YA Indie Carnival: Giving Thanks: 2012 Accomplishments

As I sit at a restaurant with a bunch of other writers doing everything but writing for NaNoWriMo, my biggest accomplishment is realizing that I’m happy, about a whole lot of things. I have enough money that I can get something to eat and sit and enjoy a tasty sandwich, soup and brownie, with other people like me who like to do the same things I like to do, like write crazy things while sucking down coffee in Panera. I have enough leisure time to be able to do it. I have a smart, funny, nerdy and sexy husband who loves that I do it, and shares with me the enthusiasm for telling stories. I have an awesome precocious and hilarious daughter who loves drawing pictures to illustrate stories I’m reading her. I was published last year, and so have fulfilled one of my goals in life. And I am happy with the story I told. I have a nice house in a mega-cool town with lots to do. I have a lot. And those are all things I am thankful for. Noticing that and remembering to appreciate it is the best thing that I could accomplish and need to keep accomplishing. It’s easy to get lost in America, the land of ‘bigger, better, more’.

In addition, I’ve been thinking a lot about the movie Pay It Forward lately. And I realized how little I look up and notice opportunities to pass it on. I get caught up in my own thoughts and moments go by, and I realize after I’ve walked out of the grocery line, ‘hey was there someone who could have used a hand or a few bucks’? What about those folks in the store who worked on Thanksgiving so that disorganized morons like me could run out at the last minute for a bag of sugar?

So this year, one accomplishment I’m going for will be to try to think more about taking all the times someone’s done something for me when I was having a bad day, or even just because, and notice more chances to pay it forward. I’m super grateful for all those moments from complete strangers who did something nice that made me stop in my tracks and think ‘Wow, people don’t suck’. And I’m grateful for all the little things people do who I see everyday that I don’t notice until later, the little courtesies that I take for granted.

See what Thanksgiving brought for all our other YA Indie Carnies! Have a great (late) Thanksgiving, and Merry ChristmaHanuKwanzikah!

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series	4.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	6.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter	8.	Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9.	Ella James	10.	Maureen Murrish
11.	YA Sci Fi Author’s Ramblings	12.	A Little Bit of R&R
13.	Melissa Pearl	14.	Terah Edun – YA Fantasy

And here’s what new!