Lesa's Book Critiques: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – THE PERP WORE PUMPKIN
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Do Some Damage: The Lockdown Anthology: To Benefit the BINC
Do Some Damage: The Lockdown Anthology: To Benefit the BINC: Lockdown: Stories of Crime, Terror, and Hope During a Pandemic launches today, and I'm excited to have a story in it. The book is a col...
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: AUSTRALIA BURNS - SHOW AUSTRALIA SOME LOVE!
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: AUSTRALIA BURNS - SHOW AUSTRALIA SOME LOVE!: This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions for AUSTRALIA BURNS, three collections published by The...
Monday, December 17, 2018
Monday, March 30, 2015
Monday, February 10, 2014
Blog Alert: "Beware the Sharks"
I have written here before about Sandra Seamans and her excellent blog "My Little Corner." An incredible daily resource and she did it again yesterday with her "Beware the Sharks" post. You can read it here and make sure to read the comments as well.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Sandi Still Hospitalized
Sandi is still in the hospital and nothing much has changed at all one way or the other. The ecocardigram results are back. According to the cancer doctor, the good news is that it does not show any evidence at all of a blood clot or clots in or around her heart. But, it does show a small change in her heart since the one they did back in late January to see if she was strong enough from a cardiac standpoint to tolerate the stem cell transplant. We don't know what the change in her heart is as the doctor told her repeatedly it was small and "nothing to worry about." Needless to say, neither one of us particularly reassured about that especially since we don't know what has changed.
About 1:30 or so they took her to radiology and did a CT Scan with contrast. This one today used dye and will be compared with the one without dye they did of her lungs back on Tuesday. Hopefully it will show that her lungs are clearing though based on what is happening with the oxygen sensor stuff it appears they are not getting better. Those working with her remain convinced this is some type of pneumonia, but without a pathology sample they don't really know.
With a nurse and an aide with her they took her off the oxygen earlier today and had her walk the hall. The floor is shaped in a box pattern so there are four hall segments forming the box with the patient rooms on the outside of the box and the nurses station and other rooms on the inside. Sandi walked one short segment and when they got her to the end of it she was down to 86 on the rolling monitor. They aborted the excursion and returned to her room where she clocked in once seated at 72. Obviously this is not going to work for sending her home unless they send her home on oxygen. One of the nurses told her today that was a real possibility at this point. We don't know how seriously they are considering doing this.
Sandi wants me to pass on that her "CHRISTMAS IN JULY" sale currently underway that she mentioned on her blog earlier in the week will be extended if she needs to stay in the hospital even longer than already planned. For now she says to please feel free to go ahead and order and she will pack and ship once she gets back home. Her blog is at http://lady-sandra.blogspot.com/ or you can just go straight to http://www.sanditipple.ioffer.com/
Sandi wants me to also pass on her thanks for all the prayers, best wishes, thoughts of support that she has been getting all along and especially this last week. It means a lot to all of us and an incredible amount to her. Sandi is a strong believer in faith and positive thoughts and she is convinced this will just be temporary and in the long run a very minor hiccup on her road to recovery. She has every intention of not only beating the cancer, but conquering this latest setback. Even though she is still classified as terminal she is determined she is going to beat this once and fore all. She is an incredibly strong and determined woman and is not about to give up.
We still don't know where we stand with her social security disability case or the rest of it. Everything was supposed to be expedited, but because the first application early in the year was lost, we had to reapply for her and we have yet to receive any paperwork indicating anything. Getting through to a human being that can help, let alone have a clue what is going on, has proved insurmountable so we just don't know. If the cancer does not kill you, dealing with the bureaucracy and the paperwork will.
We just got notification today that we have to reapply for food stamps as our certification apparently ended this month. The deadline to apply by to receive our food stamps on time next month has already past thanks to things coming late in the mail. Missing the deadline by over a week certainly isn't helpful. Right now we have nothing in the bank with ten days to go to the end of the month and rent being due. Not to mention other bills, many of them medical in nature for one amount or another, piling up on the kitchen table.
