A practical way to help Hurricane Sandy victims

photo credit: mine

I spent a little while yesterday scanning through pictures of the devastation brought by Hurricane Sandy. Having lived in that area most of my life, it's difficult to view the fallout, but even more heart-breaking to imagine how it will take so long for folks to get back to some semblance of 'normal'.

Cold weather is setting in. The holidays are approaching. And many are without homes, or transportation to work, or gas for their car.

It's enough to make the rest of the country feel helpless.

And remember this: There's no telling how many writers, editors, agents, and other publishing professionals are affected.

Here's one thing we can do as writers. 

An organization called KidLitCares is sponsoring two auctions. The winners of each auction item make a donation to the Red Cross in the amount of their winning bid. All kinds of items are up for auction. Manuscript critiques, query critiques, Skype calls with authors, editors, and agents, gift baskets, and books.

One auction is going on right now with forty-one different things to bid on. This auction will run until Wednesday, November 7th. That's only two more days, so get your bids in while you can.

The other auction will begin on Monday, November 12th. Check Joanne Levy's site to see the items when it opens. And if you'd like to donate something to the second auction, shoot an email to Levy at kidlitcares[at]joannelevy[dot]com. And if you don't want to bid, or don't win your item, head over to the Red Cross to make a donation anyway.

Let's give folks a glimpse of blue sky after the storm. Isn't that what happy endings are all about?