It should be harder to be thankful this year. After all, the news has been pretty bad lately for everyone. Somehow, though, it's been unusually easy for me. When things are already haywire, I'm suddenly thankful for the things I do have: health, family, a warm home, a full tummy, the excitement of writing and the fact it brings in a little income (emphasis on 'little').
This year I'm actually open to hearing Christmas music before Thanksgiving. This is a huge departure for me. I'm very traditional and usually prefer Christmas music in December. Or at least after Thanksgiving. This year it seems more comforting, familiar, and reassuring than stridently commercial. My seven year old's enthusiasm for starting the season is catching, too.
The amazing thing is that focusing on the positive has centered me a little bit. This is odd because nothing has slowed down at all; in fact, this is the busiest fall I can remember. The children's activities, my writing, the housework, events on the calendar....I've been buried. And yet, my mind isn't whirling nearly as much as usual. Oh, I still wake up in the middle of the night and gasp because I've dreamed I've forgotten something important (are there other people who do this, or am I crazy?), but I feel a lot more grounded than usual.
Things I've read this week online:
Well, I have read downbeat articles about pensions being frozen at Random House and Barnes and Noble's poor third quarter results. It's not good to stick our heads in the sand, even if we are thankful and positive! But we don't have to dwell too much on that. Moving on to:
The Classic Mysteries site, which I'm enjoying. I love classic detective stories.
A post on Mysterious Matters about this mystery editor's cardinal sins for mystery manuscripts.
An post on the Urban Muse blog about blogging and creating/sending newsletters (the comments are useful, too.)
A post on Nathan Bransford's blog on twenty-one things an author can Twitter (although I still don't plan on Twittering. Just don't have the time....)
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