As most of you know, I’m part Cherokee and Choctaw. Traditionally,
we see the world and life in a circular form, a wheel or spiral. For the
Cherokee, autumn is the time of endings that create new beginnings. We
celebrate our New Year in the fall, and I’ve always lived my life like that—with
autumn as the time new cycles begin and new things of importance are started in
the most abstract and concrete ways.  If
you think of cleaning up the garden for winter while you’re dividing and
replanting your perennials for new plants, it makes a lot of sense. And we’ve
been doing something similar with this blog. 

It’s my privilege to kick off a new version of The Stiletto
Gang this month. We’ve had some big changes around here. Those of you who
follow us regularly will know that we recently began a Facebook page for the
blog, https://www.facebook.com/stilettogang.
 We’ll be doing some fun things there as
folks launch books—and we’ve got lots of book launches ahead. We’ll have
giveaways and other fun things going on over there.

At the same time, here at the blog, we’ve undergone some
major changes. Two of our regular longtime blog mates, Joelle Charboneau and Maggie
Barbieri, are leaving because, well, mostly because they’ve become so
successful that time has become really limited for them. We all wish them the
best and will miss them greatly, as I’m sure you will. But don’t worry. They’ll
come back occasionally to visit with us.

In the process of revamping the schedule and bringing in new
blood, some of us have cut our blog appearances to create more time or switched
days to make blogging more manageable—and we’ve brought on five new members of
the blog. That’s the exciting news! Lots of new voices to join with the rest of
us here. Our new members, in the order that you’ll meet them, are Lynn Cahoon,
Sally Berneathy, Kay Kendall, Sparkle Abbey (really, co-authors Anita Carter and
Mary Lee Woods), and Debra Goldstein. Check out their bios and books in the sidebar,
and I think you’ll be thrilled, too.

We regulars are so pleased to welcome such a talented and
diverse group of authors to join us, and we’re anticipating lots of fascinating
new posts from them. In the process, I think those of us who’ve been here a
while are getting energized, as well, like those perennials that grow so much
faster after division.

So, the wheel of the year is turning for us, and we say an
affectionate goodbye to Joelle and Maggie, grateful for all the wonderful times
we’ve had together, while we sing out an enthusiastic greeting to Lynn, Sally,
Kay, Anita, Mary Lee, and Debra. Oh, are we going to have some fun together!

NOTE: Blogger and I are still at war over comments and
replies. Blogger won’t let me comment here or at my own blog (though I can on
other Blogger blogs), so I will respond to comments here over on Facebook. *sigh*
Hope to get this fixed soon.