Better known as the post I have deliberately been shuffling my feet towards writing because I wanted to make a few key people wait. Probably not the nicest thing I’ve ever done. Moving on.

For anyone who missed it, Joshua Harkin and the Wicked Nightmare King is now available for purchase on Amazon. That’s a tidbit of information that still makes me want to weep in a mix of joy and terror; joy because ohcrapohcrap I’m a published author (though that point was made true earlier this year, but not in terms of being a published author who has a book available), and terror because I’m already stockpiling comfort food for my first one-star review. Ben & Jerry will be my two closest friends, and I will run the risk of becoming the hippopotamus requested for Christmas in what I still consider to be one of the worst holiday jingles ever written.

Winning this publishing contract has been a great thing for me. It’s a step towards my dream of being able to say I’m a writer for a living, or at least for part of my living, and I’m still sort of in that weird state of disbelief.

I’m not a writer for the money, however. While making boatloads of cash from my work would be pretty amazing (and I am still searching for the right eccentric billionaire to help provide for my wild and crazy delusions), my goal is to create awesome things and find ways to share those awesome things with other people. Bonus points if people really like things I create and double bonus points if I somehow inspire someone to go out and create their own art. Honestly, if anyone ever feels inspired by my writing please let me know. I would likely explode from an excess of happiness. The point is that I want to use this as an opportunity to do something good with something good that has happened to me, and so for as long as Joshua Harkin and the Wicked Nightmare King is available for purchase on Amazon (both in Kindle and Paperback formats) I will donate 50% of any money I earn from it to the American Cancer Society.

I chose the American Cancer Society for two very substantial reasons. One: I, thanks to Brianne and her lovely Sylvan coworkers, have become involved in Relay for Life and I feel like I should be doing some good outside of this once-a-year-event (although I cannot speak highly enough of Relay for Life and I encourage others to check it out as they are all over the place). Two: some of the most important people in my life have either had cancer or have been affected by it in some way, and without those people I would not be who I am today. Without their encouragement and kindness (as well as endless patience with me shoving pages of whatever I’m working on at them and demanding they read and tell me what they think), I would not be the writer who I am today. As such, I will provide updates on how much I have donated thanks to the books sold whenever possible. This has been a very positive experience so far; I want to make it the most positive experience possible (especially, perhaps, because I’ve been told I’ll eventually grow jaded with writing and I’m a beast of spite and proving people wrong).

The other 50% I earn will probably go towards things like groceries and rent, but I will occasionally use it for writing supplies. Printer ink isn’t getting any cheaper.

And since this is the season of giving, I’d also like to suggest one of the best Christmas gifts anyone could give: a donation to the American Cancer Society.

Lastly, and probably least of all, it’s really awkward when people tell me they’re giving my book as a Christmas present (this has happened a handful of times now). To those of you doing so: thank you, but you are showing someone you don’t love them by giving them that book. I kid, of course. Buy them ten copies to show them how you really love them.