Hello, Blaze Babes! I hope 2013 is off to a fantastic start for all of you. Congratulations to our three winners, who will each receive a full set of Blaze January books!

• Katie
• Maureen
• Linda Henderson

January is a time of change for me, in many ways bittersweet. Three of my friends are moving out of Toronto this month, and it’s tough to lose them (at least in a geographical sense) all at once. It’s difficult to think that people I see almost every day will suddenly primarily be reachable by email and not in person. One friend is moving to England to fulfill a lifelong dream. She has been a co-worker across two offices for three years (and she gets to continue working for Harlequin at our Mills & Boon office in London!). But the office also seems strangely empty without her there. The other two friends are moving to a small city an hour or so outside of Toronto for work-related reasons. They, of course, will be much easier to spend time with, but there’s still a big difference between a planned trip to another city and quick “hey, wanna go see a movie tonight?” hangout. I’m happy for all of them for taking these necessary steps, but I’m also sad for me for losing them in my daily life!

When I first moved to Toronto in 2008, I knew almost no one. I’d come here because I wanted to enter Ryerson University’s publishing program and to get into publishing. I’ve got to be honest—the first few months were lonely and a bit scary! But as I got to know people at work, things got better. Still, meeting new friends as an adult is weirdly difficult. So I joined a group of tea connoisseurs (one of these days I’m going to write a blog post about tea and probably terrify you all with my fierce adoration of this beverage) and I joined a book club, and I met great people. And then through those people I met other great people. Slowly, I’ve found a second family here in Toronto, people who mean the world to me.

A Christmas get-together.

Lately, I’ve been going to more book-related events (of which Toronto hosts a lot), and I’m seeing some of the same faces at them. I’ve struck up casual acquaintances with a few fantastic book-minded ladies. Perhaps these will grow into stronger friendships; you never know!

Where did you meet your friends? Do you have any stories about old friends and new ones that you’d like to share?

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 13th, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Dana Hopkins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.