2011 was a tumultuous year in the news, from the U.S. recession to the crash of the Euro, from tsunamis and earthquakes to nuclear plant explosions, from Occupy protests to the Arab Spring, from the capture and execution of Osama Bin Laden to the death of Kim Jong Il… it was a crazy year.

In comparison, my personal 2011 was dramatically less, well, dramatic.

But it wasn’t without its highlights!

I went to Europe for the first time (Ireland, France, Germany, and the U.K.) in the spring, performed in a production of Chicago in Santa Monica in the summer, and got nominated and elected as editor of LARA Confidential, the newsletter for my chapter of Romance Writers of America (Los Angeles Romance Authors) in the fall.

Paris was the highlight of our vacation, with Dublin a close second

That's me on the bottom right!

But by far my biggest accomplishment in 2011 was the completion of my first novel, Dancing with Danger, an 83,000 word contemporary romantic suspense, which won first place in the 2011 Spring into Romance Contest (hosted by the San Diego chapter of RWA).  I wrote the last line a few hours before my 30th birthday, and spent most of the rest of the year revising it and submitting it to various contests and literary agencies.

It was a labor of love, and I learned so much during the creation process.  I’m looking forward to applying everything I’ve learned to my next WIP, a fantasy/paranormal romance, and taking Dancing with Danger further along its path toward publication.

So here’s hoping 2012 is just as exciting at 2011!  Well, more creatively exciting, not necessarily seismically exciting. The only earthquakes I’m hoping for this year are the ones caused by the massive hordes of readers rushing to their nearest bookstore to purchase my best-selling novel… once I manage to publish it, that is.