Thank you all for the great comments and links to my post about the WSJ article. I hope that we can all find a way to reach out to people who are unfamiliar with the wide and wonderful world of Young Adult fiction and help them learn about the variety and significance of the field.
And now on to the business of the day! The winners of the Writers for Joplin raffle!
Thanks to a late contribution (given by someone who specifically requested not to be included in the raffle), you all contributed more than $4000 to the Red Cross to help the people in the SE United States who have been devastated by this spring’s storms. A total of 67 people donated, some donating in order to get a friend or family member’s name in the raffle (which was totally cool!).
For every ten dollars you donated, your name went into the raffle once. If you donated $50, that means I printed your name out five times. I used this highly regarded Official Raffle Drawing Container™ to mix the names and pull the lucky winners.
::cues drum roll::
Winner of SOUL ENCHILADA, by David Macinnis Gill: Tracy Abell!
Winner of BLACK HOLE SUN, by David Macinnis Gill: Katy Duffield!
The winner of the GRAND PRIZE, the brave soul who gets to send their manuscript to me and reap the harvest of my critique is…
I’d like to ask all of the winners to please send an email to laurie AT madwomanintheforest DOT com. Thanks again to everyone for helping!!
Thank you! Thank you! I really enjoyed SOUL ENCHILADA, and I haven’t had a chance to read BLACK HOLE SUN yet. Can’t wait to dig in!
Thanks again for your kindness Laurie and David. I know the people of Joplin appreciate it.
You wrote: “I hope that we can all find a way to reach out to people who are unfamiliar with the wide and wonderful world of Young Adult fiction and help them learn about the variety and significance of the field.”
I’m trying to do that very thing! It’s an idea I shared on my blog today in response to the WSJ article. I’m calling it “The Light and Round Project” and the intention is to break down the perception that there is no variety in YA today. I linked to your response yesterday in my post as well.
Thank you for everything you do for the writing community and the youth of today. You are a gift and a role model to us all.
WOW! I guess begging my friends and family worked! 🙂
Thank you!
While I appreciate your support of YA fiction and your wonderful contributions to the world of YA fiction, as a bookseller of 31 years, I do not appreciate the comment”…If she had walked into an independent bookstore or a school library, she would have found educated people who would have understood the depth of the field and would have helped her find exactly the right book for her daughter.” Everyday I go to work at Barnes and Noble I do my best to accomplish just that task and I succeed. The people that work at B&N care about books and people. We are readers. We are educated. Independent booksellers have not cornered the market on intelligence. thank you for your support of all booksellers.