Category Archives: Ramblings of Thanks

My birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year (anyone looking for a last minute gift, cash or gift cards to the Home Depot are welcome), and to celebrate, I’m going to reprise something for the blog that many of us did on Facebook last year. Each day, I will center my blog around something in my life I am thankful for. In this manner, I will attempt to be more grateful for the many blessings in my life. Hopefully, this series will provide a little positivity and inspiration to your day.

General Posts, Ramblings of Thanks

Saturday Morning Ramblings – Thankful #20

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I’m thankful for Red Sky at Dawn.  That book was written under some of the most difficult conditions possible and turned out to be a pretty good book.  It was written one to two pages at a time each night between 2-4 AM after I had put in at least a twelve hour day at work.  Some nights, I had to pinch my thighs to stay awake long enough to hit my page goal, but I knew that if I didn’t at least get the rough draft finished before Finn was born, the odds of me ever finishing it would have been slim.  I learned a great deal about my threshold for pain and endurance with it.

I also found my voice with that manuscript.  The narrative moves swiftly, barely allowing readers time to catch their breath between intense scenes, and some of the intimate moments with the characters are very powerful.  The Battle for Hard Hope is one of the best fight scenes I’ve ever written, and the chapter arc where the captain saves Master Sondious is one of the best pieces of prose I’ve created.  I have noticed a few typos and minor errors in the manuscript, but I’ll chalk that up to the time-frame in which the book was edited.  When all five books are complete, I’ll polish out those mistakes for the next edition.  Personally, I feel like those minor flaws don’t take away from the book, but they do bug me.

Overall, I’m grateful for Red Sky.  It’s a strong work from the opening page to the final scene, and I am proud of if as a literary work.  I’m thankful that it will be one of the legacies I leave behind for my sons.

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General Posts, Ramblings of Thanks

Friday Morning Rambling – Thankful #19

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I’m thankful to be a Tennessean.  Yes, we have our issues, just as every place does, but overall, this is a pretty good place to live.  Our summers aren’t too brutal; winters aren’t too harsh; and fall and spring are beautiful.  The natural beauty of this place is still breathtaking.  The mountains, the rolling hills, the stone-littered fields, the rivers, and the lakes are simply gorgeous.  I’m four hours from Nashville, Atlanta, and Charlotte, so if I need to experience a city, it’s not that difficult.  I’m eight hours from both the Gulf and the Atlantic, so the beach is also an easy escape.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’m an hour from absolute and utter isolation, so when I want to escape from people, and for me that occurs much more frequently than the other, I can disappear into the mountains and get away from the insanity of humanity.

There are things I’d like to fix about this place, like the education system for starters, but the older I get and the more I learn about the nation as a whole, the more I see that the issues here are part of the bigger problems with the United States, so the state can’t be held solely to task for these issues.  Still, at this point in my life, the low crime rates, natural beauty, and low population density far outweigh the negatives.  Yes, I’d like more opportunities economically.  Yes, I’d like a better infrastructure, but both of those come with a trade off that I’m simply not willing to make.

I love my state.  I’m thankful for my state.  Even though technically speaking I was born in Florida, make no mistake about it, I’m a Tennessean.  My family on both sides has deep roots here, going way back, and my Scots-Irish heritage is deeply entwined with the Appalachian Mountains.  I’m also grateful that I got to attend college on the other end of the state in Memphis.  The Delta is part of me, too, and I’m thankful to have lived my life and given my service to the Great Volunteer State.  Tennessee: Agriculture and Commerce.  Tennessee: America at Its Best.

General Posts, Ramblings of Thanks

Thursday Afternoon Ramblings – Thankful #18

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I’m thankful for competent people.  It seems like such a simple thing, but competence truly is one of our scarcest commodities.  Whenever I encounter a competent person in a business, I make every effort acknowledge how much I appreciate their efforts, and I attempt to provide them with repeat business.

One of most competent people I know is my mechanic, Kenny Drinnon, owner of Drinnon’s Auto Repair.  He’s helped me out tremendously in my life by getting my vehicles back on the road and keeping them in good running condition.  Anyone who has gotten work from him can attest that Kenny is not only a competent mechanic, he’s also fair and honest.  I’m grateful to have him as my mechanic.

Another competent person is the lady who works at the Subway on Wears Valley, the one next to Clabo’s Campground.  She is one of the most efficient sandwich makers I’ve ever seen and works hard every day.  She remembers her regular customers by name and greets them as they come through the door, even if she’s in the middle of making an order.  She’s like a throwback to the customer service I remember as a child, and I’m thankful that she works at the Subway across from Pigeon Forge High School.

There are other competent people I’ve encountered lately.  I wish I had time to give all of them the proper respect in this entry, but this week has been long, and my brain has puddled in the bottom of my shoes.  But if you get the opportunity, tell a competent person thank you the next time you encounter them.  Personally, I’m grateful for each and every one of them.