Thanksgiving is this month in the U.S., and the older I get the more gratitude I have every day of the year. It’s not that my life is without potholes–far from it. But those potholes aren’t quite so treacherous anymore since I’ve learned who I can count on to help me figure out how fill the hole so it’s no longer a problem, or who will willingly ferry me across any problem too big for me to handle. It was a huge lesson the day I realized I truly could ask other people for help. And my thankfulness grows with every day.

To that end, I’m spending the whole month of November posting the things I’m thankful for on a daily FB post on my profile page, and inviting others to share what they are grateful for in their lives. I have to tell you, it’s something I look forward to doing each day. Spending just a few minutes thinking about this makes the whole rest of my day go much better. I “hear” the thanksgiving goodness in each comment made by the people who read my posts, and I love getting this small insight into their lives and their month of Thanksgiving.

And speaking of seasonal happiness and helpful people and reasons to be grateful, I want to take this opportunity to tell you about a fabulous group of authors who invited me into their authorial fold to contribute to a Christmas-themed anthology that was just released this week. I’ve read all these authors for years–been a fan of each long before I was published myself–so I have to pinch myself every day to believe that my “story gifts” are in this anthology with all of theirs. Karen Cantwell penned a new story in the popular Barbara Marr series, “How the Finches Stole Christmas.” Joanna Campbell Slan offers two short stories, one in the Kiki Lowenstein scrapbook series, “Kiki Lowenstein and the Secret Santa,” and another in her Cara Mia Delgatto series, “Cara Mia Delgatto’s White Christmas.” Carolyn Haines includes “Bones on the Bayou” a Sarah Booth Delaney story that will make you laugh and gasp until the mystery is solved. “Christmas in Venice” by Maria Grazia Swan tells the story of a pet-sitter investigating a missing tortoise over the holidays. Leslie O’Kane brings an Allie Babcock short mystery, “A Dog-Gone Christmas,” and makes readers worry and smile until the end. And since I’m in the middle of writing the third book in the Bodies of Art Mystery series, I wrote a brand new Christmastime story, “Seasonal Switches,” featuring Laurel Beacham and Jack Hawkes, as well as a Kate McKenzie Organized Mysteries story, “Organized for Christmas Wishes.” In all, there are eight stories in the book, seven tied to bestselling mystery series that gives a yuletide taste of the characters’ worlds.

This anthology will only be available for this years holiday season–it will disappear from the virtual bookseller shelves in January. Right now we have it priced at 99 cents, so if this sounds like something you’d like to read, please grab it while it’s a bargain and before it completely goes off sale. It’s our little Christmas gift to our fans, and we hope y’all like it–and maybe find a favorite new author or two. I’d love it if my favorites become yours too.

To find the buy links to the anthology, just go to my Where to Buy My Books page. You can click this link, or find the link to the page along the toolbar above.

Hope everyone is planning a Happy Thanksgiving. Is that jingle bells I hear with that turkey gobble?