So, I am begging you, if you can please make a donation via the handy dandy widget over to the left. I hate asking, more than you will ever know, but we are truly in a huge bind right now. It is amazing how much insurance does not cover in these deals and how easily they can find a loophole to duck through to not cover what should be covered. Any amount donated is a huge help and goes to pay for our share of her meds, doctor and other medical bills, her monthly insurance premium of $200, the land line phone bill, and what food stamps does not cover such as toilet paper and soap, among other things. None of the monies are wasted and we certainly are not partying with the money. We certainly aren't faking this nightmare either as a couple of real (insert the profanity of your choice as I am trying to keep it clean) jerks have suggested in the past.
Anything at all helps. It is only because of you that we are still here to ask for your help one more time. We really do appreciate it more than you will ever know.
About 1:30 or so they took her to radiology and did a CT Scan with contrast. This one today used dye and will be compared with the one without dye they did of her lungs back on Tuesday. Hopefully it will show that her lungs are clearing though based on what is happening with the oxygen sensor stuff it appears they are not getting better. Those working with her remain convinced this is some type of pneumonia, but without a pathology sample they don't really know.
With a nurse and an aide with her they took her off the oxygen earlier today and had her walk the hall. The floor is shaped in a box pattern so there are four hall segments forming the box with the patient rooms on the outside of the box and the nurses station and other rooms on the inside. Sandi walked one short segment and when they got her to the end of it she was down to 86 on the rolling monitor. They aborted the excursion and returned to her room where she clocked in once seated at 72. Obviously this is not going to work for sending her home unless they send her home on oxygen. One of the nurses told her today that was a real possibility at this point. We don't know how seriously they are considering doing this.
Sandi wants me to pass on that her "CHRISTMAS IN JULY" sale currently underway that she mentioned on her blog earlier in the week will be extended if she needs to stay in the hospital even longer than already planned. For now she says to please feel free to go ahead and order and she will pack and ship once she gets back home. Her blog is at http://lady-sandra.blogspot.com/ or you can just go straight to http://www.sanditipple.ioffer.com/
Sandi wants me to also pass on her thanks for all the prayers, best wishes, thoughts of support that she has been getting all along and especially this last week. It means a lot to all of us and an incredible amount to her. Sandi is a strong believer in faith and positive thoughts and she is convinced this will just be temporary and in the long run a very minor hiccup on her road to recovery. She has every intention of not only beating the cancer, but conquering this latest setback. Even though she is still classified as terminal she is determined she is going to beat this once and fore all. She is an incredibly strong and determined woman and is not about to give up.
We still don't know where we stand with her social security disability case or the rest of it. Everything was supposed to be expedited, but because the first application early in the year was lost, we had to reapply for her and we have yet to receive any paperwork indicating anything. Getting through to a human being that can help, let alone have a clue what is going on, has proved insurmountable so we just don't know. If the cancer does not kill you, dealing with the bureaucracy and the paperwork will.
We just got notification today that we have to reapply for food stamps as our certification apparently ended this month. The deadline to apply by to receive our food stamps on time next month has already past thanks to things coming late in the mail. Missing the deadline by over a week certainly isn't helpful. Right now we have nothing in the bank with ten days to go to the end of the month and rent being due. Not to mention other bills, many of them medical in nature for one amount or another, piling up on the kitchen table.
So, I am begging you, if you can please make a donation via the handy dandy widget over to the left. I hate asking, more than you will ever know, but we are truly in a huge bind right now. It is amazing how much insurance does not cover in these deals and how easily they can find a loophole to duck through to not cover what should be covered. Any amount donated is a huge help and goes to pay for our share of her meds, doctor and other medical bills, her monthly insurance premium of $200, the land line phone bill, and what food stamps does not cover such as toilet paper and soap, among other things. None of the monies are wasted and we certainly are not partying with the money. We certainly aren't faking this nightmare either as a couple of real (insert the profanity of your choice as I am trying to keep it clean) jerks have suggested in the past.
Anything at all helps. It is only because of you that we are still here to ask for your help one more time. We really do appreciate it more than you will ever know.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Updated---- Anthology Market Call--HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE
Tony Burton posted the below message on Facebook the other day regarding his laest anthology project. I print his call with his permission......
Anthology Call for Submissions
This year, Wolfmont Press resumes its crafting and publication of a charitable anthology with HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE.
HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE will be a collection of between fifteen and twenty short crime fiction pieces that deal with crime among those in American who are at or near the bottom of the social and economic scales. We are looking for about twenty stories from 2,000 to 3,000 words in length, that explore crime and punishment in the less-affluent portions of America. This may be in the “Projects,” inner city slums, poverty-stricken pockets of rural America, or anywhere else in the USA where you may see people hurting because they don't have the financial resources to survive and thrive.
