Hi everybody! This post isn’t going to cover any issues, questions, or writing hints and tips. Instead, I’m just going to say thank you. It is autumn, after all, the harvest season in my home hemisphere, and in the southern mirror it’s spring—two things that call for thanks: abundance and renewal. The list that follows comprises both, to my mind and heart, but it is far from complete.

This is my “author” version of a gratitude list, so I’m skipping over the basics lightly, saying of course, I’m grateful for food, shelter, family, friends, flowers, stars, and every sort of care and beauty provided by the universe or whatever Great Name may apply. Done. (Except, if I value my skin, I’d better mention I appreciate my cats. They’ll somehow know if I don’t, I’m sure, and I’m bound to pay.)

I’m grateful to founder Sid Love, to Danielle Maas, and to everyone at Love Bytes for hosting me month after month, providing me a sweet spot to make myself heard, never judging me or losing patience when my posts miss the mark. And I’m grateful to those of you who read my blogs here and from time-to-time humor me with thoughtful, honest, sometimes humorous comments. I also give thanks to the other blogs around the web that occasionally give me a spot to talk about my work, or interview me, or otherwise give me a chance to make my work known.

I appreciate the people behind the Dreamspinner family of publishing imprints for working hard with me to turn my manuscripts into books and giving them a home base. I appreciate Reines-Beaux (Belgian house publishing in French), for helping my boys feel at home in new places.

I appreciate all the sources of research information, from Google Street View, to travel blogs, to books like Forensics and Fiction: Clever, Intriguing, and Downright Odd Questions from Crime Writers by D.P. Lyle, MD. And everything in-between.

I appreciate the character of the places I have lived for writing itself so deeply into my psyche that sometimes, if I’m lucky, that sense of place spills out of me and into the pixels of my manuscripts. I appreciate the trials and occasional triumphs of my life, and all the experiences that have gone with them, because they help me write characters that are imperfect, stellar, and most of all human.

I appreciate many authors and artists for inspiration and example.

But most of all, I appreciate every reader who has picked up any one of my books and read it cover to cover. When I receive reviews, comments, messages, or emails from readers, my reasons to be thankful rise exponentially. Thank you for engaging with my characters, first. If I then get the chance to engage with you, thank you a million times over. Writing is often said to be a solitary job, but I don’t think so. I write alone, usually, but if it weren’t for readers, writing wouldn’t be a job at all, and it might actually be unbearable.

One very specific note of gratitude: My winter/holiday/music/Seattle themed novella Falling Snow on Snow is coming! Dreamspinner Press release date is December 23rd. As an author I love all my characters and their stories, but this one is special to me. I hope you’ll look out for it and give it a read. Cover by L.C. Chase shall be revealed soon, but in the meantime here’s the blurb:

Beck Justice knows holiday sparkle and snappy carols only mask December’s cruel, black heart. He learned that lesson even before he landed on the streets eight years ago, and his recent step up to a tiny apartment and a busker’s permit for Seattle’s Pike Place Market has done nothing to change his mind. But one day in the market, Oleg Abramov joins his ethereal voice to Beck’s guitar, and Beck glimpses light in his bleak, dark winter.

Oleg, lucky to have a large and loving family, believes Beck could be the man to fill the void that nevertheless remains in his life. The two men step out on a path toward love, but it proves as slippery as Seattle’s icy streets. Just when they get close, a misunderstanding shatters their hopes. Light and harmony are still within reach, but only if they choose to believe, risk their hearts, and trust.

Allow me to conclude by saying I’m grateful for the experience of writing itself. Rather than trying to detail the reasons, let me just quote Ray Bradbury:

And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is gift and a privilege, not a right.