Thankful

Amy Bai over at The Purple Patch gets blamed for this. Or, um, THANKED. Because that's the point, right? Right?

:)

So here we go: 10 Things I Am Thankful For, all of which must have something to do with writing. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand GO!

1. I'm thankful for my imagination. Okay, that sound cheesy but I am an only child in a single parent household so I spent a great deal of time entertaining myself. And reading. And those two things together sparked something at an early age. My rampant imagination has really effected every aspect of my life, from my singing to my choice of careers and to the idea, ultimately, that I could write a novel.

2. Speaking of single parents, I am eternally thankful for my mom. She got divorced at a time when people weren't getting divorced, held on to a house at a time when single women didn't own homes, raised a child and maintained a career at a time when women were quitting their jobs to raise a family. And through it all that woman instilled in me the idea that I could do anything, be anything, as long as I believed I could and worked damn hard. Of course I rewarded her by going into the very lucrative careers of opera singer and writer, but let's just not mention that, mkay?

3. MS Office. No, I'm not trying to get Bill Gates to put me on payroll. But think about how much harder our jobs would be without Word and Excel? Seriously.

4. White wine. Not red, not my beloved champagne, not the hard stuff. White wine. Nothing gets me in the mood to crank out wordage like a glass (or four) of white wine. *sigh* Why is it only 9am?

5. The Great Poodini, my 6lb Maltese. Poodini has this little thing called a "bladder" and every 6-8 hours he need to be taken outside to relieve himself. Pre-dog ownership I never would have thought that a walk around the block would be such a fantastic way to get through a difficult scene or plan out a passage of dialogue. But it is. Thanks, Poodini.

6. The day job. So I bitch a little bit about my day job. Okay, a lot. Okay, they are STILL a bunch of crazy people but my boss actively encourages me to write at the office when I don't have anything to do. I mean, how lucky am I? So take all my bitching with a grain of salt.

7. Los Angeles. You know, as a San Francisco girl, I grew up with a natural bias (read "hatred") of Southern California, and it wasn't until my second stint living here that I really began to appreciate this town. There's so much stimulation (pork chop), so much to see and learn and feel (pork chop) and do (pork chop). I found writing here. And Cirque Berzerk. And Poodini. And so many wonderful, amazing people. It's not all Hollywood and frivolity. Just mostly. ;)

8. My gay husband, Roy. No, we are not really married. Yes, he is gay. No, I'm not delusional. Roy is like the bestest best friend a girl like me could ever hope to have. He's read everything I've written (okay, that's not very much, but STILL), he babysits Poodini so I can juggle the crazy circusness of my life, he offers up his gorgeous garden veranda room when I need a change of writing scenery and most important of all, he listens to me bitch, moan, obsess, indulge, plot, characterize, moan some more, bitch like a raving lunatic... with a smile and a bottle of booze in hand. I heart you, baby.

9. The Rockstar, Ginger Clark. Not only am I thankful just to have a bloody agent, but I am blessed with a wonderful, fun, supportive, communicative, intelligent, witty rockstar of an agent who makes me thankful every day that she hasn't dropped me yet.

10. Last but very much not least, I'm taking a page from Amy and thanking my writer peeps. Absolute Write's Purgatorians, The Enchanted Inkpot, YA Rebels and those that shall not be named (ooooo, mysterious isn't it?). You guys rock my world, bolster me, buoy me, and remind me that no matter what happens today, I can edit that shit tomorrow.