I am not going to push as hard this time to get the book to market. So, the plan is to have this book published for the Spring 2014 sales push. That gives me about six or seven months, maximum, to get everything squared away.
Why HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE?
Approximately 15% of Americans live at or below the poverty level. And this means that about 22% of all children live at or below the poverty level. I have seen poverty in big cities, in small towns, and out in the boonies. I have seen poor black people, poor white people, poor Hispanic people, and poor people of many other ethnic groups. Poverty and hunger do not care about racial, ethnic, geographical, or cultural distinctions. A child of any color, whose belly is empty, feels the same pangs.
And before we focus on children too much, consider the older members of our society who live on fixed incomes while the cost of living constantly increases. Our senior members of society often may be too proud to mention it, but often poverty impacts their food security as well.
This year's charitable anthology will benefit Feeding America® (www.feedingamerica.org), a charity devoted to feeding the poor across America. Feeding America® has a rating of 64 out of 70 with Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org), and was formerly known as Second Harvest. If you are curious about their mission or their rating with Charity Navigator, I encourage you to go to those web sites and check them out. However, I will say here that the Feeding America® network provides food assistance to more than 25,000,000 people facing hunger in the Unite States. Their network of food banks serves all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
If you think you may be interested in helping with this effort, please contact me at tony@wolfmont.com for more particulars.
UPDATED LATE LAST NIGHT BY TONY ON FACEBOOK
More Details
Book format: Perfect-bound paperback, 8” x 5” or 8 ½” x 5 ½”, approximately 200 to 230 pages
Submission deadline: 10/1/2013
Deadline for final edits: 11/1/2013
Story guidelines: I understand crime fiction is understandably often harsh and cruel, but I will not publish stories where there is cruelty for the sake of shock value. I know people are killed in criminal acts, but torture and gore do not necessarily need to be “onstage”. If you think they do, you had better have a really good plot reason to have them there. And I reserve the right to make the final determination, regardless. As the Editor of this anthology, the judgment call is mine.
Likewise, criminals don't have clean vocabularies. On the other hand, cursing and gutter language used simply as filler won't fly. If you can't give me the idea that these are nasty guys without having every paragraph carry a load of f-bombs, then you need to work on your writing skills. Yeah, that's just my opinion, but it's the one that counts for this anthology.
Publication rights: As the Author, if your story is accepted, you must agree to release all print and ebook rights to your story for 24 months following the initial publication date. The book will remain in publication for 24 months.
Author responsibilities: This anthology is for an important cause. It's not just a book of stories. The money raised by this book and donated to Feeding America will help to change lives for the better. The better they sell, the better those lives will be.
Because of this, any author MUST be willing to put a great deal of effort into selling these books. That means making personal appearances, setting up book signings, setting up interviews with local radio/newspaper/TV. If these are not things you are willing to do, then no matter how good your story may be, I can't put it in the anthology.
Caveats: In order to keep this affordable, it will be published by using print-on-demand. That means the books are printed as they are ordered. I won't have 5,000 copies or even 500 copies sitting around in a warehouse somewhere. Bookstores often don't like print-on-demand books, as they view them as being less profitable. The average offset-printed book has a profit margin of over 50% for the bookseller. The average print-on-demand book has a profit margin closer to 40% or lower, simply because they are more expensive to produce, per book.
That means it may be hard to get your local bookseller to carry the book on their shelves. That means that you may have to buy copies out of your pocket and resell them. That's what I have to do. But if you do this, I don't care what you do with any profits you may make from the book. It's my responsibility, and mine alone, to make the donation to Feeding America.
These are things that have been true with EVERY charitable anthology Wolfmont Press has produced. And they are things that the author should know well in advance of even submitting a story for this anthology.
If you can live with these conditions and caveats, and want to submit your short crime fiction meeting the requirements stated above, contact me at tony@wolfmont.com with your story idea.
Unfortunately, since my main computer died a couple of weeks ago, even though I got it repaired, I can't access the Wolfmont website at the present time to put things there or edit things. Anyway, I am posting more details here. It starts out the same way as the previous post, but there are more details near the end. And I am brutally honest in the details, so try not to be shocked.
