World Hunger Fundraiser Through Christmas!!

So, those of you that saw my post on 11/11 knew this was coming. I released Black Magic and Mojitos on Smashwords for free for the first two weeks (through TG). Now comes the second phase of my end-of-year shebang - ALL proceeds through Christmas go to support Heifer International in fighting world hunger!

Heifer is a unique sustainable project that teaches people small business skills using animals so that they never go hungry again. They also require families to pass on the livestock their animal has to other families in need, so there's this great ripple effect in the impact of their programs. Visit their website to learn more.

I'm hoping to raise $500 to buy a heifer cow for a family. You can buy "shares" of an animal at much lower costs, and I've donated to this charity each year for about a decade now, but never bought a whole heifer. That'd be pretty rad, so please help me spread the word! Fun books for you + money to fight world hunger + all of us feeling good. A win-win for everyone.

You can buy Black Magic and Mojitos for 99 cents on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. After Christmas, I'll post an update on how things went!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I spent the week in Asheville, NC (a few pics below). How was your TG? As usual, I'm SO grateful for this lovely writing community, and very excited for a rockin' holiday season! 

 

 

Smashwords Debut + My Book FREE + World Hunger Fundraiser

Exciting things to announce, writer friends!! Today, 11/11, is the perfect day for it since 11 is my favorite number. From now, through pretty much the end of the year, I am MOVING and SHAKING and things are going to be AMAZEBALLS for everyone involved.

Announcement 1: The Smashwords Debut of Black Magic & Mojitos!

Black Magic and Mojitos, my urban fantasy novelette, has been out just over three months now on Amazon exclusively, and I decided to mix things up and it is now up on Smashwords, and soon all of Smashwords' distributors (B&N, Kobo, Apple, etc.)! To celebrate, Black Magic and Mojitos will be FREE through Thanksgiving! Which is why I'm really excited about Smashwords, because I can offer my books for free for as long as I want, and am not limited to 5 days within a 90 day period like Amazon. I love Amazon too, but I wanted more flexibility. It's still on Amazon, too, just not in their exclusive program.

Click here to download for FREE!

Announcement 2: Heifer International World Hunger Fundraiser!

For the past decade or so, I've given a small donation at the end of the year to Heifer International, my favorite charity. The reason Heifer is so unique is that they don't just give food to people. They give an animal to someone, not to eat, but one that produces food, like a cow, goat, chicken, or honeybees. Then they teach them how to care for this animal and not only feed their family, but sell the excess so that they have a sustainable small business. Further, they have them donate an offspring from their animal to another family in need. From there, it expands outwards in a multiplier effect with more and more families touched by the program. It's really fantastic, and I just found out yesterday that Heifer is fantasy writer Patrick Rothfuss' fave charity, too! Super cool.

So, after my free debut celebration, I will change my book on Smashwords to the "pick your own price" option, and through Christmas, ALL proceeds will go to Heifer. I will not keep any of it, whatever Smashwords sends me, I will send to Heifer. I am SUPER STOKED about this, it feels awesome and wonderful and I'm delighted to have a book out there with which I can raise funds for charity!

Please join me in spreading the word about my year-end BOOKS FIGHT WORLD HUNGER party!! Let's rock this out.

Help Me Give Away My Money

That's right! It's time to get in the holiday spirit and spend some cash. My cash, that is.

I'm doing my second annual Heifer International blog fundraiser!! I've been giving to Heifer, an international world hunger organization, for many years now. But last year I saw that the illustrious Nate Bransford was a Heifer fan too, and was hosting a fundraiser on his blog! It was very exciting to tie two of my passions together for the holiday season. I'm not sure when Nate is doing his this year, because there's some kind of script running on his blog that freezes up my computer. But, if you want to check out last year's post, click here. You can read more about Heifer, and see Nate's comment on my blog! My own celebrity visitor...

Anywho, this is the deal: I'll donate $2 for every comment, up to $100. I'd love to do more, but it ain't happening now that my massive student loans are being repaid. Of course, you can make your very own tax deductible contribution to Heifer by going here. And you can tweet and give a shout-out in the blogosphere to spread the word, whether people stop here and rack up my comment bill, or just head to Heifer and help needy families around the world.

I'll keep the comments open until December 30th!!

In other news, here is a picture of Mr. Fox when he's not demolishing the Christmas tree:

Isn't he so cute? I'll chip in the first $2 on behalf of Mr. Fox's cuteness. Comment away! Comment twice if you feel like it! And have an awesome weekend :)

Monday Meme: When I'm a Famous Author

I'm posting late today because I was trying to crunch and meet my writing goal for the week. I fell a bit short, but considering that Saturday and Sunday my husband and I were heading up a 5k run, poker run and car show for a memorial fundraiser, I still felt pretty good.

So, speaking of philanthropy, when I'm a famous author, I really want to make a difference around the world. I know I talk a lot about fun materialistic things on this meme, but really I'm all about giving back. After all, I do make my living at an educational non-profit.

My fave non-profit org, which my 'vintage' followers will remember, is Heifer International. Heifer is a world hunger group that takes a unique approach. Instead of just distributing food to people, they give people animals that can be used in sustainable farming practices, thus not only feeding the family but creating a business that will produce income for the family. For instance, goats can be used for milk, cheese and soap, geese for their eggs, sheep for their wool. Further, the families that receive the animal and education on how to start their business are required to pass on their knowledge and offspring from their animal to other families. It's really pretty frickin' amazing.

I give to Heifer every year, and last year I was stoked to discover that Nate Bransford also gives to them annually. He ran a pledge challenge on his blog that I joined in on. So, hint-hint, that's coming up soon. I'd like to find a really great environmental group and women and children's group as well.

So, what are your favorite non-profit orgs? Have a great week!