Thanks!

With Thanksgiving approaching, I’m going to jump into the cliché. I’m grateful for so many things in my life right now—a lovely family, healthy children and loving husband, my beautiful home, warm clothes and food to eat. I’m going to focus this blog on giving thanks for things related to my writing.

1. Thanks for a mind overflowing with ideas, some of which end up on the page.

2. Thanks for my brilliant and extraordinarily patient critique group who has helped me immensely, plodding through my WIP (which I’m about to revise so drastically, they’ll probably have to start from the beginning again (sorry gals!))!

3. Thanks for my conference buddy, Kelly, who gives me the courage to overcome my schoolgirl shyness to talk to the editors and agents.

4. Thanks for the speakers at the SCBWI Prairie Writer’s Conference for giving me valuable insight into my own WIP, helping me to understand the elusive Voice, and breaking my block.

5. Thanks for the rejections coming back from agents who truly encourage and give me advice about how to improve my piece.

6. Thanks for my former students who encouraged me and taught me about young adults and about YA literature.

7. Thanks for my children who are patient and loving and so good at sharing the computer with me.

8. Most of all, thanks for my amazing, hard working, beautiful husband who gives me the freedom to write everyday if I choose to do so.