#grateful by Patty Blount

UPDATED 11/29: WE HAVE A WINNER: 

Congratulations Cassandra D! You've won your choice of a Patty Blount novel. Check your email for for info.



There's a trend on social networks to hashtag things with #blessed to show the joy in one's life.

And then, someone commented that perhaps #blessed is the wrong sentiment; that it perhaps we should use #grateful instead.

I paused because I never stopped to consider the subtle differences in the two words before. As a writer, I should have.

Words matter. Blessed implies a holy meaning, as if we were endowed by a creator with some special favor. Grateful is showing or feeling appreciation for something received.

Like I said, subtle but definitely a difference.

When people say they're #blessed by their children, does that mean the couple who can't conceive is #cursed? #punished? #denied?

I hope not.

So this post is dedicated to what I'm #grateful for. Of course, I'm grateful for the family who loves me but that's not what this post is about.

This post is about YOU.

A reader.

Perhaps you're someone who found this blog through a Google search. Or maybe you clicked a link. Or maybe you read it because, as the fabulous Mary Strand said, "You like me!"

However you happened to find us, I'm grateful. I am an author. A writer of words. A producer of books. This has been and still is a dream I have protected and nurtured and realized deep inside my heart since I was about five years old.

And it can't exist without you. You, a reader, are something I received, something precious and cherished and I want you to know I appreciate you. You have so many choices of books to read...and you chose mine.

I am deeply, profoundly, irrevocably #grateful to readers who provide the fuel for this dream, the readers who love my words enough to leave reviews, to write me letters and emails, to share news about my books with their friends. This includes the book bloggers and librarians, the parents and teachers who put my books in the hands of teens. Thank you all!

November is my birthday month and I thought I'd give YOU a gift. Leave a comment below; tell me what you're grateful for. Click the Rafflecopter for more info. Random winner chosen at the end of the month.







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