SUSAN KAYE QUINN

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Holiday Celebration: A Week of Llamas!

Because one day of llamas is not enough.

I was inspired last year by Nathan Bransford to host a holiday charity drive to help Heifer International. This wonderful charity gives meaningful gifts of hope to hungry families around the world through livestock, training, and other assistance. Heifer deploys the idea Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime into the world and gives people sustainable hope for a better future – for them, for their children, for their communities.

Plus there’s llamas!

Here’s the THREE PART scoop:

1) Commenting-for-Llamas: For every comment made to this post, I will donate $1 to Heifer International, up to a maximum of $150 – at $150 we can purchase a llama!! In your comment, you must tell us your Holiday Wish – it can be silly or serious, grandiose or small, but it must be a true wish. After all, those are the best kind.
2) Donating-for-Llamas: I will match every donation made through my Team Heifer account WRITERS GIVE HOPE. If you are so moved by the adorableness of llamas, please donate (click here or on my sidebar) through my Team Heifer account, so I can match your donation. I will match up to $300 – that’s TWO MORE LLAMAS. We’re going to have a whole herd (pack? passel? gaggle?) going here …

3) Who’s Your Llama? Grand Prize: As if the feel goodness of commenting-for-llamas and donating-for-llamas isn’t enough, I will also be giving away this (in either children’s or adult sizes):

Now, you’ll have to work a bit to be entered in the contest for the prized Who’s Your Llama t-shirt – along with your Holiday Wish comment, tell me if: 1) you are a new follower or 2) you have tweeted, blogged, facebooked, or otherwise spread the word about the Holiday Celebration. 

Honor system, people! (It’s the holidays and I trust you.)

I want as many people as possible to get in on the Llama action!
DETAILS: Contest runs until December 21st (Tuesday) – Extended to December 22nd (Wednesday 6pm) to coincide with Nathan Bransford’s awesome comment-a-thon.
At 6pm Wed, I will be announcing the Who’s Your Llama winner and making donations. Check back for further llama fun during the contest and invite everyone you know to the party! 

UPDATE: Comment-o-rama is complete! Thanks and please see here.

Comments

  2. Great idea. One of my wishes is for every child to have a wish fulfilled! We are very involved in Save the Children, and have a fun correspondence going where he draws us pictures and we draw him lots of pictures back, all with notes. Good times, even for my older sons, who love to write in Spanish (our pen pal is from Bolivia).
    Good luck with the llama project.

  3. Yay LLamas!

    My wish, duh, is for an agent for Christmas, but it looks like Santa is going to disappoint again this year. Maybe for Easter?

    Thanks for doing this, Susan. Heifer is a great organization. Merry Christmas!

  5. One of my favourite charities! And I haven't given my donation yet this year – until now. 🙂 Happy to help.

    And my Christmas wish is that all the people in my family and my wife's family have a great year – for a bunch, it's been a crazy year full of difficult challenges and life changes, and my wish is that it's all for the better.

    Plus, some writing success wouldn't hurt, either. 🙂

  6. @Beth Thanks for stopping by!

    @Catherine I love child-centric charities! Good for you guys. 🙂

    @Down the well Thanks for coming on over. And I hope your agent dreams come true. 🙂

    @Queen Welcome! And thanks for spreading the word!!

    @Bryan The Llama Thanks You! 🙂 I wish for a year of calm success for you and yours. You deserve it!

  7. Susan, you're awesome to get involved with this. I LOVE Heifer International and what they do! (I had a long post defending it…thought better.) You rock. If there's anything else I can do yo help, let me know! Llama-licious peace on earth to all people.

  8. @K. Marie Thank you – for your support of Heifer and the post! There will always be someone out there with a less-than-karmic opinion. No worries!

    Llama-licious has become my new label. 🙂

  9. I love Heifer International. My kids bought a flock of chickens one year for my mother's day present and it's become kind of a tradition.

    And those t-shirts are great!

  10. I forgot to tell you my wish!

    I've found that the wishes made for others are even stronger than the wishes we make for ourselves, so…my wish is for my husband to get the promotion that he's been wanting at work.

  11. I just love this! And the tees are adorable. What a great cause. I'm tweeting about this and my wish is for endless creativity and inspiration for all my writer friends. 🙂

    THanks, Sue! 🙂

  12. @Sherrie – I hope your wish comes true! And I love the flock of chickens idea … 😉

    @PK Thanks for the tweet! And I'm going to need some of that creativity this weekend as I push through the last of my MS edits. 🙂

  13. Susan,

    Our family drew names for our gift exchange this year and when my brother-in-law asked what I wanted for my gift, I told him about Heifer International. He donated $20 at your team's site for my gift. I love it! Best gift ever.

