Thankfulness Is A Year-long Habit

   

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

This week, our nation will pause and celebrate Thanksgiving. Do you have activities which you do each year on this holiday? Some people travel home. Other people run a local 5K or 10K race early that morning which is often called a Turkey Trot. Other people gather with their family and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In this article, I want to give the writing community some ideas and practices to celebrate gratitude. I believe thankfulness is more than an annual event but an attitude and action which should be a frequent part of your writing life.

The Apostle Paul listed a grave list of sins during the last days in his first letter to Timothy. He wrote, “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy.” (2 Timothy 3:1-2, NIV). Among these words, a single word stands out for this article: ungrateful. How can you increase your gratitude?

Several years ago, I began using a blank notebook as a gratitude journal. Every day I spend a few minutes writing some words of gratitude and thanks in this notebook. It is a regular part of my day and early morning activitites. 

Also I have a box of thank you notes. Several times a week, an author or a publisher will send me a physical book that they want me to read and review. When each book arrives, I take a few minutes, pull a thank you note and write a short note of appreciation, then mail it. Early in my writing career, I gained this practice and habit. Like my gratitude journal it is not something I do just around Thanksgiving but something I practice all year long.

With thousands of new books entering the marketplace every day, every author needs encouragement about their book. Here's a simple and practical way you can support them: when you see they have posted about their book on social media, comment, cheer, and even repost it so other people learn about it. You can also purchase their book, read it and write a few sentences of review. This second option is much more time consuming but as I’ve written here in other articles, reviews are often hard to get yet something simple each of us can do and another way to express our thankfulness for their writing.

Books from publishers and authors come into my physical mailbox. Sometimes when I get a book, I will pull the cover into my MockUp Shots tool and create a few images which I send off to the author and encourage them to use the images on their website or social media or their blog. To do this action doesn’t take a lot of my time yet it touches and helps the author and shows that I’m concerned about them and the success of their book. It’s another simple action that anyone who has MockUp Shots could take. 

Each week at Morgan James Publishing we are releasing new books into the world. It’s what happens when you publish about 180 to 200 books a year. Whenever I see a new book from an author that I’ve brought to the company, I reach out to them on email with a note and often I send a book marketing resource attached to my email as encouragement to them. 

This past week one of my authors had a book anniversary and made it into an event celebration. She invited me to participate for a few minutes and I came to her celebration and spoke for a few minutes. It’s another simple way to express gratitude with your presence and participation.

Thankfulness and expressing gratitude is not just something we do once a year on the national holiday. It’s an attitude which we carry with us every day. Look for ways to fill some of your days with appreciation, thankfulness and gratitude. I hope I’ve stirred some ideas for you in this article. What other ways can you suggest? Let me know in the comments below.

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Thankfulness and gratitude is more than an annual holiday but a year-long habit. In this article, this prolific author and editor encourages simple actions. Get the details here.  (ClickToTweet)

Through my years in publishing, I’ve written for over 50 publications and more than 60 books with traditional publishers. Several of my books have sold 60,000 to 100,000 copies. I’ve also written different types of books such as biography, children’s books, how to/ self-help, co-authored and devotional books. From speaking with different authors about their books, I find many unrealistic expectations. Many aspects of the publishing process are outside of anything an author can control. I wrote  10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses. 

A Simple Expression of Appreciation

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

The key book which has guided my life in publishing has been the Bible. For many years, I've read a different version of the Bible from cover to cover each year. Reading the Scriptures is a key part of the beginning of each day.  I have been reading in The Passion Translation (Broadstreet). If you don't know about the Passion Translation, I encourage you to get a copy and read it. From my experience, often reading in a new translation will give you fresh insights and perspective. One of the final letters the Apostle Paul wrote was his second letter to Timothy. In 2 Timothy 3:1–5,  he includes a series of godless acts that will happen during the Last Days. tucked into some terrible things is a single word: ungrateful. (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

The opposite of ungrateful is gratitude. As a writer, how do you incorporate gratitude into your daily life?

How you express gratitude doesn't have to be complicated. A simple expression of appreciation can go a long way. My first book, When I Grow Up, I Can Go Anywhere for Jesus, was published in 1992. When the book first came out, I went to the booksellers convention and met with best-selling author Richard J. Foster. His classic book, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home had just released. I showed Richard my little 32–page book and gave him a copy. He celebrated with me and prayed with me about the book. Several weeks later, I got a surprise in the mail: a handwritten thank you note from Richard Foster. He was letting me know how much he appreciated the copy of my book.

This handwritten note from a bestselling author was amazing to me—and a practical example of something I've done now for years. I've been writing and reviewing books for many years—in print magazines and online. Almost every day authors and publishers will send me physical books. I appreciate it but to be honest, the volume is way more than anyone could read—even if that is all I did. I read these books in my free time and for fun then write my reviews and post them on Amazon, Goodreads and my social media.

If you can't read every book that comes into your mail box, what can you do? I can take a few minutes and handwrite a note to that author expressing my appreciation for their efforts. I have a box of thank you notes and pull one out, address the envelope and write my note often on the same day I get the book. It is a practice of appreciation that I've done for years—and something anyone can do.

What practices of appreciation do you incorporate into your daily life? Let me know in the comments below.

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Discover a simple expression of appreciation from this prolific editor and author.  (ClickToTweet)