Thankful to My Peeps

It’s not just Thursday or today or this week or even this whole month, but every day I am thankful for my writing peeps.  I am thankful for my fellow Foxes and the Hound.  Every week, I’m forced (in a good way) to write something.  On occasion, I haven’t followed through, but I’ve had to at least think about the topic of the week.

I’m extremely thankful for my local writing peeps (which means our lovely Jillian Chantal is getting doubly thanked-still not enough for how awesome she is).  From impromptu write-ins, to lunch, to that constant checking in of where I am with my writing, I am quite sure I may have packed it in if not for my fellow local writing friends.

I am thankful to my old writing peeps back in San Antonio.  That’s my writing birthplace.  Well, sort of.  It is unless we’re calling that three-hour layover in the Houston airport which I spent at the bar at Pappadeaux’s above gate E4 my writer birthplace, but I was living in San Antonio at the time of that flight, so it’s all good.  I recall the tiny article in some women’s magazine (Real Simple?  In Style?  Self?  Glamour?) about some crazy challenge and how November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, or simply NaNo if you want even shorter.  Incidentally, November 2008 is the only time I’ve actually “won” at NaNo.  I was blissfully ignorant of all the rules I was breaking.  My San Antonio peeps were the ones who gently, but firmly, informed me of all the reasons my novel wasn’t the brilliant work I originally thought it was, and yet they remained supportive and encouraging the entire time.

I’m thankful for my YARWA peeps.  I’ve heard of RWA chapter drama and seen it first-hand, but not with this amazing group of young adult authors.  They are another group of incredibly supportive writers who get those crazy teens we love to write about.  They continually ensure that my To Be Read pile will never disappear.

And finally, I’m thankful to the readers.  Whether it’s this blog or a rough draft or a final product, I’m thankful for those of you who love stories so much that there will always be an opportunity for those of us who love to write.