You Say It's Your Birthday?!.......

.....it's my birthday, too, yeah!

Alas, it is my birthday today and I'm tempted to use some of that new-fangled math to come up with a number I like more than the real number (doesn't that new math still allow for imaginary numbers?). But, after facing some serious glitches in the matrix of life a couple of years ago, I guess I'm just fine starting my 53rd year on planet Earth.

Even though I'm acknowledging my body's age, I have to say that I don't think I'm really that old yet. At least not in mind and spirit. I still have things to do, places I want to see, people I want to meet, books I want to read...and write...., music to hear and people I want to be like when I grow up!! I think I've always been one of those people who never acts or thinks like their age. Now sometimes, that's not a nice thing to say, but I take it as a compliment because I think, as that "Kick the Can" episode of TWILIGHT ZONE taught us, that you are only as old as you let yourself be.

And, my habit at this time of year, not necessarily New Year, but on my birthday eve, is to think ahead at where I want to be or what I want to have memories of on my next birthday. Since I did this on January 29th, 2008 --

-- I've written two novels, one novella, and a short story,

-- I've signed with a new publisher to write 3 more books,

-- I hired a new agent,

-- I spent 3 weeks traveling all over the UK and got to climb the scaffolding to the top of Rosslyn Chapel, see the Highlands in the middle of a snowstorm, listened to harpists from all over the world, met a world-renowned scientist who spoke on how storytelling is one of two biggest differences between human and ape brains!, visited a library built in the 1700s, and rode buses all over London and Edinburgh, talking to the locals and meeting so many nice people!

-- took my hubby and son (and his friend) from San Francisco to southern California to Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon to Phoenix, meeting friends and romance readers and writers all along the way

-- celebrated countless family and friend birthdays and anniversaries and other happy occasions

-- had a wonderful quiet holiday season at home with family.

Are you tired yet? I am! LOL! So, 2009 has a lot to live up to if I compare it to 2008, but I've discovered that each year is special and offers wonderful occasions and events and milestones to remember. So what can 2009 bring to me to make it stand out.

Well, I think I am on the brink of a wonderful year ahead. How do I know? According to my horoscope over at Astrology Zone.com 2009 is MY YEAR! Okay, I have to share this fantabulous year with other Aquarians, but I'm willing because apparently there's lot of fabulous to share. I take horoscopes with a grain of salt, of course, but the last time Jupiter was in my sign (12 years ago in 1997) I finished my second manuscript, was on Lifetime TV with Debbie Macomber and Harlequin editor Paula Eyckelhof promoting it , I signed with my first agent, and sold my first book! So, I'm thinking this whole 'Jupiter in Aquarius' thing could be good again for me?

What do I hope for? Where do I want to be on birthday eve 2010?

The answer is the same each year -- to be surrounded by family and friends, to be in good health, to be writing books that my readers enjoy, to be seeing the places I want to see, doing the things I enjoy, meeting the people I like and new ones, too, and just being here.

The rest of it is all icing on the cake of life -- to be enjoyed, to make memories, but not essential to my savoring the plain, simple parts.

So yes! It's my birthday, too, yeah! How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you look behind or look ahead? What's the best thing, personally or professionally, that happened to you in 2008? Leave a comment and share it with me and I'll send something out to 2 randomly-selected posters, not limited to Aquarians so as to spread the good cheer around!

Terri

Terri's next release will be her Harlequin Historical UNDONE!, available online in June 2009, followed by the first book in her new "Knights of Brittany" trilogy, THE CONQUEROR'S LADY, for Harlequin Historicals, available in bookstores and online in July 2009. Then, watch for her first Kensington BRAVA historical romance, A STORM OF PASSION, available in December 2009. Visit her website at:

www.terribrisbin.com for more info on books, Terri, contests and everything!