The 2012 Compilation is Available Now!

The 2012 Fandom for Preemies Compilation has officially gone out to donors!

Everyone working behind the scenes would like to thank you for your hard work and dedication. Some of you have been with Fandom for Preemies from the beginning, and we could not be more appreciative of your partnership! For those of you new to the fight: welcome! We could not do what we do without your support and assistance. You are the reason Fandom for Preemies has helped the March of Dimes raise over $9,000.00 and counting during this and past cycles of the fundraiser. That is an amazing accomplishment, and it is yours! Congratulations!

Stories in the Compilation include:

Things Unsaid (An EVER Outtake) by Jessa Russo
Big Brother to the Rescue by Kay Froebel
Accidental Babies by Babypups Whitlock
Found: Prologue by Chelle Lynn
Fall: Prologue by A.K. Morgen
Three Truths Outtake from Discordia
The Wishing Tower by Lisa Collicutt
and more!

If you have not donated and would like to do so, we will be accepting all donations made to the March of Dimes through January 1st, 2013. Your friends, family, and fellow readers can donate at: http://marchofdimes.com or to the Fandom for Preemies virtual band at: http://www.marchofdimes.com/prematurity/b_new.asp?band_id=63402.

Once complete, they will forward their confirmation receipt (minus any personal details they do not wish to share such as name, address, etc) to us at fandomforpreemies at gmail dot com. We do it this way so everyone who donates knows right away that their donations have gone directly to the March of Dimes.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let us know.

And thank you again, from all of us, for your hard work. We'd also like to pass along the thanks of the March of Dimes. They've reached out to us often since Fandom for Preemies began in 2010 to thank everyone involved in Fandom for Preemies for their hardwork and dedication.

 

All the best,
Your FFP Team Captains
Ayden, Andy, Jen, Leah, Lisa, and Marita

Why We Fight #preemies #worldprematurityday

In Honor of Preemies Everywhere

Hello everyone!

Today is World Prematurity Day and we would like to encourage each of you to take a moment today to remember the preemies we have lost, and honor those still fighting by making a donation to the March of Dimes.

The latest update on prematurity across the globe is not pleasant. When we began Fandom for Preemies two years ago, 13 million children were born prematurely each year. In the last two years, that number has risen by 2 million. That's right. This year alone, 15 million children will be born prematurely. 1.2 million (up from 1 million in 2010) of them will not survive. Equally as heartbreaking: pre-term birth is now the second leading cause of death in children under the age of five.

To put this into perspective:

• More children die simply because they were born early than die from cancer, car accidents, and heart failure.
• 1.2 million is more than the population of Wyoming, Washington D.C., Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, and Rhode Island.
• Over 50% of these children (the entire population of Washington D.C. or the state of Wyoming) could have been saved had they had access to adequate healthcare.

Clearly, the fight is not over and we are needed now more than ever before.

$5 is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the costs preemies will incur this year. It's one cup of coffee from Starbucks. Less than the cost of one take-out meal at most fast food restaurants. Less than one gallon of gas in many areas. But that $5 can make a difference. It already is.

Despite the rise in pre-term births across the globe, there is good news.

Just a few short years ago, an infant born at 24 weeks gestation had only a 20% chance of survival. With access to adequate healthcare, that chance of survival is now at an all-time high: 50 to 60% of infants born at 24 weeks gestation survive. The survival rate of a micro-preemie receiving care at a high-level NICU is now 30 to 50% higher than those receiving care in a traditional NICU.

Just last week, Ayden was able to talk with the family of twins born at 22 weeks gestation. That means Mom was only 5 and a half months pregnant when she gave birth. A few short years ago, these little ones would not have survived. In fact, a few short years ago, most doctors would not have even attempted to save their lives. Last week, both twins were six days old and still fighting.

That is amazing, and with your help, the survival rate will continue to increase.

