That, Dear Readers, is a beautiful story.

The Office of Letters and Light sponsors a Young Reader's Program that encourages children and teens to write.  To use their imaginations.  To fall in love with the written word.  To create with wild abandon.  And is there anything more beautiful than that?

All donations made to this page will go to the OLL's Young Reader's Program and to children and educators around the country.  OLL also puts on NaNoWriMo, an even that I've participated in for the past five years.  It's a whole month that encourages writers to put aside their excuses, put aside their fears, put aside everything that stands in the way and just WRITE.  Not for the sake of getting published or wowing anyone or changing the litterary landscape, but for its own sake.  To write just because WE CAN, and because that's such a mind-bogglingly beautiful thing. 

And I supposed I should admit, I'm also raising money here for the Night of Writing Dangerously.  In mid-November, anyone who raises more than $250 will get invited to a write-a-thon in San Francisco, which is not only my favorite party all year, but held in my favorite town.  200 odd drunk and/or sugar-high writers will gather with laptops and notebooks in tow to spend hours writing, bragging about their word counts, and furiously attemping to outdo each other in scribbles put down on paper.  There's an open bar.  There are silly hats.  There are smores donuts.

Any amount of donation will help, and there's so many reasons to do it.  If you don't care about getting me to the donuts, the kids will still appreciate all your help. 

Thank you all,

Whitley.