A Thank-You To my Friends

Happy Thanksgiving one and all! I'll start us off with a picture of me making pancakes at the age of three, because I was that kind of kid (I'd cleaned the floor the night before ... with crisco) and this post needs a picture and I'm not getting anything beyond blogger and email to load on my computer. It's frustrating, and I'm not sure why. I've been sick since Sunday (hopefully, it will have cleared

Anyways onto the title.

Thanksgiving. The time of year to give thanks for what you have. I could list out all the usual, of course, family, food, the christmas presents I'm going to get this year, the fact that I haven't coughed myself to death this week. (There's a respiratory virus going around my family, and ... yeah. According to my aunt, she thinks it's one that has landed a lot of other people in the ER. Fortunately, we have Essential oils, and we've been weathering it. Kinda. My inspiration has plummeted ... though I did break through on some block on Fire and Song. I've hit a ... slow point in Water Princess, Fire Prince only raking in wordcount when I've hit a few worldbuilding points. But, onward.)

Instead, I'm going to list the people of Blogger that I am especially thankful for.

1. Kiri Liz She gets first place because she was one of the first to follow me. She's one of my favorite authors as well - and she isn't even published yet! (But I've read one and a half of her books plus a short story, so I know what I'm talking about ... though I still need to send her feedback *whistles*) She has a natural cadence with words, and the ability to spin a story to its full potential. Plus, she's a sweetheart and has reviewed more of my books than any other reviewer.

2. Miss Melody. I call her and her siblings my personal fanclub. She has read more of my unpublished work (including the original draft of the Ankulen) than any other person (except me and maybe my mom). She has read my Bookania's aloud to her siblings many time and they constantly ask when the next will be released (Or so she tells me). She emails me more often than any of my other readers, and I'm always so encouraged by her feedback on my books. She's a jewel. She may not comment often, but she always likes my posts on facebook, and I know she's reading them.

3. Jack. I can't forget my coauthor of course. Truth be known, we haven't done a terrible lot of talking in the last few weeks, and I'm not sure when she intends to send her next chapter back to me. (I might just get impatient and write up mine without it.) But she was my first faithful commenter, my fourteenth follower (and thus my Bilbo). So even though our correspondence has sadly fallen apart, I'm very grateful for this girl and that I took the time to give her advice about spine art two years ago.

 4. Jaye L. Knight. One of my favorite Indie authors, I can't help but mention her. She's been over to my blog several times for many reasons, and she is one of my inspirations. (Incidentally, the interview I had with her back in January is one of my top-hit posts.)

5. Sarah Holman. This young woman here has done more to unite Homeschooled authors than anyone else, I'm willing to say. I'm so glad to be part of her group, and she is a brilliant author herself as I have loved all of her books that I've read. She's taking an internet break right now, which I say more power to her, since she's a very busy person.

6. Abbey. This is a sweet young girl who is currently my most faithful commenter. It is always so encouraging, as a blogger, to get comments, and I'm thankful for everyone who has, but especially her, and especially that time when she and Maryanne (one of my characters, it was a Character Encounter) helped talk me through a pretty low point for me this year.

7. TomWildRose. The first time she commented was about my CE's, which, at the time, I'd become rather discouraged about since there weren't many people participating. If she ever does get her stories written, I will certainly read them, since the world she's built seems so beautiful and complicated. Her courage to pick back up her pen after so many years of letting her stories sit encourages me as well.

8. Rhoswen If it wasn't for her adding Sew, It's a Quest to her goodreads two years ago, I probably wouldn't know all of you lovely people, and that would be sad.

9. Katelyn If it weren't for the linkup she was holding at the time (see above) again, I probably wouldn't know all of you.

10. Cait. Because she lives in Australia and that's awesome, and has a super-popular blog and yet still has time to reply to all of the comments, and (sometimes) visit the commenter's blog. I try to do this ... but don't always succeed. I stand in awe of her.


And there are more, so many more of you I could name and lavish praise upon, However, I'll just give you a blanket thank-you,

Okay, it's a scarf, not a blanket, did I mention I have internet issues?
I'm limited to the pictures I have in my picassa account.

Thank-You!!!!
I love each and every one of you dearly, even if I didn't mention you above.

And, for the record, I have no idea why I add a hyphen to thank-you. It just looks better to me.

