#gratitudeNow: A royal tea

I got a surprise email today.

It was a note from the self-publishing house I use for my book “Auntie Eva’s Boarder.” They let me know about some sales back in October, and we’re sending me $12.42 in royalties.

This makes me happy. So far in 2019 I’ve sold 15 books, for around $92 in royalties. I’m not quitting my day job over those sorts of royalties anytime soon.

But that’s not at all the point. Total strangers bought these books, over at the Apple bookstore and through Lulu.com directly. People I don’t know and shall never meet. I don’t know why they bought them, don’t know how they came to decide.

Which, as an author is so validating to me. I view my writing somewhat like a baby bird. I get it just how I want it, and then I push it out of the nest, to fly away on its own.

AEB, as I call it sometimes, is my first book, which was originally published by Pink Flamingo Books, and then later republished by me thirteen years ago.

And it’s still chugging along, getting new readers. I can’t say enough how meaningful that is to me, that my work endures.

In my vanilla life during that time I’ve changed jobs about five times, houses too. I’ve had relationships come and go.

But these worlds I create, and the characters I fill them with, they remain.

I’m grateful for that.

#gratitudeNow: Burning that Midnight Oil

I’ve been hard at work on Project Longbottom for over a month now.

Did I mention that I’m really not a late-night person? I have to be particularly excited or invested in something to stay up working on it.

Plus, my commute home from the day job is particularly crappy these days.

None of that mattered tonight. I came home, excited to get coding, after a day of coding at the day job.

I dug in. What I was doing was adding a sort of CSS framework to a web application I’m building. I figured out some “persnickety crap™” that wound up looking pretty good, but not exactly right.

I was tired, but I decided to just spend a few more minutes on it. That turned into about 3 hours.

And a commit which touched 5 different files, and made a couple of hundred additions.

I love that I pushed through feeling tired, and made real tracks.

I’m so on fire with this thing!

#gratitudeNow: Support Crew

So I’m pretty damn lucky. I have amazing family and friends.

There’s this secret side project I have. My code name for it is Project Longbottom. I’m not going to tell you what it is, because until it’s done and I’m ready for you to see it, it’s a secret.

But I can’t do it entirely by myself. I need support. I need people to talk to about it openly, bounce ideas off, get feedback, show off to.

That sort of support is a big emotional labor.

And you know what?

I have boatloads of it.

Which stuns me. Between my wife, my girlfriend, my poly sister and brother, and an amazing cadre of various friends, I have a shortlist of about 20 people who I can go to, and who are cheering me on to make this thing real.

They talk with me on the phone. They text with me. They hang out with me on slacks and discords. They listen, they suggest, they guide. They ooh and ahh when I show off.

They’re my support crew

I am so damn grateful for that, and for each and every one of these people in my life.

Thanks, all of you.

#gratitudeNow: With a little help from my friends

This morning, I hit an emotional speed bump.

Exactly what it is doesn’t matter. And it’s private. If we’re good friends, and you want to ask, you can. I might not say anything. We’ll see.

That’s not the important part.

The important part is I was confronted with the need to address something really important, and right the heck now. To not do so would have caused suffering.

It’s been a giant part of my spiritual practice for the better part of oh, seventeen years now, to not cause needless suffering as much as I am able.

So I was in a pickle.

But I reached out to some people I love and care about very much, to be a sounding board for my thoughts. It was a mix of good friends and loved ones. And boy did they come through.

I got perspective, I made a compassionate choice, and I took action.

And feel the better for it.

Thanks you secret helpers. You know who you are.

#gratitudeNow: My adventure buddy

My wife Missy is pretty great. Among the many things she is to me, one of my favorite is that she’s my adventure buddy.

We go do and try new things all the time. For example, a few months ago we decided we wanted to get into hiking. So, we started to try.

First we went to parks near our house and went on some walks. Then we got a park membership to a nearby wilderness park. We got walking sticks.

After that things started to pick up speed. My girlfriend, MJ who is also a hiker, got us to get decent hiking boots, good socks, and more gear, including trek poles.

This has turned into a big thing for us.

After taking a break from it for a few weeks because of travel and general busy-ness, we got back to it. I really wanted us to go, and while at first she didn’t, we decided to do it. We went on this 2.5 mile hike, in the middle of which Missy took this picture.

Our little hammock campsite

Through Missy’s lens ball

Besides how pretty a pic this is, what really blows me away is how Missy takes this great thing we do and makes it even more great by adding her own special touch to it.

She really makes every part of my life even better.