Well, I hope everyone is still stuffed and finding mind-blowing Black Friday deals. This year – and most years - I’ve got so much to be thankful for. Though I have my whiny moments, I truly understand that my life is awesome: I’ve got an amazing wife, a tremendously loving and supportive family, top-notch friends (both writing and not), two fantastic dogs, and one of the best babies on the planet (I’m not just saying this, I’ve done research). My job is well-paying, flexible, and mostly enjoyable. I’m healthy.

Today, in this forum, I wanted to give thanks for one thing in particular: Writing.

I’m thankful for what writing has taught me about myself. I’m more self-aware of my physical/emotional responses and I’ve mined deep-buried memories for the page. But I also understand that I get really grumpy after I press SEND and the doubts set in. I’ve learned that I write the best in the morning, but that I can train myself to squeeze in five minutes whenever I can. And that I bounce back from rejection with amazing swiftness as long as I’ve got another project to start.

I’m also thankful for what writing as taught me about the world. Everyday, I get better at observing and noting the details  – the sights, smells, tastes, and feelings of my life that I'd normally gloss over. I work hard to analyze what makes the real life characters around me tick so that I can apply them to my own characters. And writing has also accentuated the support and love of my wife, family, and friends. It’s also taught me that through hard work and perseverance – sometimes over decades – people can actually achieve their dreams (*glasses raised to the Muses*). It’s shown me that even after reaching the promise land, there are still more sweat, tears, and guts required. And also that sharing, celebrating, and supporting a group of people striving for the same goal is far more rewarding than doing it in a vacuum.

Mostly, I feel thankful to have found a true passion. I don’t think it’s something many people get to experience in their life. And that makes me feel like the luckiest guy in the world. 

Veronica is having Internet issues this morning, so asked me to post this - but the words are all hers, and I am grateful for them.

Talia had a wonderful post yesterday about being grateful. Thanksgiving is a day for appreciating family and friends, first and foremost, but it's also a day to appreciate our achievements. I have much to be thankful for this year. I published a novel in January, finished another one in the spring, and started yet a third one in the fall. Oh, and wrote and published a novella in the summer. Writing-wise, I can't complain. And I don't much. When I do, I usually catch myself pretty quickly.

 Nothing worth having or doing comes without a little sacrifice, right? Deadlines are part of what I do. Writers block, and all the little frustrations with plot and character are part of the journey. Wanting to hit this list or get that kind of review: also part of the job. If you were to mix a recipe to create a writer, you'd add creativity, heaps of tenacity, a dash of competitiveness, and then top if all off with emotional sensitivity. We have drive--that's what it takes to finish a book--but we also have big squishy, soft hearts--which makes publishing a bit of a rollercoaster ride.

 Today, Thanksgiving, is a chance to step off the rollercoaster. It's a chance to be grateful for this moment. For where we are now. What we have accomplished up until this very moment--and to feel sated by it.

 It occurred to me after reading Talia's post that Thanksgiving is also a day for Thanks-getting. Be thankful for the people around you, but allow yourself to be appreciated. Delight in the people who give your life shape, for you give their lives shape as well. Give thanks. Feel full today--and not just with turkey and stuffing. Be grateful, down to your very toes. But don't forget to receive thanks, too.

I have so much to be thankful for this year. I accomplished a lifelong dream of publishing a novel.  I am thankful for the opportunity I've been given.  I am.

But...

I think its human nature to take for granted the good things and focus on the negative ones, no matter how small.

I'm usually good at maintaining a positive outlook, but I still have to remind myself to pause and appreciate the wonderful things that have happened. To live in the present instead of chasing some mythical future success.  The fact is, no matter how much I accomplish as a writer, there's always something more to be attained.

Somewhere in all the craziness of the business of publishing, it's easy to lose sight of the dream and find new things to worry about:  sales numbers, marketing, distribution, reviews, the next sale...

When is enough enough?  When I get a six figure book deal?  When I make a best sellers' list?  When I get a starred review?  When I make enough money to live off my books?

The answer is that even if I accomplished all of those things, it would never be enough.

I'm a writer.  I can't not write.

I'm also a dreamer.  I can't not dream.  I can't not hope.

I want to succeed on every possible level, commercially and critically.  But for every dream achieved, a new dream muscles its way in to take the place of the old one.  I don't think this is a bad thing.  Dreams and aspirations are what keep us going.  It's only a problem if you let your future plans keep you from living in the present. 

And it is so easy for writers to live in the future.  By the time you sell and publish a book, you're working on the one that will be published (hopefully) two or three years later.  There's always a new idea, a new deadline, a new story that is going to be the one.  We're always looking forward, planning, preparing, hoping.

This Thanksgiving, I'm stepping off the publishing-go-round for a day.  I'm going to stop and really appreciate what I have accomplished.

I accomplished a dream I've had my entire life.  I wrote a book I love.  I got to see that book on the shelf of the bookstore where I discovered some of my own favorite authors and books.  I got to share that experience with people I love and care about.

I got to share it with you.

Thank you.

For this week's theme, I had to do a lot of thinking and soul-searching.  I looked up the definitions of "thankful" and "grateful" in the dictionary.  I trawled through my memory of events of 2012 to find the things I'm thankful for (publication, friends, family) and through all the possibilities of posts about friendship and publication, being one of the "lucky" ones.  But my father died a few weeks back, and I'm only just beginning to get back to the surface of my life.  You know that near-invisible meniscus that holds a needle on the surface of a still body of water?  That's what's holding me up right now.

So I can't write those posts this year.  Not because I am not thankful.  But because I have too many other emotions roiling around within me.  I would suspect my own sincerity.  And I would probably cry.

So instead, I'm going to look at both words that we used to describe our theme this week.  Giving Thanks.

Let's focus on the giving.  I'm not going to prod you into going out and volunteering at the Red Cross or cooking dinner for the local homeless shelter or even joining in on a canned food drive.  Though, of course, all of those things are noble and wonderful and I really do hope you do them.  But they are not the only way to give.

No, I'm going to exhort you to give thanks.  Is there someone in your life you appreciate?  More than anything?  Someone who helped you through a rough time, who bought you a coffee when you needed it most, who called at just the right moment.  Even the person who treated you so badly you left him - therefore allowing you to find someone better.  It could be a small thing or a huge thing or a hundred things.  And I'd love to ask you to be big and brave and tell that person.  But sometimes - I know - that's impossible.  Sometimes - maybe - giving thanks is simply being thankful.

So in my own roundabout and rather wishy-washy way, I'm asking you to give thanks.  In your own way.  In your own time.  But be aware of  your gratitude.  Hold it carefully, because it is a fragile thing.  Nurture it.  And give it away when you can.