A Time to Give...

I'm pleased to welcome author JILL WILLIAMSON here on my blog today. She's got a great post and an important announcement/cause you can contribute to if you'd like this holiday season.

Author Bio:

Jill Williamson is an author of all things weird. She grew up in Alaska with no electricity, an outhouse, and a lot of mosquitoes. Her Blood of Kings trilogy won two Christy Awards, and she recently released Replication, a science fiction teen novel from Zonderkidz. Jill lives in Oregon with her husband and two children and a whole lot of deer.

Guest post by Jill:

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s almost Christmas! I love Christmas. I wanted a Christmas wedding. I wanted to carry a bouquet of poinsettias, I wanted a Christmas tree where people could put the wedding gifts, I wanted hooded cloaks for me and my bridesmaids to wear, and I wanted to leave the reception in a one horse open sleigh.

Alas, I got married in June. But if I could travel back in time, I’d tell myself to do it anyway. Nothing better than Christmas in June, right?
Christmas makes me think of giving. I’m a writer. And writers have a unique opportunity in the giving department. Whenever a person opens one of our books, it’s like we’ve been invited into their home to speak to them. It’s precious. And humbling. Like Spiderman learns: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Writers are charged with doing our jobs well, and respecting the power we are given. And it’s a gift that publishers and readers give to us too. I’m thankful for that.
I recently learned that some dear friends of mine were trying to adopt a girl from Eastern Europe. Adoption is expensive, and until they raise over $40,000, little Sydney can’t come home. Just learning about their desire to adopt and the fact that they’ve been unable to have children of their own put tears in my eyes. I wanted to help. But I don’t have much extra money right now. Plus it’s Christmastime, and we wrecked our van hitting a cow. (We live in free range territory.) So what could I possibly give?

Sydney—soon to be—Haydon
Well, whoever said the only way to give was by donation?

So, I self-published an enovella, which means short ebook. It’s book length is 120 pages. Of course, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo will keep their cut, but 100% of my proceeds will go toward Sydney’s adoption!

Many things had to fall into place for this to happen, and many have given to Sydney’s cause already. Jeff Gerke gave me permission to do this project when Marcher Lord Press holds the rights to my storyworld. In doing so, he also gave up his right to make money off the story. Kirk DouPonce donated a cover, and teens from his church volunteered to model. Rebecca LuElla Miller, the freelance editor I hired, gave me a big discount on editing. As did Kerry Nietz on ebook design. My agent, Amanda Luedeke, waived her right to her 15%. And Chris Kolmorgen had an hour-long, (midnight for me, 2:00 a.m. for him) brainstorming session with me, helping with some last-minute content editing.

The result is Chokepoint: Mini-Mission 1.5. This project is part of The Mission League series with Marcher Lord Press. It takes place after book one and before book two, but reads good on its own too. Here’s a little bit about the project:

Ever since I returned from Moscow, life is a full court press. Mission League field agents are everywhere. All the time. Watching. Waiting for me to fulfill a sixty-year-old prophecy. When some baddies try to guy-nap me, the field agents threaten to move me and Grandma Alice to some random hick town, to give us new fake identities until the prophecy is fulfilled.

Not going to happen.

I’ve got one chance to stay in Pilot Point. I have to prove to the agents that I can stay safe. Have to make this work. For basketball. For Kip. For Beth.

So, bring it, baddies. It’s game on.

100% OF THE PROCEEDS FROM THIS ENOVELLA GO TOWARD THE ADOPTION OF LITTLE SYNDEY FROM EASTERN EUROPE. PLEASE, HELP BRING SYDNEY HOME.

Chokepoint is $2.99 and is available on Kindle, Nook, or Kobo. All the proceeds go to Sydney’s adoption.

Click here to view Chokepoint: Mini-Mission 1.5 on Amazon Kindle

Click here to view Chokepoint: Mini-Mission 1.5 on B&N Nook

Click here to view Chokepoint: Mini-Mission 1.5 on Kobo

And click here to visit Kevin and Wendy’s blog Haydon Family Growing’s On. to learn more about their adoption adventure.

How about you? Do you do something to give to a cause each year? What are some other ways you give? Please share in the comments! :)