I will also post a link to the whole thing as a PDF file, on Dropbox.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/07o4dxyyyjenaso/HUNGRY%20anthology%20call.pdf
Anthology Call for Submissions
This year, Wolfmont Press resumes its crafting and publication of a charitable anthology with HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE.
HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE will be a collection of between fifteen and twenty short crime fiction pieces that deal with crime among those in American who are at or near the bottom of the social and economic scales. We are looking for about twenty stories from 2,000 to 3,000 words in length, that explore crime and punishment in the less-affluent portions of America. This may be in the “Projects,” inner city slums, poverty-stricken pockets of rural America, or anywhere else in the USA where you may see people hurting because they don't have the financial resources to survive and thrive.
I am not going to push as hard this time to get the book to market. So, the plan is to have this book published for the Spring 2014 sales push. That gives me about six or seven months, maximum, to get everything squared away.
Why HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE?
Approximately 15% of Americans live at or below the poverty level. And this means that about 22% of all children live at or below the poverty level. I have seen poverty in big cities, in small towns, and out in the boonies. I have seen poor black people, poor white people, poor Hispanic people, and poor people of many other ethnic groups. Poverty and hunger do not care about racial, ethnic, geographical, or cultural distinctions. A child of any color, whose belly is empty, feels the same pangs.
And before we focus on children too much, consider the older members of our society who live on fixed incomes while the cost of living constantly increases. Our senior members of society often may be too proud to mention it, but often poverty impacts their food security as well.
This year's charitable anthology will benefit Feeding America® (www.feedingamerica.org), a charity devoted to feeding the poor across America. Feeding America® has a rating of 64 out of 70 with Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org), and was formerly known as Second Harvest. If you are curious about their mission or their rating with Charity Navigator, I encourage you to go to those web sites and check them out. However, I will say here that the Feeding America® network provides food assistance to more than 25,000,000 people facing hunger in the Unite States. Their network of food banks serves all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
If you think you may be interested in helping with this effort, please contact me at tony@wolfmont.com for more particulars.
UPDATED LATE LAST NIGHT BY TONY ON FACEBOOK
More Details
Book format: Perfect-bound paperback, 8” x 5” or 8 ½” x 5 ½”, approximately 200 to 230 pages
Submission deadline: 10/1/2013
Deadline for final edits: 11/1/2013
Story guidelines: I understand crime fiction is understandably often harsh and cruel, but I will not publish stories where there is cruelty for the sake of shock value. I know people are killed in criminal acts, but torture and gore do not necessarily need to be “onstage”. If you think they do, you had better have a really good plot reason to have them there. And I reserve the right to make the final determination, regardless. As the Editor of this anthology, the judgment call is mine.
Likewise, criminals don't have clean vocabularies. On the other hand, cursing and gutter language used simply as filler won't fly. If you can't give me the idea that these are nasty guys without having every paragraph carry a load of f-bombs, then you need to work on your writing skills. Yeah, that's just my opinion, but it's the one that counts for this anthology.
Publication rights: As the Author, if your story is accepted, you must agree to release all print and ebook rights to your story for 24 months following the initial publication date. The book will remain in publication for 24 months.
Author responsibilities: This anthology is for an important cause. It's not just a book of stories. The money raised by this book and donated to Feeding America will help to change lives for the better. The better they sell, the better those lives will be.
Because of this, any author MUST be willing to put a great deal of effort into selling these books. That means making personal appearances, setting up book signings, setting up interviews with local radio/newspaper/TV. If these are not things you are willing to do, then no matter how good your story may be, I can't put it in the anthology.
Caveats: In order to keep this affordable, it will be published by using print-on-demand. That means the books are printed as they are ordered. I won't have 5,000 copies or even 500 copies sitting around in a warehouse somewhere. Bookstores often don't like print-on-demand books, as they view them as being less profitable. The average offset-printed book has a profit margin of over 50% for the bookseller. The average print-on-demand book has a profit margin closer to 40% or lower, simply because they are more expensive to produce, per book.
That means it may be hard to get your local bookseller to carry the book on their shelves. That means that you may have to buy copies out of your pocket and resell them. That's what I have to do. But if you do this, I don't care what you do with any profits you may make from the book. It's my responsibility, and mine alone, to make the donation to Feeding America.
These are things that have been true with EVERY charitable anthology Wolfmont Press has produced. And they are things that the author should know well in advance of even submitting a story for this anthology.
