I’m Canadian, so I celebrated Thanksgiving last month. However, not everyone is Canadian. So, in honour of American Thanksgiving I’m sharing 10 things I’m grateful for each and every day. Bonus # 11. (Dare we say it?) No trolls to feed. Photo by Josh Wedin, via Flickr 10. The ability to weave a plot and create characters to walk its path. 9. Being able to lose myself in my fictional world. 8. Warm soup on a cold day. (Remembering to keep said soup out of the spill-zone.) 7. Fingerless gloves. (No, it doesn’t get that cold in my little corner of Canada, but it does get damp.) 6. The increasingly acceptable option of being in charge of my own destiny by self-publishing. 5. Getting away from the lights of the city and glorying in the wonder of the stars. 4. A purring cat. In my opinion, there are few sounds more comforting that the rumble of a cat’s purr. 3. Typing “The End.” 2. Having my characters talk to me. I might not like what they’re saying or the hour tha...

Photo credit: Clipartpal.com Thankfulness steps to the fore every year at this time. Busy people stop to reflect on reasons to be grateful. Formerly gobbling turkeys are gobbled up from tables laden with goodies and surrounded with family and friends. Thoughts of sharing come out of hiding to brighten short winter days. Shop-till-you-drop becomes the motto of gift buyers who seek extraordinary bargains in fiscally lean years. Ironically, a day dubbed “Black Friday” separates the time of thankfulness from the celebration of a birth that many believe will one day bring longed-for peace on earth. Stores beckon customers with midnight specials and wee-morning hours to move inventory from overloaded shelves to places under decorated trees. On this dark 24-hour period jammed between gratitude and peace, both qualities run short in the wake of get-there-first and get-yours-before-supplies-run-out attitudes. If someone suffers injury in the frenzied process, so be it. But wait! Let’s s...

Thanks, Internet Friends! If I'm at home alone, I don't have to feel lonely. That's because with a few clicks of the keyboard, I can connect with friends I know and those yet to be discovered. Because this is a month for giving thanks, I thought I'd offer a huge thank you to my many friends on the Internet. Whether they be in e-groups, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, or other social media, I can't begin to count how many wonderful people I've met and bonded with. Some are writers who not only share their journeys to and after publication, but also bits and pieces of what's happening in their personal lives. From connecting with my writing friends I've learned so much more about the publishing world than I ever would have figured out on my own. I've also gained friendships with those who appreciate writers and books, and are all too happy to offer encouragement and praise, often when it's badly needed. On the Internet, I can read a hodgepo...

Everyone should be just about ready for Thanksgiving by now. This month's themes at the Blood-Red Pencil are "Thanks" or "Promote a Favorite Author." I'm staring at them, wondering how to narrow either of them down to a 500-word blog post. Should I be thankful for books by favorite authors? Of course I am—I can't imagine a life without reading. Should I be thankful for the emails I get from readers telling me they love my books and want more? Of course I am, but that's a personal thing. I can't choose a favorite author, just as I can't choose my favorite child. So, I'll leave that part of the month's theme up to you. Any authors you want to introduce readers to? (Or, since this is a blog where the editing police might show up, maybe it should be, "Any authors to whom you want to introduce readers?") With Black Friday right around the corner, let others know what books you think they should be looking for. As f...

I love my job. I know how lucky this makes me, and in this season of thanksgiving I give thanks to my clients who let me into their hearts and minds, innermost dreams and desires, and tell me wonderful stories that entertain me and better still, always teach me something. I am so grateful to be a ghostwriter. I’ve been a ghost for almost fifteen years and in that time I’ve ghostwritten more than forty non-fiction books and memoirs – some of them short, some long, some for women, some for men, some for people in their 80s, some for folks as young as 25. My clients are from all over the US; from widely disparate occupations; from many ethnicities and cultures. I’m a middle-aged white American woman from Seattle, but because when you ghostwrite you move into someone else’s head, my heart and mind have grown and I am no longer just what I appear to be on the outside. I have walked that proverbial mile in my clients’ moccasins, and I have been stretched to fit their shoes. I have hear...

I know you’ve done it: watched the Oscars, then fantasized that you were being honored in a similar fashion for your writing. Your sequined gown (or cummerbund) glistens in the spotlight as climb to the lectern and unfold your acceptance speech, written in 20-pt type so you can see it without your glasses. Who will you thank? We’re talking about teamwork at the BRP this month, and I’m sure a few obvious team members come to mind: your agent, your publisher, the husband who put up with you, the best friend who always believed in you, the English teacher who opened your eyes to literature, the group editing blog where all your questions were answered (woot!—thanks back at ya). That should cover it, right? Because writing is for introverts. We mostly work alone. I’d like to dispel that myth. Yes, we writers must tolerate stretches of time spent by ourselves—that's what it takes to apply our craft. But whether we write fiction or nonfiction, we pull our material from dramas pla...