HELP THE ELF: I Found Santa’s Missing Nice List!

Hi everyone! As you may remember, a few weeks ago PETE the Elf had a touch too much Eggnog at the Holiday Christmas Party and as he stumbled home, he lost Santa's NICE LIST.

The North Wind scattered the papers to all four corners of the world, and The Bookshelf Muse put out a call to help find them in order to SAVE CHRISTMAS.

Ever since I read about it, I've been on the lookout. And then today, EUREKA!

Yes that's right...I found part of Santa's missing NICE LIST. There it was, fluttering in the wind, half caught under the corner of my welcome mat. And shock of all shocks, I recognized the name, and I bet you will too.

Here it is below:

NAME: Candace Ganger

LOCATION: Lost in Candyland

NICE LEVEL: 98.6%

NAUGHTY LEVEL: 100%

OBSERVATIONS: Candace is jaded, but she's the good kind of jaded, where she doesn't take spit from anybody, cracks the best jokes, and has no problem sharing a virtual beer with a friend who needs one.

RECOMMENDATION:

a) Coal                   b) Gift - an ebook copy of Open Minds, by Susan Quinn

~ ~ * ~ ~

Because poor Pete is dashing all over the place trying to hunt down the rest of Santa's missing Nice List, I decided to handle this one. Candace, I'm so proud to call you my friend! Enjoy the gift I sent to your inbox and have a wonderful Christmas! Booyah.

Photo credit: assorted gold baubles (christmasstockimages.com) / CC BY 3.0

A Friend in Need

It's like 4 AM. I'm sitting here at work, because I came in to cover for the overnight guy, and I keep nodding off, but I can't stop thinking about my friend, Candace.

The Misadventures in Candyland is my all time favorite blog. Hands down. It's the funniest, bravest, most honest thing I've ever read. I dearly miss reading her posts every day, like I used to get to do. Candace has been going through some rough times, lately, with a very difficult pregnancy, and .... well, it's not really my place to put her business up on my blog, but you should go read her post.

Like now.

I already sent her something to try to help, but I would really like it if some of you could lend a hand as well. If everyone who normally leaves a comment here could send Candace and her family even just one dollar, for her wonderful children, Lillihammer, and the Sullinator, it would probably be enough to carry them through to the next paycheck.

I can promise you this is not a scam, and is 100% genuine. Candace gives a lot of her time and effort to a lot of good causes, and because of tough times, this time the cause is her kids. So please, if you can afford to do anything to help, please do.

And if you can't, Candace's blog is still an incredibly entertaining, but also informative place to visit.

You can read about:

How Fartypants are a necessity for getting the Party Starty, or

Why landing an agent is not a Unicorn Toot, or

Just a little bit of Christmas Random, or

Pretty much any post Candace has ever written. She will make you laugh. Promise.

Candylandgang, out.

A to the Cizzle

What are you doing here? Don't you know the A to Z blogfest is going on right now? I've got too many things going on, so I couldn't take part, but it is awesome, and many of my best blogging friends are hosting it. I only have two important posts this week, so the rest of the days I will be pointing you to a post you should be reading instead of mine.

Today you should go to Misadventures in Candyland, and read about some crap.

I Heart Candy Like a Cuban Hearts Miami

What does it mean to be a friend? Can you love someone you've never met?

These are questions I sometimes ask myself as I ponder this fleeting thing called life. When I want to know the answers I think about my good friend Candace Ganger.

We were having a discussion the other day over on my buddy Bryan's blog about strong female characters who do not give up their femininity. I made a comment that the two attributes that I consider strongest are courage and honesty, and that these are by no means masculine traits.

Candace is the most honest person I know. Her courage to share the truth about her life, and the joy and suffering that comes with it, knows no bounds. She often posts the raw deep truth about what she thinks and feels on her blog and I am honestly often shocked by how brave this woman is. I've always considered myself a very open, honest and righteous dude, but these traits don't shine nearly as bright for me as they do for Candace.

Before I go on, and it's not my place to go into why I'm writing about my friend today, please go visit her blog, the Misadventures in Candyland, become a follower, and read her posts. Go ahead, check the archive, you will NOT be disappointed.

...

You back? Did you read this one? What about this one? And this, this and this?

