It’s Giftmas time again!
Well, actually this year Giftmas came a little early, and it’s dressed in slightly different clothes, but the spirit of giving and helping remains the same 🙂
This year we are raising money to benefit Doctors Without Borders and our goal is $1,500.
But who are ‘We’ exactly. And how are we hoping to raise this money?
Historically the Giftmas fundraiser has taken the form of a blog tour… but blog tours just aren’t the same as they used to be — they aren’t as effective and blogs aren’t as common among my friends as they once were. Plus, sometimes you just gotta shake things up. So we’ve decided to shake things up.
This year the fundraiser is taking the form of a Create-a-thon.
What are we creating? Well, despite the fact I keep trying to add a g to the end of ‘Create-a-thon’, as far as I know, no one who is participating is actually creating thongs. Many of us are creating words, some of us are creating edits and one of us is creating videos.
Here is the official list of participants and our goals:
- Rhonda Parrish — Write 50,000 new words of fiction
- BD Wilson —Â Complete editing on 4 works/collections (5 as a stretch goal)
- Stephanie A. Cain — Write 30,000 words
- Laura VanArendonk Baugh — Create 6 travelogue videos and write 10,000 words
- Jamie Perrault — Write 50,000 words
- Iseult Murphy — Write 60,000 words
- Cassandra Weir — Write 50,000 words toward a new novel
So. Yeah. No thongs 🙂
The way it works is just like how those ‘a-thons’ we used to do back in school worked. (We all had them, right? The one I remember best from when I was a kid was a skip-a-thon. I rocked that one LOL)
Basically, we have set a goal and people can either
- Donate directly to the fundraiser because they want to just support it straight up
- Pledge to donate to the fundraiser if we reach our goal
The ‘Pledge’ option also breaks down into two different sub-options.
Donors can pledge a certain flat dollar amount, or a sliding amount based on how much we do.
For example, Bailey might pledge to donate $10 if I reach my 50k word goal. Or they might pledge $2 for every 10k words I write. It’s super flexible.
And, as always, we’re talking Canadian dollars so my British and American friends can really make their dollar (or pound) stretch further here.
Some of us with word goals have joined a challenge together on Pacemaker so you can track all our progress on one page. You can find that right here: https://www.pacemaker.press/users/stephanieacain/challenges/2024-giftmas-create-a-thon
The Create-a-thon officially opens tomorrow. Creators will create throughout the month of November and then on December 1st we will announce how successful we were in reaching our goals and ask those people who made pledges to support the cause to honor them.
I am suuuuuuper excited to see what we can do together. And to figure out what I’m writing. Because. Uh. It’s October 31st and I still don’t know LOL
I would panic but, honestly, at this point, it’s almost become a tradition that I not figure it out until I start writing.
Wish me luck!
And if you’d like to donate to the cause the fundraiser is right here -> https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/giftmas-create-a-thon/
You can make a donation directly immediately or, if you’d rather, make a pledge.
You may do that by commenting on this blog post or emailing me directly at rhonda.l.parrish@gmail.com
Over the course of the month I will be spotlighting some of my fellow creators, offering a few rewards for your generosity and maybe even some stretch goals.
Let’s make this epic and fun!
Also, as a spur of the moment thing… I have decided I am open to dares this year.
For example, “I dare you to use the phrase ‘INSERT PG-13 PHRASE HERE’ in your story. And if you do I will donate $5.”
Or, “I dare you to make one character be a talking turtle with a unicorn horn. And if you do I will donate $10.”
Or, “I dare you to write a haiku about potatoes. If you do I will donate $15.”
Or, “I dare you to write your next page without using the word ‘and’. If you do I will donate $10.”
If you choose to dare me to do something, please wait until I have accepted the dare and shared evidence of its completion before you make your donation.
Dares are also accepted via a comment on this blog, on social media or through email.
