A few things I am grateful for, in no particular order:

1) My family, especially my ten-year-old son, who gets excited about publishing stuff even when he doesn’t understand it and who regularly gives me pep talks without even realizing it.

2)The chance to immerse myself in stories and to be able to share them with other people. Basically, the wonder of writing.

3) The break I have given myself from writing for the last two weeks. Basically, the wonder of not writing.

4) The wonderful, supportive, silly, sassy members of the Sweet Sixteens.  I can’t imagine going through the debut experience without their support!

Tobie Easton, Jessica Cluess, and me, doing a cover reveal dance.

5) My betareader Manuela, who constantly gives me new reasons to be glad she is on my side. (Seriously, I would not want to see what chaos would ensue if she chose to use her powers for evil.)

6) Bloggers like Alyssa of The Eater of Books and Nicola of Queen of the Bookshelves, who have embraced Sword and Verse with a passion that makes me teary.

7) The joy of discovering a new all-time favorite book.  I recently read (and then immediately reread twice) The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steivfater. I hadn’t added any new titles to my absolute-favorites-could-reread-ad-nauseum list since Harry Potter, but that one went right on the list. (Listen to the audiobook if you can – it’s amazing.)

8) The fact that, for all the anxieties and waiting and stresses involved in the debut experience,  I am getting to have a debut experience,  and that’s pretty amazing.

9) Last month I got to spend a weekend in a hobbit hole. For real.

10) In looking through my pictures, I realized that I have visited a lot of cats this year. Check out these cuties:

Happy Thanksgiving!