My Annual "Thank Your Favorite Author" Post
‘Tis the season for giving thanks.
I think sometimes we really don’t appreciate how powerful and wonderful this is.
I mean, how lovely is it that we set aside time every year to stop and think about the good things in out life and to be thankful for them? To enjoy the joy we get from people, things, life, and to share it back out with the world?
And we don’t have to think too hard about it, either, right? We have the usual list: thankful for friends and family, thankful for pets, neighbors, and neighborhoods. We’re thankful for food on our plates and a roof overhead, for safety and security. All the things we take for granted in today’s unpredictable world, where too many around us don’t have all those things anymore.
Tomorrow, those of us in the States will gather (or at least dream of gathering) at a table to say those thanks out loud. We’ll share in this common experience of giving thanks, and of saying kind words to one another. And even in families where things can get… less kind… well, there’s usually still something in there to be thankful about, too… I hope ;-)
As for me, I’m having a quiet Thanksgiving. Family is far away and truly missed, but this year called for more quiet reflection.
I’m thankful for family, even though they’re far away, for my husband and my two goofy dogs, for travel, for you, writers, and, as always, for good books.
So let me take this moment to remind you of one other thing you can do this Thanksgiving season: thank your favorite author.
Is there a book you read this year that really changed your life?
That resonated with you?
That you recommended to everyone?
Is there a story that you can’t get over, even though you read the book back in May?
Is there an author who’s story inspires you?
Then tell them.
It doesn’t matter how famous you think they are, give them a shoutout. Tag them in a glowing social media post, message them on X or Threads or wherever it is we find people these days.
Tell them “thanks.”
You’d be amazed how it will make a difference in their life.
I think almost all of us can relate to the idea that we are skilled at something, but still have days of self-doubt. Authors are the same. For every glowing review, someone goes on Amazon and trashes their book. For every friend who loves it, there are strangers with nothing to say.
A book goes out in the world and takes on a life of its own.
This Thanksgiving, take a moment to echo back from the void, to tell an author their story was really that wonderful, and life-changing, and soul-stirring. That their book came to life for you when you read it.
Spread the joy of books back to the people who wrote them.
It’s a powerful way to give thanks for something that is truly, universally good in the world.
Happy Thanksgiving.