Lend A Hand...

August 2, 2010

You wouldn't believe the last couple of days. Oy. I'll write about it later, but between family crises involving my elderly mother and chaperoning marching band camp, I barely know what time of day it is, let alone WHAT day it is. (Monday, right?) Add to that the breakdown of my computer's keyboard--a bunch of keys don't work, like s and x and, oh, ya gotta love this, @, which means I can't even log into things with my email (yeah, new keyboard's on its way)--I'm a bit discombobulated, a word I don't use too often. But, that's self-serving whining, things are basically under control. But... a blog friend has bigger problems, and I hope you can help. I'll just cut & paste Erica Orloff's message here and include her email address, since I don't have the address...

In this little corner of the blogworld, most of us are book lovers. Book lovers and writers, people who say, "I've been writing stories since I could hold a pen," or "I was the kid holding the flashlight under the covers and reading past bedtime." In this little corner of the blogworld, we've also watched out for our own.

Merry Monteleone (Mom and More) and her family were in the midst of raging flood waters in Westchester that happened when heavy rains hit Chicago. The contents of the downstairs of her house were lost (it's been gutted), and though it's just "stuff" (lives were lost in the flooding), most of us can imagine how it would feel to watch photo albums and meaningful memories wrapped up in the "stuff" of our families . . . be carried off.

While big "stuff" can be replaced with insurance, Merry lost all her books, and a group of us decided to replace them--with Amazon gift cards, with books, with signed copies of books, with ARCs. We want to see the blogosphere flood her mailbox with good wishes and replace her library. If you love books and your TBR pile is as tall as you are, you know what they mean to her.

What can you do? Send books! Send Amazon cards! Reach out to your favorite authors and ask them to send her a signed copy! For her address or more information, contact:

erica@ericaorloff.com

She has three children middle school and younger. Their books were in their bedrooms and most survived, but it would be great to get some books just for them, too!

Do something nice today. It will make you feel good.