Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday because it’s a day to come together and simply focus on the many reasons we are blessed. There’s no pressure to find the perfect gifts or spend money you don’t have, there’s no loud fireworks to scare the dogs and cause suffering to those with PTSD, there’s no silly costumes or sugar comas brought on by too much candy, and there’s no need to dress up in clothes you’ll only wear once.
There’s just family, friends, and good food.
I have much to be thankful for, and one of those things is my writing career. Even though it will never make me rich or even moderately wealthy (most likely), it has enriched my life in every other way. I give thanks every day that I took this leap.
In my writing world, I have some new things for which I’m thankful. First, I have finished and published my 5th book, “Trouble on Tybee.” Here are partial images of the front and back covers of the paperback version as well as the cover for the eBook version. They are available via Amazon or through me once the copies I’ve ordered have arrive.
I reached out to all the Nebraska libraries — all that have email addresses, at least, which gave me 278 librarians — to announce this and to ask for opportunities to speak at any library in the state and got a few replies. The regional librarian for the Central Plains Library System shared my email today on her weekly newsletter. Here is the link to that if you’d like to read it: Central Plains Library System
If you know of any librarian, bookstore owner, book club group, literary-minded event, etc. who might be interested in hosting me or just in reading/purchasing my books, please tell them about me and encourage them to get in touch. Here is my author website: Tammy Marshall - Author
I worked hard to get it released when I did because I dedicated it to my best friend, Silvia, and she has been very sick again down in Mexico where she lives. Her kidney transplant hasn’t worked out and her body has rejected the kidney, so she was in the hospital for two weeks and just got out two days ago after undergoing a procedure to insert a catheter for peritoneal dialysis. The doctors there have said this is the final thing that can be done for her, so she (and I, of course) are very depressed by this news, and I worry about her future, but I’m hopeful that, with time, there might be something else that can be done. For now, I’m thankful that she is still with us, and I’m thankful that I got the book out with its dedication to her.
The second recent thing that I’m thankful for where my writing is concerned is that my column, “Novel Thoughts,” will begin running in the Columbus Telegram and the Fremont Tribune in December. With those additions, it brings my newspaper total to four! I have hopes of getting the column into others, ideally twenty, so if you know of any newspaper, large or small, that might be interested, send them my way or tell me a good contact for that paper if you happen to know someone personally.
Third, I’ve been working on a story for the regional magazine called “Living Here” about a great little fast food restaurant that I used to frequent a lot with my grandmother when I was a kid. It’s called Tastee Treet, and it’s been serving customers in Norfolk since 1950. I’m thankful for another writing opportunity, and I look forward to writing more for the magazine. I wrote two pieces for it years ago, but for a variety of reasons, I had stepped away from it. The owner, though, contacted me a month or two ago, and asked me to return, and I agreed. We’ve come up with a few stories for me to pursue, so hopefully I will have a story in each episode from now on — it’s a quarterly magazine, so this story will be in the Spring 2023 issue.
I’m thankful for my readers, and I’m thankful for those who subscribe to this or to my weekly word postings under Cognate Cognizance. I would really appreciate a few more paid subscribers (it doesn’t cost much each month) to either, so if you know of anyone who might care to follow either, please send them my way. If you’re not a paid subscriber yet but would like to become one to help support me on this writing journey I’ve undertaken, click the first button, and if you’d care to give a gift subscription to someone, click the second button (you can do either for “Cognate Cognizance” as well from that page).
If you are a paid subscriber, read on to hear about the three in-progress books I have and help me decide which I should finish writing next. If you’re not a paid subscriber, please consider it. Thanks.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Tomes and Topics to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.