New Assignment

Hi all. Long time, no see. Sorry about skipping the last Writer's Week. The truth is, the past week was very rewarding and productive. I met with  illustrator Dan Vogel to review the progress on the cover for The Deliverers 3: The Golden Dragon of Ang. It's coming along great and will be complete by Christmas. I'll share it with you when it's all done.

This weekend, I had a book signing at the Barn gallery in New Fairfield. It was a beautiful day. I saw a number of old friends and made a couple new ones. To be honest, the turnout was less than I had hoped. For a while I was disappointed, but after a lot of thought and some prayer, I decided to take a big step.

You might say that I took a new Assignment from the Gatekeeper. The Gatekeeper is the guy in my books that gives different missions--Assignments--to Eric and the other Deliverers. For a little over a year now, I've toyed with thoughts of how I could use my books to help others. I say toyed with because I kept running up against a, "I can't give stuff away, I have to make money" roadblock in my head.

This weekend changed all that. I now realize that the most important thing is that I write books and that I share them with as many kids as possible. Not only that, but I should be looking to get books to kids that don't have many--or in some cases, any.

With that in mind, I will be donating books to the Salvation Army to be distributed to children in need. I'm going to start in my own backyard and hopefully expand over time. My local Salvation Army collects new toys for children whose parents can't afford presents at Christmas. There are about 500 families that have registered this year. Not all of these families have children of reading age, but most of them do.

I am hoping to donate books, my books and those of any children's authors who would like to donate, to as many of these families as possible. I will pay  for a bunch myself using money that I've made from previous shows this month. From now on, when I sell a Deliverers book face to face or on this website, I will donate a second Deliverers book to the Salvation Army.

That's my mission and my Assignment this holiday season. I've posted it at the top of my blog, along with a donation button. If you would like to donate some cash to the cause, please do. The Deliverers 1 costs about $4 and the Deliverers 2 costs about $5 to produce, if you need a donation guideline. All funds donated (after Paypal's small processing fee) will go towards the purchase of books for kids in need. If you'd like a great book in the bargain, then go to my Store, buy a copy of book 1 or book 2 (or both), and I'll deliver a second copy to the Salvation Army. I'll personalize it with a book plate that tells the recipient it was donated by whomever you name.

I'm going to start small, but hopefully this will grow over time. I'd love to be able to offer a range of titles. If you are a children's author, please consider donating 5, 10, 25, however many copies you can. I promise they will find good homes. Email me at gregslomba@hotmail.com and we can work out the details. Thanks!