If you haven't already, please make your donation to the March of Dimes (or a similar organization fighting in your nation) today. Once done, forward your confirmation to fandomforpreemies@gmail.com so we can send you a copy of the compilation our authors are putting together to say thanks for your commitment to preemies everywhere.

You can make a difference. And we cannot wait to welcome you to the fight.

All the best,

Your Team Captains

(Ayden, Andy, Jen, Leah, Lisa, and Marita)

The March of Dimes, a 501(c)3 non-profit, works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. The organization carries out this mission through research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies' lives. March of Dimes researchers, volunteers, educators, outreach workers and advocates work together to give all babies a fighting chance against the threats to their health: prematurity, birth defects, low birthweight.

Fandom for Preemies and the Iron Pen Challenge

In case you haven't already heard, Fandom for Preemies has teamed up with the Iron Pen Challenge to provide authors even more ways to get involved this November!

The Iron Pen Challenge is a 60 minute writing contest. Challengers base their entry off of a secret ingredient given at the beginning of the hour. The winner is determined by a team of judges and will win an autographed copy of FADE by A.K. Morgen.

The Fandom for Preemies edition of the Iron Pen Challenge begins on November 10th. You can sign up to participate here. Before you do that however, keep reading.

We are so excited to announce that authors participating in the Iron Pen Challenge can sign up for the Write-a-Thon to help raise money for the March of the Dimes.

Here's how it works:

Challengers have the option of collecting a group of people (pledgers) to donate to March of Dimes on their behalf depending on how much the challenger writes during the challenge. For example: Susie pledges to donate 1 cent for every 100 words Bob writes during the challenge. Bob writes 1000 words, so Susie donates $10.

The challenger who collects the most donations based on their entry will receive a $10 Amazon Giftcard.

Sounds like fun, right?

We hope you'll sign on to participate in the Challenge and/or the Write-a-Thon! You can find more information at: http://ironpenchallenge.com/.

Don't think you'll be able to participate in the Challenge? No worries! We still have room for you in the Compilation. Your story can be original fiction or fanfiction of any length or genre. Don't have time to write something new? Send us that short story collecting dust, a chapter of your current WIP or an upcoming novel. Heck, we even love excerpts and sneak peeks!

Click on SIGN UP above to sign on to help us raise money for the March of Dimes as they fight to end prematurity, birth defects, and infant mortality around the world!

Welcome to the fight,

Your Team Captains

Author Sign Ups has Begun!

This fall, Fandom for Preemies will once again support the March of Dimes as the organization fights to end preterm birth and infant death across the globe. Each year, 13 million children are born too soon, and 1 million of them will not survive their first year. One in four will suffer serious life-long medical complications that jeopardize their chance for a normal childhood.

 

From October 1st to November 20th, fanfiction and original fiction authors, as well as graphic artists, can sign on to help support the cause by writing a story, donating a raffle item, or volunteering to make a banner for authors. The sign-up link is: http://fandomforpreemies.blogspot.com/p/sign-up.html. Remember, we don't turn anyway away so long as submissions meet basic requirements which can be found on the Guidelines page of the website.

 

Anyone who donates a minimum of $5 to the March of Dimes through November 30th and forwards their receipt to fandomforpreemies@gmail.com will receive a compilation of stories, as well as be entered into random giveaways of raffle items, such as autographed books, etc. Donations can be made to the Fandom for Preemies virtual band on the March of Dimes website here: http://www.marchofdimes.com/prematurity/b_new.asp?band_id=63402, or via any other donation method to the March of Dimes (http://marchofdimes.com).

 

For more information, please follow us @Fandom4Preemies or email us at fandomforpreemies@gmail.com.
 

 

xoxo,

Ayden

An Open Letter to Authors from @AKMorgen

Dear Authors,

Each year, writers and artists from around the world put their talents to work to help support the March of Dimes as they work to end prematurity and cure birth defects, and I'd like to extend a personal invitation to each of you to get involved. This is a cause very near and dear to me, both as the aunt of three preemies and as a volunteer coordinator for an organization that does everything possible to keep families together while their children fight serious medical issues like prematurity.

