Wednesday 28 March 2012

Can You Help?

I hadn't planned to post again until A-Z starts, but this is a special case. The other night, some dear friends of ours and their three-year-old boy suffered a devastating house fire which left their home an unliveable shell. Thankfully they all escaped in one piece, but they now have absolutely nothing and their immediate future is very uncertain. I understand if it's not possible, but if you could spare just a few pennies to put their way it would be hugely appreciated, at least so their little boy could get some new toys and clothes.

I wasn't sure about putting this up here, but thought it might be worth a shot to call on the "kindness of strangers", especially as you all seem to be so nice. Again, massive thanks for anything you can spare, which you can donate via the button to the right. I'll be sure to pass on any nice thoughts too!

While I'm here I'll just mention a couple of other things. First of all, a big thanks to Martin Willoughby for selecting me as one of three winners in his giveaway of books published under the Starfish banner, an e-publishing initiative set up by him and a couple of mates. I'm already two-thirds of the way through DRC's gripping novel Son of Jack. Go and say hello to both these excellent writers and follow along, and check out the Starfish blog too.

In other news Tobi Summers of Chock Full of Words nominated me for the Lucky 7 meme. I think I'll leave this one til after April, and hopefully I should have a page 77 by then!

The entertaining Hildred of Musings of a Procrastinating Author is having a 200th post party with a 20 page critique on offer. Head over and throw your hat into the ring.

And finally, I suppose it's time to unveil my A-Z Challenge theme. It is entitled (drum roll)... 26 Things that Made Me a Writer. So that means any kind of influences, character traits, childhood memories and so on that have contributed to make me the writer I am today (errmm... whatever that means!) I hope you will enjoy the posts and they don't come across as too self-indulgent. Check a few out if you can. See you all on Sunday!

A quick note about the A-Z - I will be away from the 2nd to 6th so will endeavour to respond to any comments on those posts on my return. We're also away from the 28th until the 11th of May on a cruise, but I might be able to catch some of those last posts via the wi-fi.

10 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Good theme for the Challenge.
Really sorry about your friends! I'll Tweet this post and hopefully reach a few more people.

Krista McLaughlin said...

That is a really good theme - my posts are just kinda random about me for the month.

Sorry about your friends! That's a terrible situation.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about the house fire, Nick. ...small donation made. :)

S.P. Bowers said...

So sorry about your friends. I hope things go as well as possible for them.

Can't wait for the A-Z. Your theme sounds very interesting, can't wait to see what you come up with.

Nick Wilford said...

Alex - Thanks for the tweet!

Krista - Well, some of my posts are verging on random - filling each letter is hard! I'm actually only up to J - gulp...

Thanks for your kind words!

Linda - Thanks for your generous donation. You're very kind!

S.P. - Thanks. We're getting people to donate items on Facebook too.

Look forward to your posts too!

Sara Biren said...

I look forward to your A-Z topics. I'm so torn about doing this, too, but April is going to be such a busy month for me. So I'll just enjoy everyone else's. So sorry to hear about your friends' fire.

Matthew MacNish said...

Hey Nick. Just dropping in as your A to Z co-host, but am already following you, so no need for introductions.

I'm so sorry for your friends' situation. Paypal won't allow me on anymore, but I'll tweet and facebook your post, to see if I can help in other ways.

Stu Ayris said...

You're a top bloke Nick - no doubt about it!

Nick Wilford said...

Sara - Thanks! Hope you enjoy the posts, I just hope I get them all written!

Matthew - Thanks for spreading the word.

Stu - You too! Thanks for your generous donation!

Sarah Tokeley said...

Nick, sorry to hear about your friends. I wish I could offer more than my thoughts and good wishes but they have those in abundance.