Choosing to be Grateful in the Face of Uncertainty

by Beth K. Vogt @BethVogt

COVID-19 continues to affect so many different aspects of both our writing and our real lives. The pandemic also has placed a huge question mark on the upcoming holiday season.

Has 2020 looked anything like we expected? No, not at all. 

What will 2021 hold for us? No one knows.

I’m determined to be grateful even in the face of looming uncertainty.

• I’m thankful for how writer-friends rallied around one another this year. We listened to one another. Prayed for one another. Encouraged one another when our optimism failed. Shouted out one another’s books during a tough time in the publishing industry.

• I’m thankful for how writers embraced new things this year. No face-to-face conferences or writer meetings? Enter virtual conferences and meetings. Thank you, Zoom, for giving us a reason to put on decent clothes (At least from the waist up, right?) and style our hair and put on makeup (Waving at the women!) and to connect via the Internet, even if we couldn’t hug one another. 

• I’m thankful for everyone celebrating successes. Break out the firework and applause GIFs. Success in 2020 was hard-won, wasn’t it? Books were stuck in publishers’ warehouses. Amazon declared books non-essential (Excuse me?). Contracts were canceled and some writers fought for creativity even as others thrived in the midst of the chaos of COVID-19. 

• I’m thankful for everyone who trudged through failure and proved we can get past our struggles. “There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” [Brené Brown (1965-), American professor & author] If you’re a writer looking back at a season of disappointments, I encourage you to take one last look – and move on. You attempted something creative, and that is a success worth celebrating. Bravo! Don’t forget to consider what lessons you can take away from your efforts.

• I’m thankful that hope is a commodity that never runs out. Ongoing uncertainty is emotionally exhausting. We may crawl into bed worn out at the end of the day. But God promises us that His mercies are new every morning and His faithfulness is great. (Lamentations 3:22-23) And that truth allows us to start each day with renewed hope. 

What are you thankful for?

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Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Having authored nine contemporary romance novels and novellas, The Best We’ve Been, the final book in Beth’s Thatcher Sisters Series with Tyndale House Publishers, releasers May 2020. Other books in the women’s fiction series include Things I Never Told You, which won the 2019 AWSA Award for Contemporary Novel of the Year, and Moments We Forget. Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Learn How to Write a Novel and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. Visit Beth at bethvogt.com.