Things I’m Grateful For (Writing Edition)

This time of year is a wonderful time to reflect on the people and things you are grateful for, and this year, I have a lot of things to be grateful for. For today’s post, I wanted to share things I’ve been extremely thankful for when it comes to my writing and experiences as an author.

The first thing I’m so very grateful for is my husband. He has been supportive of my writing since the very beginning, reading every book I’ve ever written. His careful eye and suggestions are always so helpful in improving my stories. He’s also VERY patient with me, being supportive of me chasing after my author dreams even when money has been tight. It’s all paying off, and I couldn’t be more grateful for him. He’s also so wonderfully involved with our son. I work, and I’ve done so many more author events this year than I ever thought I would. Brandon has been there, chasing our little kiddo around the bookstore because I didn’t want to be away from them longer than I had to. 

I’m also grateful for our sweet baby (I guess he’s not so much a baby anymore!) boy. Having our son pushed me in a lot of ways. He made me brave enough to try new things, and gave me the courage I needed to finally get into illustrating. He has inspired so many stories in the time I’ve had him in my life. I am also grateful for his sweet demeanor, colorful imagination, and curiosity and involvement with my work and writing. He loves books almost as much as I do, and I love that we have this beautiful thing in common. 

I am grateful for the members of my family who remain enthusiastic and excited about my writing, who want to be with me and support me through the many aspects of my writing. I am grateful to my editors and my beta readers, for finding the time to read my work and help me make it better before I release it. 

I am also incredibly grateful for my job at the University of Utah Reading Clinic. For a looooong list of reasons, but in connection to my writing, my colleagues have been so supportive. My boss has found ways for me to connect writing and illustrating to the work I do for the clinic, allowing me to work on our growing list of early reading texts for struggling readers. We call them our Phonics Readers, and Phonics Comics. This year, for a number of reasons, I decided to lower my hours to halftime. I am so grateful that this job has allowed me the freedom and stability to do so. Being able to lower my hours has granted me so much more time to spend with my kiddo, and because I’ve had more time with my son, I can spend my daily writing time without feeling so guilty and worried about all the other things I’m not getting done. 

​I’m thankful for the amazing community I have found, both online and in person. I’m thankful for all the wonderful readers and writers I have met, and for those who have reached out to discuss their reading and writing with me. I’m grateful to all the bookstores who have allowed me to do events and get my books in their stores. All of you have allowed me to make my dream come true.

I’m grateful for my ability to read, and I’m so grateful for the number of authors out there releasing their beautiful stories into the world for consumption. My reading has always inspired and helped me to develop my writing, and I will forever be grateful for that.

I’m grateful that I was able to receive a good education that allowed me the opportunity to grow as a writer and as a person. I’m so thankful that I was able to start on my author journey at a young age, and that I’ve really been able to push myself and build my list of published works. I’m grateful for the time I spent teaching English and working with students on their reading and writing, and for the students who have reached out to tell me about their writing projects and aspirations.

Finally, as slow as my recovery has been, I’m very grateful I was able to get surgery to fix the carpal tunnel in both of my hands. This is something that has bothered me for years, and it got so bad that I spent most of my days and nights not being able to feel my hands, but experiencing pain all through my arms. It affected my writing, my ability to do things with my hands (like drive or open jars). I’m grateful to say that after getting this surgery a little over a month ago, I have experienced minimal numbness, no upper arm pain, and I’m sleeping like a dang baby. I know it will take some time to get back to where I can write every day (or do other things with my hands) without experiencing pain, but I’m so grateful to know that I’m on the right road, and that it will continue to get better. 

I hope you all have a safe, happy Thanksgiving, and that you take a moment to reflect on things you are grateful for. If you feel so inclined, I’d love to hear what you feel thankful for this year!

Other, sillier things that I’ve found myself grateful for this year include: sunrises and sunsets, being able to perceive things with my senses and translate those perceptions into my writing, pens, being able to type on a computer or keep notes in my phone, good movies that inspire me to write differently, my interest in various genres, and coffee.