A Thanksgiving Post

As I sit here in my post-turkey haze, I thought I ought to do some sort of Thanksgiving post. You know, all the stuff I'm grateful for. Let's see ...

I'm grateful we have our whole family together for Thanksgiving for the first time in forever. That's just the immediate family -- Mom, Dad, my brother and me -- because I have no living grandparents to provide a central meeting point, and all my aunts and uncles have their own clans of kids, grandkids and in some cases even great-grandkids. Thanksgiving for us is a low-key, relaxing kind of holiday. Last night, we watched the Firefly marathon on Sci Fi. Today is the Macy's parade, turkey and football.

I'm thankful that I get to make a living doing what I love most. I'm getting to live my dream, which is absolutely incredible. I'm not rich, but I have a lot of freedom, very little stress (unless it's around deadline time) and the most flexible schedule possible for a job.

I'm grateful for the Internet because it has connected me to so many wonderful people. Most of my best friends now were people I first connected with online. Because of friendships started and sustained online, I've been able to do so many interesting things, and I've learned so much. (Mush alert) I love you guys!

I'm thankful for my readers, the people who come here, who write to me or who even just carry a little piece of my characters in their hearts. My characters only really come to life when someone reads about them, and it's so heartwarming and fulfilling to hear about people who enjoyed my book. (Mush alert again) I love you guys, too!

I'm thankful for my family. My parents taught me a love of reading and encouraged me to develop my gift of storytelling. I had an upbringing that exposed me to new places, new people and new ideas. I've always felt safe, secure and loved, and I think that's part of what grounds me to be able to do the kind of work I do.

And I could go on, I'm sure, but I'm afraid it might start to get kind of silly. I had a couple of glasses of wine with lunch, and they're starting to take effect now, so I'd better quit while I can still type coherently.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! (And happy Thursday to those of you not in the United States. Happy Friday for those Down Under or otherwise in vastly different time zones.)