2012 was the year I didn’t technically reach my goals, for life or for writing, but I’m not worried—I can carry a few of them over to 2013.

2012 was the year I finished my second YA novel, 17 & Gone, which comes out in 2013.

2012 was the year I went away to write at two colonies: one in the mountains of northern California and one in upstate New York. It’s the year I went to Wyoming to learn about outer space. It’s the year I fell in love, even more, with my home here in lower Manhattan, especially in those dark days after the hurricane when it was E and me on our own, facing it together.

2012 was the year I was really sinfully awful about answering emails. Ugh, I’m sorry about that.

In 2012, I wrote more pages that I threw away than pages that I kept. So it goes, some years.

I must say, I had full intentions to write a beautifully crafted, long, and lush post of all of what happened in 2012, to me and around me. What inspired and distracted me. What blew me up and broke me down. Lists! I love lists. But, truth is, I have a lot of freelance work to do right now, plus reading for the class I’m teaching, so I will leave you with only a few small bits.

By the end of this year—2012—I found my heart again, in writing. I finished a draft of my new book proposal last night.

This year—2012—was the year many different voices found their way to this blog. Thank you to every author who wrote a piece for me to share here. I am honored.

In 2013, I will let you into 17 & Gone, which comes out March 21. I will continue on with the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz book series here, with more posts from librarians and bloggers coming in January, and because I love to read debut novels I will get to share the Anticipated YA Debuts of 2013—my first two picks of January 2013 will be announced here soon. Things will happen here. This blog will continue.

In the meantime, for 2013, I was gifted with one word to carry forward into the new year:

“true”

For me, it’s an answer to a question I’d been asking. I think it means I should be true to myself, as a writer. But maybe it means even more than that. I look forward to finding out.

Happy New Year, everyone. Thank you so much for reading this blog.