"Magic Time"

That's what my main character, Kelley Winslow, thinks of as that moment when the curtain rises on the stage and the play begins.

'Magic time'.

That moment when cast and audience alike hold their breath and the world seems to pause for just a scintilla of time.

That's what a lot of this past year has seemed to me. Those 'magic time' moments. Those instants of stepping over thresholds, of hovering, suspended at the top of the rollercoaster, of watching the curtain rise...

I got them just before WONDROUS STRANGE came out. I'm still getting them. Every time something is just about to happen with the book. A new edition. The audio version. A new foreign right sold... sometimes it's just walking into a bookstore knowing I will see the book on the shelf. Sometimes it's waiting for a classroom to fill up with students that I'm about to give a reading to.

Or there was that moment before I first opened up the email that had my cover art for DARKLIGHT in it...

It's been such a remarkable, dizzying experience, all this magic. Not easy - you tend to get a little nerve jangly with all of that anticipation and build-up and holding-of-breath - but certainly extraordinary; dazzling in the light, sparkling in the darkness. All the best stories about wizards tell us that making magic takes as much out of the maker as it gives back. I think that's true. I also think it's a hell of a lot easier to make the magic at the time when you have a stellar cast and crew surrounding you. Like my fellow Girls here. Like my family and friends.

Which makes this time of year, when family and friends gather, ideal to ruminate on the magic of the past year. All of a sudden, I'm not a debut author any more. I've got a whole new 'show' - a whole new round of curtains rising and breath being held, of reaching out to the audience and having them reach right back. And I've got my cast and crew there to support me. That's truly magic. And for that, I wanted to say 'thank you'. From the bottom of my heart.

Another way I want to say thank you, is by giving away a fresh new hardcover copy of DARKLIGHT. And all you have to do for a chance to win it, is leave a comment. It's almost like magic! ;-)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, to my fellow Novel Girls and to our faithful readers! All the best to all of you.