Easy Letter To Santa Template

Looking for a simple template for you child to use to write his/her letter to Santa?
I have one here: http://home.cogeco.ca/~madelinebarr/letter_to_santa.pdf

Some YA Books Dontated! Yippy!

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of meeting fellow writer Joanne Levy at a local coffee shop. We had meet through twitter and have been corresponding ever since.

When I sent out a tweet about the book drive my work was doing for Habitat for Humanity, Joanne was one of the first people to pipe up. She wanted to donate some books. Fantastic! When we met we talked for a bit and I expected her to hand me a book or two. I was shocked when she hoisted up onto the table a bag FULL of YA books. Ten in all. Yes, TEN.

After picking my jaw up off the floor, we went through the books - some even signed. I cannot believe how generous people can be for people they have never met.

Below is a photo and a list of the books Joanne has donated.

• Radiance by Alyson Noel (x2)
• Trance by Linda Gerber (x2 - 1 which is signed)
• Wake by Lisa McMann (x2 - both signed)
• Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood by Eileen Cook
• Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (signed by Margaret Stohl)
• Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King (signed)
• What Would Emma Do? by Eileen Cook
  

Joanne, thank you so much for the wonderful books. You're so generous. They look like fabulous books and I think I am going to have to go buy some of them for myself. I'm sure the families going into these HFH new homes will love them.

Interested in donating a book to the book drive? Please email me at auntieflamingo@gmail.com or visit me on twitter @auntieflamingo for more information.

Your help is needed. We need books for children of all ages.

I'm So Excited And I Just Can't Hide It!

Today, I received a package filled with children's books for our Book Drive for Habitat For Humanity Hamilton Robert Land Project (Phase 1) and the Eva Rothwell Resource Centre library.

And what is more exciting is I'm in Canada and these books were sent to me from Australia! I would like to send a huge, heart felt thanks to writer BELINDA J of Australia for sending me the following books:

• And Kangaroo Played His Didgeridoo - by Nigel Gray - illustrated by Glen Singleton
• When Henery Caught Imaginitis - by Nick Bland
• Henry and Amy (Right-way-round and upside down) - by Stephen Michael King
• Mutt Dog - by Stephen Michael King
• The Pocket Dogs - by Margaret Wild - illustrated by Stephen Michael King
• Za-za's Baby Brother - by Lucy Cousins
• Let's Read DVD and posters
  

Belinda and I only know each other through twitter.

Belinda, I was over joyed when I received the package and overwhelmed by your generosity. One of the conditions to be met for these families to qualify for these homes is they must be prepared to contribute hundreds of hours of Sweat Equity (work on the home.) Children of the families can contribute to these Sweat Equity hours by keeping their grades up. Books, such as these, and reading will help them achieve this goal and more in life.

Interested in donating a book to the book drive? Please email me at auntieflamingo@gmail.com or visit me on twitter @auntieflamingo for more information.

Your help is needed. We need books for children of all ages.

Book Drive is ON

There is so much I want to tell you I'm not sure which point to start with first. If you want to jump directly to the book drive information just scroll down to the title BOOK DRIVE.

I'll start with this: I do not like to donate money to charity!

It's true. The reason I don't like donating money is because I don't know where my money is going. Is it going to administration fees? Is it going to someone who is abusing the charity? Is someone else pocketing it before it gets where it needs to go? Is the charity actually a scam?

I know it's a terrible thought but these things happen.

I do want to donate and I like to volunteer so I jumped at the opportunity, through my day job, at a chance to volunteer with Habitat For Humanity on a building project in my community. There are two reasons why I wanted to help with this organization.

1) I'm donating my time and as much or as little as I want. I know exactly where my time is going and I am doing good.

2) The families who require the organization assistance is getting a "hand up" not a "hand out." These families have to put in “sweat equity” into their home - meaning they help build it and are taught how to maintain it.

Ok so what does this have to do with a book drive?

The build I'm participating in a Phase 1 consisting of 4 town home units. So far the families that had have been accepted for these home are single mothers of 3 or more children. I am a married, working mother of 2 children and I know how difficult that is financially, physically and emotionally. These mother's are raising 3 or more children on their own while working 2 or 3 jobs. I can't imagine how they do it.


