Tuesdays with Taryn Happy New Year!

Memory Lane Monday- Out with the Old...

Here we are standing on the precipice of a new year yet again. I find it surreal to look back and realize that at this time last year, I was still an unpublished author. A year ago I was nervous about edits and making sure I had it all done by the end of the year in preparation of my debut novel's release.

Sure it's only been a few months (8) but it still sometimes catches me off guard and I catch my breath to think I am a real published author. That's a big change in a person's life, taking a title so long desired and wished for and dreamed about.

It's been a year of changes for my writing and I still get nervous as I look forward to the coming year and my intentions to self-publish my contemporary romances. I worry about whether others will love my characters as much as I do. Whether the stories are worthy of publication, etc. All the writerly concerns most authors usually keep to themselves.

I believe they're stories worth sharing and I love them, so it's my great hope that if I love them, others will, too. I'm actually looking forward to Wednesday, when my husband and the kids head back into the fray of work and school and leave me to the quiet peace in the house and the opportunity to finally sit down with Jasmine and Derrek, to look through the manuscript and start figuring out a few plot-line issues I need to work through, checking formatting and get everything squared away so that I can get back with my cover artist so I can give her a print page count to get the print cover finished and ready. Once I get the plot-line sorted out, typos to the best of my ability, then I need to research and find myself an editor I can afford, and make sure the formatting is good to go.

As soon as I have an idea of when I'll be ready to put this baby out there, I'll be certain to share.

In the meantime, I wish everyone a blessed New Year's Eve- Have fun, sip a little bubbly, enjoy that midnight smooch, but please be safe if you will be traveling- Have a designated driver, or be the designated driver.

Ring in the New Year on a good foot, a safe foot- so that you and others will be here to enjoy 2013.

Happy New Year 2013!!!

SCENTsational Saturdays- New Year's Traditions

Most everyone I know has a "traditional" New Year's meal that they partake of. Much to my husband's dismay, mine is cooked cabbage and cornbread with a side of black-eyed peas. Mostly it's because he can't stand the smell of cabbage cooking in the house because it does have a gaseous odor.

For me though, it represents the idea of bringing good fortune in the coming year- as for me, my tradition is cabbage to bring "cabbage"- moo-la, green. I suppose I could do it in the form of coleslaw, but it just doesn't seem as traditional to me (and hubby still wouldn't eat it because he doesn't like cabbage in any form.)

My daughter and I though, will be eating cooked cabbage and this year I'm putting a new spin on it by cooking it with smoked sausage in it- a new favorite we tried during one of our trips up to visit my parents this past year.

Of course, cabbage wouldn't be the same without homemade cornbread and the black-eyed peas, we eat for good health, as I've always heard that you'll have 1 good day of health for every black-eyed pea you eat on New Year's. I plan to eat a large bowl, as I did last year. I had a rather good year of health in 2012- even with the "almost" sore throat I had just before Christmas. (Listerine/peroxide gargle, warm salt water gargle, a couple of Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus & a few Dill Pickle Spears fixed me right up.)

What are some of YOUR New Year's traditional foods? Do you eat certain things to ward off illness, to bring good fortune? Please share- I'd love to hear about it!

Here's to my last SCENTsational Saturday! Hope you have a wonderful day and tune in next Saturday when I start my "The Way to a Man's Heart" Recipe blog each Saturday!