Day of Thanksgiving

I’m an optimist, to the chagrin of some. Each day I sit down to make a list of three things I’m grateful for and big or small I can always come up with something.

Today is the big one. The day when we truly reflect on all of the things we are thankful for in life and I’m a truly lucky person because I have a long list. Life is good, even when it’s not, and I have great respect for that.

In no particular order.

1. My team. I say this a lot, but I really do have the best team in publishing. I like them, I love them, I have great respect for what each of them does and what each brings to BookEnds. We all have a different backgrounds, different opinions, different reactions to a book and each is smart and wise beyond her/his years. When I hired, I hired someone I would want to have a beer with. My only regret is that we aren’t able to do that more often.

2. This company. Fifteen years ago I had a dream. Not as big as MLK’s dream, but my own dream. I wanted to build an agency far beyond just what I could do. I’m doing that. I’ve done that. Every morning I wake up looking forward to what the day will bring and proud to say that I am Jessica Faust from BookEnds.

3. My clients. Signing with an agent takes a certain amount of trust and blind faith, especially back in the early years when I didn’t have a sale, a track record or even a client list. I am grateful each time a new author signs with us. Grateful and extremely excited. I am thankful for the clients who value my opinion, are willing to tell me when I’m wrong and get excited when they think I’m right. We are in this together and I can’t thank you enough for taking that leap with me.

4. Blog readers. Sometimes I’m not sure why I do this blog. It’s not completely altruistic, few things are. I like writing (in small spurts and with few rules), I love the readers and I am forever grateful that you keep coming back, that you stop me on the streets or at conferences to thank me. I’m forever in awe by my readers.

5. Coffee. Because.

6. My parents who instilled in me the belief and the confidence that I could do anything and be anything. That as a woman there was no glass ceiling. That anything you can do I can do better ;). They gave me the strength to do all of this.

I could go on. I could go all day, but we have turkey to eat. Ah, who am I kidding? It’s all about the pie.

Happy Thanksgiving!