I have a lot to be thankful for in my life and I try to remind myself on a daily basis of it. I have all the basics covered: food, shelter, health. I have the husband of my desires, the career of my dreams, the home that is becoming a castle complete with gargoyles. I have a pays-the-bills job that has saved my bacon on more occasions than I care to admit. I have a pride of fuzzy butts who are pains in the butt but oh-so-cute and bring me so much joy. Yes, there’s a lot to be thankful for.

Recently I’ve been thinking about all of the things that have gone wrong in my life that have brought me to the right place.

Losing my ROTC scholarship made me come back home and get a job in CA. That job led me to a QA career that ended me up in a company that got bought out. The company that bought us out moved me up to the Seattle area and had me meet the best and worse bosses of my QA career. Losing my best boss allowed me to say yes to his D&D where I met the man who would become my husband. Losing my best boss also gave me the courage to leap off a cliff and dive into a writing career. Having an emergency with my first cat led me to a pays-the-bills job that I adore.

These are just the big examples of things going wrong that put me where I needed be. Recently I read a pithy comment that struck me: “When things fall apart, maybe they’re just falling into place.” It’s a silly phase, a platitude to make people feel better. At the same time, I can identify with it.

It’s just something to think about. Sometimes failures and disasters can lead to great things.

Also, on the NaNoWriMo front, my second NaNo story has been accepted by its target market. So, here’s where my personal NaNo stands right now.  4 of 8 stories written. 2 of those 4 stories have been sold. The 3rd is off to market early because it’s way over word count and the editors need to read it and determine if it is good enough to make an exception over the word count.

“An Infestation of Adverts” – sold to Blue Shift Magazine.
“Sandcastle Sacrifices” – sold to The Guide to the Village by the Sea.
“The Bathory Clinic Deal” – under consideration by the Future Embodied anthology editors.
The Nellus Academy Incident, part 16 – Done.
The Nellus Academy Incident, part 17 – In progress.