Putting up the Christmas Lites

Looking for some festive reading as the holiday season approaches? Like the warm and fuzzy feeling you get making a donation to charity as well as getting something for yourself? Then I might have something for you. I've been chatting to Jenn from Goodreads.com group Creative Reviews about Christmas Lites, released this week in paperback and e-book. The book has been put together by members of the group and is a collection of short stories.


TC: I recently received an email from an author friend bringing  "Christmas Lites" to my attention. Having been absent from the Goodreads Creative Reviews group for a while I had to confess it had slipped under my radar, so she forwarded me the information about this brilliant charity project. First off, could you tell tell us a bit about what's in the book?


Jenn: I think the better question is, " What isn't in this book?" Lol. Christmas Lites really showcases all the various personalities and likes of all that were involved in this book. 
Santa has a ninja elf, a little boy has been trying to capture him for years, a Gingerbread man on a mission and let's not forget the zombies, werewolves and vampires! But there's also touching stories like Whimper the family dog, A Christmas story and How I found my soulmate. 
In all there are 27 stories. The one thing they all have in common is that they are PG -13. ;)

TC: So how on earth did you manage to get 27 writers together to pull this off and how did the whole idea come about? It sounds like quite a mission!

Jenn: It was quite the Christmas Miracle in October. :) To bring all the writers together, we put up a thread asking anyone and everyone if they wanted to participate to let us know. That got a huge turn out! I also did a blog post and contacted some of my friends whose writing I love and they really came through for us! 

How it all came about, as near as I can recall, Amy Eye had wanted to do something special for the holidays with Creative Reviews. C.S. Splitter chimed in and stated he could write some short stories for a book and show his "softer side". Before we even knew what was happening, we pounced on that idea and ran with it. Many people have helped and donated a lot of time to this wonderful cause but that is how it was born.

TC: It sounds like you must have had plenty of stories to put in then. Have you been able to put the whole book together, edit and publish it using members of the Creative Reviews group? 

Jenn: Yes, thank GOD! Several people were involved in making this book a reality and put a lot of hard work into. Without trying to sound like I'm plugging people, I'd like to acknowledge the hard work of those behind the scenes:

Amy Eye and Vered Eshani were the main editors of the book. 
Tricia Kristufek, Cassie McCown and Alan Zendell were the AWESOME proof readers 
The amazing Dafeenah at www.indiedesignz.com did the gorgeous cover. 
Regina Wamba at www.maeidesign.com designed the Christmas tree glyph. 
C.S. Splitter was gracious enough to do the ebook formatting for Smashwords and finally Eric Shoemaker designed the killer poster. 

Cambria Hebert was very instrumental in helping get this book published and was also responsible for setting it up for Operation Ebook. That is so those that fight for our country can get this book for free. 

Whew! That actually made me a little tired typing all that. 

TC: So all profits are going to charity, can you tell me a bit about the charity that the group has chosen to support?

Jenn: Every single penny that is made on the purchases of this book is going towards the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. (aka NCADV.org) We decided as a group to do it that way as a way of giving something to those in need at what can be the hardest time of the year. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence is an AMAZING organization for those that have found themselves in dire situations with nowhere to turn. 

I could go on forever about all the many things that they do but I'll just highlight the major ones to give you an idea and not to bore anyone. They help with education, finding jobs and placing families in homes that have been victims of domestic violence. They also have a program where they provide free plastic surgery to those that have survived extremely dangerous situations. NCADV is also trying to bring awareness to the rising numbers of those affected by domestic violence and are constantly trying to change laws to protect the victims. 
They are truly a wonderful organization and we are very proud to be able to help them out however we can. 

TC: Congratulations to everyone involved on pulling it off! For anyone who hasn't heard of Operation Ebook please tell us a little bit about it. 

Jenn: Operation Ebook is something authors can do to give back to those who fight for this country. More often than not, our troops are overlooked all the time. The pay isn't that great and they are risking their lives on a daily basis so that we can have our freedom. It's a great cause. What Cambria did was get a list of all those deployed and interested in getting free reads. Cambria then sends out a bulk email to everyone on the list, providing them with a free book via coupon. 

TC: Jenn, this is a great collaboration that I hope will make a lot of money for NCADV & bring some festive cheer to members of the armed forces serving abroad. Thank you for your time.

At present you can buy your copy as follows:

https://www.createspace.com/3727894  the print version direct from Createspace with a higher sum going to charity than through other purchases

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Lites-Cr... the print version from Amazon

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/104...Currently, the only place to buy it in Ebook format is via smashwords which will let you select the file that is compatible for your ereader. 

It should be even more widely available (eg via Amazon.co.uk) soon

Is it nearly Christmas yet?

3 weeks ago I thought I was the only one lacking any festive spirit and felt like I needed to step up my preparations, but now I can't believe it's still not even Christmas Eve. Thank goodness we're nearly there. I love Christmas, or at least the build up, but not the massive anti-climax once all the presents are open, you've eaten too much and realised there's nothing on TV and nowhere to go. The run up seems to start earlier every year, soon we'll be merging Easter, Valentines Day and Christmas into one long, over-commercialised holiday. This year I shall make a concerted effort to go to church on Christmas Eve with my Nan, it's a tradition we started when I was a kid and she used to take me to a Christingle kids service at the Cathedral in the town where we used to live. We let it slip when I got older but now it's a great way to remember what it's all about and take a bit of time to sit and reflect.

The major upside of Christmas is a break from work and time with family. Tomorrow Monkey is off to nursery and I get a day to myself. I'm hoping that I can fit in some reading (started Helen Smith's Being Light yesterday) but I suspect most of the day will be taken up undoing the damage and mess I made today. We had a carpet fitted in Monkey's newly decorated room today and I moved lots of furniture, but ended up emptying lots of stuff all over the place. Then my sister, just arrived to stay with the olds for Christmas after a four hour drive, came round with my little nieces. That definitely brought an end to my chances of tidying! I thought moving the furniture while hubby was out was doing him a favour, but I get a feeling he'll be a bit grumpy when he comes in and sees the mess. Once he's recovered his sense of humour we've got 4 whole days as a family before he's back on shifts, with lots of visiting of family to do, and hopefully some books under the tree. Roll on Christmas Eve!

Cash, not Cards

Every year my Christmas card list grows longer and longer, and it now involves boxes and boxes of cards, hours to write them and military style planning to ensure we don't miss anyone who'd be offended because someone else did get one. That's why I love Cash for Cards and am going back to the idea this Christmas.

A couple of years ago a colleague introduced the concept at work, the idea being that instead of sending cards you pass on the message in another way (online, or if everyone is in one place by providing somewhere everyone can write festive messages) and you donate the money you would have spent on cards and postage to charity instead. Last year we would have done the same but had so many Baby's 1st Christmas cards we felt we had to send them.

It's a great idea, saves time, fits with the environmental Reduce, Reuse, Recycle thing and is more in the spirit of Christmas, to me anyway. This year we'll be donating to the National Deaf Children's Society - http://www.ndcs.org.uk/ They aren't well known but do a fantastic job and provide amazing support to families with deaf children.

Now I'm going to use all that time I've saved to do something fun with Monkey, and will use this as an opportunity to start saying Merry Christmas and Happy 2011 everyone!