Old Year, New Experiences

Alicia Hunter Pace AKA Jean and Stephanie        

We hope everyone had wonderful holidays filled with all the fun things you love.  We were both lucky enough to spend time with friends and family.  We must have been very good girls because Santa was great to us!

 I know that this time of year we are all looking toward the new year and thinking about what we want to accomplish.  It is great to look back and celebrate successes of the past year.

We had an exciting first this holiday season--finishing a book that was already sold.  Since I teach school we have often used my holiday time to work on one project or another--whether it was finishing up a manuscript, editing,  or plotting an idea for a new work.  This year that was all different.  We were working on a deadline to turn in the next book in our Gone South series, due to Crimson Romance January 31. We were determined to turn in a great book as close to error free as possible, on time.  I am happy to report that we were successful!

We had always worked toward self-imposed deadlines, but if we fell short no one knew but us.  To have someone expecting a book was a totally new experience. But we were no strangers to new experiences this year.  In 2012, we commissioned our first professionally done covers for our fantasy series, the Elven Brides of Lochmoor, and self-published them on Amazon.  We sold our first book when Crimson Romance bought Sweet Gone South. Then they bought the next two books in the series on proposal.  Now we really had to get our act together--new webpage,  new blog, new press release, new way of looking at the publishing world!
I know that many of you had some fantastic first experiences during 2012. Let's celebrate them!
What are some of the best first things that happened to you last year?