Yes, I will be taking a break from the actual novel for this. According to holiday schedule I'll probably finish up the prologue after new years', which works out because I need an excuse to still be writing when 2025 comes around.
Ultimately, I've come to the conclusion that writing about being thankful is on topic, and you'll have to ignore the fact that Thanksgiving is actually tomorrow and not today.
I am thankful for the readers of my novel. Every time I look back at the chapters I've written and think about the chapters to come I am grateful that there is at least one person reading, motivating me to release another chapter, urging me to continue the story.
I do like writing, however tedious it may seem for me at times. I am glad that there are people who motivate me to continue writing, because I ought to have one thing that I'm devoted to constantly working on, and I'd rather it be this.
Sometimes you make mistakes because you're ignorant of where the line is. You mess up and only truly realize it because of the reaction, because of whatever you've done incurs. It's a shame, and it's a hard situation to analyze. Could you truly say it was your fault for not knowing where the line is?
Ultimately it depends on context, but it is nonetheless an unfortunate spot to be in. A mistake oft is a mistake because of that distinct lack of knowledge, and I reckon that we use the word "mistake" more to describe when we did not know something that would've allowed us to make the right choice than to describe some uncontrollable mishap.
Perhaps using that word allows us to be absolved of responsibility, maybe we want to shed that lack of knowledge as any fault of ours and blame the circumstances for our sorry state. But we do accept responsibility for making that mistake.
I think that language is oft taken for granted. Maybe I am attempting to extrapolate my beliefs before this supposed enlightenment onto the entire world, but I can not fathom that the study of how each individual choice that is made when a common phrase is created, slang, new words, down to the very creation of the letter, how all of that plays such a large role in every society.
Maybe because it is so foundational, we look past it and reach to the stars for new topics of debate. We traveled to space before exploring the sea in its entirety, after all.
I am thankful, though. I remain happy, through all of this.
But who is there to thank for that happiness?