If you can live with these conditions and caveats, and want to submit your short crime fiction meeting the requirements stated above, contact me at tony@wolfmont.com with your story idea.
Unfortunately, since my main computer died a couple of weeks ago, even though I got it repaired, I can't access the Wolfmont website at the present time to put things there or edit things. Anyway, I am posting more details here. It starts out the same way as the previous post, but there are more details near the end. And I am brutally honest in the details, so try not to be shocked.
I will also post a link to the whole thing as a PDF file, on Dropbox.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/07o4dxyyyjenaso/HUNGRY%20anthology%20call.pdf
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Food Bank Saturday
A big time thank you to the SEVEN LOAVES ministry (food bank) in Plano for being
there for us this month. Much, much appreciated by all of us.
Kevin
Kevin
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Food Bank Saturday
A big time thank you once again to the SEVEN LOAVES MINISTRY (food bank) in Plano for being
there for us again this month. Much, much appreciated by all of us.
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
As some folks know, I took a tumble around 3:30 yesterday afternoon. This latest episode of unplanned testing of the strength of our floors shut me down for the day yesterday. So, I didn't know pleas to help us had gone out on my behalf on a couple of lists and on Facebook. I had no idea that folks were responding either.
All I can say is thank you. Thank you on behalf of all of us. Once again when things looked dire, you stepped in and saved us through your efforts. You have no idea how much it means to us and especially me. It is not just the money though the money is a wonderful thing. Don't get me wrong. But, it is more than just the money that allows us to stay here and keep a roof over our heads.
Writing in of itself is a lonely occupation. One sends a piece out and hope it sparks something in a reader. Whether it is a piece of fiction or a book review, all you can do is send it out there and hope somebody just might read it. You create the work in solitude with little show for it, in most cases, expect for pixels on a screen.
For me, it is even lonelier these days as I am confined to home. Since all this blew up for me back in March 2010, mobility has been a huge and growing issue. I didn’t think much about walking -- until I couldn’t. What I thought was going to be temporary has turned into something that is permanent. As things have gotten worse and worse, my world has closed down to my apartment. People who used to come by have either moved away or stopped coming by.
If it was not for this wonderful thing called the internet I wouldn’t have much social contact. I am grateful for it and for each and every one of you out there. Folks who don’t know from Adam and yet have written notes of encouragement over the past months, sent their hard earned monies to help us, and in general done everything possible to prop us up in some way.
“Thank you” does not begin to cover it.
Kevin
Important Message from Author Lois Winston
(Permission granted
and encouraged to send to others as well as tweet, post to Facebook, etc.)
One of my summer
goals was to launch my Emma Carlyle pen name and release five ebook titles
under that name. Here it is August 1st, halfway through the summer, and all
five titles are now available on various ebook platforms. To celebrate, and inspired by the incredible
generosity of fellow author and good friend CJ Lyons, I've decided to
contribute part of the sales of my Emma Carlyle books to charity. For the month
of August, I'll be making a donation of $500 to breast cancer research for
every 1,000 Emma Carlyle books sold. The Emma Carlyle books are romances (Hooking Mr. Right and Finding Hope, romantic suspense (Lost in Manhattan and Someone To Watch Over Me), and chick
lit (Four Uncles and a Wedding.) Blurbs,
excerpts and buy links can be found at http://www.emmacarlyle.com.
Lois
Lois Winston
The Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries
Publishers Weekly & Booklist starred reviews
Emma Carlyle romances - http://www.emmacarlyle.com
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Thank You
A big time thank you to author Hunter Shea and his friends and family as well as a couple of other people for their donations in recent days. Much, much appreciated as we try to hang in despite everything that is happening--new and old. We are taking a beating mentally and physically.
I have pretty much had it. Very glad RIZZOLI & ISILES as well as TOSH are on tonight. I need my mind break.
I have pretty much had it. Very glad RIZZOLI & ISILES as well as TOSH are on tonight. I need my mind break.
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Thank You!
As we await word from Wal-Mart on Sandi and word on my disability hearing decision, the only reason we are still here for another month is you. A big time thank you to all those who helped us make our rent. We are beyond grateful.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Saturday, June 09, 2012
Food Bank Saturday
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Food Bank Saturday
A big time thank you once again to the SEVEN LOAVES ministry (food bank) in Plano for being
there for us again this month. Much, much appreciated by all of us.
Kevin
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