Tiffany M. Davis

I had a recent conversation with a dear friend, about a project she wished to undertake and the concerns about paying for it. While we were on the subject, we talked about how crowdfunding has been so overused and abused (I wrote about it in a previous post), that the people who would benefit from it are now at cross purposes because people are loathe to contribute. Then I had a lightbulb: perhaps I could use my writing to help her.

Writers helping others in need isn’t anything new. Acclaimed fantasy writer Terry Brooks gathered a group of fellow fantasy writers to produce Unfettered, a collection of short stories. The sales of this book went toward relieving the debt of author Shawn Speakman, who had accrued massive medical debt for treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This was a cool way of using one’s job, so to speak, to do a solid for not only another person in general, but for a member of one’s tribe.

My thoughts are to write a short story, which is not one of my strongest writing forms, and have the proceeds going toward her project. Of course, I’m nervous: my book isn’t even out yet, and who’s to say that the short story will take off (or even that the book will)? How will I fit this story into the other writing projects I have in the near future (finishing the first draft of book #2, Camp NaNoWriMo, Clarion Write-A-Thon)?

To help a friend, I will be forced to step up my game. I have to be better. And that’s a good thing.

Thanks for stopping by.