Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a busy week, no, wait, a busy month! I've been a print journalist for longer than I haven't been one, and I can tell you that it is nothing short of amazing that writers and editors can stand holidays at all. Holidays mean early deadlines and cray-cray weeks, just to get a day off.

Then if you are also a mom, you're doing the holiday stuff at home, too. And no matter how many times you go shopping during the holidays for special meals, you will always forget something. Always.

But in the midst of all this craziness, newspaper deadlines, book deadlines, kids out of school, family coming to visit, there is so much to be thankful for. By the way, blessings usually come disguised as a busy schedule.

I've personally been blessed far more than I deserve, with loved ones who know me better than I know myself sometimes and yet they love me anyway. I have a house that's a fixer-upper, but it's a great house and I love living there. My editors and publishers get me excited about what I do every day, and I have a church family that's pretty darned close to a family family.

To you and yours, a happy, safe and blessed Thanksgiving!

Being a good writer ...

I'm not sure I have hit the "good" stage yet. But it's like being a runner or being anything else. If you do the activity, then you are what you do. Run a few steps, you're a runner. Write, and you're a writer. Do the mom things, and you're a mom. And chances are, you do these things enough, and you are good at them.

The trick, though, is to not get distracted.

And dang, but the internet is just so good that that. Facebook. Holy cow. Facebook. If Facebook had existed when I was in college, I'd have never graduated. Who am I kidding? I would have never gotten out of high school.

I should be thankful that Facebook did not exist then, as there are no selfies of me taken in dirty bathrooms with me sporting 1980s hair and tacky clothing with enormous shoulder pads.

And Pinterest. I pin up recipes, and then order pizza because I was too busy pinning recipes to cook.

Thank God I have not gotten into Instagram and Twitter so much. Just a few Tweets here and there. Otherwise, I'd have to give up sleeping and drinking coffee, which occupy the yin and yang parts of my life.

Anyhoo, I am working on the second book, which is focused on things I am totally awesome at, love and money. Just kidding. I tend to be fairly bad at both. It's a cautionary tale. So far, I'm enjoying the journey and writing as much as the day job allows by getting up at 0-dark-hundred to get that writing time in.

And I had to share this awesome meme, from the blog http://allmeanssomething.wordpress.com.