Wednesday, January 21, 2009

For the Love of Readers-Gemma Halliday

For the Love of Readers

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If there is one thing that any writer loves, it’s her readers. Without readers, we’d be nothing.

Last summer I did a series of library talks, and during one of these I had the pleasure of meeting a super sweet, sixteen-year-old reader named Katy. She said she and her mother, Elizabeth, had read all my books and were huge fans. I liked her immediately. :) Katy is an aspiring author and illustrator, and even brought me the cutest laminated drawing of Maddie, the main character in my High Heels books! Isn’t she adorable?

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Since then, I’ve seen a few more of Katy’s drawings, and she is incredibly talented! I’m seriously jealous, nothing I’ve ever drawn is half as cool as her stuff. Here’s a poster she did for a contest at the local library (She won!):

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And here’s a drawing she did a couple weeks ago when she and her mom were forced to sleep in their car:

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Yep, you read that right – Katy and her mom are homeless. They were evicted from their apartment just before Christmas and have been living in hotel rooms (when they’ve been lucky) or their car (when they’ve not been so lucky) since then. Katy has been blogging about life on the streets, and you can read all about how this incredibly sweet mother and daughter ended up in this situation here:

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As Katy states on her blog, "Homelessness has many faces. And sometimes it happens to have a computer." Both Katy and her mother seem to have very positive outlooks, but it’s clear they’re in some real trouble.

Which is where we come in. I’ve teamed up with Haven Rich at Romantic Inks to put together an auction to help get Katy and her mom back on their feet. We’ve got tons of great stuff up for bid including agent and published author manuscript critiques, website design services, tarot readings, artwork, jewelry, handmade quilts, collectibles, toys, gift baskets, and tons and tons of autographed books.

I’m personally auctioning off the chance to name a character in my next book, SCANDAL SHEET, after the person of the winner’s choice. And my fabulous editor, Leah Hultenschmidt at Dorchester Publishing, is auctioning a 1/2 hour phone call to pitch or ask her anything about publishing! How cool is that?!
The auction will run January 19-26th. To see all the items up for bid, just got to: www.romanticinks.com/auction

So, feel free to blog about the auction, tell your friends, spread the word, and come bid generously on a ton of really great stuff to help out two really wonderful people!

Gemma Halliday

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The Sweet, Sassy and Sexy Raffle is Live!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Rochelle Sorzano
Charity Co-Coordinator
2055 Utica Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11234
Phone: 347-221-0260
http://www.treasuretrovecharity.com/


Our Goal for the Sweet, Sassy, and Sexy Raffle is to get at least 5,000 donations at $20 .00 each. We are fully aware of the current financial climate and understand that $20 is a lot to ask of you. What we are asking is that you give in the spirit of giving. The three causes, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, The 3 Day. Org (Cure for Cancer) and Save the Quiet Kitty are worthy causes. The whole purpose is to help others, we ask that you take part in this endeavor and help us help others.

Simply Simone Inc and the Pink Chair Dairies Presents the Treasure Trove Charity Raffle, each prize is worth an estimated $400.00 and counting. This idea came about when my friend and co-coordinator Author Selena Illyria approached me with an idea to help fellow author and friend The Quiet Kitty/Camille Anthony who was diagnosed in 1989 with Pulmonary Sarcoidosis, caused by exposure to asbestos while an employee of the State of California. (There is a pending class action lawsuit against the State of California, which has been in Pre-Trial hearings for almost a decade.) Camille is now a full time author with no health insurance. She is in stage four of Pulmonary Sarcoidosis and cannot get health insurance because of this pre-existing condition.

I loved the idea and wanted to help as much as possible; And, I thought we should extend it to include a couple of my other favorite charities. Breast Cancer is a concern for all of us and it will take all of us to help find a cure. In addition, St. Jude, when I first heard the story of how the Hospital came to be it struck a chord with me. Moreover, I always promised myself that if I can ever support them with the wonderful work they do I would.

My very talented friend Selena Illyria came up with the Sweet, Sassy, Sexy Charity Raffle, a nod to the cheeky erotic stories she and fellow authors pen. We thought this would be a fun way to give back to those who are generous enough to donate to our charity. We called on all of our writer friends from all over the romance world to donate to these worthy causes, and to my delight, it just kept growing and growing. Until each trunk is now worth over $400.00 and counting.

You can also help us help others, by donating at www.treasuretrovecharity.com and selecting the trunk of your choice and then clicking the donate button. Each theme will represent a charity and at the end, we will share 60% of all net profits equally to the charities.

Rules: There is unlimited bidding until the time the raffle comes to a closed.

