang by signing on to turn my first stand-alone short story loose on the world in eBook format in April, for which I thank them fervently.  More information on “A Model Romance” will rain down on this blog after the first of the year.

I haven’t really sat with my intentions for 2013 yet.  I won’t cut back on coffee, and I probably won’t get skinny, but you can’t fail at what you never set out to do.  I am working on another novel, I’ve got plans for another short story (with which I need a little Hebrew help — anybody?), and I’d like to get a tattoo when we go to Hawaii.  I’ll need to fly at least once in a while, and if I go anywhere interesting (or so boring that I gotta talk about it), there might even be the occasional reference to stewardessing here on mister stewardess.  Thanks for tagging along with me during this, the blog’s first year.  Whatever 2013 brings, I hope you’ll read all about it.  And go easy on yourself with those resolutions — coffee’s full of antioxidants, after all, and nobody’s perfect.  So long, 2012, and thanks for everything.  Here’s to the best 2013 ever!