What's your stack look like? A Thanksgiving letter from our publicist

Dear readers:

I wish you all a truly lovely Thanksgiving. We all know it's a weird holiday season, so please keep doing your part to spread love and compassion. 

Hopefully, you will have some downtime today. When I have downtime, on Thanksgiving especially, all I want to do is crawl into bed and read, how 'bout you? 

Though I generally try to stay away from work on the holiday, I couldn't today. I wanted to express to you my gratitude for each of you, as well as for the entire literary community. As I sit in bed, read, and write, I do so for fun and for work. How cool is that? I am grateful that my work allows me to be at home, especially these days, and that it generally consists of reading and writing (and creating in many other means). For work, I do get to stay in bed, read, and write today, and, frankly, I feel absolutely spoiled. You all keep this job, this press going, and you've been so loyal and supportive. 

My heart goes out to all of you whose work involves risking your safety for the sake of your community, and I truly hope you get quiet times in the safety of your home, comfortable and at peace with all you do. I thank you. I also thank each and every one of you for the work you do, or have done, or are looking for, or are originating. I hope you have opportunities to really do what you love to do for work. 

I thank all of you writers who keep working, page after page, to share new and innovative imaginings with us. Just in the last few months, such writers as Kevin Rabas, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Arlice Davenport, Michael D. Graves, Jerilynn Jones Henrikson, Carol Kapaun Ratchenski, Brian Daldorph, Julie Stielstra, Edna Bell-Pearson, Lisa D. Stewart, and JC Mehta, just to name the Meadowlark authors, have given me work that allows me to read and write. Again, how cool is that? The pursued something they loved, and that allows me to pursue something I love--geeking out about books and spreading the word about it. I deeply thank Tracy Million Simmons for this amazing opportunity to work with such impressive and touching authors. (She's responsible for the sweet candle, chocolate and note below, too!)

And of course I must mention that there are tons of amazing books from other authors and other presses that I enjoy for great leisure, too. There's just so much great reading to be done! Some of my current reads are in my office, but check out my stack of current reads and cozy reading spot at home:

There may be some Thanksgiving beer in this mug...

These books and manuscripts travel around with me but always find a way back home in my "bed nook." I have a bedstand, but that's usually reserved for the coffee. (Speaking of which, I'm going to take a coffee break. Be right back!)

(Alright, thanks for the break.)

The bed nook holds all current reads and is constantly adjusted, based on which seven (eight? nine?) things I'm reading at a time. What does your stack of current reading material look like? Who are you reading? What does your cozy reading spot look like? 

When I get to be in my space, resting in my family's warmth, surrounded by the art and music and literature that has impacted me, and reading and (analyzing and) writing, I feel like I've reached a few of my dreams. When you have those moments of doing exactly what you want to do, I hope you feel like you've reached at least one of the dreams you've carried with you for a long time. I hope you love and embrace that time, and I hope you keep dreaming, keep setting goals, keep doing what you love, and doing it voraciously, with passion, with life. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for reading Meadowlark books. Thank you for being a thoughtful audience. Thank you for being creators. I will be thinking about all of you this Thanksgiving, as I, and many of you, stay home, away from family and friends, but comforted by books. 

With immense gratitude,
Linzi Garcia
Meadowlark Press Publicist