What are you thankful for?

A question I have been asked more times than I can recall over the course of my life. Most of the time I have a ready made answer on stand by. But in order to be honest I need to look deeper and take better accountability of all that I have become over the last 4 decades.

So what am I thankful for? A lot, honestly. I am in my mid forties and have no medical issues. I have a great family and two massive Bernese Mountain Dogs that have grounded me in sanity since I retired from the U.S. Army.

I am thankful for the friends, those special men and women, in my life who have helped me grow and enrich myself. Today is the only day I am promised so I need to make the most of it. I try not to go to bed each night unless I accomplish one thing. Friends help. Whether it is from ideas or an actual helping hand.

I am exceedingly thankful for all of you reading this. Writing has been in my blood since I was a little kid. I began with little comic books that were goofy as anything. By 10th grade I won the student of the month award for writing a very bad horror novel (which I try to find and burn every time I go home but my mom has it hidden well). Being in the active duty army put my writing on the back burners for a while. I managed two books before the war in Afghanistan began and had no luck finding an agent.

By 2002 I went to war and had plenty of downtime so Armies of the Silver Mage was created. The writing industry changed and I self published a decade later, only to get contracts with two small publishers. 21 novels and several anthologies and short stories later, we are here. Now.

All in all I have lived a fairly good life and that, my friends, is what I have to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.