Chrissy Munder's Blog, page 79

Keep the Holiday Spirit throughout 2011

Christmas is almost here and gone for those who celebrate. Following that will be the New Year's gaggle of resolutions. Then it's back to a frigid January and a routine, real life. But there are easy ways to keep your holiday spirit through the next year and beyond. Take advantage of this annual period of reflection and choose just one of the following ideas to keep your family's holiday spirit bright.

Start a charity box. Take one of those empty christmas gift boxes and instead of tossing it to the curb (or, hopefully, recycling) put it under your kitchen table. Now, what to do with it?

-- You're out at Walmart and see a sale on packaged underwear and socks? Buy a extra package or two and toss it into your box. Knit gloves/magic stretchy gloves are 0.50 cents? Grab a few pair and toss them in as well.
-- You're at the bulk store and buy a multipack of toiletries. Break the pack apart and toss one of the extras into the box.
-- Anytime you are shopping and the store has a row of sample/travel sizes buy small versions of toothpaste, antiperspirant, shampoo, powder, soap, etc. and toss them into the box.
-- Does your dentist still give out free toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste? Put them into the box.
-- Have travel plans for the new year? Instead of tossing out the sample size products from your hotel when you get home, toss them into the box.

Once a quarter donate the contents of your box to a local women's shelter, homeless shelter, or other charitable organization that suits your nature.

Start your holiday crafts. You've seen my posts before. Can you make one scarf a month starting in January and have 11 to donate by the time next Christmas rolls around? Here are some links to various knit/crochet organizations.

-- Lion Brand Yarns Charitable Connection. Just enter your city or state and let the charity registry doing the searching for you.
-- The Humble Stitch
-- Scarves with a Purpose
-- Knit Your Bit Campaign - scarves for veterans

After Christmas Sales are a great source of ridicuously discounted ornaments, toys, and many other items you can donate to local children's hospitals, next year's Toys for Tots programs, or service organizations geared toward families in your local area.

Like to bake? Contact nursing homes in your area. See who will accept home-baked goods and gather your friends and family together once a month in the new year. Bake your favorites and donate them to the elderly. Be sure to include sugar-free options for those with diabetes.

Support the troops Contact your local servicemen and women's organizations and see what drives are active in your area. Care packages, letters, and other items are sent out no matter what time of year.

Your time is truly one of the most precious commodities you have. Find an organization that suits your personality and commit to one day a month of charitable service.

Best of all, enjoy the feeling of connecting with those around you.

These are just some of the ways my friends and family keep the spirit throughout the year. What are some of your family's favorite ways?

Happy New Year from Dreamspinner Press! Trivia Contest! Prizes!

On New Year's Eve, Dreamspinner will publish its 200th paperback. To celebrate, they're having a huge trivia contest. One question for each book.

To enter: download the trivia questions here from their web site. Answer as many of them as you can, and submit your answers by Jan. 1. Winners will be announced on Jan. 7.

And just what will you win?

Prizes:
1st prize - an Amazon Kindle and every ebook on your wishlist.
2nd prize - an Amazon Kindle
3rd prize - a $50 Gift Certificate
4th prize - a $25 Gift Certificate
5-10th prizes - $10 Gift Certificates

In the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen at random between all entries with the same number of correct answers.

Here's a link direct to their Facebook post: here

Good Luck!

Can't get enough Holiday Chat & Excerpts?

Don't worry. There's still plenty of festivity ahead:

December 22nd - It's Open Excerpt Day at Love Romances Cafe Yahoo Group! You've not seen an Excerpt Day until you've visited one of these all-day parties! Be sure to bring along your notepad, you'll find plenty to add to your To-be-bought list as a reward in the upcoming new year.

December 25th - Merry Christmas! Craving more Holiday Themed Excerpts along with your cookies? Visit the Beth Wylde Yahoo Group for an all day Holiday Excerpt Extravaganza.

December 26th - Bonus! Dreamspinner Authors are over at Talking Two Lips Yahoo Group. Family all gone home? Grab some hot cocoa and your snuggie, cuddle up and relax with the DSP authors.

Support the Think B4U Speak Campaign

Words Do Matter.

