It’s 2012! How did that happen? I hope 2012 is a good year for all my readers.

2011 ended with a bang for me. In the midst of Christmas preparations and a visit from my sister who lives overseas, I was hunkered down finishing and then revising my latest manuscript, book two of a duo my editor has called, Desert Brothers: Bound by duty, undone by passion. I love that tag line! Book one is called, Duty and the Beast, (a title I came up with and that stuck – yay!) and will be out in May in the UK. And book two, which got accepted just shy of new year’s eve, is entitled, The Sheikh’s Last Gamble, out in Modern in August. The duo will be coming out as back to back releases in Presents around September/October, so not that long to wait!

And even more excitement, because The Sheikh’s Last Gamble is my 25th title with Harlequin! That’s not all full length stories, there’s a couple of novellas and a free on-line read in that line up, but I’m chuffed to have reached such a milestone. I think I might finally be getting the hang of this gig:-)

Just before the excitement of Christmas and visitors and screaming deadlines, the family actually managed to sneak away a few days down the south coast, to a little town I love called Port Elliot. Gorgeous beaches – one a fabulous surf beach where the southern ocean rolls in and crashes on the rock strewn shore, the other a protected swimming beach called Horseshoe Bay, a favourite with families as it’s more protected. For the first time we took our dog, Chino with us. Chino is ten years old now and has a history of car sickness which she’s only recently started getting over (at last!), so finally she’s been able to join us at the beach. She wasn’t too sure of that white frothy wet stuff, but boy, did she love the sand. Here’s a couple of shots of her having a game with a ball she found in the sand and playing chicken with the waves. She loved it!

It’s a shame she’s taken so long to overcome her car sickness but I’m glad she’s on the way. I don’t think, after this, she’ll want to be left home again.

She’s sitting outside my study window right now, wanting to be let in, so that’s probably a good time to actually hit post and get the first blog for 2012 up. I hope it’s a good year for you all!