It’s been a year, hasn’t it? Many folks in my community are disheartened or even scared. I am too. As November draws to a close and we approach the longest night of the year (for the Northern hemisphere folks), I’d like to focus on gratitude as much as I can.

I have so many things to be grateful for. 2023 was a year of health scares, medical diagnostics, and a job that became too toxic and physically harmful to continue. But the end of 2023 was also my first professional sale of a short story. It was a wakeup call of a year, that’s for sure. I learned I can’t continue to put myself through the stress of event-management jobs and I learned I have readers for my work.

2024 began with a research trip funded by my first sale and then…I sold my second piece. Then my third. 2024 was the year I had the honor of joining both Graveside Press and Quills and Cosmos Press for book length projects. I can’t believe I get to say that. I have two books forthcoming. After working at a place that saw employees as expendable to working with folks who care about storytelling, who care about books…there’s nothing like it. I am excited to get up and go to work every day. Being able to focus on what I love is a gift, and a place I wasn’t sure I’d make it to, especially after 2020 and 2023.

There have been other milestones along the way, but I’ll toss my project at y’all as they come out. In these times, I remind myself of the good things, the gratitude, the successes, even the valuable setbacks. I can’t afford to lose myself in the mire of ‘what ifs’ and ‘this coulds.’ We don’t know what the future holds, and as much as the unknown yawns like a gaping, slimy maw, I’m choosing to give it as little of my attention as possible.

I am so grateful for what 2024 brought, so excited for 2025 and beyond, and I hope, truly, you are as well. Is life stable? Is it safe? I can’t say.

Is it ever?

So, I invite you, dear reader, to see if there’s even one thing in the past year you are grateful for. Something that happened, something you did or participated in. Even just a quiet moment where you got to see something beautiful in the world.

I admit, I feel powerless in many ways moving into the next years. There’s not a lot of meaningful change I am able to, or even know how, to do. But I can choose to be kind. I can work on my patience and compassion. I hope to put kindness into practice wherever I may, however I’m able.

And with kindness in mind, please remember to be kind to perhaps the most important person: you. Be gentle on yourself. Hold yourself accountable, don’t short-change yourself, but forgive when you can. Treat yourself the way you would treat a loved one. Try not to say things to yourself you wouldn’t say to someone you treasure. Treasure yourself, because you deserve it. With everything going on in the world, you deserve to be safe and happy with yourself. I know it's easier said than done, for some of us, it’s a daily struggle. But it’s a worthwhile struggle.

And with that in mind, I wish all of you a blessed Yule, a blessed holiday season, whatever you celebrate, whether you celebrate at all, I wish you all the very best.

Welcome the darkness of winter, cherish the light to come.

Cheers y’all.

***Zven