How I learned to love New Year's by Amie Denman


At the risk of too much information, I’m baring my soul about the turning of the year. I used to think I had a “New Year’s Curse.” This started when I was eleven because (here comes the TMI, close your eyes if you don’t want to hear this) I had my very first visit from Aunt Flo (you know who she is) on New Year’s Day. I only mention it because it relates to my perceived curse. Happy Welcome to Womanhood 1981.

Another New Year’s, my father had a bizarre accident on New Year’s Eve. He was jet-skiing alone on a lake in Florida (yes, my entire family is crazy) and he ran into an alligator. The impact knocked him off his jet-ski in violent fashion and he suffered a hideous spiral fracture to his leg. The man (tough is an understatement) dragged himself onto the personal watercraft before the alligator could eat him, drove himself back to the dock, and called 911. All this with his foot turned 180 degrees from where it should be. So…Happy Emergency Surgery 1999. 

The next year was THE BIG ONE! New Year’s Eve 2000. I was pregnant, but my husband and I still planned a little celebration…our last New Year’s before becoming parents. Unfortunately, two events conspired to wreck that one. My husband got pneumonia and a plumbing “situation” caused raw sewage to back up in our basement. Ah yes, Happy Pregnant and Mopping Up Sewage 2000.

Fully recognizing that the curse was upon me…I made a drastic move. 

I stopped taking New Year’s seriously as a holiday. That’s right. I laughed in its face. I stopped making any sort of party plans and started making resolutions that were entirely frivolous. While my cerebral friends were resolving to read their way through the Harvard Classics, I resolved to:

Play the lottery every week (never did win more than a few bucks)
Try a new cake recipe every week (The Year of Cake…sigh…how I loved that)
Try a new cookie recipe every week (special request from the child born in 2000)
Go barefoot more often
Have more fun

This year, I considered flirting with fate. Yes. I seriously thought about making a reservation at a local resort for a fabulous Casino Night party on New Year’s Eve. My immediate family members shook their heads in warning and advised me to stay home and order pizza. That dastardly curse! I really want to fight it because this could be my Best New Year’s Ever 2016 because I am celebrating a dream come true: a book release from Harlequin on New Year’s Day. Happy Three-Book Contract from Harlequin 2016!

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Boardwalk-Starlight-Point-Stories-ebook/dp/B010LKC4NO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444872959&sr=1-1&keywords=amie+denman+under+the+boardwalk


Maybe I’ll do the smart thing anyway. Pour a glass of wine, sit back and read my own book. Indulgent, right? And I can’t possibly screw this up because I already know it has a happy ending…as all books should!

Whatever your plans are to celebrate the New Year, I hope you are safe and happy!

P.S. I'm running a little raffle for people signed up for my newsletter here. On January 2 at noon, I'll chose 5 random people on my newsletter list and send them a signed copy of Under the Boardwalk. Please jump in and sign up! Thanks.

Comments

  1. Loved the post, but I think I'd have just stayed in bed at New Year's after all that! Happy New Year and many congratulations of your wonderful new book!

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  2. Amie, the jet ski/alligator story, in particular, is one of those occurrences that if we wrote it into a book readers would discount it as something that could never happen. (I hope your father recovered fully from his injury.)

    As for the new year, I believe 2016 WILL be a turning point for you. Not only do you have a wonderful January 1st release (and as part of a three-book contract!), your debut for Harlequin Heartwarming will be one of the first books to be available in mass-market paperback online and, in February, in select Walmart stores!

    I'm positive the "Curse" is broken and only good things will happen for you in 2016!

    By the way, if you're looking for a great read to start on New Year's Day other than your own book, don't forget there are three other Heartwarming releases that day!! :-)

    Happy New Year, everyone!

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  3. Amie, that's all so funny! Well, I'm sure it wasn't to you at the time, but how fun to have those things to write about - in retrospect. And you've beaten the curse - go, Girl! Congratulations on the contract! Big wishes for great things in 2016. But I would continue with the new cake and new cookie recipe every week. And if you need someone for your tasting panel, I'm on the Heartwarming roster. Happy New Year!

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  4. Amie, Wow. Your dad sounds like he's lucky to be alive and there is nothing worse than plumbing/sewage problems. I can't even imagine dealing with that while pregnant. But I'm positive things have turned around for you. Happy Three-Book Contract from Harlequin 2016 has a lovely ring to it, I think. Congratulations!

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  5. Yes, I would say, your New Year curse is broken! Congratulations on your release, Amie!

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  6. Amie, I see how you entertained the curse idea. For sure with the book out and more in the works, it's time to watch it fly away. Like the others, I hope your dad recovered well as really his was the worst, and hey, maybe it will show up in a book one day. I'm so looking forward to all of the January books. And as much as I shy away from Walmart, I'll be there to recommend all four to readers hanging out in that aisle.

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  7. I'm having my Dad over for a New Year's Eve dinner at my house tonight and I'll have to tell him I shared his alligator story. He loves telling that one, too. He has a rod in his leg and always gets questioned at the airport, but he's 70 and still having fun.

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  8. Oh, boy. I'll never complain about New Year's again! Glad you've broken your curse (and yay on the 3-book deal!). Here's to a wonderful 2016. :)

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  9. That IS a terrible record, but I'd say it's all happenstance. Nevertheless, pizza while reading your first published Heartwarming book is a great alternative. Congratulations!! The cover just beckons reading it.

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  10. That's quite a record. Love the alligator story especially. Still, reading a really good book sounds like the perfect way to ring in a new year, especially if it's your own dream come true. Happy New Year.

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  11. That's quite a record. Love the alligator story especially. Still, reading a really good book sounds like the perfect way to ring in a new year, especially if it's your own dream come true. Happy New Year.

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  12. Curse broken! Congrats on your three book deal! 2016 should be the best yet :)

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  13. I just loved the way you have written this post. We went to Los Angeles event venues to celebrate our New Year. My kids were really excited on New Year, and party was really exciting. Well belated Happy New Year dear.

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