The Freedom Song of the Jigsaw Girl

Some of you may be familiar with paganaidd's fan-fiction, which is incredible and I highly recommend it all. She is an excellent writer and packs a lot of great stuff into her stories. I'm delight to say that she is also working on an original novel and has entered an excerpt of that novel in the Echos of Another World writing contest over on Inkitt.

In All the In Between Places is phenomenal. If you like things that meld modern times and events with myth, magic and the otherworldly, then please check this out. This is the review that I left on the story itself:

"Each of the little vignettes is potent and powerful, though that last one was the one that really punched me in the gut. A very good introduction to a world that is a bit more than it seems with tantalizing glimpses of how magic, gods, and other worldly creatures would interact with our modern world. A very solid start for a novel."

If you read it and enjoy it, please feel free to share it with others. Thank you.

poetree is hosting its next community themed week starting on Monday, March 31. There are plenty of spots open if you are interesting participating as host. You can also participate by commenting on posts as the week goes. These weeks are usually a lot of fun.



What's the time? Depends on who you ask — and where you're standing. Sign up now to participate, March 31st - April 5th @ poetree.

November always sparks a lot of contemplative thinking for me, particularly as my birthday approaches. Fittingly enough my birthday kicks off poetree's next community week which is set around the theme of remembrance and memorial. It seemed appropriate that I sign up for the Monday, November 18th post. I'm going to be writing about birthdays as memorial and how November is always a strange mix of celebration and grief for me.

I have several poems brewing right now, particularly with all the memories that are often stirred up around this time of year. My initial thought was to do one long poem, but after a bit of writing and reflection I realized that I want to explore some things more fully. I decided to start off with an etheree to get my poetic juices flowing again.

November's Child
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As many of you know my friend paganaidd has does a lot of work helping others. In addition to being an EMT on her local volunteer fire department, she has also served as a medical volunteer in both Haiti and New Jersey. She has done a lot of work in raising awareness and funds/goods for others. For example, she (and I) hosted a fundraiser for her friend Heather with MCS who desperately needed safe chemical free housing. The fundraiser was very successful and Heather is now in safe housing and was able to get the things she needed to make the housing safe. She and another friend also raised money and goods, loaded up their car with all the goods they could buy with the funds plus the goods they were given, and drove it all down with them to New Jersey to help with Sandy relief efforts.

Paganaidd is a wonderful and giving person, and now she is the one who is need of assistance. She has recently discovered that she has approximately $10,000 of dental work that needs to be done. She and her husband manage, but the addition of this kind of unexpected expense is more than they can really handle. So now we are passing the hat for Paganaidd herself. Please toss in what you can, if you can, and maybe we can ease this burden a bit. Any dent we can make in this high cost is an amazing thing.

I have set up a microfunding site, or you can send money to her paypal account, which is paganaidd@yahoo.com, if you would prefer. If you cannot afford to give, which is very understandable in this economy, then please boost the signal.

Thanks loves!

Ceredwyn, paganaidd, has posted a few more posts on her blogspot journal. The shelter that she and Tanya are working at is one of the ones that accepts animals. So one post in on the benefits of animal therapy. She also posted a wonderfully introspective piece on working the night shift at the shelter.

For those who are interested in helping, they are still collecting donations via microgiving and paypal (Ceredwyn [at] gmail [dot] com). It is their hope to do another goods drop to the Occupy Sandy volunteers, who have so far been the best at distributing supplies, before they leave.

So two of my friends are heading down to Jersey City to help out as medical volunteers with the Red Cross on Tuesday. one is an EMT-B and the other is an RN. They have a place to stay and would like to fill their car up with goods that the Hurricane victims need. Ceredwyn, one of the two going, has set up a page on microgiving to raise some money to buy items with.

Thought I would put this out there for those who might be interested in helping. Thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! We have raised $1000 for Heather and we still have a day left on our microfunding. I can not thank those who've signal boosted and donated enough. I really can't. Especially the kind soul who anonymously donated $780.00. I am practically in tears I'm so happy. So thank you again to all who signal boosted and donated. You rock!

::hugs and thanks and good energy::

Edited to add: If you are still interested in ways you can help Heather, please check out her Amazon wishlist and this post.

So yesterday I posted about a microfundraiser that my friend paganaidd and I are doing. We are trying to raise $1000 in 7 days, which may seem kind of ridiculous. But the situation is critical. Heather is disabled, so her only income in her disability check. She cannot stay in her apartment anymore do to her Multiple Chemical Sensitivities caused by long term carbon monoxide poisoning. Her doctor has essentially told her that she would be better off homeless, in northeastern Vermont in fall (which would feel like winter to some of my southern friends--tonight's low is supposed to be 40 degrees Fahrenheit) than to stay in her apartment, which is killing her. We are trying to raise money to get her into safe and healthy housing. Essentially we are looking to pay the security deposit and first month's rent) because there is no way she can save up enough from her disability checks to cover those. Rent is astronomically expensive in Vermont considering its rural nature. I pay more for a studio here than I would for an apartment of equal size in Spokane, WA. Her family is not helpful at this point. So we are doing our best to help where we can.

Heather is a friend and someone that paganaidd and I know in real life. We've been wracking our brains trying to figure out how to help her. Heather cannot come to live with either of us do to the fact that neither of us live in a situation that would be safe to someone with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (the slightest hint of fragrance or chemicals can make Heather violently ill, to the point of passing out). This is what we are trying to get Heather into.

Several of my friends have stepped up and offered donations as incentives, which is amazingly awesome. Unfortunately we (paganaidd and I) are having difficulty adding those incentives to the microfunding site. Since we have such a short turnaround on this, I would like to thank you all very much for your kind offers and request that instead you simply boost the signal where you can. Boosting the signal can help just as much as cool incentives.

If you can spare a dollar, please consider it. Donations can be made here. If you can't spare anything, but are willing to boost the signal that would be amazingly appreciated. I apologize for spamming my dwircle/flist, and thank you for your time and patience.

So the amazing raze has rescued five stray underfed dogs this weekend. Zie is raising money to help with their care and vet bills. I have copied her post below. If you have some to spare or can signal boost it will be greatly appreciated. Thanks! ( Read more... )