Thank you to all the Bloggers!

2010 was a great and very busy year for me, professionally. In May, Ballantine Books published my second novel, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, to excellent reviews. I also wrapped up the editorial polish on my forthcoming historical thriller, The Tudor Secret, Book I in the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles, and finished my third stand-alone historical novel on Isabella of Castile, which is now with my editor at Ballantine. Toward the end of the year, I began writing the second book in the Spymaster series. Whew!

Along the way, bloggers were my champions. They supported my work, featuring me with interviews, reviews, guest posts, as well as a fabulous Historical Fiction Roundtable launch event. Bloggers have helped immensely to get the word out about my - and many other authors' - books, often in their spare time, between jobs, kids, crises, and responsabilities of their own. For me, bloggers are the unsung heroes and heroines of the book industry: they are making the difference for many writers in a time when review space at periodicals is vanishing and only the top bestsellers are getting much in the way of media attention.

Therefore, for me the Persons of the Year are bloggers. Each of you helped make 2010 a stellar year for me and I am so very grateful for your support. I hope to contine visiting your blogs and entertaining you and your readers for many years to come.

A very special thank you goes out as well to the following bloggers who've listed my book on their Best of 2010 Lists, as well as the incomparable Lizzy Johnson at Historically Obsessed and Allie Greenwald at Hist Fic Chick, for their friendship, enthusiasm, and laughter:
Passages to the Past
Historical Tapestry
The Eclectic Reader
Saavy Verse and Wit