Giving Thanks
This has been a tough autumn, I've been feeling helpless and horrified about the news this week, and right now I'm in the middle of my worst M.E. crash for a while...but that makes it even more important to me to focus on the stuff I'm truly thankful for right now. Since I live in the UK (where schools, oddly enough, do not close on the Thursday of American Thanksgiving! ;) ), my official Thanksgiving celebrations with family always have to wait until the weekend...but right now, on Thanksgiving day, I want to take the time to write this post.
1. I am so thankful for the authors who write wonderful books that I can escape into when I need a break from reality. I've been re-reading books and novellas from Laura Florand's wonderful Amour et Chocolate series of adult romances this week, and they're just as delicious the second time around.
2. I am so thankful for the readers who've read and responded to my own books and stories and to the Kat novella. I can't tell you guys just how much that means to me. (The other day I was having a very hard time with the M.E.. Then I came online to find someone talking about happily reading their way through the Kat boxed set for the first time; someone else talking about re-reading the books again; and saw this lovely SF Signal MIND MELD roundup of Best Openings in Books, where Kat, Incorrigible got 2 [!] different mentions...and altogether, it made me feel SO happy and so much better about everything.)
3. I am so thankful for just how supportive my family and friends are. My M.E. crash would be so much worse right now if my parents hadn't flown internationally to help us with the house-move. My friends have been hugely supportive throughout, and I've found such a warm, supportive community online even for the days when I'm stuck at home and can't get out. Thank you, everyone who reads this blog/twitter/facebook and brightens my days!
4. I am so thankful that I have a husband who also works from home and juggles the childcare, so that I can get writing done even during my M.E. crashes. I've been writing every day this week, zooming at what is for me an incredibly fast pace through my new MG novel (my dragons-and-chocolate novel!), and it's making me really, really happy. If I were trying to single-parent my days with a partner at work, I simply would not be able to write during my crashes, and I don't know how I would emotionally cope. As it is, though, I have my writing as a (huge) emotional outlet (even when I'm writing fun, upbeat adventure stories, as I am now) and as a source of personal satisfaction, challenge and pride, even on my worst M.E. days.
5. I am so thankful for how welcoming our new neighborhood is. Our house-move has been full of associated stress, but I absolutely love living in this neighborhood, with its lovely local library and with the warmest, most welcoming, and easiest toddler playgroup I've ever attended. It makes Baby X happy and me happy, and it's just around the corner from my house. Perfect!
6. And oh, am I grateful for my sweet, funny, loving, wonderful kids. They're the center around which everything else in my life circles. They give me joy every single day.
And speaking of kids...
If you, like me, have felt frustrated and helpless when reading this week's news, there's one easy thing you can do to make at least a little bit of a difference for kids in Ferguson right now: donate here to the Ferguson public schools, whose teachers are in need of funds for various classroom projects right now, all of which look incredibly worthwhile. I know a lot of us are broke right now or trying to figure out how to afford the holiday season (I certainly am), but even $10 can make a big difference and be one step toward trying to make things better.
Alternately, you can donate to the Ferguson public library, which is staying open even when schools are closed.
Whether you're American or not: what are you thankful for this year? I would truly love to hear about it.
1. I am so thankful for the authors who write wonderful books that I can escape into when I need a break from reality. I've been re-reading books and novellas from Laura Florand's wonderful Amour et Chocolate series of adult romances this week, and they're just as delicious the second time around.
2. I am so thankful for the readers who've read and responded to my own books and stories and to the Kat novella. I can't tell you guys just how much that means to me. (The other day I was having a very hard time with the M.E.. Then I came online to find someone talking about happily reading their way through the Kat boxed set for the first time; someone else talking about re-reading the books again; and saw this lovely SF Signal MIND MELD roundup of Best Openings in Books, where Kat, Incorrigible got 2 [!] different mentions...and altogether, it made me feel SO happy and so much better about everything.)
3. I am so thankful for just how supportive my family and friends are. My M.E. crash would be so much worse right now if my parents hadn't flown internationally to help us with the house-move. My friends have been hugely supportive throughout, and I've found such a warm, supportive community online even for the days when I'm stuck at home and can't get out. Thank you, everyone who reads this blog/twitter/facebook and brightens my days!
4. I am so thankful that I have a husband who also works from home and juggles the childcare, so that I can get writing done even during my M.E. crashes. I've been writing every day this week, zooming at what is for me an incredibly fast pace through my new MG novel (my dragons-and-chocolate novel!), and it's making me really, really happy. If I were trying to single-parent my days with a partner at work, I simply would not be able to write during my crashes, and I don't know how I would emotionally cope. As it is, though, I have my writing as a (huge) emotional outlet (even when I'm writing fun, upbeat adventure stories, as I am now) and as a source of personal satisfaction, challenge and pride, even on my worst M.E. days.
5. I am so thankful for how welcoming our new neighborhood is. Our house-move has been full of associated stress, but I absolutely love living in this neighborhood, with its lovely local library and with the warmest, most welcoming, and easiest toddler playgroup I've ever attended. It makes Baby X happy and me happy, and it's just around the corner from my house. Perfect!
6. And oh, am I grateful for my sweet, funny, loving, wonderful kids. They're the center around which everything else in my life circles. They give me joy every single day.
And speaking of kids...
If you, like me, have felt frustrated and helpless when reading this week's news, there's one easy thing you can do to make at least a little bit of a difference for kids in Ferguson right now: donate here to the Ferguson public schools, whose teachers are in need of funds for various classroom projects right now, all of which look incredibly worthwhile. I know a lot of us are broke right now or trying to figure out how to afford the holiday season (I certainly am), but even $10 can make a big difference and be one step toward trying to make things better.
Alternately, you can donate to the Ferguson public library, which is staying open even when schools are closed.
Whether you're American or not: what are you thankful for this year? I would truly love to hear about it.