It's Grinch-a-polooza Time!

Tired of the holidays? Are you ready to strangle the next person who says 'Happy Holidays' to you? Do you secretly dream of capturing Santa and putting him to work cleaning out your garage?

If you answered yes to any of these questions - Come join J.C. Wilder and Friends at the Annual Grinch-a-polooza chat event!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/samhaincafe/

The fun begins at 6pm EST on December 24th. So grab a cup (or bottle) of your favorite libation, don your ugliest Christmas sweater and break out the matches - It's Grinch time...

Dignity

http://ihasahotdog.com

eBook Piracy

From the moment eBooks were created, pirates have reared their fat, ugly heads. They distribute our books for free without a single thought given to the fact that authors work hard to create their novels and should be rewarded for that hard work - not ripped off because its the easy thing to do.

In the past two weeks, several people have emailed me to let me know various people are giving away my books. One intrepid soul was giving away six of my novels.

Six.

Over three years worth of work given away to anyone who happened to find their website. One pirate had a copy of my brand new release, Seducing Jane Porter, up for grabs and it had been downloaded 167 times. That is approximately $140.00 out of my pocket.

Seeing that is only ONE pirate, can you image how much authors are losing each and every day? If the pirate who had six of my novels up for grabs were to give away 167 copies of each one - that is 840.00 out of my pocket. That's enough to pay for my health insurance for two months...it would make my car payment plus insurance for two months...two months of groceries...

And thats only two pirates out of tens of thousands. The worst part is when you find one pirate they are usually linked to others...and those are linked to more pirates...it doesn't end.

Looking at those kinds of numbers I have to wonder why I even bother to write. If readers are going to download my work for free, why even do it? I can just get a full time job with benefits and not have to worry about being ripped off. If I'm going to be disrespected then at least I should get health insurance out of it.

I love books...I love reading...I love writing...and to have readers steal my work is the ultimate slap in the face. What happens to readers when authors stop writing and there's nothing left to read?

Stop ebook piracy now. You're hurting the very same people who create that which you adore. Is it worth saving 5.00 knowing you're taking payment away from someone whose work you admire? Those who put time and energy into creating the books we all love are being hurt and its time to stop the bleeding before more of us walk away from doing what we love the most.

Save an author, buy an eBook.

Tis the season of plenty...

We are a country drowning in commercialism. Everywhere you turn someone vies to get into your pockets and liberate you from your cash. Buy, buy, buy...more, more, more...bigger, bigger, bigger...

The holidays are here and you're about to receive more stuff than you will ever need, want or desire. Sheets that you will tuck away and find a year later only to realize you never used them. Clothing that isn't your style, the wrong color, the wrong fit - etc. Do you really need one more sweater? One more pair of shoes? One more jacket? More bath towels?

I know I don't.

This past year I've been redoing my bedroom and today I walked in there to realize I had as much if not more stuff in that room than when I started. Over the year I've purchased more bits and pieces - clothing, shoes, linens etc - and somehow all of it ended up in the one empty room in the house. The same room where I labored to paint the walls and celiling - the same room I need to somehow squeeze my queen sized bed into. At this point there is no way I can move back into my freshly painted room - I have no space!

Whats up with that?

It's time to seriously downsize. I've been in give-away mode most of the year. I've donated about 30 garbage bags of clothing, linens, curtains, sheets etc and I easily have that much more to give. I have 7 sets of sheets and I only use three of them so why am I keeping them?

So today I began seriously downsizing. My rules are:
-haven't worn it in the last six months - it goes
-don't like it - it goes
-have ten of them - at least 1/2 goes
-no more room - it goes

There are millions of people out of work and struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Millions who go hungry...who are homeless...who can't get a job because they don't have clean clothing...

You get the picture.

This year, why don't you give something you don't use to someone who who will? So, go look in your closet - what are you going to donate to charity today?