Sweet Trunk :























Sassy Trunk:





















Sexy Trunk :




Please Note:

60% net of the proceeds goes to the above-mentioned charities.


For information: http://www.treasuretrovecharity.com, http://www.simplysimoneinc.com/, http://www.pinkchairdaires.com/ or
Contac: rochelles@simplysimoneinc.com
Phone: 347-221-0260

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Auction for the Victims of the Myanmar Cyclone

Copied from Original email.

Selena
———- message ———-

Hi all - sorry if you see this more than once…trying to hit as many
people as I can…

I’ve got an auction up on ebay to help raise money for the cyclone
victims and I’m trying to get the word out.

Right now, it involves a couple of ARCs, several books, but more have
added, and a GC to Barnes and Noble.

It’s up on ebay thru missionfish-the charity I chose was SAVE THE
CHILDREN since they already have people in the country and have had some
success getting much needed supplies. And they have an excellent rep
for putting their money where their mouth is- 90% of all monies received
go to their programs, which is beyond excellent for a charity.

I know some people feel not doing anything might be best considering the
actions of the junta and hold off waiting until that situation changes,
but I don’t think letting people suffer is a viable option either if
there are ways of getting help in.

From Save the Children’s 5/9 update-

Westport, Conn. (May 9, 2008) — The death toll in Myanmar continues
to rise as a result of Cyclone Nargis and hardships for hundreds of
thousands of survivors left in its wake are increasing. With 500 staff
on the ground, Save the Children has reached 72,000 people, 24,000 of
whom are estimated to be children, through the distribution of food,
water purification tablets, plastic sheeting for shelter and other
needed supplies

And this is part of the reason why I chose them-they already have people
inside the country and they seem to be a trusted by those within the
country, making it easier to get help in.

So far, the auction includes signed books donated by several authors, as
well as a gift card to Barnes and Noble donated by the Brown Literary
Agency-(new items haven’t been added to the auction description yet, but
I’ll have them posted soon)

Anybody interested in bidding on the auction, it can be found here:

<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270236138496>
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270236138496
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270236138496> >

Authors interested in donating can contact me shilohwalker at gmail.com


Thank you!

Shi
http://shilohwalker.com/

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Pics

Sweet:

Sassy:




Sexy:

The Pictures Are Up

*Grin*

The pictures don't show all the items in the trunk but this gives you an idea what you could be getting if you win the Raffle.

Sweet:
http://treasuretrovecharity.com/sweet-sassy-sexy-raffle/sweet/

Sassy:
http://treasuretrovecharity.com/sweet-sassy-sexy-raffle/sassy/

Sexy:
http://treasuretrovecharity.com/sweet-sassy-sexy-raffle/sexy/

The list will change from if we get new items or feel that one item should be moved to another trunk, as it is better suited for that trunk. We are still taking donations. :-)

Sincerely,

Treasure Trove Charity

Update

Pictures have been taken just need to upload them as they are too big to go on the site so we have to resize them. Hopefully we should have everything done by next week *fingers crossed*. Thank you so much for being patient. Hugs.

Sincerely,

Treasure Trove Charity

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Hi Everyone!

Sorry there haven't been any updates, life just got in the way. We are almost done. Just need pictures of the trunks and the links to donate and we go live. To give you a sneak peek, check out the site now and the items in each of the trunks. Hugs guys.

http://treasuretrovecharity.com/

Treasure Trove Charity

P.S. We're still taking Donations to the Trunks. Use the Contact form to get in touch with us.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Whooo Hooo!

We are officially over the 120 items per trunk mark! The website is almost done and hopefully we'll be able to start the raffle before the end of next week. Thanks for stopping by. Hugs.

Sincerely,

Simply Simone

and

The Pink Chair Diaries

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Banners for the Trunks Individual Pages

These are the banners, done by the fabulous Celia Kyle for the Trunks' individual pages. Check it out:

Thank You so much Celia! You've done a Great Job!

Sincerly,

Simply Simone

The Pink Chair Diaries

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Check it Out

The fabulous Celia Kyle has made this Banner for the Website:


Since we want to do this type a thing maybe two to three times a year at the most, we needed a different name for what we were doing: Treasure Trove Charity. The Sweet, Sassy and Sexy Raffle is just the theme of this raffle, we plan on doing a lot of different ones. *Grin*. We, will be keeping this blog of course, the header will change with each raffle, but the blogspot addy will remain the same. Make sense? We sure hope so. lol. Oh, guess what we're over the 110 mark for items per trunk! *Big Grin*

Sincerely,

Simply Simone
The Pink Chair Diaries