New Years Eve. A time for reflection, goals and resolutions, change, introspection, and a chance to look toward the future.

All of this has never been more true for me than this year because at the close of 2009, Linden Bay Romance will be shut down. No I don’t think someone will be waiting by the computer to disable the website at midnight tonight, but then again, I don’t know, perhaps these things can be set up in advance. What I do know is that as of 2010 I go from an author with over 2 dozen published full length novels, novellas and short stories, to one with just a handful.

So what am I doing? For one, I have made my Facebook page, which had been private for a bit because of some issues, public again. I need a strong web presence to build my career and for better or worse, Facebook is part of that marketing plan. I am trying to focus on reworking my backlist to get them back out there. And to keep my sanity I began that cooking project I told you about in the last post.

How is that going? Well there have been ups and downs in the Julia Child department. Successes include the yummy Cream of Mushroom Soup and the incredible Leek Quiche, complete with homemade crust so flaky and good it was like heaven. Even so, after a Quiche Lorraine and 2 Leek Quiches, the husband did ask “You’re not making another quiche again tomorrow, are you?” So I guess I’ll take a break on the quiche for a bit.

Failures include a horrible Garlic Soup, so bad I went back and checked the recipe numerous times to make sure I hadn’t forgotten any ingredients. My CIA-trained (the Culinary Institute not the covert organization) chef friend who spent 6 months cooking in France commented “Julia Child’s recipes are outdated. You should have roasted the garlic and added potatoes.” So there you go, not my fault entirely, though I do think I poured the hot soup into the egg yolks too fast, which made it ugly.

I had full intentions of trying French Onion Soup the following day, which proved to be 4 degrees out and I decided it wasn’t worth braving the weather to get the ingredients. So my cooking is stalled for a bit, which is good because it is incredibly time consuming and I had edits on 2 books to complete, and of course, my entire backlist to rewrite and peddle.

That is the state of the union on this New Years eve. It looks like I am snowed in for the duration, which is fine. I could use a day in after this hectic holiday season.

Meanwhile I wish you all a happy, healthy and safe new year. Now go forth and enjoy the dawn of 2010.

Cat

On a good note, my free reads are back up for download on ARe.