Thankfulness!

November 2025

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Today, I want to share about “thankfulness”.

T- Thankful- I am thankful to God and my family for allowing me to share my stories to so many children.

H- Happy – I am happy that I have been able to write so many books, make a difference in the lives of children, and to have provided books to increase “literacy, learning, and legacy.”

A-Amazed- I am always amazed at so many different authors I have met. It

               is always a treat to be collaborating with so many creative people.

N-     New- I am truly blessed that I have had so many new opportunities,

K - Kindness- I want to promote kindness over bullying.

F-   Freedom- I am glad to be a Veteran having the freedom to share being a Veteran with children.

U- Uniqueness- There are some unique experiences out there in the author world that I have not even touched.

L-   Loving- I am happy to have a “loving community of authors” who understand my plight as an independent self-published author in a difficult market.

N- Nervousness- I think every time I put out a children’s book, this feeling occurs.

E-   Energetic- I stay energetic when I can read the books I have created to the children at daycares and schools that have invited to come to the author event.

S-   Satisfaction- This is always challenging for me since during the creation of a book, I find myself trying to make sure I am satisfied completely as a perfectionist regarding my books that I have been blessed to create through God’s help. This trait can be good but also bad too. I am a work in progress. It took me over a year or more on a book to make sure the book was perfectly edited but released the book finally saying, “It is done.” “It is good enough.”

S-   Success- How do I define success? I define success by having a passion to increase “literacy, learning, and legacy.” My passion and purpose are to make a difference in the lives of children. Success is not only achievement, fame, money, or accomplishments.

I often get asked by children, “Are you famous?” I am famous to my children, grandchildren, and those children that like my books. Occasionally, I will be asked to take a picture with a child and me as an author. This is a special time for me.

There are so many children’s book authors and books out in the market so at times it can seem overwhelming as a self-published author. But finding my niche is important to me. I will continue being an author that creates theme-related books.

Sometimes, I have dedicated a book to a future baby not born yet. On another time, I had a child come to me and say, “I really like your book.” That is the best review for which I could ever hope.

Sadness happens sometimes when I get people saying that they like my books but will not take the time to review my books on Amazon. I do not think the reader realizes that authors need reviews.

On a good note, I have had some of my books in a vending machine at an elementary school. I just gave some more books to Kiwanis to give to the elementary school that I recently read to. This was a refill of the vending machine. Each reader who meets their reading goals gets to take a token to put in the vending machine picking a book out to keep.

I highly encourage you to listen to my podcasts, read my blogs, and follow me. Recently, I had a podcast released from the Called2Serve podcast. I also had the opportunity to be interviewed about Memoirs with Judy Watters which is being released soon. I am also being recorded by Okie Bookcast for an author roundtable during December.

During December, I will be a part of over 18 authors participating in an online book sale happening December 6^th and 7^th. You will be able to go to www.childrenauthorsunite.com to listen to the authors and purchase their books. This is a joint effort of all the authors in the group who participated as a joint project. This will be a fun opportunity.

May you be blessed, prosperous, and encouraged in all that you do!