The reason I had to cut it short is that I have something else to share with you. You see, I always run some sort of Black Friday sale with my books, but this year, I have joined up with a whole group of authors who are also running sales, both on Kindle books and paperbacks. Paperbacks are part of the "Black Friday" sale, while Kindles are marked as "Cyber Monday." Personally, my own sales are starting today, but that's because I had already set them up when she contacted me, and that's how I roll. Many of the paperbacks have coupon codes. Those are valid at CreateSpace (where the link should take you) and you just copy them into the coupon code box when you get to the payment page (if I remember right, that's where it is) and then voila! Savings! (Also, if there's only one code for an author, it applies to all of their books)

I don't know, exactly, what sales are going to be run on all of them (beyond the ones marked with coupon codes) but it's still going to be fun.

I know I've had my eye on quite a few of these books for a while. Sigh. I need a job again. My plan to go job hunting back in November ... fell through.

First, my books ... not because I'm the author, but because my pen name is Ardnek and that puts me at the front of the list. (Reason  2. for my choice of pen name, I'll admit). All three books are 99 cents, though The Ankulen only lasts until Tuesday. I don't remember exactly how much longer you have on the other two. I didn't want to cut Ankulen short, but I ran out of promo days available. So, anyways.
Edit: For some odd reason, the promotions I'd set up for Saffron's Big Plan and Do You Take This Quest? deleted themselves. I've got them set up again, but because it's taken me so long to catch this error, their price won't go down until Sunday.
The Ankuluen: Cyber Monday
Saffron's Big Plan and Other Stories: Cyber Monday
Do You Take This Quest?: Cyber Monday

Faith Blum
A Mighty Fortress: Black Friday [V4Y5K36D -- 10%] and Cyber Monday)
Be Thou My Vision: Black Friday [7626YZAK -- 20%] and Cyber Monday

Sarah Brown
The Prodigal Pup: Black Friday and  Cyber Monday
Learning Lessons from Furry Friends: Black Friday [SB14CP31 -- 25%] and Cyber Monday

Kelsey Bryant
Family Reunion: Black Friday [YFY84GHU -- 20%]

Elizabeth Ender
Ransomed: Black Friday [GNE6VUXY -- 30%]

J.J. Francesco
Blood Chain: Cyber Monday

Julie Gilbert
Nadia's Tears: Cyber Monday 

Leah Good
Counted Worthy: Black Friday [K7CVNEER -- 40%] and Cyber Monday

Melody Grubb
The Land of Calais: Black Friday and Cyber Monday
The Warmth of His Eyes: Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Send Me, Lord Jesus: Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Rachel Heffington
Anon, Sir, Anon: Black Friday [9MTYHSX3 -- 25%] and Cyber Monday

Rebekah Jones
Journeys of Four: Cyber Monday
Grandmother's Letters: Cyber Monday
A Year with the Potters: Cyber Monday

Jaye L. Knight
Resistance: Black Friday [Q45HN6G9 -- 25%] and Cyber Monday

Tina M. Neely
Diamond Hair Princess: Black Friday

Joel A. Parisi
Shadow Play: Cyber Monday

J. Grace Pennington
Radialloy: Black Friday [Y2XHGYDN -- 25%] and Cyber Monday
In His Image: Black Friday [KXNZ7PYN -- 25%] and Cyber Monday
Machiavellian: Black Friday [UFXGUYMM -- 25%] and Cyber Monday

Jennifer Sauer
Why Rodney Never Should've Gone to the NAPIC: Black Friday [F76DDR7S -- 45%] and Cyber Monday

Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer
Touch My Tears: Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Third Side of the Coin: Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Cara Simmons
The Haven: Black Friday and Cyber Monday
The Leviathan: Black Friday and Cyber Monday
The Champion: Black Friday and Cyber Monday 

Jordan Smith
Finding the Core of Your Story: Black Friday [NL4NJXWS -- 30%]

Rachel Starr Thomson
Reap the Whirlwind: Cyber Monday
Lady Moon: Cyber Monday
Angel in the Woods: Cyber Monday

I can't speak for all of these books, but I will tell you that there are some good ones on here you won't want to miss. (And I don't want to miss them either.)

And here are a few more that the coordinator, Leah Good, listed as "optional." I'm not sure exactly what that means, so I'm just going to post them too.

Therese Heckenkamp
Past Suspicion: Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Frozen Footprints: Black Friday

Melika Dannese Lux
City of Lights: Black Friday [FNB98MY6 -- 35%] and Cyber Monday
Corcitura: Black Friday [GU46WHKT -- 55%] and Cyber Monday

T.R. Lykins
Last Heartbeat: Black Friday and Cyber Monday
The Life Gift: Black Friday and Cyber Monday 

Melanie D. Snitker
Calming the Storm: Cyber Monday

So go forth and purchase books! Make an author's day, and give them one more reason to be thankful.