Hi Delilah, thanks for hosting me. My post today is a little different. Instead of plugging my work, I’m asking your readers to help me spread the word about a charity anthology. There is also a charity-based contest at the bottom of the post.

When my oldest daughter, Turtle (nickname, obviously) was only a week old, she went through the kind of medical hell no child should ever go through. First, she nearly died from a bacterial infection. Two days later we learned she’d also had a stroke. Our lives shrunk to our daughter’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit room as we measured her life in hours. Celebrations like her first Christmas and first birthday seemed like impossible goals.

Not long after Turtle turned a corner and came off the ventilator, our nurse came into the room with a hat and a blanket. She told us that they’d been donated to the hospital’s Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units by Project Linus for babies and children in crisis. It was a small gift, but in the midst of hell, it was a ray of light.

Since then I’ve made a point of donating to Project Linus annually in Turtle’s name.

We are one of the lucky families. There was a small bit of white matter damage from the stroke, and Turtle needed a foot brace for under a year. One of her kidneys permanently failed, but the other is healthy. As you can see from the photo, she’s like many other seven year old girls—obsessed with ballet. She’d like to be an artist when she grows up.

There is a series of charity anthologies run by a company called Coming Together. I find the idea of giving back by writing erotica inspiring, and I’ve participated in four anthologies as a writer. When there was a call for more editors, I was inspired to volunteer. Coming Together: Under the Mistletoe was born, with all proceeds going to Project Linus.

Submission Call

Deadline is September 1, 2016

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow because we’ll be heating up this sexy December anthology.

I am looking for your best winter stories. Are your characters cuddled up inside while a blizzard rages, or are they snowbirds spending Christmas Day on the beach in the tropics? Who belongs on Santa’s Naughty List? Is your billionaire a Scrooge? Is this the year they come out to their family? Do they have a special someone to kiss when the ball drops?

While the theme is winter, you may also add in your favorite December holiday, but this is not mandatory. I’m looking for compelling stories with compelling characters and a rich plot as well as beautiful poetry.

Guidelines

• Your story should be set between December 1 and December 31 whether explicitly or implicitly.
• All orientations, ethnicities, pairings, and interpretations of “winter” are encouraged.
• All sub-genres and time periods welcome (contemporary, historical, paranormal, sci-fi, steampunk, you name it).
• All heat levels from sweet and romantic to down and dirty—as long as it is plot driven.
• HEA/HFN preferred, but not required.
• Stories up to 7,500 words
• Poetry is welcomed and encouraged
• No underage, no scat, no non-consent, no incest

Coming Together is a charity organization. You retain all rights to your stories, and previously published stories and poetry are welcomed (as long as you hold the rights).

Please use Times New Roman font, size 12, and double spaced with one inch margins. No extra lines between paragraphs. Set indentations to .5 – do not use tabs or spaces to indent. Use .docx, .doc .rtf formats only.

Only submit your final, best version of the story to delilahnight@gmail.com with the subject line “Under the Mistletoe insert your title insert your name”

Do not send multiple versions of the same story. Up to two stories/three poems will be considered from each author. Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable and be clear which one is which), mailing address, and up to 250 word bio. Do not paste your story into the body of your message.

You will be notified as to the status of your story by no later than October 1, 2016.

Coming Together is a non-profit organization, and all Coming Together authors and editors have generously donated their talents to various causes. Compensation for inclusion in this work is a PDF contributor copy of the finished product and your name on Santa’s Nice List (or Naughty, if that’s your preference). You retain all rights to your story. All proceeds go to Project Linus, which provides home-made blankets and hats to children in crisis.

Questions? Email me at delilahnight@gmail.com

Contest

The first five (5) readers who share the submission call on their websites will get a ten dollar usd ($10 usd) donation to the charity of their choice. I’ll also send you a pdf copy of your choice of the four Coming Together anthologies to which I’ve contributed—Coming Together: For the Holidays, Coming Together: Among the Stars, Coming Together: Strange Shifters, or Coming Together: Keeping Warm.

My link is posted here at the Erotica Readers and Writers Association, and I have a dedicated page on my website. You can cut and paste the call, or write a short blog entry about why you would encourage people to submit to the anthology (feel free to cut and paste/use any information and photos I’ve used in this post and then add a link to the call).

Email me at delilahnight@gmail.com with a link to your post and the name of your charity (no political or religious organizations). I’ll provide you with a screenshot to prove that I’ve made the donation.