Snag your own Ticker for your website from ThinkB4USpeak.com .

Find your local chapter of GLSEN - The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network.

Monday Review Round-up - a/k/a Happy Holidays to Me

The good news? Despite the amount of work involved (and don't kid yourself, it really is tough to read and do a write up for all of these) several blogs are reviewing this year's Advent Calendar from Dreamspinner Press. The bad news? I'm losing the links as fast as they are coming in to my alerts, and a few of these didn't show up via Google at all. Whoops! If you've reviewed one of my stories and I missed putting up your link, please send me an email for a little public appreciation. Here's a few from this past week or two:

JeffandWill.com - From their easy to follow, continuously updating post:

The Reason for the Season by Chrissy Munder. Munder's second story in Naughty or Nice proves just as wonderful as the first. Here college student Adam has been stood up by his friend for a holiday ride home. In the middle of a snowstorm and with campus nearly deserted Adam turns to the ride share board and meets Michael who begrudgingly offers to get Adam home. Once again, Munder creates wonderful characters. The tension as these two strangers meet and their tentative banter as they get to know one another is spot on. There are some touching twists in the story towards the end too that add just the right amount of holiday goodness.

Better with Sprinkles by Chrissy Munder: This story started out good and got more awesome as it progressed. Tom is a stressed out undergrad with a master plan for his life… but that means he doesn't get out much. His roommate, and best friend, Derek is a free-spirit who works to get Tom to lighten up. Derek talks Tom into baking a huge batch of cookies (Tom's a closet baker) for the campus LGBT center's bake sale. Tom ends up connecting with a guy he's crushed on for years and gets a good lesson on life too. I love how Munder worked in great messages about HIV/AIDS testing, the benefits of an LGBT center and about making sure you live your life instead of just getting through it. I'd love to see more with the characters. While the story was quite short the characters were vivid and interesting.



Brief Encounters Reviews :

The Reason for the Season :Grade of A-. Overall, this was a lovely story of two men brought together by fate and bad weather, who make the best of things and get more than they bargained for. I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a well written seasonal short.

Better with Sprinkles : Grade of A. I really enjoyed this story. I loved Tom and his roommate Derek and how they interacted and seeing Tom get tongue-tied over being in the presence of his idol Isaac was cute too. The story is all told from Tom's point of view, so you don't get much of Isaac, but what comes out from his cousin and his own statements lets you know enough about him and what he thinks to be enjoyable. I was left smiling through this one and you get Tom's Grandma's sugar cookie recipe at the end, so it doesn't get better than that.

I really do hope people try the cookie recipe. It's one of our favorites.



BookWenches : Score of 4.25. The magic of the holiday season is spotlighted in Chrissy Munder's "The Reason for the Season" as two characters are pulled out of their self-imposed isolation and brought together by what seems to be a random series of misfortunate events. Ms. Munder gives us strong and concisely-developed characters, a touch of irrepressible humor, and just a little bit of a surprise at the end of this well-told and surprisingly sweet story.



Dark Diva Reviews (be sure to click around their new and revamped site). 5 Divas and a Recommended Read: Beautiful is what first comes to mind with The Reason for the Season ... I'm not even sure what I was expecting having read the summary but I was taken by surprise and happily followed along. and Chrissy ... has gifted us with a wonderful present in The Reason for the Season.



One of my favorite comments came from Chris over at Stumbling over Chaos : Very good short m/m holiday romance about a college student in the UP, trying to get to his sister's house in Flint for Christmas, who gets a ride from the rideshare board into "snowpocalypse." I especially enjoyed this story since I was reading it during what the local news stations dubbed "snowmaggedon.".

Heh. Is there such a thing as method reading? She wins the prize.

To everyone who enjoyed these stories and were nice enough to email me - Thank you! Enjoy a Safe and Happy Holiday.

Mark your Calendars - Total Eclipse of the Moon - December 20th

For those of us who love to watch the skies - a Holiday Treat in the form of a Total Eclipse of the Moon will be visible December 20th-21st. Visit Space.com here for more info and notes on what to look for.

Image by Michel Hersen, courtesy of Space.com

Tired of fighting the crowds? Take your mind off the Holiday and Come Chat!

