A.M. Freeman on her blog Lost in La-La-Land made an interesting proposal: Save a Life, Get a Free Book. Here’s how it begins:

For over a decade, Bonnie Oliver has gone from doctor to doctor seeking answers to her worsening physical and neurological symptoms. It has been a long and wearisome road, and her family has had to watch as her health declined to the point where, at only 28 years of age, she can no longer leave her home unaided, and even then for only short periods of time.

You can click the link I provided above to learn the rest, but suffice it to say, Bonnie needs a lot of everyone’s help right now.

That blog post was published on the 11th, but I learned about this several days earlier here: Submission Call for Charity Anthology: Impossible Hope.

That’s right, writers. Submit a story to the “Impossible Hope” anthology and contribute to saving a life by doing something you love.

Again, click the link for details, but the soft deadline for submissions is March 13th and the maximum word count, which is also fluid, is 15,000 words. Other requirements include:

1. Your story must be hope inspiring. Our theme is “overcoming great trials”.
2. You must have the rights to the story and be willing to donate the story for use in our anthology, Impossible Hope.
3. Depending on the quantity and quality of stories received, not all may be accepted.
4. Once Bonnie’s surgery is funded, we plan to publish the book and have the proceeds go to funding Ehlers-Danlos Society for the benefit of those like Bonnie. https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/.
5. The stories can be in any genre. Non-fiction would be great as well! Do you have a real story where you’ve overcome something in your life, medical or otherwise? Write it up and send it in! The story can be any length. The writer can be anyone. It doesn’t matter if you have or haven’t been published before.

I already had a story on tap that I thought would be appropriate, and after a few days of hard editing, I submitted it. My short story “The Switchman’s Lantern” has been accepted as an early entry for the anthology.

Like I said, click the links, get all the details, wrestle with your soul if you must, and then if you desire, write a short story for submission to the “Impossible Hope” anthology. I have a feeling some really good tales are going to come out of this one.

Go to A.M. Freeman’s site for more and especially if you have any questions I might not be able to answer.

Thank you for your time and consideration. Oh, and if you want to donate or learn more details about Bonnie’s surgery, it’s all on her GoFundMe page.

“You can’t do a kindness too soon – you never know when it’ll be too late.” -Anonymous