Happy Thanksgiving, all. I’ve got pies and stuffing and turkey to make*, so I won’t go on for too long on this post**. I had considered just linking to some past posts, like on worldbuilding holidays or food details. But I didn’t want to be quite that lazy.
So: state of the writer, thankfulness version.
First and foremost, I’m thankful for by amazing wife, whose love and support have kept me going through this journey. She’s put up with the many, many times I’ve stayed awake into the wee hours or sequestered myself with headphones on and nose in the computer, accepted the fact that my head is quite literally in some other world half the time, and has kept the fire under my feet when I get distracted. She’s willing for me to not only have giant maps printed, but to have them framed and hung in our studio. Thanks to her I’ve got three novels*** in my agent’s hands, and more on the way.
Second, my agent. It’s hard to quantify what an agent does for someone, but in the time we’ve been together, he’s been a source of support, as well as inspiration. He’s pushed those three books into being better than they were without him. He’s regularly plugged this very blog. He’s working for me, and he doesn’t make a dime from me until we have a sale. And when we do, you damn well better believe he’s earned his percentage. I sure do.
I’m thankful for my health and my energy, and that I’ve had the ability and freedom to keep working like I have been. I’m thankful that I’ve just finished a draft of a short story, and wrote another short play last week. I’m thankful that I have more ideas than I know what to do with. Novels are cooking and brewing in this brain, and I have every intention of continuing to crank them out.
I’m thankful for all the people who’ve given help and advice over the past year and more– from my mentor and friend Stina Leicht to my worldbuilding brainstorming partner Dan Fawcett to the café manager who doesn’t charge me every once in a while because she likes supporting writers. Too many people to name. Besides, that’s what the acknowledgement page of books are for, right?
All right, time to hit the kitchen, folks. Have a good one.
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*- I’m a traditionalist, but that ties to my roots as a worldbuilder and an amateur food historian. Turkey, potatoes & corn are all native foods to the Americas. That’s important, in my mind. That’s why desert is a chocolate pecan pie.
**- I swear, half the times I say that, I end up writing twice as much as a normal post.
***- And two trunked ones. I don’t think anything tests the patience of a writer’s spouse quite like a trunk novel.