Keris Stainton's Blog, page 9

A thank you post

So on Sunday 10th November, I was in Liverpool having a drink with a friend and I got a message on my phone from my friend and fellow YA author, Keren David. She was suggesting we might do an auction for the Philippines, like the one we did following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011.

At that point, I hadn’t read much about what had happened in the Philippines, but I knew it was horrific. I’d idly wondered about another auction myself, but when I thought back to the enormous amount of work and stress the Japan auction had created, I decided I’d think about it a bit more later (because, you know, it was only a week or so of work and stress and we raised £13,000). I probably would have decided against it, to be honest, because I have a book due on Christmas Eve and I only started writing it at the beginning of November. (Candy Gourlay writes here that I didn’t hesitate. Sorry, Candy, I hesitated a bit.)

But then Keren sent me the message. And I’d had a few drinks. And I grumbled (to the friend I was with) about what an enormous amount of work it is. And then I had another drink. And then I sent Keren a message saying let’s go for it and asking her to mention it to a writers’ group we’re both in and then I decided I’d worry about it when I got home the next day (once I’d recovered from those drinks).

When we set up Authors for Japan, we asked authors and publishers to donate stuff. We emailed them and tweeted and said “Would you give something?” This time we said “We’re setting up an auction…” and were almost instantly overwhelmed with offers. (Of the close to 500 items on the site, I only asked for one – the Armistead Maupin proof.)

So it’s been more work this time. A lot more work. But it’s also been completely wonderful. I’ve had emails from writers I’ve loved for years. (I’ve done a lot of excited squeaking.) So many tweets and messages. (LOVELY messages from bloggers and readers in the Philippines.)

Reading the comments on the site kept making me well up – I’d go in expecting something snarky or complaining (because, you know, comments) and instead I’d find people chatting away, encouraging each other, plotting against each other (but in a good way) and, in the Andy Stanton/Anthony McGowan comment box, well, all hell breaking loose (and a banana with ‘I love you’ written on it).

I absolutely didn’t do this on my own – Keren and Candy posted to the blog, contacted authors and newspapers – I even got Keren to ring the tax office to find out about Gift Aid (sorry about that, Keren) – Susie Day, Diane Shipley and Betty Herbert posted to the blog too. And I honestly still can’t get over the generosity of everyone who donated and everyone who bid and everyone who tweeted and Facebooked and, well, everything else.

And we raised £55,124.73. In a week.

Thank you. All of you.

And I actually wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. In fact, I’d quite like to make it an annual event for a chosen charity (but maybe with a 100 item limit…).

(The Authors for Philippines auction is now closed, but if you would like to contribute we have an Authors for the Philippines page on the Red Cross’s site – although the total isn’t updating, I’ll look into that soon.)

Authors for the Philippines

In 2011, following the Japanese tsunami, I set up Authors for Japan, an auction blog to raise funds, and was quickly completely overwhelmed by the response. After a week of little sleep, an interview on the radio, an article in the Guardian, 200 items donated by generous authors, £13,000 was raised.

I’m sure you’ll seen the terrible news about the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan. And so we’re doing it again. The Authors for the Philippines site is live now.

If you would like to donate an item for auction, please email authorsforphilippines@gmail.com.

If you would like to bid on any of the wonderful items already listed (more will be added in the coming days) bidding opens tomorrow at 8am (and closes on Wednesday 20th November at 8pm).

Thank you.

Feminism Friday: Joss Whedon on the word ‘feminist’

I know, I know, I keep posting videos instead of, you know, writing stuff. But in my defence, a) there are some fantastic videos doing the rounds lately, videos I think everyone should watch, and b) I’m really busy. Sorry.

You should also read the post about the above video on Jezebel. My favourite bits from the Jezebel post:

You can of course say you’re not a feminist! You can say you’re not a feminist because you don’t like the movement and how it’s been isolating to women of color, or because you think women shouldn’t have to be asked if they are feminists. But don’t say you’re not a feminist because of things that are inherently not true about what word means…

Don’t imply that the word itself means women who don’t like men. Don’t say you don’t need it. Don’t say we’re past it. Don’t just say you don’t like labels. It breeds further miseducation about our shared history. And remembering where we came from, the intolerance we live with and that has come before us, is the part that matters. When you say, “I’m not a feminist,” and then rattle off a reasoning that is merely spitting out the groupthink understanding of what the word means, you’re letting yourself down and you’re letting others down.

{via Sarra Manning on Twitter}

A life of lîla

There is an old Sanskrit word, lîla, which means play. Richer than our word, it means divine play, the play of creation, destruction, and re-creation, the folding and unfolding of the cosmos. Lîla, free and deep, is both the delight and enjoyment of this moment, and the play of God. It also means love.

Lîla may be the simplest thing there is – spontaneous, childish, disarming. But as we grow and experience the complexities of life, it may also be the most difficult and hard-won achievement imaginable, and its coming to fruition is a kind of homecoming to our true selves.

From Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch

Introducing Esme Taylor

Yesterday, I was slightly taken by surprise when this book, which I didn’t think was being published until next week, became available on Amazon. It’s a romantic Christmas novella by Esme Taylor. Here’s what you need to know about Esme:

Esme Taylor spends her days dreaming about romantic scenarios (lately involving Benedict Cumberbatch, but subject to change) and is thrilled to have the opportunity to write them down. She’s been writing fiction since she was a teen (romantic scenarios featuring George Michael), but didn’t finish a novel until 2004 (romantic scenario featuring a thinly-disguised Matt Damon). She lives in Lancashire with her husband (looks a bit like Christopher Eccleston) and two children and is the author of three YA novels under her own name, Keris Stainton.

