Two Powerful Words

This is an anonymous thank you card
we recently received - how sweet!

Thank You for taking time to read this. Thank You for leaving a comment. Thank You for all you do. Thank You for your bravery. Thank You for your assistance. Thank You for being You! Thank You for putting up with me! It doesn't matter what you follow these words with, the two most powerful words in each sentence are these short words:

THANK YOU

Years back I wrote an article about the art of accepting a Thank You because so many of us are uncomfortable when someone shows gratitude for something we have done. The gist of that article was you should just say "you are welcome" and not try to return the gracious compliment...but I digress...

At all times, but especially during difficult times, it is very important to say Thank You and mean it. Some people love helping others. When you help someone who is truly thankful, it feels really great! When you help someone who doesn't acknowledge you, it feels sort of like an insult. I know for me, it takes the wind right out of my sails. Even if I do something anonymously, if I find out the person wasn't at all thankful it makes me wonder ... should I have done that? should I have done more? should I have helped someone else instead? etc...

Whether you are a struggling small business thanking your patrons, a flourishing corporation thanking your employees, a neighbor thanking someone for a helping hand, the power of gratitude is something that can't be always be measured in dollars or cents. I was helping a friend the other day and he told me a story about something that happened 10 years ago. He helped his sister at her job and the owner of the business sent him a thank you card. He still has that card and it means the world to him. That simple gesture has made him a better person. He continues to help people, but he also wants them to feel the same way he did when he received that note, so he is one of the first folks to say thank you to someone who helps him.

That simple thank you card over a decade ago has allowed him to go on and spread the gratitude to others. It's a domino effect. I have a stack of thank you cards in my drawer, some in the glove box of my car, several on the bulletin board in my office, and another dozen in my home office. They make me feel good on days when I wonder if it's all worth it, and they are a constant reminder how two little words can make a world of difference in someone's life.

Do you have a signature way you say thank you? As an author, it's vitally important to thank your reviewers, followers, and friends - how do you use these two powerful words to strengthen your brand and show gratitude?

Has someone touched your life with a thank you card or other way they showed gratitude and appreciation?

Leave your comments here! In our current world, it's important to share the positives and we would love to hear from you!

THANK YOU!

Hugs,
~Crystal

and now...a little more about me...

Shown from left to right:
Delphine riding Honey
Mr. Otto holding Eudora
Crystal riding Marv.
Thank you Forward Farm, LLC 

Crystal is the office manager, council secretary, financial secretary, and musician at her church, birth
mother, Auntie, babywearing mama, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Press Corp teammate for the DairyGirl Network, Unicorn Mom Ambassador, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their five youngest children, two dogs, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, horses Darlin' and Joker, pony Miss Maggie May, and over 250 Holsteins.

You can find Crystal milking cows, riding horses, and riding unicorns (not at the same time), taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books here, and at her own blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade and she has never (not once) been accused of being normal!

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2 comments casavant otto, crystal casavant, crystal otto, giving thanks, gratitude, saying thankful, saying thanks, thank you, thankful

Don't Forget To Thank Creativity

You read a lot of posts about being thankful at this time of year. You will often see a long list of the typical items: family, shelter, food, health, financial security, and so on. It's good to be grateful for the blessings we have and to look at life with an optimistic and grateful attitude.

Have you ever been thankful for your creativity? 

I feel like we should take a moment today and be thankful for our imaginations, for the gift that we have been given to use our right brains and make fantasies come alive whether its with words or paintings or music.

My creative one

I am thankful that I see my gift of creativity coming alive in my daughter. At 7, she has a notebook, where she writes lyrics to original songs. She has made several stapled books full of words and illustrations. She pretends to be characters from her favorite shows. I can often overhear her talking to her "YouTube Channel Fans" on her made-up Katie channel. Sometimes she even ends that creative play with, "Don't forget to leave a comment below on how you liked our video."

Because I am thankful for creativity, because I am a writer, because creativity is important and celebrated in our house, she is carrying on the tradition. I suppose I am responsible for molding another creative mind, and I couldn't be more thankful for this opportunity!

I am also thankful for the outlet my creativity provides for me to work through the tough times, to express myself through humor, to share what is important to me with the world.

So this Thanksgiving, while you fill your belly with turkey and stuffing and you give prayers of thanks for your many blessings, don't forget to also thank the powers that be for your gift of creativity and your freedom to express it. I certainly will be, and I might just be doing that on Katie's pretend YouTube channel, where I will ask her viewers to leave a comment below on what they are thankful for this year or how their creativity helps them. 

Margo L. Dill is a writer, editor, teacher, and mother living in St. Louis, MO. Don't let your creativity and progress on your novel stop during the holiday season. Consider taking her WOW! novel writing course, where you will be turning in sections of your novel every Friday for critique. Next class starts December 1. Sign up here.

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5 comments being thankful, children imagination, Creativity, giving thanks, writer's thanksgiving

Writerly Settling ,Exploring, and Giving Thanks

The Otto Family - (Photo by Olivia Brey of Oh! Photography)

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours! I was tickled pink to find out I was writing the blog for such a fantastic day; so thank you WOW! for this opportunity! Before I get down to business, I want to tell you a bit about Thanksgiving on our farm. The turkey is stuffed with my mother-in-law's recipe that includes pork raised right here. We have two meats each year and our ham is also raised right here. The potatoes were grown just a few yards from the front door (right next to the clothesline) and the milk in those potatoes is raw from the bulk tank and the eggs in the corn casserole are only hours old. I am thankful for everything that has been provided for us and most of all I am thankful for the family that fills the rooms of our house making It a home.

