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It’s that time of year when grandma makes everyone go around the Thanksgiving table to name the one thing they’re thankful for. In that spirit, I asked Novel Incubator friends and alums to share what they’re thankful for in their writing life. From friends with a heavy pour to moms who do your laundry (I want one of those!), one thing is clear: It is the personal connections with our fellow writers that help us get words on the page while keeping us (for the most part) sane.
Happy Thanksgiving!
(And if you want to let us know what you are most thankful for in your writing life, let us know in the comments!)
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I’m thankful for my fantastic writing group, my family for letting me ignore them and write for hours on end, and the fact I will have a full first draft of my second novel complete before the end of the year!
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I am thankful for the Boston Writers of Color Group and my writing buddies Vero Gonzalez and Jennifer De Leon for encouraging me to apply to writing residencies. I finally took the leap and applied to four this past year and was accepted to one residency on full fellowship!
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I’m thankful for frank editors (sort of) and good friends with a heavy pour who insist my characters spill their emotions all over my nice clean pages. Also, for an agent who’s enthusiastic for round two of submissions.
Janet Rich Edwards
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I’m thankful for Fleabag and BUNNY—my love languages—and the badass writers who speak them with me.
Sara Shukla
Follow on Twitter @sarajshukla
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This year I’m thankful for signing with an agent who understands my work, offers terrific feedback, and gracefully accepts when I push back. I’m also thankful for a slew of marvelous books I read this year that taught or inspired me, including novels by Ali Smith, Paul Beatty, Donal Ryan, Penelope Lively, and Elizabeth Strout. And I am eternally grateful for my writer friends, not only for their input and criticism, but for their love and companionship—I’d be immensely poorer without them.
Bob Fernandes
Follow on Instagram @isolovedoris
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This Thanksgiving, I am overstuffed with gratitude for everyone who reads my books, and especially for those who take the time to leave a review. I’m thankful for the writing community, other writers, and bloggers who have been so incredibly supportive in helping me spread the word about my novel, More Than. I’m appreciative of friends and family who have cheered for me on every step of the way.
Follow on Twitter @dianebarnes777 or on Facebook
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This year I’m thankful for:
- The agent who argued with me at the Muse about how I absolutely had to be able to explain exactly what happened over the 120 years between now and when my novel is set. You were right! And now I can.
- Coffee shops that open at 5:30 AM, and the baristas who manage to be friendly and kind at that hour.
- My mom who understands when I go offline for several days at a time and even did my laundry on a particularly stressful week this October.
Cara Wood
Follow on Twitter @theory2life
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I’m thankful for all the brave people, all around the world fighting for a better life. I’m also thankful for all the truly dedicated people at GrubStreet.
Editor’s note: Because Desmond is far too humble to mention it himself, I wanted to say we’re all thankful for the upcoming 2020 release of his debut novel Your Corner Dark.
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I am thankful for my two forthcoming novels: Waiting for the Night Song will be published on Jan 12, 2021, and The Last Beekeeper will be published in early 2022. I’m also incredibly grateful for my agent Stacy Testa, my editor Kristin Sevick, my Novel Incubator family, and my husband and four kids for putting up with me all the years I’ve been working on these books.
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I’m grateful for the amazing writing community I’ve found in Boston, largely through Grub Street and the Novel Incubator. I was a writer in New York and LA and, while I loved so much about my life in both cities, I never had the vast network of professional and creative support that I have here. Moving from LA to Boston for my husband’s work was one of the suckiest things I’ve had to do, but I lucked out and landed here at the same time as my old NYC pal Alysia Abbott, who invited me to join her writing group, and things started to turn around. From there, a mom I met through my kid introduced me to Grub Street and the Incubator and my whole world opened up. When I’m missing SoCal (which I do a lot), I remind myself of this smart, talented band of writers I’m so lucky to have in my life, their wisdom, humor and support just a text away, someone always willing—excited even—to read, encourage or talk me down. I’ve even had someone ask me to meet for coffee and “knock heads” over my book. (Thanks, Des!) Seriously, it doesn’t get better than that!
Andrea Meyer
Follow on Instagram @dreamama or Twitter @dreameyer
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I’m thankful for being asked this question, so I can pause and remember how grateful I am for our entire wonderful, talented, generous, and supportive GrubStreet Novel Incubator community. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Julia Rold
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I’m thankful for the writer friends—fourteen year’s worth—I’ve made along the way to publishing my debut thriller, Little Voices, this year. There are so many moments from celebrations to lamentations that were supported by friends, and I do not think I’d have made it to this point without them.
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Here’s what I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving:
- An ever-growing community of writers who give advice freely, provide support and critiques generously, and share struggles honestly
- A fabulous writing group who provides constructive feedback and encouragement and from whom I am constantly learning
- A supportive husband always willing to read my work with a critical eye and offer invaluable insights and praise
Bonnie Waltch
Follow on Instagram @BWaltch and Twitter @BonnieWaltch
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I am thankful for all the support and love I received from friends during this past year when I was promoting my novel, Gina in the Floating World.
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I am grateful and indebted to everyone who contributed to today’s blog, for my writing group who holds my feet to the fire, for my local library’s isolation chambers (a.k.a. quiet study rooms) where I get my best writing done, and for friends who let me talk about my main characters as if they were real people.
Julie Peterson
Follow on Twitter @theJulieP
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