Yeah yeah yeah it’s not Thanksgiving anymore blah blah blah
Don’t care.
You know what? It’s good to show gratitude any day of the year, not just on a day that many Americans gorge themselves on the flesh of the enemy. (If you don’t take time to remember the Great Turkey War of 1773, you’re a heathen.)
So I want to share some things I’m grateful for in the realm of writing, reading, and publishing.
I’m grateful that creativity was designed like a muscle. Some things, if you don’t use them, you lose them. I used to be relatively proficient at American Sign Language. I haven’t used it in years; now I really only know some common phrases.
But creativity doesn’t work that way. If you don’t use it, yes, it can surely atrophy. I’ve experienced it myself. But if you start using your creativity muscles again, give them a good workout, you can be creative again. I love that even a year ago I had a hard time pushing out any kind of short story, because I’d allowed my creativity yo go unused. And now? Now the ideas flow pretty easily.
It didn’t have to be that way, but it is.
I’m thankful that creativity was designed like a muscle.
I’m thankful that there are so many good writers that my biggest problem isn’t finding a good book to read, but selecting which of countless good books I’m going to spend time in now. We could live in a world without libraries. We could live in a world that despised science fiction and fantasy, my two favorite genres. We could live in a world where books are hard to get a hold of. All of those things aren’t hard to imagine; they’re not that distant in the past, nor that distant geographically from me.
Instead, though, I have so many choices. I’ve got an ereader full of books. I have two rooms in my house overflowing with books. My eldest son is constantly pushing books on me to read that he’s loved.
I am thankful for these choices!
I’m also thankful for editors who are willing to put in the work to publish stories. As I’ve dug into publishing and I’ve gotten to meet editors, I’ve begun to realize that they work harder than many authors. They scramble to make sure that what they publish is quality and matching a vision. They labor to put out good products that people will buy.
And not only do I see many hard-working editors, but I see editors willing to take risks. Look at me; I don’t have a huge following, and I certainly don’t have a huge back-catalog of published works to show I’m a proven thing. Yet, editors are willing to risk their time and effort on me. I’m thankful for that!
And I’m thankful there are people who are willing to pay for stories. It allows me to make some extra income, and perhaps one day, all of my income. Thank you for the time you spend here on the blog, and if you’ve purchased something that features one of my stories, thank you!
So I have a lot to be thankful for in just this “little” realm of writing and reading.
What about you? Are you thankful for anything in this realm?
Jonathon Mast: Author 