I was busy preparing for tomorrow’s celebration and as I stood chopping celery and onions, our older children (5 and 6) were discussing the play they participated in at school earlier in the day. The teacher had separated the classes into groups to demonstrate the history of Thanksgiving. My son (5) was in the group of Explorers and my daughter (6) was a Settler. It was exciting to hear the discussion of who did what and their banter inspired today’s post; another thing I am most thankful for – so enjoy!

As writers, we have an opportunity to do our own settling and exploring. It is quite different from the pilgrims during the harvest of 1621…or is it? The Puritans were preparing for winter; they were busy gathering anything they could find, including supplies and food. The Explorers were learning about their new surroundings in Cape Cod and were trying to familiarize themselves with the native plants and animals. Writers are generally found behind a computer as opposed to out in the woods, but aren’t we still gathering information and ideas as well as tools of the trade? Don’t we familiarize ourselves with what is hot and what is not in the writerly world?

I feel I am constantly settling and exploring; asking for feedback and ideas while reading the work of others as I attempt to improve my own story. I want to know what has worked for other authors and what has not. It is my hope to learn from their experience to make my own pilgrimage a success. I mean no disrespect when comparing my writing journey to that of the pilgrims. A pilgrim by definition is someone who travels to a sacred place for religious reasons. I am not physically going anywhere, but my mind and heart travel each time I write and as the words flow to the paper, I feel calm and peaceful. That said, writing is definitely a pilgrimage for me.

Today as I sit down with family and friends and we bow our heads to pray I will be thinking of each of you who I am also thankful for. Thank you to the publishers who have patiently explained things to me. Thank you to my writers group for your encouragement, the laughter, and the awesome snacks! Thank you to the writers who allow me to read and review your works. Thank you to the bloggers who participate enthusiastically in the WOW! Blog Tours. Thank you to Angela and Jodi at WOW! for taking a chance on me. Thank you to each person who reads, comments, and encourages me and others along the way. Thank you to my husband who is my biggest fan. You are all part of my pilgrimage and I couldn’t imagine settling and exploring without you by my side.

If you took the time to read this today, please leave a comment and answer one or all of these questions:

1)      What is a favorite Thanksgiving tradition for you and your family?

2)      How does reading or writing play a role in your life’s journey?

3)      What or Whom are you thankful for today?

Get Involved! (Remember what I said about being thankful for bloggers?) If you have a website or blog and would like to host one of our touring authors or schedule a tour of your own, please email us at blogtour@wow-womenonwriting.com.

Crystal is a church musician, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Reedsville, Wisconsin with her husband, three young children (Carmen 6, Andre 5, Breccan 9 weeks), three dogs, two rabbits, four little piggies, and over 200 Holsteins. You can find Crystal blogging and reviewing books and all sorts of other stuff at: http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/

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4 comments a writerly pilgrimage, giving thanks, settling and exploring, writing journey, writing options

A Day of Thanksgiving

Today is not only a day for eating turkey, enjoying time with family and friends, and giving thanks for those in your personal lives, it's also a time to be thankful for your writing life.

I'm lucky to have a job where I get to work with talented writers who inspire me daily. These writers include our current staff members: Margo L. Dill, Marcia Peterson, LuAnn Schindler, Joanne Stacey, Jill Earl, Jodi Webb, Anne Greenawalt, Carrie Hulce, Cher'ley Grogg, Chynna Laird, and Elizabeth King Humphrey. And the many, many previous staff members (including most recently Alison Diefenderfer and Senior Editor Annette Fix) who've passed through the WOW! halls. Working with these ladies is such a joy. They're all excellent writers and I love hearing what they're up to in their writing lives and watching them grow as writers.

I'm also thankful for our instructors who've chosen to teach with WOW! Your knowledge and ability to help others with enthusiasm and patience is extraordinary. We're lucky to have you, and those that take your classes are lucky too!

I'm thankful for the Premium-Green community of women writers. This group has to be one of the most encouraging group of writers out there. Thank you for sharing your successes, big or small, and engaging in conversations about the freelance writing life on the group boards. You bring out my entrepreneurial spirit and inspire my pep talks! I hope they inspire you too.

To the multitude of contestants, I owe you a big thank you for always being gracious and understanding--even if we're late with prizes. I love reading your stories and learning more about you through interviews here on The Muffin. You're all such a talented bunch of writers, so creative. I'm still in awe at how you can come up with a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end in such a short word count.

I'm thankful for the guest judges we have each season, who donate their time and judge stories simply for the love of the written word. Thank you for dedicating yourself to our contests and for encouraging writers everywhere.

I'm especially thankful for those of you who visit and read WOW! and share your comments, stories, successes, and your passion for writing. It's this community that keeps me motivated and striving for the best.

To the freelancers and interviewees who've worked with WOW!, I'm thankful for your well written articles and for the advice you've shared with our readers. Without you, there wouldn't be a publication.

And last, but certainly not least, to my webmaster and partner, Glenn Robnett. Thank you for your dedication to WOW!, your expert tech savvy, and for always making our publication look beautiful and shine online.

So as you enjoy a day of family and friends, remember to give thanks to those in your writing life too. (Before you fall into a turkey-induced tryptophan-coma!) Happy Thanksgiving!

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7 comments giving thanks, thanksgiving, WOW staff members, writing life