Being told to be “grateful” is one of my hot buttons. Usually, the people who say it to me tend to have a condescending tone. I’d rather show gratitude on my terms when it’s an option and not an obligation.
This has been a good year overall. Obviously, the rest of the world is on fire, climate change is destroying lives and livelihoods, and the United States has become a racist dystopia. When we can’t fix the problems of the world, we take pride in the goals we accomplish and the little things that keep us from suffering a constant existential crisis about if we matter.
Gratitude Items for this year:
- Working on my rejection contest and getting more than a hundred submissions out – I’m not counting pitches or nonfiction but have been submitting a lot, and got accepted in a few places that have been awesome and wonderful like Dark Moon Digest and Lackington’s. Law of averages is coming into play.
- I love my day job. After a few changes in life, I started at my new day job in May. It’s a great office and I am learning many new skills.
- The Good Place is still airing, and actually acknowledged the struggles people of color go through when they have to deal with entitled white men that don’t recognize their own mediocrity.
- My high school reunion went well; details on that to follow. We’ve all changed, and have grown up. Also, a set of uncomfortable heels won’t kill you as long as there are ample couches.
- My older brother is now engaged to a lovely person. She is amazing and has spent Thanksgiving with us.
- The Powered series came out this year, after intense work on it the previous year. It’s been a journey, working on a series and trying to eliminate in-jokes.
- Great animation keeps coming out, from Amphibia to Infinity Train. I need to catch up on the latter but am grateful for shows where leads are people of color in the case of Amphibia. We also have new seasons of Craig of the Creek with a wholesome, all-black family.
- Baking experiments have gone overall well this year, from pumpkin soul cakes to apple cider “Slumberdoodle” cookies. Gingerbread also came out well with some alcohol added.
- My Patreon launched and I have a few sweet supporters.
- I wrote a novella and it got accepted! How cool is that?
- Got accepted by a pro short story market that I’ve been trying for a decade! More details to follow.
Thank you for everyone who made this year better. Could not have done it without you.
