Happy Halloween!

My jack o’lantern for this year!

four times the bids. four times the crits. four times the treats.

Last week on Halloween night, inspired by stories of generosity and transfixed by tales of adversity that surrounded Sandy and the storm’s aftermath (once I got my own power back), I proposed to auction off a critique of a partial manuscript to raise money for a donation to the Red Cross’s efforts to help those impacted by the storm. I became very quickly astounded and gratified by the response and when challenged by one bidder to accept a tie which escalated very quickly, found myself considering awarding four crits instead of the original one I had planned. With so many people needing help, I had to say yes.

So, congratulations to:
Ellen Weeren
Adam Boone
Vaughn Roycroft
Andy Rogers

Together the four of you have raised an astounding $6,000 to donate.

Watch your inbox folks as I will be in touch to let you know details for making your contribution, sending me the receipt, and arranging delivery of the partial along with figuring out a timeline. (I appreciate you all letting me know your flexibility regarding that last as this was a bit more than anyone bargained for.)

My thanks and appreciation to everyone who bid and especially to those who said they were going to make their contribution regardless of the auction results.

bid auction for Sandy relief – critique of partial manuscript

Trick or treat. This year brought another trick in the form of Hurricane Sandy. Last year it was Snowtober and Halloween was canceled in my town. In the midst of storm prep this year, I didn’t even end up buying candy to hand out as I was anticipating damages and power outages that would lead to the same cancellation.

There is much to be thankful for. My power’s been restored. The enormous old pine that fell in my yard didn’t hit my house. My family came through the storm safely. I’ve now heard from all my co-workers at DMLA and they are all safe as well. I also want to take a moment to thank and appreciate all those who are out there getting more power, supplies, and help to those in need. There were certainly people who extended a helping hand to me, and they were a treat.

In support of those people, I’m going to auction a critique of a partial manuscript of a novel. A partial manuscript will consist of up to 50 pages in standard manuscript format (approximately 12,500 words). In order to maximize benefit for the bidder, I’m going to limit this to the kinds of projects I represent, which includes both adult and YA fiction (not MG). (See my guidelines for more information.)

Here’s how to bid: Check the current high bid in the comments below and place a higher bid by leaving your name and bid amount in a new comment. At the end, I’ll notify the winner, and they should make an online donation in the amount of their bid to the American Red Cross for Disaster Relief. I’ll ask the winner to forward me a copy of their receipt for the donation and then we’ll arrange for delivery of the partial and discuss a timeline for my response.

Auction runs until Monday, November 5th, 5pm Eastern Time.

trick or treat (belated)

So, this year… I had planned to post a treat on Halloween (see below). Instead I (and over 800,000 other CT residents) got quite a trick. As of this writing, no power at my place since late Saturday night (the 29th). Which also means no heat — at the start of November in New England. After a couple days, I was offered a place to sleep in a house that still had power, heat — and (nirvana) hot water. The only thing it lacked was an internet connection, which came back today. The same day that DMLA is offline due to a DDoS on our hosting service. Yes, a little too ironic.

I’ll be over here counting my blessings. Like — it’s not January, so the pipes have yet to actually freeze at my house. And I have generous hosts who are very understanding (and like my cooking). And I’m getting a lot of manuscript reading done as I had luckily just put some new things on my e-reader.

Here’s the treat (and me with 3 bags of candy that I didn’t get to hand out due to the outage)….

Open Road Media is making available as e-books Trick or Treat and 7 other classic titles from YA horror writer Richie Tankersley Cusick. Her dedicated page on their website has information about each title and links to Kindle, Nook, Sony, and other formats.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Richie Tankersley Cusick including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

Happy Halloween!