I cannot wait until we kick off this cycle of Fandom for Preemies on October 1st. We've teamed up with the Iron Pen Challenge this time around, and will be allowing everyone to get involved in bigger ways than before. We want this year's fundraiser to be our biggest ever, but we need your help to do it.

Yes, yours.

Authors and artists like you are very much the driving force behind the Fandom for Preemies cause. Each cycle, authors from all walks of life and all corners of the world sign on to donate a short story or chapter of a novel, which is then compiled into a huge anthology. Artists sign on to collaborate with authors to create a banner that represents their story so each piece has awesome visual representation in the anthology, too.

Anyone who donates a minimum of $5 to the March of Dimes from October 15th to December 1st receives the entire anthology, chock full of stories from popular published authors to hobby writers to those who write fanfiction or poetry. No one with a desire to help is left out, making Fandom for Preemies a truly collaborative effort in the writing community to help support a global organization doing everything it can to save the lives of the most fragile babies in every nation.

Rest assured, donors don't send us a dime. They make their contribution on the March of Dimes website via a virtual band established in honor of preemies everywhere or through another donation method, ensuring that every penny of every donation goes directly to the March of Dimes to use where needed most.

What the March of Dimes helps the medical field accomplish is nothing short of miraculous. When my nephew was born over three months early seven years ago, his lungs were incredibly damaged. So much so, he required the use of a ventilator twenty-four hours a day for years. When he came home on a portable ventilator for the first time six years ago, he was one of only 170 children in the entire state fortunate enough to live outside of the hospital with such critical respiratory needs. Today, there are over 450 young children like him in Arkansas alone living at home with their families instead of languishing in hospitals and long-term care facilities.

I share his story often, and gratefully. Ten years ago, preemies with his issues didn't survive, let alone live at home with their families and experience a normal childhood. Thanks to the March of Dimes, that's changing the world over.

Sadly though, prematurity is still very much misunderstood and overlooked by the general public. The average person doesn't realize that premature birth can happen to anyone and for no reason at all. In fact, there is no known cause of the majority of preterm births, 500,000 of which happen in the United States alone each year. These children are your neighbors' kids, your friends' kids, or maybe even your kids. World-wide, thirteen million babies are born prematurely each year, and one million of them won't survive infancy.

Kind of heartbreaking to consider, isn't it?

You can help us change this, one story at a time. All you have to do is sign on to contribute a piece of your writing (or to lend your artistic skills) to the fundraiser. What you write is entirely up to you. It can be new. It can be from an upcoming novel. It can be from that unfished manuscript you're still toiling over, or the one gathering dust in the corner. It can be young adult, historical, dystopian, erotica, or fanfiction. Heck, iif you don't have time to write, your contribution can be a copy of a published work, book swag, or a small gift card to raffle off to donors.

What you contribute doesn't matter. What matters is that you get involved! We turn no one away so long as basic guidelines are followed (no rape or incest, edit your piece, and don't write fanfiction if the original author has forbidden it), and every submission helps us thank donors in a big way. In two previous cycles, Fandom for Preemies has raised a little over $8,000.00 for the March of Dimes... five dollars at a time.

So today, I invite each of you to dash over to the Fandom for Preemies site and check it out. Read some of the preemie stories collected there. Share the links with your friends, your families, and your readers. And on October 1st, sign on to contribute a short story or donate a raffle item to the fundraiser. And be sure to keep an eye out on October 1st for the Iron Pen Challenge announcement for new ways to get involved and make a difference through something you already do every day: writing.

Everyone has a million things to do and adding this one more can seem impossible, but I can promise that getting involved with this cause will make a difference, if not in your life than in the life of someone you know. I know because I see this every day in my home, and at my job. Preemies are born into every family, in every nation, every year.

