It’s Thanksgiving in the US this weekend and it made me consider that, despite the fact we don’t do Thanksgiving here in the UK, it might be a nice time to practise gratitude as well.

I do actually say thank you most days. I know I’m pretty fortunate and so I like to acknowledge it and remind myself that I can’t take anything for granted in this world. That life is here to be appreciated. When it comes to writing I do have days where I find the whole thing frustrating, days when I’ve been hit with the rejection stick one too many times, or when the words just won’t come the way I want them to. So I find it helps to sit back and think about why I’m grateful.

Grateful that I have eyes to read, fingers to type, a mind with which to think and the time in which to do it.

Grateful for my beta readers, who love my books and can’t wait for the next one, whose enthusiasm and support and constructive criticism drive me forward to produce the best work that I can. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know that I would have the confidence to self publish.

Grateful that we live in a time where the option to self publish is available to authors, each of us having the chance to publish our work and share it with an audience, no matter how small.

And I’m grateful to all those who read and like and follow this little blog of mine. It’s been quite something to connect with people from everywhere and it reminds me that this world of ours is quite small. I’ve had some wonderful comments on this blog and I would really like to say how much I appreciate those of you who’ve taken the time to share your thoughts.

Thanks everyone – hope you all have a great weekend, wherever you are!

PS My latest guest blog is live on the Writers & Artists website – here’s the link:

https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/2014/11/how-s-your-nano