Sometimes It Feels Good

Super quick blog today since there's a TON of life and work stuff going on that I am woefully behind on.

However, I'm really geeked about something that happened recently and wanted to share. I recently offered a query critique in a charity auction. Did the critique and looked at the revised query and offered a few other suggestions. Thought that would be the end of it.

Nope.

Author contacted me just a few days ago to let me know they'd finally submitted the query to an agent and got a full request in response. It's possible nothing will come of this, but I was so excited for the author that I smiled all day. And I also felt really blessed that the author thought enough of my crit to keep me posted on how the journey was going.

Critiquing strangers/new people is not my favorite thing in the world, but it's moments like this that remind me why it's a good idea to do it anyway.

Thanks for making my day, author ;-)

Call to Arms

I originally had a rant posted for today, but there's something more important that needs to be talked about right now.

I'm not sure how many of you know author Lilith Saintcrow, much less follow her on social media. Whether you know her or not, the news of what happened this weekend is staggering. Her son's school burned to the ground over the weekend. The place a bunch of children saw as a second home was there on Friday, and now there is nothing left.

Here are some details in Lilith's own words.

As a mother, it's heart-breaking. As a former teacher, I can't fathom the loss. As a child, it would be devastating.

I belong to a group blog known as the Evil League of Evil Writers. Lilith Saintcrow is Bad Horse to that group of mad authors, and we're trying to help out as best we can.

To that end, we're organizing a fundraising auction to help Crestline Elementary. We're looking for donations of time (in the form of critiques, mentorships, and phone calls) as well as items (signed books, swag baskets, knitted goods, jewelry...whatever skill you have that you're willing to ship) to auction off.

A lot of times, auctions are used to get your name out and spread your brand. This isn't about that. This is about giving hope back to a bunch of kids, parents, and teachers who are probably feeling a little hopeless right now. It's not about you or us... it's about them.

In the spirit of that, if you have something to donate for the auction, please contact the wonderful ladies who lead our group on a daily basis:
Skyla Dawn Cameron at skyladawncameron@gmail.com
and/or
Dina James at dinajames@gmail.com

If you don't have something to donate, please come back and bid or help spread the word. If you want to donate to the school immediately there were details about that in Lilith's post.

Next week is the Cupid's Conquest author blog hop, but I'm pretty sure this week's post is more about spreading love and joy.

Thank you.

Asking for a Little Help for Badlands, Diabetes, and the South

Today's blog post has a three-fold purpose. I'm here to talk about Badlands 2 and the Brenda Novak Auction for diabetes research and the Help Write Now campaign. Basically, what today boils down to is me asking for your help in a variety of ways.

We'll start with the one that is on my mind right now. I've started work on Badlands 2--Henri's story--for Carina Press, but right now that is the title, and it kind of sucks. So, yeah, I'm begging for title help here. Now those of you who've read Badlands (and if you haven't you should...or you should maybe skip this paragraph, but I'd rather you read the book), know Henrietta. She's a scientist with an attitude, but you also know how Badlands ended. She hasn't lost her fire, but that's kind of messed with her a bit. She's trying to deal with the mess left behind by her father and becomes the unwitting pawn in a game between the United States government and the New York mafia...and somewhere in there, she might just stumble on love, if she lets herself. Contrary to what it sounds like, much of this novella will take place in the Badlands (I have plans for a few scenes that are just Henri and Ever). So...anyone have any brilliant title ideas? (Or series title ideas for that matter?)

Now...onto my more philanthropic requests:

A while back, a bunch of Carina Press authors got together (led by the wonderful Julie Rowe) to donate to the Brenda Novak Auction for Diabetes Research. There's a loaded Kindle and a loaded Nook on our auction page as well as an RWA lunch, a mentoring package, and a bunch of critiques (including one from me). We're off in our own little section, so some people are missing the opportunity to bid on crits there. In addition to the Carina Press section, there are a TON of fabulous offerings in the auction. Please, take the time to look around the auction site and see if there's anything there you might want to bid on.

In addition to my critique donation there, I've also donated one to the Help Write Now campaign to benefit southern storm relief. My critique is not up yet (I'm not sure when it will go live as they are doing 14-15 items per day), but again, there are a lot of great donations there. Please check it out, and when I do show up, please bid! LOL