  20. @Jennifer Thanks for stopping by! And in happy coincidence, I just received your book in the mail! I won it in PKHerzo's giveaway – just in time to snuggle up for Christmas. Thanks for being for the Llama! 🙂

  23. Yes, llamas! I wish for creativity and lots of llamas!

    I'm tweeting and facebooking about your llamas.

    Here's wishing you a llamalicious Christmas. 🙂

  25. I saw LeishaMaw's Facebook post and remembered seeing an ad for Heifer International on Hulu so I figured I'd comment so you'll donate.

  27. hi miss susan! i just got done with tests and now i just saw you got this cool llamalove stuff going so for sure i could want to be part of it. we know about heifer so we could know it a really good thing. my brothers gonna do a donation.
    …big llamangous hugs from lenny

  31. Yay! This is llamalicious! 🙂 I'm a new follower, but doing my best to spread the cheer (thanks for commenting on my blog, too). I've been a fan of Heifer for probably six years–gave donations in the names of my (then) 12 nieces and nephews for Christmas the first year I discovered it. My wish? Aside from ending world hunger? To have e-publishing success like @jakonrath! 🙂 Cheers!

  33. @Robyn Thanks for the follow and the Heifer support! And good luck with your e-publishing success – I saw your website and it looks like you are on your way! 🙂

    @Anna Ah! I completely forgot the llama in New Groove!! Thanks for coming by! 🙂

  36. Awesome llama drama! I'm doing the Heifer Challenge on my blog, too.

    My holiday wish is for all writers to find acceptance in a form that is meaningful to them in the next year.

    And yes, I've blogged AND tweeted about the Holiday Celebration. Love the llama shirt!

  37. @Ami Thanks for the blog and tweet love and for stopping by! And I love your wish – makes me think about what my New Years resolutions should be! Thanks for joining the challenge!

  38. Just donated $10 through the button on your sidebar. Great cause and thanks for participating in the challenge.
    Holiday wish is the same every year – I wish for health and happiness for my family and friends.

  41. Donating to Heifer International this week was one of the funnest things I've done. I bought someone a flock of geese, a flock of ducks, a flock of chickens, a bunch of honeybees, and some trees. Yippee! I'm still glowing from the feeling.

    And now I'm helping to buy a Llamma. Very cool. 🙂 And very cool of you for doing this, Susan.

    My wish is for prosperity for all, and not just material prosperity, but all kinds of prosperity! I include you in that wish, Susan of course. 🙂 Happy Holidays to you and your family!

  42. @Steph I hope your wish comes true! Thanks for stopping by!

    @Mira WOW, you have a whole ecosystem going there! Awesome for you! Thanks for stopping by and helping the llama! I hope your 2011 is happy and productive! 🙂

  43. I LOVE the llama shirts! My students (5th and 6th grade) are constant singers of their version of the llama Oh yes, they are.

    My holiday wish – to give more of myself emotionally.

    Also, I blogged the fundraiser and am participating, as you know. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by my blog to comment!

  45. Fun! Not sure how I missed this until today. At least I didn't miss it completely. I'll go put a link on my FB now. Yay llamas! As for my wish…maybe just that I'll raise enough money to be able to make it to ACFW this year and that someone in the biz will fall in love with my story. I'd put something about actually finishing said story in there, but that's not a wish, that's something I WILL DO!

  46. @Gretchen The llama's appeal to the 5th and 6th graders seems universal! And what a wonderful wish to have – thanks for stopping by! 🙂

    @Alexia I'm with you on that wish, Alexia!

    @Erynn I like your positive thinking! (and I'm still working on those crits, promise!) I'm glad you caught the llama fun before it was over!! Thanks for the FB love!

  50. @Jackee Merry Christmas! 😉

    @Don Thanks for stopping by! 🙂 Come back in the New Year, and we'll have more writerly fun.

  54. @DG Thank you! Merry Christmas to you and yours! 🙂

    @Monica Thanks for stopping by!

    @Megan It was llama-licious fun! 🙂

  56. @erica Noooo! Don't eat the llama! LOL I'm pretty sure they use them for wool and milk. Thanks for stopping by! Merry Christmas!

About Susan

Susan Kaye Quinn is PhD Environmental Engineer turned spec fic author who writes hopeful climate fiction & solarpunk.
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Find Sue on Blue Sky, Mastodon, and her blog. She also hosts the Bright Green Futures podcast.
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