Can I be Grateful for Anything This Year?

With the way 2020 has gone, I have found myself asking that question many times. Whether it was family struggles, COVID-19, furloughs, or any number of other problems I’ve never faced before, this year has not been easy or nice. But I haven’t had the worst of anything. There are others out there who have larger, more difficult struggles. I’ve been thinking about things I can be grateful for.

Besides my family and my day job, which pays my bills, I have plenty of reasons to be grateful. Lately, one of the things I’ve been grateful for are the science fiction and fantasy books I’ve found in my bookcase. Books can be a great escape from everyday stress. With the way COVID-19 has closed things down this year, I’ve found more time to write and read.

Over the last month, I found a few books buried in my bookcase and read them. They are Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio, The Uploaded by Ferrett Steinmetz, and another was Binary Storm by Christopher Hinz. I liked all of them, even though I’m only halfway through Binary Storm right now. Empire of Silence is a far future book whose story seemed to be epic in its span. I have the second one in that series and will read it eventually. The Uploaded was an interesting story about a future where people are uploaded when they die. I almost struggled to get into it, but I’m glad I didn’t put it down. They are all a little different, besides being science fiction stories. They just happened to be sitting beside a group of novels from the series The Expanse by James S. A. Corey, of which I have read the first three books so far, and plan to continue as I have time.

Time to write, much like reading, is another escape from the stresses of life. I currently have a book almost ready to put on Amazon in December. It is a science fiction story on a planet that is tidally locked around a red dwarf star. My beta readers are reading it and giving me input. That science fiction book should be ready for December, if I can make a few corrections and clean it up in time.

My current project is a novel with some time travel. I’ve always been fascinated with time travel like I stated last week. I plan to have that one ready by the end of March.  I’ve currently written 57,000 words just since the first of November and should have the rough draft completed by the first week of December. Most days I write at least 2,000 words, but some days I write 5,000 or more.

Life is tough for many this year, but I was reminded today that I have much to be grateful for if I just think about it. If you are struggling with this year, like I have a few times, take a moment each day to find reasons to be grateful.