From The Heart

A couple of months ago, I was invited to participate in an anthology of parents stories and poems. Write For Charity, a non-profit organization, created "From the Heart: Stories & Poems From the Frontlines of Parenting." I submitted my adoption story the night before the deadline, and low and behold, my story was chosen out of 500 to be one of 100 stories published. What an honor!

The project is to support children's charities, specifically Children's Hospitals and St. Jude Research. As a mommy, this makes it a project close to my heart. I can't imagine what I would do if I ever had to take advantage of the organizations this book is supporting, for my own son, but I am grateful to know they are there to help.

I hope you will take some time to read the information posted here about this collaboration, and consider purchasing a book.

Q: Tell me a little bit about this project.
A: From the Heart is the brainchild of the ladies at Write for Charity. After finding out that her youngest daughter needed surgery, our chief editor, Beth Davis, felt a driving urge to make a difference in the lives of children, particularly sick children. The idea of writing a book for charity had been thrown around our office for some time, but she jumped in with both feet to get it moving. Understanding that writing a book in a short period of time would be an unrealistic task, the ladies went full steam ahead in search of collaborators.  They searched magazines, the blogosphere and writers groups from around the country for the best and brightest writing talent they could find, extending invitations as they went. After sorting through over 300 submissions over the course of several months, From the Heart was born. The book is a creative collaboration of nearly 100 different stories and poems from all aspects of parenting. July 1 was the kickoff to our 90 Day Challenge and we’ve been moving ahead with book sales ever since!

Q. What is the 90 Day Challenge?
 A: The 90 Day Challenge is a book sales drive that represents a goal that we set for ourselves and the collaborative authors who are choosing to participate. The goal is to jumpstart sales of From the Heart in the first 90 days by selling 10,000 copies of the book and raising a large lump sum of money for charity immediately.  The book is currently only available for sale on our website at http://www.writeforcharity.com/, but it will be available at many other retail locations following the 90 Day Challenge.

Q: Why not make it available through a national distribution channel during your 90 Day Challenge?
 A: We elected to sell the book at www.writeforcharity.com during 90 Day Challenge and wait to distribute the book into bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders and on website like Amazon.com due to the costs associated with a distributor. By selling the book on our website, we are able to control in house costs, raise profit margins and, in turn, donate more money to our selected charities.

Q. Who will benefit from this project? 
A: The desire to contribute to children’s charities has driven this project from the very beginning. Since the minute we decided to publish this book, we knew that children’s hospitals and juvenile disease research foundations would be the beneficiaries when it came to fruition. All of the profits from this book will be split between various Children’s Hospitals and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Center.

Q: So, 100% of proceeds from this project go to charity?
A: One hundred percent of profits will go to our selected charities. Obviously with a project like this, you have printing costs, but other than that, we have committed all of the funds to our selected charities. Our authors have donated their work, our editors have donated their time and our graphics people have donated their talent. We are very lucky to have such a wonderful group of talented people involved in this project.  For a list of contributors, visit www.writeforcharity.wordpress.com/the-authors. 

Q: Tell us something we don’t know about your project.  
A: Well, the biggest thing would definitely have to be the caliber of our contributors. We have several nationally recognized writers in our group of nearly 80 contributors and many of our contributors have been featured in nationally distributed publications, on popular websites or on television. Their willingness to donate their work to our cause is admirable and I know that everyone who reads this volume will enjoy their poems and stories. Together with our contributors, we have begun a grassroots effort to raise funds for our wonderful charities that is growing by the day. Their eagerness to help get the word out about the book is admirable and we appreciate their support.

Q: What’s it in for me to support this project?
A: The charity situation on a national level has taken a severe beating as of late. Many incidents of run ins with unsavory “charities” have appeared in the media in the past several years. Many individuals and companies have completely lost trust in those trying to do good work because of a few “bad eggs.” Many individuals have contributed time and effort to put this project together. Our authors contributed their work out of the kindness of their hearts and our editor, layout artist and designers all contributed time as well. Because they believe in the mission behind this project, to help children in need, we hope you will take the time to support us and purchase a copy of the book. The book in itself is a fantastic product and by purchasing, you are helping a good cause.

Q: How can I support Write for Charity’s From the Heart?
A: There are a number of different things you can do to support the project. First and foremost, you can click here to buy a book!  On our website, we have the ever popular blog buttons which I have starting seeing crop up all over cyberspace. You are welcome to download the “supporter” button for your own website if you are so inclined. This is the first anthology we have done and with the success we are already seeing with it, we know it won’t be the last. Contact one of our editors at press@writeforcharity.com for more information on how you can contribute to one of our upcoming projects or help to support our current project.