Auld Lang Syne

Here we are in that happy holiday period in between Christmas and New Years. The kids are off school, lots of people have off work, the preparation for the holidays are over, but the parties often continue.

It's also a time when people tend to take a step back and look over the past year.

So that's what I'm going to do.

Professionally, the biggest things for me were the publication of REALITY ALI, and signing a contract for three more books in the series.

Personally, the highlight of the year was when my daughter got a clean bill of health after battling a recurring problem for the over a year.

Also I got to Boston this summer. This has been a running joke in our family. Every time we started to think about a trip to Boston something would come up that would sideline it. Not this year. This year I actually got there. 

I also went to my first writer's conference, which was lots of fun and I know I'll have to do that again sometime.

Another highlight was getting to hear my son play his trumpet in the middle school jazz band. His solo starts at about the 2 minute mark.

The must surreal highlight had to be getting our German cuckoo clock fixed at a sushi restaurant. That's something that just might find it's way into a story sometime.

The year hasn't been perfect, there have been horribly tragic stories in the news and our state got hammered by Superstorm Sandy. While our family escaped any property damage, friends of ours were not so lucky. I know it's been a hard year for many in many ways. But when possible I like to focus on the positive.

So, please, share what the happy highlights of your year have been. And here's wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2013.