What am I grateful for this Thanksgiving? Many things indeed, and of course not all of them are related to reading or writing. But plenty of them are:
First above all, I am grateful for my God-given talent for writing (and editing). Without that ability, I don’t know what I would be doing for a living, but I cannot imagine I could possibly enjoy it as much as I enjoy what I actually do.
Second, I am grateful for publishers such as Roundtable who value my work and publish it.
And of course, hand in hand with that I am grateful for the readers who read my work, who buy my books (and sometimes reach out to tell me how much they enjoy what I’ve written).
When I’m not writing books I do freelance writing of many sorts as well as freelance editing, and I’m grateful for the clients who call or email me in want of my services—and especially the clients who return with one book after another or one miscellaneous writing project after another.
I’m grateful for the clients who have grown to become true friends.
I’m grateful for the many other people I’ve met in the publishing industry or in the course of my other writing and editing work who have also become friends.
I’m grateful to live in a country that doesn’t ban books or burn books. Yes, I know some schools, libraries, and other institutions still ban books, but fortunately the practice isn’t that pervasive—and it’s not government-sponsored or mandated. And if you want to read a book that your school or library doesn’t have, nobody’s stopping you from buying it, whether at your local bookstore or over the internet. There are no Book Police.
I’m grateful for the wealth of information that’s there for the reading, whether in books or on the internet.
I’m grateful for the success of my friends who are fellow writers, and the success of all the other writers I know. We are not competitors. We are all in this together. Their successes and triumphs do not detract from mine.
I am grateful that so far I have not run out of ideas for books to write. I am often short of time for book-writing, but I am seldom out of ideas.
I am grateful just to be alive and well and full of zeal for writing.
Let us all pause a moment on Thanksgiving to think about all the things we each have that we can be grateful for.
If you believe in God, thank Him for your many blessings.
Whether or not you believe in God, thank the people in your life for all that they do for you and with you and about you that makes your life better.
And have a happy and gratitude-filled Thanksgiving!