See what I mean? I've never known a person who can be so funny and so brutally honest at the same time. I can't quite put a finger on what makes Candace so great, it's difficult for me to put into words, but I think the best way that I can say it is that she is so motherfunkin human. So kind, so real, so damn funny, and so everloving beautiful (yes Erik, she is also very pretty but that's not what I meant).

Candace, we love you. We need you in our lives. We can't get enough. Here's a video just for you (only Candace is going to have any idea what this has to do with anything, and that's just fine):

If Candace inspires you too, or even if you've never heard of her but you think that courage, honesty, and an incredibly deep wealth of philanthropic giving is an example worth emulating, then you should really visit these other blogs. All of these people are good friends of mine, but this isn't about us, it's about how much Candace has touched each of our lives, and how much we hope and pray that she finds all the success, happiness, literary representation, and New Medicine she deserves:

Jessica Bell

Jen Daiker

Lenny Lee

Sharon Mayhew

WE GOT YOU!

Operation J2tW

I have nothing cool, hilarious or profound to say today so instead I'm going to direct all of you to something that is much more awesome and important than anything I could ever say, too bad it can't be hilarious too, right?

Most of you probably already know but if you don't here it is: My good friend Candace Ganger (at least her blog is normally hilarious) from The Misadventures in Candyland is holding just about the coolest contest ever. Yes the prizes are great and one of them is even a critique and special blog post promoting you from yours truly but the thing that really makes this contest great is the cause it means to support.

The following is from an interview Candace gave to my new bud Rose Cooper, because who can say it better than the lady herself:

Today through July 31st, I'm running the "I Heart Joy Like BR80" contest on my blog, The Misadventures In Candyland. Inspired by New Medicine bassist, Matt Brady (hence the BR80), and his HUGE heart via his work with the non-profit Joy 2 the World, my goal is to raise as much money and awareness.

Joy 2 the World generates micro-loans for the women and girls of Ghana, West Africa to help empower them. It's a huge thing to be able to make something of yourself and take care of your family. And for them, having clean water is even an issue-something a lot of us take for granted.

With my contest, everyone wins and there's FOUR ways to enter: Donate, Create, Buy or Listen. For all the details, on what that means, please go to my blog!

The prizes so far are AMAZING. Aside from Rose's generous donation, Michelle Wolfson, Sean Ferrell, T.H. Mafi and Tawna Fenske just a few of the names contributing. I'll continue to add prizes as they come in, and the more you enter, the more you can win. From gift cards to books to critiques and even a conference call so far.

So please enter! Spread the word! And help make history! If you choose the BUY or the LISTEN options of entering, you don't come out empty handed, and the difference you'll be making in these women's lives is priceless.

Here is a more detailed list of the prizes and who is offering them:

* (5) winners will be invited to attend a private webinar + query, synopsis + 5 page critique with superagent Natalie Fischer
* 30 minute phone call with superagent Michelle Wolfson
* 3 chapter tandem critique by authors Tawna Fenske & Cynthia Reese
* "Lost Dog," "Chasing Smoke" and "Day One" autographed book set donated by author Bill Cameron
* A copy of "NUMB" + 50 page critique by author Sean Ferrell
* A copy edit of your ms by supereditor Gretchen Stelter
* "We Hear the Dead" tee + ms critique by author Dianne Salerni
* Query letter + 3 chapter critique + special pre-order of "Across the Universe" by author Beth Revis
* One of (4) signed prints, (1) signed original, and (2) query critiques donated by author Rose Cooper
* One of (3) $25 Amazon Gift Cards + (1) 10 page critique donated by author T.H. Mafi
* Query, synopsis and 5 page critique donated by author Carrie Harris
* Query critique by author Matthew Rush
* ARC of "Dead Beautiful" by Yvonne Woon donated by Candyland
* MORE PRIZES TO COME!

So obviously this is only my own oversimplified lazy version of an announcement about the coolest thing going on in the blogoshpere but please make sure to visit Candyland in general, but also the specific post about the contest for more info. There are lots of other bloggers talking about this right now as well, so don't feel like you can only get your Joy 2 The World news here.

Go out, spread love, pay it forward, and Babylon shall fall!