Happy Thanksgiving!

What a crazy and amazing year it has been! Now is a perfect time to be a little introspective and realize how truly blessed life has been. It's so easy to caught up in the small stuff and forget to see the good stuff.

I'm so truly fortunate to live in the United States, and I'm so very thankful for the men and women who serve our country. My DH served in the Navy during Desert Storm, and my father was in WWII. I have many relatives who have served, and I can't begin to express how grateful I am to their sacrifices.

I am having my first contracted story released next year! How exciting and amazing is THAT? Less than two years ago I was challenged to write an erotic short story (which was subsequently published on the Whipped Cream Reviews site) and then Kealie and I challenged each other to write something a little longer. "Shut Up & Kiss Me" was the result.

This segues nicely into my thankfulness for my friends. There are days I don't know how I'd get by without them. They may not say or do much, but just knowing they're there (IRL or virtually) with a heart for me is so incredible.

My thanks for family is also something that needs expressing. Don't we take them for granted a little too much? I forget some days how my DH expresses his love for me by doing things. He works outside the home so I don't have to, fixed the cars, cares for the house, and so much more. Even when he drives me crazy, I need to remember that he's a good man.

I could go on and on... the little things and the big things are just such blessings.

What are you thankful for this year?

Thanks!

Truthfully, aside from listing those things for which I am thankful (My daughter, my husband, my pets, a home, food, a writing career), I'm a bit blank as to what to write today. It's been a long month, with my routine in disarray because of several unplanned events. My brain just isn't working the way it should! So, instead I'll give you a few quotes about gratitude and Thanksgiving:

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. ~H.U. Westermayer

It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for. He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast. ~W.J. Cameron

And one last one, not quite so serious:

I love Thanksgiving turkey. It's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts. ~Arnold Schwarzenegger

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends!

Thanks... for .... everything

I have been very sick the past couple of days... when it rains it pours. Mysti and Jenny get a bit antsy when they can't reach me, but that's what is going on. I feel rather like when it rains it pours. This month has been overwhelming: Marital issues...I get sick... hubby gets hurt, BADLY, and we are dealing with recuperation...I get really sick again... and nothing is really moving through my brain at a very easy pace.

I did get a short finished and subbed to WC and they posted it to their site this last week... sorry I didn't give y'all more notice, but it's been rather... rough lately to do anything beyond the basics in getting through each day.

A friend of mine pointed out, since he is quite a bit like me in this regard, that my writing is what sustains me, what gets me through when I'm not sure I want to push through. When it feels like it would just be easier to give up. AJ reminded me that this is who we are. We are writers and we take in everything... good or bad... and we save it. Then when it doesn't hurt so much, when we can pull it out and look at it without wanting to scream, then we use it. We go back to it and lose ourselves in these worlds we create. I may not have really been accessing my laptop, but I have notebooks throughout the house with my favorite sharpie pens attatched to them so that I can write some stream of consciousness and maybe work past some issues.

So, right now, I feel disconnected, discombobulated all sorts of 'dis' feelings, but I'm still writing. I'm still working through my feelings of anger, frustration, loss of trust, and just plain being sick / a nursemaid / then sick again... so hang in there with me. Hopefully, I'll come out the other end of this sooner rather than later and amazing stories will be able to be told. Maybe I'll be able to use some of it for my NaNoWriMo challenge coming up next month. As another dear friend keeps reminding me... "Writers write. Period." Trying to keep that one going.

Thanks for being there, those of you who have held my hand, cried with me and threatened bodily harm to the person or persons who ruined some of my trust. Y'all keep me going when I just want to lie down and give up for awhile. Now that I've made myself cry it's time to totter off to bed and try to avoid puking again (yes, yes, TMI, deal with it). Your support means a great deal... so thanks.