Finding the Light All Year Round

For the solstice, which is the longest night of the year, I like to mention those people that bring light into my life. Because I'm a dork. And to remind us when things are dark, there are lights to guide us to better times.

My brother, who has been extremely supportive of my writing. Honestly, if I didn't know at least one other person who'd bought a copy, I'd suspect him of buying all the copies. He'd really, really great at celebrating what I sometimes am too stunned/disbelieving to celebrate.

And this next one may be silly, but I really appreciate publishers who take the time to give feedback on stories that need work that they'd otherwise like to publish. It gives me a chance to improve what needs improved (or move on). It gives me a chance to improve my story and my craft. Publishers aren't just about publishing (or shouldn't be), but about publishing great works that have been edited and honed to their greatest potential.

My friend, Noodle, who has to deal with my thousands of texts over the course of a week. I'm single, the rest of my friends are paired off, so anytime I'd normally text a significant other, she normally gets it. I'm sure it drives her nuts sometime, but she really keeps me sane by interacting. And keeps me from posting a lot of random stuff on Twitter.

The new friends who I have in my life, who don't follow this blog....But new friends are an amazing thing. It's always hard when you're older to meet new people and set aside time for them, but this year/year and a half has brought two friends (a couple, of course) into our fold of friends and it's awesome. They're amazing and it reminds me that things can continue to change and grow.

My writers' group peeps have been awesome. It's not really conducive to how much I write, but it's definitely teaching me. Teaching me to write better, or at least to edit myself better. And to read their stuff and my stuff with a critical eye. Also, the group that's growing is around my age (the older crowd stopped coming for some reason) and made of some pretty fun people. We may not have much in common, but it's nice to be around other writers.

Twitter friends, who I pretty much just interact with on Twitter, but you guys make me laugh a lot. And keep me company. 'Cause I'm all aloooooone. There's no one else besiiiiide meeeeee.

And all the authors who have put out books and made me want to read and write, and have entertained me, kept me company, and given me hope and curiosity.

I hope everyone has a warm and safe winter!