Inkpunks

 

My favorite part of Thanksgiving isn’t the big dinner. In fact, since we went veg, we’ve often abandoned the big dinner in order to enjoy wacky and fun meals we’d never eat any other time of year. 2011’s 1960’s Casserole Night was a blast, and this year’s Frozen Cheese Pizza Taste-Off promises to be the most exciting meal I’ve ever made!

No, because I’m a giant sap, my favorite part of Thanksgiving is listing all the things I have to be grateful for. This year’s is going to be the greatest Thanksgiving list ever. Sure, I lost my job and my husband was unemployed for six months, but this year has been one of the most amazing in my life! I’ve made new friends, gotten to see old ones, become a full-time writer, and written some really terrific pieces. I’ve also gotten to spend a lot of time with my brother, my husband, and my daughter that I wouldn’t normally get to enjoy. Talk about things to be grateful about!

Anyway, here are a few writing-related things I’m grateful for:

1. The amazing editors and publishing staff I’ve gotten to work with this year. I’ve loved all the people I’ve gotten to work with this year, which makes this year an exceptional one. In particular, I have to give a shout-out to the amazing folks at Paizo, especially my editor James Sutter. He is so fun to work with and is an incredibly smart editor. Three cheers for James!
2. Being invited to join a really great writing group. Dale Ivan Smith, thank you so much for creating the Masked Hucksters! The group’s sense of fellowship has really encouraged me these last few months.
3. I’m beyond thankful for my family, who are all so amazingly supportive. My husband never rolls his eyes at any of my crazy writing talk, either.
4. The people who make tutorial videos for Windows 8. No, seriously, thank you. Getting a new computer after seven years was really traumatic for this old fossil.
5. The staff of the Multnomah County and LINCC libraries. You feed every word I write and you take such good care of me while I’m visiting your workplaces.
6. The amazing con committee at Orycon, my home convention. Every year you create an amazing convention that has taught me new and fantastic things. Thanks for all your hard, unpaid work!
7. The support of amazing friends like the Inkpunks, who are always there when I need them. I’m also desperately grateful to Robyn Lupo and Minerva Zimmerman, twitter friends who are constantly helping me with research and reading. A billion hugs to my amazing novel beta readers, Jeffrey Petersen and Rebecca Stefoff. Without you guys, my books would probably suck.
8. The people who invented coffee, and to the staff of the Painted Lady Coffee Shop, who treat me so nicely.
9. Jane Austen, David Mitchell, Tamora Pierce, Diane Duane, Katherine Dunn, Jeff Vandermeer, Mark Doty, James S. A. Corey and Stephen King for filling my belly with the fire to write and to write better.
10. I’m thankful to poetry and music and the amazing grace that somehow one bunch of primates have somehow brought into this world. Humanity, when you don’t suck, you are amazing. We have this holiday just to reminder ourselves of this fact.

Who are some of the people who have inspired you this year? How can you tell them how grateful you are? Why don’t you go out there and tell them–you’ll feel great when you do.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday, full of gratitude and joy. And with a little luck, pie!

 

 

 

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