Here's of list of distractions guaranteed to keep you busy and out of everything but the online bookstores!

Today, December 16th - It's Love Romances Cafe GLBT day.

Friday, Dec 17th - The Dreamspinner Authors are partying with the Wylde Bunch. Join us at Beth Wylde's Yahoo Group for fun, excerpts, discounts, and giveaways.

If that's not enough fun for you, swing back by Love Romances Cafe for their New Release Day. Then watch as authors drive themselves crazy by hopping back and forth between the two.

Sunday, Dec. 19th - Join the Dreamspinner Press Author's for an end of year chat at Talking Two Lips' Yahoo Group for more chat, excerpts, and amusement.

And just in case you might have missed my 17 earlier reminders - Don't Forget: There's a 20% Holiday Discount from Dreamspinner Press! This discount is available now through the end of the year and each customer can use it twice!! The code to enter at checkout is: HolidayDreams (without the cool colors).

NEW ADDED BONUS: This year let Dreamspinner make your eBook dreams come true. Each day from Dec. 26- Dec. 31, they will draw one name from the customers that purchased during the month of December to win every eBook on their registered account's wish list.

WTF?Gift Ideas Courtesy of The Clare & Chrissy Show!

Still searching for Holiday Gift Ideas? Come join Clare and Chrissy as we discuss that ultimate Holiday treasure - The WTF? Gift.

Comment to win free ebook downloads, let us know if you'd like some glittery Clare and Chrissy Swag, and share your own WTF? Gift moments. Come away with a smile, and just maybe a few gift ideas of your own.

We are at Clare's this month, so click HERE to join the fun.

*How* Many Holiday Stories Have I Written?

Having been brought up in a household that didn't celebrate the December Holidays I was quite amused when a friend politely pointed out I currently have 5 Christmas/Holiday stories available for sale through Dreamspinner Press.

Imagine that. :)

Better with Sprinkles: College student Tom Molina isn't too interested when his roommate Derek tries to convince him to leave his books and help out with the campus LGBTA Center's annual Christmas cookie sale. But Derek has an ace in the hole to score the center Tom's grandmother's sugar cookie recipe: fellow volunteer Jeanette's cousin just happens to be the organic chemistry T.A. Tom's been dreaming about. Now Tom just has to hope Isaac is as interested in baking cookies as he is in chemistry and HIV awareness.

The Reason for the Season: All college student Adam Everett is trying to do is get to his sister's house for holiday break. First his car breaks down, then his ride takes off to Vegas with his gas money, forcing Adam to come up with a Plan C. His last hope is a campus ride exchange, where he ends up with the reluctant Michael Brennan. When a "snowpocalypse" forces them to share a motel room, they soon find out there's more than one reason for the chance happenings of the season.

Season's Greetings - Russ Manners writes greeting cards for a living, except Christmas is fast approaching, there's no snow, and he's fallen behind on his big Easter Card project. He's blaming the new guy, Ian Fiorillo, because ever since Ian was hired, Russ spends all his time writing bad Valentine rhymes to Ian's best asset. What Russ doesn't realize is that Ian would love to help him appreciate the wonders of Christmas in Florida.

A Gift of Ash and Frost - (Historical Romance) When new residents come to the Grange, Mathias applies for a job at the house and is hired on at the housekeeper's request for the Christmas season. He finds there a temptation of the body and heart in the form of the house's master, one that he is ill-equipped to handle or resist … not that he has the desire to do so.

Giving Gifts - Seth is having a scarily good time at the office Christmas party this year. He owes it all to his hoped-for boyfriend, Oscar, who turned him into a carefree programmer from an uptight nerd. If Mr. Saroc, the company CEO's assistant, would quit dogging his steps at work, Seth believes his happiness with Oscar will be complete in time for kissing under the mistletoe.

Santa's Little Helper - Left in the lurch without a Santa, Rob grabs a gorgeous guy he sort-of recognizes from the office to wear the red suit, and it's immediate attraction on both their parts. But Rob's ex, John, knows something important about the jolly ol' fellow, something he hopes doesn't ruin the holiday magic.

It's Snowing!!