Thanksgiving!

I am grateful for so many things at this time in my life. I can't believe how fortunate I am on most days, let alone on a day dedicated to being grateful. I'm grateful to have a place to live and food in my belly, I'm grateful to have a loving family and supportive friends. I'm grateful to have my health. I'm grateful for the health and happiness of the people I love.

So, on the final Thursday of November, I tend to feel pretty good about life, and my place in the world. And this year in particular it was lovely to celebrate with friends and to meet new people.

I could go on about gratitude, but I think you all might prefer a shorter summary: I am grateful for my life.

Not everyone enjoys Thanksgiving...

So, this is a short post, as I am woefully behind on my NaNoWriMo word count (but still hopeful that I might catch up before the end of the 30th) and I also have to go edit the new youtube video I will be sharing next week. In other words, I need to get to work.

But, as I do, I will continue to be grateful for the feast I had last night, the fire that's warming my back as I type, and the friends who continue to love and support me even when I only pass through their lives once in a while. 

I hope everyone out there is warm, safe and healthy. Happy (slightly belated) Thanksgiving to folks in the US. And a happy late fall day to everyone else. 

Don't Miss...

...my guest post over on If These Books Could Talk. It's about how life looks one year after running a successful Kickstarter campaign. It endeavors to be both entertaining and informative. Does it succeed? You be the judge.

A Return to Civilization...

Things I have accomplished since returning to "civilization" (keeping in mind I'm still in the middle of this trip with high school students, just no longer in the middle of the wilderness):

• taken a shower
• used a toilet that flushes
• sifted through 74 unread emails
• written to friends and family to let them know I'm alive
• eaten food I didn't cook myself
• taken a shower

I haven't actually showered twice yet. We've only been out of the wilderness for a handful of hours. But showering was so glorious I felt it deserved to be mentioned twice.

Catching up with the news has not been pleasant... Civilization does not seem so civilized when the news is full of death and violence. I am so deeply saddened to hear about the attacks on Paris. I may be a writer, but I don't have words to express the sorrow, anger, and grief I feel on behalf of the people of Paris. 

I wish I had more to say on the subject or could happily switch to a lighter topic, but I find I can't. My thoughts are with Paris, the victims, and their families. 

I hope everyone I know is well at this moment and able to hold their loved ones close. 

I'm in the desert and writing to you from the past...

Well folks,

Today's blog post is coming to you from last Friday night. I have safely made it to Arizona and am (at the time of writing this) among friends and preparing for a two week excursion with ten high school students and one other faculty member. However, by the time you read this (yay for scheduling posts on blogger, facebook, and twitter) I will be in the desert, camping, not using a watch, rock climbing during the day, and scribbling furiously at night.

This post then, exists as a strange marker in time. To let you know that on Friday night I was contemplating the fact I wouldn't be able to write a blog post next week, but that I wanted you all to know what I was up to...

But, as I can't really give you any details on a future that hasn't happened yet, here are some things to keep an eye out for later in November.

• a more detailed post about how ComiCon went
• a video about the pros and cons of both publishing routes (traditional and independent)
• an update on my ever increasing word counts for both of my works in progress (teaser: I'm at around 45,000 combined right now)
• pictures of the southwest
• long silences

You'll note that the last one in the list suggests that there may be some waiting involved in this month's updates. This post will go out into the interwebs even though I'll be away from technology for a week. However, subsequent posts are... not yet written. Nor are the videos recorded. So, those will be created in the future, and posted when I have internet again. In other words... sporadically.

Also, in case you missed it, I was featured on a NaNoWriMo spotlight last week over on The Kelworth Files. So have a look at that: https://goo.gl/7u7puX

Hope this missive finds everyone well. I'll post again with some photos and details when I return to the land of internet in a week and a half. Happy Fall!

Brief ComiCon Report and New YouTube Video!

Hey folks!

Well, I am happy to report that ComiCon was a great success, and a wonderful experience. I hope to write up a longer review of the experience in the not too distant future, but for now some highlights:

• amazing cosplay
• tons of enthusiasm
• kind and interesting people
• meeting lots of local artists
• meeting the creators of LFG (one of my all time favorite webcomics)
• having someone who bought Blade's Edge on Friday come tell me that he'd stayed up until 4 am reading it on Saturday night
• making new friends
• meeting someone whose sister in law is from the same town we lived in when we lived in Japan
• meeting amazing people in general

Ok. Many more details to come in a future post, but for now here is what was meant to be the official first post of the youtube channel. It got supplanted by the NaNoWriMo video due to timing decisions.

I will post another video in the future that discusses the pros and cons of indie vs. trad publishing later on this month. I hope this is useful to some folks in the meantime. 

I may fall off the blog for a bit this week as I am prepping not only to go on my trip on Wednesday, but also to move from one apartment to another before that. (Long story, but we're not going far, just moving into a larger place. And I say "we" but the husband is going to wind up doing most of the moving on his own as I will be in Arizona.)

On that note, I'm off to get a few words of NaNoWriMo down on paper before I have to dive into all the prep for departure. Hope everyone is well. Happy fall!