Another Thanksgiving holiday has rolled around for those of us in the U.S.
This orgy of family, travel, food and thankfulness never seems to get old or lose its charm. Even some cooks’ best efforts to change the traditional menu are met with fierce resistance and pleas for the “old favorites.”
And Thanksgiving, if nothing else, gives us the leisure to reflect on the year that’s passed and take part in that great and refreshing practice of “counting our blessings.”
Truly, if you are reading this today, you too probably have a lot to be grateful for.
As for me, here are some of the things that stand out this last year, and for which I am deeply grateful.
I’m grateful for you, the readers of this blog
I’m constantly amazed at the variety of readers who read, talk about, quote, tweet and link to the articles here. There’s nothing more that a writer could ask for, and it constantly encourages me to make this resource even more useful to you. So thanks.
And to the amazing students in the Self-Publishing Roadmap community
When I first offered the Roadmap training course, at the last minute I decided to include a one-on-one consultation with each person, and I’m so glad I did. These talks have allowed me to feel like I’m a part of many publishing journeys, all at once. Including a memorable book launch party right here in San Rafael.
I’m grateful every day for my support team
There’s no way I could do all this stuff by myself, and that’s why I’m very grateful for the intelligent, responsive and reliable people who make up my support staff. Chief among these is Shelley Sturgeon, my VA.
Then there’s my technical support
Running a blog and various online projects means dealing with a lot of constantly-changing technology. Nobody does it better than Joel Williams, The Blog Tech Guy. He saved me numerous times this year, and knows how to talk me off the ledge I’m sure to be standing on when I get in touch with him.
And the software that protects us, too.
This year I put all my sites under the protection of Sucuri Security, an excellent monitoring and malware removal service. Let me tell you, the day you wake up and discover all your websites are completely offline is the day you become a believer in security monitoring. I know I did.
I’m quite grateful for the groups that invite me to speak at their events
This year I’ve been able to meet people and present to BAIPA, IBPA, San Francisco Writers Conference, and many online conferences and workshops. Each time I’m invited to participate in these events and share what I’ve learned, I feel like I end up learning the most.
And I couldn’t live without my clients
Every year I get to work on remarkable projects for all kinds of publishers, and this year was no exception. And in the next week, I’ve got over 1,800 pages of text getting uploaded on behalf of clients. This year has been a great year for me, and the trust my clients gave me has made that possible.
Guest authors make my day
I’m really grateful to have so many excellent writers share these pages. Just hitting the Guest Posts topic will show you how varied the 37 (so far) articles published here this year have been.
I’m grateful for lots of bloggers
And particularly all the bloggers that get included in the Sunday This Week in the Blog editions, our monthly blog carnival, The Carnival of the Indies, and for all the great articles I read each week that keep me up to date while you bloggers do all the work! Thanks! I’m even grateful for Google Reader, helping me to keep track of it all.
For my family
I don’t write about my family here very much, but they are both awesome and the center of my life.
And for all the product developers and coders and creators
Like the people at Copyblogger, who keep coming up with products and services that really work, backed by an amazing community. There are many others, too, like James Dyson at Optimize Press, the folks at AWeber, and all the other products and services that allowed me to make the leap into video instruction this year. It was amazing.
For my mentors this year
So many people have helped me this year, including everyone named here but also many others including colleagues Sharon Goldinger, Mike Larsen, Peter Beren, Dan Blank, Joanna Penn, Jane Friedman, all of whom have had something to teach me about publishing this year. I’m sure I’ve forgotten many, but thanks to you, too.
There’s this great community I’m in
With a lot of other online business owners, where we’ve been learning about new ways to do business online from Jeff Walker, the creator of Product Launch Formula. Through masterminds and live events, the sharing and camaraderie in this group helps to sustain me.
And really, I’m very grateful for all the new tools of publishing
It really is the best time to be an author ever, don’t you think? I still get jazzed by being able to sell my books through print on demand vendors, and by being able to upload ebooks and have them go on sale to a worldwide audience within hours. I’m smiling as I write this. Thank you Amazon, CreateSpace, Lightning Source, Smashwords, BookBaby and everyone else who makes this possible.
What about you?
Do you stop to think about all the things you appreciate in your life this past year? Want to share?