[NickolasJames8] What makes you Thankful?

[NickolasJames8]

I just wanted to take the time to thank all of my readers for their support and to wish them and everyone else who reads this a blessed Thanksgivng. I also wanted to talk about a few things that I'm thankful for and to give others the chance to do the same in this thread::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

The first and most important thing I'm thankful for is the fact that I've been blessed with a great family, blood related and not blood related. That includes the huge family I have right here at GA. I feel like everything happens for a reason, and for whatever reason, we all came to this site and became part of something that's bigger than we can comprehend. Myr, Kitty, Joe and Rob, along with all of the Moderators and technical support people, do great work here and the fruits of their labor are right on our screens.

Of course, their work would be in vain without members like Cjames, Birdsofafeather, Afriendlyface, Mark Arbour (where art thou?), Xiao_Chun and so many others who make this a community, and not just another web site.

I feel thankful that I had the opportunity about a year ago to start posting my stuff in The Library, and later in E-fiction. That gave me the time I needed to go from terrible to halfway decent . I'm also thankful for the people who've been supporting me from day one, when the only place I had to post my story was on a Xanga page. Their comments gave me the confidence to step out and and ask Myr to make me an Author so I could post in The Library.

I'm Thankful for my editor Talonrider. He took something that was literally garbage (gramtically, puncutally and spelling wise) and made it presentable. He made the suggetions and gave me the tips I needed to follow in order to get better, then he presented my work to A Little Story Site On The World Wide Web and got me hosted somewhere.

I'm thankful for Rob from CRVboy for giving me my first chance to be hosted somewhere. He took a chance on me and I hope he hasn't been dissapointed. All of the sudden I had people from all over the place sending me emails and someone even tried to take Talonriders job (as if ). I got the positive and negative feedback that gave me confidence and told me what I needed to work on.

I'm thankful for Mary at RCWP. She almost didn't host My Jump Off because she hated Jarred, but she read on when she wanted to stop and for that I feel like I owe her the world. It's true that we don't always see eye to eye on things, but I honestly think that without her guidance, I'd be a much poorer writer than I am now. Not only has she hosted my work, she took the time to build beautiful pages for My Jump Off, Bodega Bay and Obligation To Myself.

I'm thankful for the GA panel that gaveme a chance to be shared hosted right here. I know they took a huge chance, and I hope they don't regret the chance they took on me. They gave me a great support guy to work with and a page to display my stories and poems on. They hooked me up with a forum and with the readers alreay in place, the rest is history I'm thankful to my readers. Without you guys I wouldn't feel like I had a reason to write. I know I stay away from the story discussions, but I do go to the board and look at the post count and see how many replies I have on my forum. It blows me away that people think enough of my work to actually post about it, and that gives me the inspiration to sit down and pound out a chapter twice a week.

So what are you thankful for???

[Xiao_Chun]

I am thankful for my friends in GA, and especially Nickolas James whose writing makes a huge impact on me. He gave me the courage to do things that I never thought I would do a year ago. Just to mention one example, A few weeks ago I came out to my students in the middle of the class. Many things changed in my life since I joined the GA, and I am thankful for that.

 

Hugs,

Michael.

[Graeme]

Thanks for your post, Nickolas

 

The things I'm most thankful for at the moment are:

 

My wife: A wonderful person who weathered the storm of finding out her husband is gay and has worked with me to ensure that we maintain a good home for our children and that we both stay happy and content. Hardly a day goes by without thinking how lucky I am to have her.

 

My boys: Two wonderful kids who will, I'm sure, grow up into great teenagers, and fantastic adults.

 

My friends: Both my real-life friends, who I'm still not out to, and my internet friends, who helped me accept who I am and so helped make me the most contented and happy person I've been in decades (literally).

 

The Mail Crew: A great bunch of guys who have supported my writing from an early date. Aaron and Rain, in particular, as my editors. They've taught me a lot about how to write well.

 

Kel: My best friend, though he's someone I've never met in real-life. It's only been a year, but he's made a big difference to me.

 

To everyone at GA, AwesomeDude and DeweyWriter: For being great friends -- ready to support each other when it's needed, and to laugh/cry/argue when it's not.

 

Hugs,

Graeme