Whenever I write a book or even just a poem, I learn something new through the writing process. While writing my sixth book, Amazing Holiday Paws, I learned a lot about animals. I loved taking animal photos, analyzing the face gestures of animals in the photos, doing research, and thinking about the viewpoints of animals. I also did a lot of analysis of their activities.
In the past, I have most often thought about animals as cute, especially if they were pets. However, after writing Amazing Holiday Paws, I also think more about and imagine the different views of different animals.
While visiting, taking photos, and writing about Washington, D.C. I also learned a lot about the museums, other attractions, and the history of our country.

During these tough times of Coronavirus, I’m so thankful for being able to have feelings, especially ones of love. I love my cats that always keep me company. I talk to them, and they sometimes talk back. The youngest one is a pure-blooded Flamepoint Siamese cat, and he’s a real talker. I also love being able to connect with my family, friends, and colleagues through texting, phone calls, emails, video conferencing, facebook, and other methods. Love has always been the best way to connect to others.
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I'm so thankful for my life, including my family, pets, friends, author events, and job as the Writing Center Coordinator and Adjunct Faculty member at the Community College of Rhode Island. The students, faculty, and staff members at CCRI are great! Everyone at this college is so helpful to each other. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a teacher in order to help others with their education. The reality is that, while I'm teaching and tutoring others at CCRI, I'm always learning at least one new thing every day.  For decades, my dream was to become both an author and a professor. My dream has become my reality, and my pets have such great lives, too, I'm sure their dreams are also a part of their reality!  

     I'm thankful for my busy life. I love helping students to write at the Community College of Rhode Island, where I am the Writing Center Coordinator, an adjunct faculty, and the creator of the CCRI Writing Center's website.
     As an author of five books, I love to write novels and poetry, as well as to do presentations, to network with other authors, and to participate in many author events. I also do volunteer work at my church and often have fun with family, friends, and my three cats.
     I've said to multiple people that I get bored if I have nothing to do. My realization about wanting to be busy happened when I was only nineteen. I was working in a department store, and I sometimes had to be a security guard, rather than an office person. I had to just stand in one place for eight hours and could only look at people. I wasn't allowed to do such things as helping cashiers when they got really busy. I quickly realized that I loved being busy with many different tasks, rather than having nothing to do beyond just staring at mostly honest people. I know security people today do more tasks, which is a lot nicer in many ways than how bored I was a few decades ago. I'm still very thankful about the times in my life (which is most of the times in my life) when I am healthy enough and happy enough to be very busy.

At my many author events (http://www.drkarenpetit.com/events.html), I am very thankful to meet so many of the great people in this world! Customers not only buy my books, but also talk to me about their family history, their writing experiences, and other nice activities that are happening in their lives. Also at author events, I talk to the people who have set up the event and those who are participating in the event's activities. It's like a conference because we discuss ideas that help each other to be more successful. At my author events and in other environments (work, church, home, etc.), I also meet, socialize with, and enjoy talking to my colleagues, friends, and family members. The picture in this blog posting happened in December 2017 at ARIA's Author Expo. I am so thankful to the many people in our society who support their family members, friends, literacy, local authors, and local businesses.

I'm so thankful that my four novels are now all published. My first publisher went out of business, so I found another publisher (WestBow Press). The publication process was very fast for my fourth novel (Unhidden Pilgrims) and then even faster for re-publication of the second editions of my first three novels ​​(Banking on Dreams, Mayflower Dreams, and ​Roger Williams in an Elevator). ​While updating, editing, and proofing four novels in less than five months is a lot of work, I am so thankful for the experience because I have learned a lot and become a stronger writer.