BOOK DRIVE
We have decided to hold a book drive for these families and I need your help. I am looking for children's books from infant to Young Adult. If you are interested in donating you can email me at auntieflamingo@gmail.com and I can give you more information and where to send your books.

AUTHORS! I have extra information for you. If you would like to donate a signed copy of your book just email me at auntieflamingo@gmail.com and let me know. I will send you information on where to send your book. When I receive your book I will post your donation on both my blogs, http://madelinebarr.blogspot.com/ & http://auntieflamingo.blogspot.com/ PLUS I have been given permission to post your donation on our HFH blog at http://cawlocal555socialjustice.blogspot.com/

So, a book for us, exposure for you and another child reading. You can't argue the importance of a child reading....can you?

How much exposure will you get? Not sure exactly but let's put it this way:

- Your book posted on 3 blogs
- I'll tweet your donation @auntieflamingo
- There are more than 7,800 staff at my work. More than 2000 are in the union supporting this build.
- The build has barely started and has been in the newspaper 3 times 4 times as of October 5, 2010.
- The populations on my city is roughly 504,559
- You will get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing you were part of something special

I hope to get enough signed book donations to put into a special package (like a large basket or something.) I plan on handing over the signed books separately from the other books.

One more note: I believe in Habitat For Humaity so much (now that I know more about the organization) I plan to participate in future builds after this one with my work.

More information:
Habitat For Humanity Hamilton: http://www.habitathamilton.ca
CAW Loca 555 HFH Build Blog: http://cawlocal555socialjustice.blogspot.com/
Habitat For Humanity Canada: http://habitat.ca

A Quick Update

I have bad news and I have good news.

The bad news I received a rejection letter from my latest submission/inquery. I was so excited about it but hey, that's the way it goes.

The good news is I took that same manuscript and posted it to my new critique group and have received some great suggestions. I'm making changes and I will post it with the group again later. Once I'm happy with all the changes I think I am going to try to get an agent.

So that's where I'm at. I haven't posted much because I've been busy editing my manuscript.

3 Weeks

Today marks 3 weeks since I sent my status inquiry letter to the publisher. I haven't received a response yet and that's ok. I haven't been to the mailbox today though, so there could be a response today.
Follow me on twitter @auntieflamingo where I will tweet #WhatsInTheMailToday.

I didn't expect to have a response by now but I was hoping...dreaming.

The 1st week I didn't expect anything since the post office told me it would take a week for my letter to get to the publisher.

I wasn't really expecting anything the 2nd week since publishing houses are very busy and need time to respond to the mass of mail they get. However, the publisher's website states "Letters clearly marked Status Inquiry will be given immediate attention." - Which I did. I also assume it will take a week for their letter to get back to me in the SASE I provided in my letter (yes, I did include a SASE in my original submission as well) I guess I had a glimmer of hope for a response in week 2 since I'm also available by other means - like email.

Today is the end of week 3. I think expecting something today is a little....ok - overly optimistic. Publishers are very busy and I can understand and appreciate that it takes some time to responding to all the postal mail they receive.

I have been asked by several people - What are you going to do if you don't hear anything back? How long will you wait?

I still believe 'No News Is Good News.' I'm very please the manuscript I sent in January did not get rejected right away. This tells me my writing is getting better and, when scouting out the right home for my manuscripts, I'm not so far off the mark. I'm certain the publisher will get back to me when they're ready to get back to me. If I had a choice of receiving a rejection letter now or a possible acceptance 3-6 months from now, of course, I would choose the acceptance. I'm in love with the story I submitted and I feel the publisher I sent it to is a great fit. There is nothing more I would like to see then to have this story in print. I will re-evaluate the situation at a later day and figure out what to do from there. For now, I'll patiently wait for a reply, work on other manuscripts and keep dreaming.

Status Inquiry Letter

Today, I sent a status inquiry letter to one of the publishers who currently have my picture book manuscript. I only send status inquiry letters if the publisher's website indicates it's okay to do so after a certain amount of time.

At the post office I asked how long it would take for the letter to get to its destination. The answer was "About a week." I don't know if I can wait that long, I'm too excited. I'm guessing I shouldn't expect a response for at least 2 weeks. *sigh*

The last time I sent a status inquiry letter to a publisher my manuscipt had made it to the final round for publishing. Unfortunatly, it was not chosen. I'm hoping this time the results are different.

I'll keep you posted. :)