Giving Thanks

Tomorrow is National Turkey Day, or OD on Parades Day, or Thanksgiving, take your pick. I'm posting this early because I don't have home Internet, and there's no guarantee I'll find an open store with WiFi tomorrow. As I recall, last year I ended up in Dunkin Donuts because McDonald's was closed. Since when is McDonald's closed on a holiday? How are we supposed to get our Big Macs if everybody's home with their families?

At any rate, here's my list of things I'm thankful for in 2012:

Modern computers and Internet access. I just finished the final draft of the YA book. I'll be sending it out on Monday, via email. No more trips to the post office, no more postage, no more manilla envelopes. And especially no more typing hundreds of pages every time you write a new version. I suspect typewriters are the reason writers got in the habit of only producing one novel a year. I'm the slowest writer on the planet and I wrote two books and a novella this year. Well, that's fast for me. I put the typewriter away when I got my first computer and never looked back. I still do first drafts in longhand, but that's more for safety reasons. If I'm sitting in bed with the notebook and pen and spill hot tea on the paper, the paper doesn't shoot off sparks, crash, and set the bed on fire. It also gives me a hardcopy draft in case the computer gets a bug. Don't get me wrong, I love both my laptop and my antediluvian desktop, except for the whole crashing thing.

Personal health. I've been extremely lucky in the health department. The last time I needed major surgery, I had a job and therefore medical coverage. I really, really, really should take better care of this meatsuit I'm walking around in, because it's piling up the serious mileage. More fruit, more vegetables, more exercise. Maybe I can learn to write while I walk, or write on a stationary bike or something. Four to five hours a day sitting around typing words onto a screen may be emotionally satisfying, but it doesn't do squat for your butt.

Rice and tea. I don't think I could live without rice and tea. I'd give up chocolate first. (See previous paragraph.)

Supernatural. Two of the three books I talked about earlier were inspired by that show. I've got another one on the to-be-written list (a trilogy gets kind of lopsided with only two books in it) and another possible with a nodding acquaintance. And then, of course, there's this:

And this:

And of course this:

If I found that in my room I'd be giving a lot more than thanks, boy I tell you what.

Siren Publishing. They bought my books. And all the readers who bought my books. I now feel I have a responsiblity to entertain people to the best of my ability. I'm not Stephen King yet, but I can aim for it.

The lovely ladies at Shapeshifter Seductions, who let me blog about stuff like gay, cross-dressing snakes and men who turn into squirrels. We're at www.shapeshifterseductions.blogspot.com. Stop in and check us out.

And to you folks reading this. Thanks for dropping by, and happy Thanksgiving!