I really appreciate all of you who checked in regularly with your resolutions. I helped me keep on track. I actually made major progress in the basement.

But, on to what you really want to know....the winner, chosen by random drawing is....Jane!

You Do Love Each One As Much As The First

Happy Release Day to me – and my Holiday Brides anthology co-authors Farrah Rochon and Jewel Amethyst! I am really psyched to be celebrating here on Cigars as part of my blogosphere tour to talk about "HeavenSent.com," my novella in Holiday Brides. I’d like to thank the Cigars authors for welcoming me in their final days.

This is my third release day. I’ve had the good fortune to publish one novel and two novellas, placing me on a one-book-a-year track for the last three years. I’m also working on a novel due soon that will help me keep up the tradition in 2010. I can’t imagine this feeling ever getting old.

As you all know by now, Cigars is shutting down. This is both sad--as we all have such good memories here. And happy--as every ending is a new beginning. I can't thank everyone here enough for being so warm and welcoming. I'm not sure if I've been here a full year (I'm sure Sam could tell me!), but I feel as if I'm truly part of the family.

So where will you go now? What are your go-to romance blogs? Do you tweet? (I do--you can follow me at twitter.com/dianaholquist). Do you facebook? (I do--come and be my friend at facebook.com/dianaholquist).

I've been thinking a lot about blogs and blogging lately. To tell you the truth, I've become really tired of some of my go-to blogs. They seem, well, tired. I spend time on Twitter now

Greetings Cigar Folk! I have so loved being part of the this group and meeting everyone. I owe Sam a huge debt of gratitude for inviting me to be a Cigars gal.

Now you may be wondering about the Resolution contest.

Hi Everyone,

When the decision was made to close down Cigars, I faced it with a bittersweet acceptance. It really is the best thing for all of us, to move on before we become...well, irritating, lol. There's nothing worse than going somewhere you loved to visit and asking yourself why you wasted the time. None of us ever want to make anyone feel that way. Especially when all of you have been so supportive of us.

I'm going to miss Cigars and all the folks who have been a part of it. We've had some great conversations and I'm glad I was able to be here this year.

I love this blog, and love all the people who have been a part of it! I'll definitely miss being part of Cigars. Sam did a fabulous job keeping this going and bringing in great, entertaining guests!

I thought it would be great for my last blog to finally do the much-promised one with my daughter and I. Mandy and I, who write horror teen novels as AJ Whitten, have our first release out this week with THE WELL (Houghton Mifflin Graphia). While working together was great fun, just hanging out can be a blast too. We have a lot of common interests (horror movies, Broadway plays, the mall ;-) and we thought we’d do a “Ten Random Questions” quiz to see how we score on alikeness here.

I'm in Newport, RI for several days of team-building and bonding exercises with some of my colleages, and to also spend time discussing new initiatives and paths forward, so it seems fitting that my last blog would be during this time, from this gorgeous location. My room is on the back side of the Newport Harbor Hotel, with a sliding door that opens onto a grassy lawn and my own set of adirondack chairs. Beyond that is a private boardwalk and marina filled with luxury yachts, and I can hear the ships' bells and horns and smell the ocean and am in heaven.

Hey everyone. This may be kind of sudden, but truth is, we've been chatting amongst ourselves for a while, and it's been decided that Cigars will be closing down as of Sept 30. Sad, but it's one of those good news and bad news kinds of things -- we're all struggling to find more time to spend on writing, and we all have new projects in the works, and it all takes time. So, we end up having to make hard choices.

I never think of myself as watching very many shows, but the truth is...I'm a tvaholic and I'm taking a breath of relief as the new tv season begins.

There's just something exciting when tv starts over again. There's been months of speculation and finally, dear God finally, you're going to get some answers.