Gemma Halliday's Charity Auction to Help a Homeless Teen!‏

If there is one thing that any writer loves, it’s her readers. Without readers, we’d be nothing. Last summer I did a series of library talks, and during one of these I had the pleasure of meeting a super sweet, sixteen-year-old reader named Katy. She said she and her mother, Elizabeth, had read all my books and were huge fans. I liked her immediately. :) Katy is an aspiring author and illustrator, and even brought me the cutest laminated drawing of Maddie, the main character in my High Heels books! How cool is that?

Fast forward a few months – just before Christmas of this year, Katy and her mother became homeless. They were evicted from their apartment and have been living in hotel rooms (when they’ve been lucky) or their car (when they’ve not been so lucky) since then. Katy has been blogging about life on the streets, and you can read all about how this incredibly sweet mother and daughter ended up in this situation here: http://destinationanywherebuthere.blogspot.com/ As Katy states on her blog, "Homelessness has many faces. And sometimes it happens to have a computer." Both Katy and her mother seem to have very positive outlooks, but it’s clear they’re in some real trouble. Which is where we come in. I’ve teamed up with Haven Rich at Romantic Inks to put together an auction to help get Katy and her mom back on their feet. We’re auctioning off a ton of cool stuff including manuscript critiques from published authors and agents, graphic and website design, tarot card readings, artwork, jewelry, handmade quilts, toys, spa sets, collectibles, and tons and tons of rare and autographed books! All proceeds from the auction will go directly to Katy and her mother. I’m personally auctioning off the chance to name a character in my next book, SCANDAL SHEET, after the person of the winner’s choice! (check it out here: http://romanticinks.com/auction/2009/01/2135-name-a-character-gemma-halliday/) And my fabulous editor, Leah Hultenschmidt, is not only kicking in a full set of autographed High Heels books, but she’s also auctioning a 1/2 hour phone call to pitch or ask her anything about publishing! How cool is that?! (check her item out here: http://romanticinks.com/auction/2009/01/2403-30-minute-phone-pitch-to-leah-hultenschmidt-editor-dorchester-publishing/) The auction runs from January 19th (today!!!) to Jan 26th. To see all the items up for bid, just go to http://romanticinks.com/auction/. So, feel free to blog about the auction, tell your friends, spread the word, and come bid generously on a ton of really great stuff to help out a really wonderful mother/daughter pair! ~Gemma

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