Happy Thanksgiving!!!

One of the things that I love about Thanksgiving (other than the fact that it's the kickoff to the holiday season, which is my favorite time of year) is that it reminds people to think about all the good things they have in their lives.  Especially in this age of instant gratification, when people tend to be grouchy and whiny over conveniences, seeing any delay as a major inconvenience, I think that it's especially important.  Travel can be pretty crazy at this time of year and it always amazes me how much people bitch about the drive or the situation at the airport... umm, we have CARS and PLANES.  We are traveling hundreds of miles to spend time with loved ones - something that wouldn't have been possible only 100 years ago.  Like... DUDE.  I never get tired of the miracle of flight.  We're freaking flying, through the air... that's fucking amazing.  I don't care how long the line at security is.

Anyway.  Enough of my preachiness over why other people should be grateful =)

This year I am grateful for SO much.

#1 on my list is probably that hubby and I moved into a house this year.  I would say bought our first house, but with the amount of money we owe the bank, I'm not sure I can really say that LOL.  It's definitely still the bank's house hahahaha.  But it's amazing being in a house and having a guest bedroom for the first time EVER and being able to entertain large groups of people without feeling claustrophobic =)

I'm also incredibly grateful for all my fans... you guys really make all the work that goes into writing worth it.  I can't express how amazing it is for me when I look at the my reviews and see that people have actually written some!  LOL.  I've had other self-published authors ask me how I get so many and my response is - I just ask.  The fact that I can ask and receive is really something special.  I'm also extremely thankful that the vast majority are good reviews!  I'm still amazed that I managed to get over 100 likes on Facebook this year and over 300 followers on Twitter.  That's amazing.  I'd love to one day be able to quit my day job and be a full time writer - that's not going to happen anytime soon, so I judge my success by things like reviews and followers.  Having dedicated followers is pretty amazing and I'm really thankful that people have been into the giveaways and stuff so that I can give back a little.

Several people, over my time writing, have ended up as volunteer services for me - my beta readers and my editor - and I am SO thankful for their willing help.  As a self-published author, it's not an easy thing to get quality help and, it's taken a while, but I now have a really great team that is both dedicated and on top of things.  I think my past couple books have been getting better and better thanks to their feedback, it's made a huge difference and I'm so thankful for their giving natures!  I'm also super thankful for RaineyCloud9, who has started making all those gorgeous covers for me, not to mention the promotional ads =)  WOOT!  I love looking at my covers now, instead of sighing and wishing they could be better lol.  She does them so much better than I ever could.

Anyway.  Moral of the story... I have a lot to be thankful for, even just in the little realm of the writing world.  I'm loving being able to write books and share them with you, loving the fans on Literotica and BooksieSilk for the free stories, and loving that people actually follow and read this blog.  I have a lot to appreciate for this year, and I'm really looking forward to the coming year and all the cool stuff that I have planned for it!