It's that time of the week, where I take some time to celebrate the small things that make life awesome. So what made you want to say "Woo Hoo!" this week?
First off, my readers have once again made me shout WOO HOO! After a slow start to the month, I had a couple of crazy, amazing days where my sales rose high enough for me to be in the top 100 in my subcategories. As of today, I have now had my best month ever for sales of The Eye of the Beholder. I want to sincerely, sincerely thank each and every person who has read the book, because you're making my dreams come true--really! Because of you, I feel I can actually make a job out of my true passion in life, and there really aren't words to express how happy that makes me.
My second woo hoo goes out to NaNoWriMo. I haven't taken as many days to prepare for it as I would have liked, because I've been so busy with edits to Phoning It In, which I want to have out by the end of this year. However, I've had a LOT of fun over the last two days making plans for Asleep--and I do mean a LOT of fun. I can hardly wait until tomorrow, so I can finally start doing some actual writing! Because The Eye of the Beholder is doing so well, I was inspired to take on another fairy tale reboot for NaNoWriMo, and I can hardly wait to start sharing samples of it with all of you. My readers ROCK!
However, all of this pales in contrast to the real news of the week, which is Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath. My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones, and all those struggling to rebuild and get their lives back in order. It's inadequate to say a woo hoo for those courageous first responders who have been rescuing people trapped by the flooding, who have been evacuating hospitals, who have been protecting citizens. These people put their lives on the line every day for the greater good, and I can't imagine a more heroic thing to do. If you ask me, our culture has a tendency to make heroes out of the wrong people. My heroes are those doctors, nurses, police officers, fire fighters, EMTs, and Coast Guard personnel who put themselves at risk to help the rest of us. Thank you so much for your service. You have proven to us time and time again that your courage is unshakeable, even in the face of terrifying disasters.
If you're able, please join me in donating to the Red Cross here. Monetary donations are so important, because they give the Red Cross the funds they need to buy supplies necessary to provide disaster relief. You can also help by donating blood, and more information on that can be found here. And another big woo hoo and thanks goes out to the Red Cross relief workers who go into disaster zones to help those affected.
