If you're reading this, it's Friday...

And that means you survived Thanksgiving (or, if you're not in the US, you made it through another week, which is pretty great, too)!

Thanksgiving is a complicated time for a lot of people, so before I go on, I want to make a note of a few resources for anyone who is feeling drained post-Turkey Day.

National Suicide Prevention (you can chat online here, too).

Veterans Crisis Line (phone number, online chat, text chat, help for deaf and hard of hearing).

The Trevor Project (LBGTQ) (phone, online chat, text).

RAINN (call or chat).

Now, on to the blog:

My final NaNoWriMo updates is as follows: whoops, I finished my draft before I could hit 50k this month. As far as "failing" goes, this is a great way to go. I've got a first draft, and am outlining a new project. I didn't have time to celebrate this achievement because it happened late Monday night, Tuesday night I was driving, and, as I write this, it's Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I'm in a house full of relatives I don't get to see often. I might help myself to an extra slice of pie, though.

Around Thanksgiving every year I like to take a moment to appreciate the things I've managed to accomplish throughout the year and the people who've helped make it happen. It gets harder every year because I'm surrounded by fantastic people - chances are, if you're reading this, thinking "I wonder if Renee is thinking of me?" The answer is most likely yes.

A few highlights though:

I got a book out! Huge thanks to Andrez Bergen for letting me work on this amazing project with him. Thanks to everyone who bought it, read it, and supported it. It's a beautiful little baby.

Buy it here

I went to Boucher for real. I'd been before, as a party crasher, but this year I got the full experience and got to see all the wonderful people in our crime writing community - make new friends, hug old friends, and get really re-engerized about our community and genre. Whoo!

A direct result of an amazing Boucher experience, I've made an effort to spend more time in Los Angeles and getting to know our Southern California writers. You know, the people who are actually close to me. Thanks to all the people for always making me feel welcome and keeping me excited about crime fiction.

These are all writing related because this is, after all, a crime writers' blog. There are a hundred more things I could list and a hundred people I owe a hug and a drink. This is has been a hell of a year, but it's been made all the better by the awesome community we're lucky to have. I'm glad we got through this year together and I hope to keep you all around for a few more.

Cheers!