A writer’s life is full of many solo hours of rolling around in doubt, heartache, heartbreak… and a few happy aha! moments, that ultimately make us smile and laugh as if we have been riding a standup rollercoaster for three hours straight, jumped off, puked and then screamed, “Let’s do that again!”
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to be reminded of just how thankful I am for being a writer with an active imagination, an anxious heart and a not-so-strong stomach. This kind of up and down rollercoaster feeling happens to me often. Daily, in fact. But without the puking. Mainly this happens because I struggle with the whole concept of “Do I know what I’m doing?” to “Of course, I know what I’m doing, I just sit down and write what I’m thinking, right?” Yeah, that doesn’t always work out as easily as it sounds.
Today is Thanksgiving, so as a writer I am thankful for many things…
As a mother, I’m thankful for my children, their significant others, their sense of humour, their unconditional love and encouragement, and the fact that they will eat anything I put in front of them without complaining (because they don’t want to see me freak-out and become the Devil-Mother and never cook again).
As a wife, I’m thankful for my sexy and witty husband, who has a paying job and brings home some delicious bacon, and that he’s good with his hands (especially when it comes to renovating my kitchen) and that he’s a voracious reader who loves and devours thriller books, and he encourages me to purchase books for our home libraries each and every week. You have to love a man who allows you to get extremely chummy with the local bookstore seller and the UPS guy!
As a friend, I’m thankful for people who ask me for book recommendations, while enjoying a coffee date with a piece of cake. They ask, “If I liked reading this book, what should I read next?” This question always morphs into exciting and active conversations about all kinds of imaginary worlds that include everything from cat lovers who commit crimes, to Scientists developing a deadly virus to ruin the world, to boat explosions, murder and kidnapping of your daughter, to Scottish bagpiping lovers traveling through the mountains during a forest fire. I love to watch a reader get excited about reading fiction.
As a writer, I’m thankful for all my writing buddies who encourage me to keep writing, to not give up, to stop doubting myself and just sit my ass in the chair to write something (especially at one of their writing retreats). Yes, I’m extremely thankful for writing retreats where the atmosphere is relaxing, quiet and so serene. Those retreats are perfect for me and allow me to concentrate and write so many new words that I never would’ve created without slipping away with them. If only I had a writing retreat every weekend… sigh.
As a writer, I’m also thankful for coffee, chocolate and fuzzy socks… plus, my mother-in-law’s Peach and Chocolate pie (I’m actually eating a piece for my brekkie this morning before anyone else gets up).
As a writer, I’m extremely thankful for this strange and beautiful mind of mine that keeps coming up with idea after idea of weird and wonderful things to write. I surprise myself for how much love and passion I have for the written word.
As a writer, I quite often cringe at attending bigger extended family functions, such as this weekend at Thanksgiving meals across Southern-Ontario. The mere mention of their invasive questions: “Are you still trying to do that writing thing?” or “Why is it taking so long to write this book?” or “When will your book be published?” or “Can I read your book?” Please know, I am thankful for your interest and truly appreciate it, but the truth is “I DON’T KNOW!” So, I have a general not-specific answer and that is… “The book will be done SOON. I hope.”
Overall, I’m thankful that anyone remembers that I write and I am over-the-moon happy that you might want to read it one of these days.
I believe the reference to be paragraph 5., Paragraph 6 had a pretty good reference as well.
Oh, you are referring to my Facebook comment.. Funny, my husband just read this blog post and said, “There is a paragraph in this blog that is THE BEST THING you’ve ever written!” You should see if you can spot the one he is talking about.
You are correct about it being paragraph #5 for the hubby’s comment. However, I thought you would like paragraph #8 about my mother-in-law’s peach and chocolate pie! 😉