A free book on Black Friday? Enter my giveaway on Facebook to win Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex

Like me, your inbox is probably inundated with Black Friday sales. I love a good sale too, but with Thanksgiving this week and me feeling truly grateful that I get to live this life and keep on editing books that I'm so proud of, I wanted to offer something back. So I'm giving away 5 copies of my first "little" (in size) book, Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex on my Facebook page. There are only three requirements: a) that you're in the U.S. (I'm not rich, so can only afford to send books via media mail in my country) b) that you subscribe to my monthly newsletter and c) that you leave a comment on this Facebook post with the email address you've used to subscribe to my newsletter.

Not a subscriber to my newsletter? You can subscribe on the left-hand side of my blog (lustylady.blogspot.com if you're reading hit elsewhere) or on my Facebook page (click on "newsletter signup") or on the left-hand side of rachelkramerbussel.com.



The giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST tonight and I will be contacting the winners in the morning so I can send them their books! Good luck!

I hope you are feeling thankful this year, even if it's in small doses. I have strived hard to make gratitude a daily, deliberate part of my life this year, and along with that, I've tried to figure out ways to change the parts of my life that I don't like. It's not always easy, and sometimes there are curveballs thrown at me. For instance, in January, I'll be moving for the fourth time in four years. Do I want to? No. Will it require time and money that could have been invested back into my business? Yes. But is there anything I can do about it? No, and since I live by the Serenity Prayer, I am simply pulling out the packing tape today and getting a head start on packing up what will turn out to be mostly books, along with clothes and other important items. The upside of moving so often, especially after having lived in my convenient Williamsburg, Brooklyn apartment for 13 years, is that I care less about "stuff" in general and more about the specific things that matter. It gets easier to pare down each time. I've gifted hundreds of books to friends, and gotten to share in the delight of them reading one I liked (or, in some cases, never wound up reading). I got serious with myself about what items I wanted to keep and which I didn't.

Out of all the things I've read about gratitude, this post by the wonderful Latham Thomas of Mama Glow, "My Home Burned Down Before Thanksgiving & I Am Still Thankful" spoke to me the most. Read it and treasure people, health, love, humanity, not things. Yes, it's a paradox: this post is mainly about giving away a thing, and I make a living by crafting things (books) I care deeply about. But I care about them differently now after my moves. I know that they can be a burden as well as a blessing. Books have taught me almost everything I know about life, but they are not life itself. It's a good lesson to remember.