Feeling Thankful

Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away but this morning I am feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Here are some things and people I'm thankful for when it comes to being an author.

1. I'm thankful to be in a line of work where colleagues are supportive of each other, rather than dog-eat-dog.

2. I'm thankful for all the amazing emails I get from young people, whether to say they liked my book(s) or ask questions about how they might someday become an author.

3. I'm thankful for teachers like Cassie Cox of Two Rivers High School. She had an idea to get her students and their favorite authors together for dinner and it happened!

4. Along those same lines, I'm thankful for Courtney Lowe and the others at Provo City Library who are always finding new and exciting ways to reach out to teens.

5. I'm thankful for my mom and dad, who read to me and let me see them reading as I grew up.

6. I'm thankful to Dr. Ann Gill of Colorado State University who once told me I'd be doing the world a great disservice if I didn't write.

7. I'm grateful for my critique partners and groups, my blogging family (including the Buzz Girls!), my writing organizations, my agents, and all of the editors I've had the pleasure of working with.

8. And last but never least, I'm thankful for my family, who knows how important writing is to me and sometimes even allows me to write, LOL.