Blog Chain - I'm Positive That Everything's Negative! Or Is it?

This was supposed to be post yesterday, but given the question posed by my awesome CP Michelle Hickman, there was no way I could write anything useful.  The image below was me yesterday:

Unfortunately, I was very angry (thanks to my day job) and focusing on anything positive was out of the question.  So I avoided studying, drank a beer, and spent the evening lost in a video game.  I don't know if it's just a thing with Aries people, but when I get in a mad funk, I just want to be left alone so I can get over it.  My wife thankfully, is very understanding.  And as they say, tomorrow is a new day, hence my attempt at a positive outlook this morning:

Now that I've ranted about my chaotic emotional state lately, on to the question at hand:

The question: Be positive! Name some of the positive aspects of your writing --- be it a compliment from a mentor, friend or crit partner to anything special you learned concerning your writing skills.

Hopefully you can now see why I couldn't answer this question very easily yesterday.  It was just one of those days.  And unfortunately in this biz we don't see the positive side as often as we should, so I really appreciate Michelle "forcing" us to do so.  I will give it my best shot.

1.  I recently received a surprising email from the Managing Editor at the website I write articles for (brighthub.com).  In it he commended me for the continual high performance of my articles (i.e. my articles evidently continue to get a high number of hits).

2.  Being chosen to be a CP for Michelle Hickman is a positive thing in itself.  I consider Michelle to be an exceptional writer, so being asked to help critique her work is a great honor.

3.  Thus far, every writing assignment I've turned in at school has passed with glowing remarks.  It's not creative writing of course, but I've done well at it nonetheless.

4.  My attempts at writing (and my continued efforts at it) have inspired both of my sons to write.  I have never really tried to guide my sons to follow my in my footsteps (i.e. be a writer, be a computer geek, etc), but it's nice to see them enjoy it a little anyway.

5.  Since starting to write again, I've learned a lot about myself over the last few years.  I've learned that I can take on a challenge like NaNo or the A To Z and embrace it.  I've learned countless things from every member on this chain, from how to write dialects better (thanks Michelle H) to the importance of research (Sandra, you're awesome at this) to having fun my writing (thanks to pretty much everyone on the chain).

6.  Judging from comments I've received about the various snippets I've posted here (not to mention my fellow chainers), I know that I have the ability to write creepy stuff fairly well.  I can make chills run down my reader's back when I'm really in the zone.

7.  Most importantly of all, I've learned that my fellow writers are a friendly and supportive bunch of people.  It's inevitable that whenever I'm in a funk, I read an inspirational post or get an email from a fellow writer and I suddenly feel much better.  Because writing can be so soul-crushing as we persecute ourselves for "our complete inability to write well", it's the positive outpouring of support we get from each other that helps repair the damage.  It's that overwhelming positive vibe that allows us to pick ourselves back up and get back to writing again.

Thanks again, Michelle H.  This question has forced me to find my ray of sunshine again and get my fingers back on the keyboard.  Everyone else, if you haven't stopped by to see her awesome post, head on over there.  And I believe Michelle McLean should have something up today, so you'll want to check her blog for that too.

Finally, have you sat back and thought about the positive things that you've learned or have come about through writing?  Have you acknowledged positive things you've accomplished?  What are they?