And here’s a little bit about the book:

25% Christmas 50% romance 25% sexual content

A saucy Christmas novella to heat up your winter nights!

Ella is dreading Christmas. She vowed to change her life this year, and although breaking up with her boring boyfriend was the first step, she’s been too scared to take the next, and her life has become small.

But then, when working at a Christmas party, Ella meets Joe. The attraction is instant and convenient: neither is interested in more than a fling. While Ella’s been stuck, Joe’s been running. He’s been travelling for a year and has no plans to stop, but he’s home to spend Christmas with his huge, loud family. His father wants him to stay and join the family business, but Joe’s not yet ready for that kind of commitment and isn’t sure he’ll ever be. But as the snow and the presents pile up – and Ella and Joe’s clothes come off – Ella realises she needs to start living again. And that maybe all she wants for Christmas is Joe…

You can read an excerpt here.

NaNoWriMo 2013: Want to Write a Novel?

I was very excited to be asked to take part in a WordPress roundtable about NaNoWriMo. There’s an introductory post here:

NaNoWriMo 2013: Want to Write a Novel?

The full roundtable will appear on The Daily Post on Thursday.

I’m NaNo-ing again this year, so no doubt I’ll be posting about it throughout November. If you want to ‘buddy’ me, I’m half_squirrel (it’s a long story…).

My bestselling boys

So… this happened

At one point late last night, As Delightful As a Carrot was No.3 in Parenting, No. 10 in Raising Children, and No. 39 in Humour. It almost made it into the Top 1000 for Kindle (I think it was 1028). When I told Harry and Joe we were nearing the Top 1000 of Kindle books overall they laughed. “Top 1000? That’s LOADS!” But there are 2,310,395 books in the Kindle store so Top 1000 sounds pretty good to me.

It was just so exciting to keep checking back and watching it climb the charts. (This morning, I’ve got a slightly wonky wrist from all the clicking.)

But charts aside, I was so touched by everyone who shared the book on Facebook, tweeted about it, told me how much they were enjoying it, reviewed it (there are some lovely – and funny – reviews on there) and, of course, bought it. Thank you. You’re ace.

New book! As Delightful As a Carrot

Told Harry off for being cheeky and he said, “Don’t worry. Tomorrow I will be as delightful as a carrot!”

Over the past few years, lots of people have told me I should publish a book of all the funny (and mad) things my two boys say. Well I’ve only gone and done it. (So if you said it, but didn’t really mean it, you’ll be looking a bit shifty right now.)

It’s called As Delightful As a Carrot: How My Boys See the World and it’s available from Amazon for the bargain (and a bit odd, thanks to VAT) price of £1.02. (It’s available on lots of international Amazon sites too, not just UK.)

There’s also a blog where you can find more quotes, photos and videos.

I really hope you like it.

Disney on Ice: Dare to dream bigger?

We were lucky enough to win two tickets to see Disney On Ice: Dare to Dream (and I paid for two more so, you know, the children could come). I’ve wanted to see Disney On Ice for a while – I figured that’s the kind of spectacle Disney does brilliantly. We almost went last year, but the show was called Disney On Ice: Princesses & Heroes, so I said hell no.

Disney is good at dreaming, I thought. Dare to Dream sounds like it’ll make me cry, I thought. The boys were excited…

Joe [right] said, “I wish I was Cinderella…” Can’t tell by looking at him, can you?

The show started with Mickey & Minnie – I still get a shiver of glee when I see Mickey even though I know, as the boys never tire of pointing out, that “it’s just a man in a suit” (it feels sacrilegious even typing that) – and then a bit of The Princess & the Frog. It was brilliantly staged, of course, but it didn’t really thrill me. Next was Snow White – again, it looked wonderful, but I sat there thinking ‘this is a ridiculous story’. She bit the apple, the dwarves put her in the glass box, the prince turned up to kiss her, I said to Harry, “She’d be long dead by now, she’s been in a box!” Harry said, “Would she be a zombie?”

Then it was Cinderella time. Hmm. There was an interval. I sat feeling slightly grumpy. Dare to Dream, eh? But only if you dream of being a princess, apparently. After the interval was the end of Cinderella and, for me, the first properly exciting bit of skating when the soldiers skated up to and through each other (er, you’d have to see it). I think they did it twice and I went “Ooh!” both times. Could’ve just watched them doing that for the rest of the show really, it was amazing.

The lantern bit gets me every time.

Harry and I had predicted the last bit would be Tangled (me with a “Yay!” and Harry with an “Ugh!” – I think he only pretends not to like it because I love it, he’s at that stage…) and we were right. And it was awesome. I loved everything about it, particularly Flynn Rider (hubba) and, of course, the lanterns (and the horse! On ice!). But the most incredible part was when they flew above the ice, holding onto the golden ribbons that were meant to represent Rapunzel’s hair. (I couldn’t see any harnesses, it really looked like they were just wrapping the ribbons around themselves.) When it finished, I said, “That. Was. Amazing.” Even David was impressed (“I must be getting soft.”).

We left after that to make the train and so missed the finale, but I didn’t mind – I figured it would have been hard to improve on Tangled.

I was left feeling a bit disheartened though. Yes, I know Disney Princesses are ridiculously popular. I know Disney is a business and a show like this is about making money. But can we at least pretend it’s about magic? Basically, if they’re going to Dare to Dream, I’d like them to dream a bit bigger and better.

Feminism Friday: Sons

Sorry to post another video, but I’m on a deadline. And it’s an incredibly powerful video, so…