Y’all, my soul is exhausted. There’s absolutely no other way to describe how I’ve been feeling lately. If you’ve been feeling similarly, know that you aren’t alone.

I’ve been putting little bits of energy into places where I feel like I can make a difference while acknowledging that I don’t have much to give right now. 

Chasing Ember

While I was paralyzed with overwhelm, a few members of the NC Indies Discord community sprang into action pulling together their collective experiences organizing charity anthologies and charity auctions. It was amazing to see them working in real time to make these two projects happen (the auction alone raised more than $23,600). 

The server’s excitement was contagious and I signed up to submit a short story to the romance anthology. This is the first anthology I’ll be a part of and probably the one that will always mean the most to me.

Chasing Ember is a contemporary romance that I cobbled together from large chunks of an abandoned project. Saving shelved work and using it for future projects is a common practice among writers. Very little of an author’s work is ever truly dead. 

Though heavily revised, the first two scenes came from the project that got me dabbling in creative writing again (Any writing, really, because I mostly stopped after my son was born). It was the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and I was stuck at home with a preschool-aged child. I needed a creative outlet for my anxiety and depression and the unmanageable symptoms of my then-undiagnosed ADHD.

That project never went anywhere. It didn’t have much of a plot or compelling conflict and I eventually hit a wall and didn’t know where to take it. But it gave me a chance to dive back into narrative writing after at least 20 years away. 

I’ve cannibalized a lot of my old projects but never to this extent. I also pulled a lot more inspiration from real life experiences than I usually do. Doing both allowed me to be a part of this fundraising effort while being mindful of my own mental health. I’m happy something that brought me a little bit of joy during a really hard time in my life could potentially do the same for others.

Singer-songwriter Jackson Hunter returned to the Blue Ridge Mountains to recapture the magic that inspired the angsty music of his youth. Yoga studio owner Siena Chase just needed a break from her entrepreneurship struggles. When a runaway mutt breaks free from her leash, she sets these two humans down a path headed for a little change and a little more love. 

To Appalachia with Love

With six anthologies to choose from, readers have the opportunity to access one digital anthology for every $10 donated directly to one of the chosen nonprofits. A $50 donation gets readers access to all of them. All that’s needed is a copy of the donation receipt. 

Organizers are anticipating a mid November release for all the anthologies. 

Visit the NC Indie Authors website to see a list of all the participating authors and all of the amazing organizations to donate to.