With that said, I want to mention a related project really quickly. I'm incredibly excited that sales of Fade coincide with the fundraiser this year because Curiosity Quills has generously agreed to match my personal royalty donation from now until March 2013, meaning the March of Dimes and the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas will both receive 10% of net sales of Fade through March. So if you haven't grabbed a copy of Fade yet, there is still plenty of time to help us help two amazing charities. The more we sell, the more they make. And let's face it, that's a good thing anyway you look at it! :)

I hope to see all of you on the roster for Fandom for Preemies this fall! And please, feel free to pass this letter on far and wide.

xoxo,
Your Tireless Team Captain

Ayden K. Morgen

*Originally posted to A.K. Morgen's personal blog here.

Round Three of the Fandom for Preemies Fundraiser is Coming!

Hello Team,

It's almost that time again! Your Fandom for Preemies Team Captains are in the initial planning phases for the November 2012 cycle of the Fandom for Preemies fundraiser! And this November, we hope to make our biggest impact for preemies yet!

If you've participated in previous cycles of the fundraiser, you probably already know how much good you've helped Fandom for Preemies do. You may even know a preemie or have one of your own. These amazing children and their inspiring and heartbreaking stories unite us in our mission whether we write fanfiction, are published authors, grapic artists, the family or friends of preemies, former preemies ourselves, or readers. And united, we have helped make a big difference for the smallest, most vulnerable babies around the world.

To date, you've help raise over $8,000 for the March of Dimes through 2 cycles of the Fandom for Preemies fundraiser. That's $8,000.00 to help fight for babies born too early. Babies who ofen require months of intensive medical intervention and hospital care. Babies who face serious lifelong complications and health problems. Babies born in every nation, every day, to parents from all walks of life.

Over 500,000 of those babies are born too early each year in the United States alone. And globally, one million of them die every year as a result of complications of premature birth.

Every child is precious, and every preemie deserves a fighting chance. It's our goal to help ensure they receive that chance, as well as to help foster awareness of all facets of prematurity within our local, national, and international communities. No baby should have to fight for his or her life before having a chance to live it!

If you would like to assist us with meeting our goals this November, and are interested in taking on a planning or Team Captain role, please email Ayden or contact her on Twitter @AKMorgen.  We want to hear from everyone who would like to assist, who have suggestions, ideas, or comments for making this Fandom for Preemies cycle the most collaborative and successful yet!

Stay tuned for the official kick off of Fandom for Preemies in late September! And don't forget to follow @Fandom4Preemies for updates, news, and more.

Still fighting,
Ayden and The FfP Team

Donation Challenge Winner!

At the beginning of March,we challenged each of you to donate at least $5 to the March of Dimes over the course of one weekend. And we promised that at least one lucky donor would win a $10 Amazon giftcard for participating in that challenge. We've gotten all of the receipts for donations made that weekend, and have put all of the names into a random list (on random.org), and are ready to announce the winner!

Kristine S. has won a $10.00 giftcard to Amazon.com in thanks for her participation! Congratulations, Kristine! Your giftcard will be digitally delivered to the email address you provided at any time if it's not already waiting for you there. :)

We'd like to thank each of you who participated in the challenge over the course of the weekend of March 3rd and 4th for helping us fight for preemies, and everyone who has donated since! We've raised $215.00 for the March of Dimes so far this month. It's not much, but it certainly helps, and we have each of you to thank for that!

If you haven't made your donation yet, there is still time! You may donate to the March of Dimes anytime on or before April 25th to be eligible to receive the compilation. And remember, if you or a friend will be walking (or has a virtual band established) you are more than welcome to donate to those efforts. Just forward us your receipt and we will count your donation, and send you the compilation on May 1st!

Thus far, 27 authors and artists have signed on to write or provide banners, and we'd love to see your name on that list, too! You can sign up by clicking on the Author Sign Up link above anytime on or before April 15th, 2012! Whether you write fanfiction, original fiction, or poetry, we'd love to have you. No author will be turned away. :)

Still fighting,

The FFP Team