Christmas is over, but you may still be enjoying time with your friends and family. Part of the conversation around Christmas and Thanksgiving tables usually centers on what are we thankful for. What are some of the moments over the past months that made us do a happy dance or pump our fist in the air and say “Yes!” Even though we may not think of being thankful at the time, all of these incidents should call forth a feeling of gratitude.

So, as a writer, what are you thankful for? It doesn’t have to be a lot. Maybe all you did was start a blog or website, join a writer’s group or write some words for NaNoWriMo. Whatever it is, it’s more than you did before, and you should be thankful and proud of yourself. See it as a stepping stone to better and greater things so that by the end of the year you can have more things to be thankful for.

For me, I am still thankful to be able to wake up each morning and see the sunrise, feel the fresh air on my face and hear the sounds of birds as they call to each other. I am thankful for my family who makes every day worth living. I am also thankful for the gift God has placed inside of me. I call it a gift because not everyone has the ability or the desire to sit down and write something that others will enjoy reading or even pay for.

Even before I started writing seriously thirteen years ago, I had a short story published in a college magazine. At that time I was an inexperienced writer and my writing was a diamond in the rough, but I joined a writer’s group and the members helped me polish my writing to the extent that I have now been published in such reputable anthologies as A Cup of Comfort for Mothers by Adams Media and Chicken Soup For the Soul: Reboot Your Life. I have self-published a Christian non-fiction book Women For All Seasons  and written a fiction trilogy Coming Out of Egypt. In addition, I have written hundreds of articles on health, fitness and education for online sites.

So, I’m thankful for all these things, but especially for God and the people who helped and encouraged me along the way. People like you, my readers, who take the time to read and follow this blog. So, what are you thankful for? Share it in the  comment box below.