HI FRIENDS!! So it’s been like … I don’t even have words for how painfully low key, but Social Media for Social Good 2017 has been a thing this year, or an attempt, and today is the last day. In fact, the last ~hour. So get on it?
I’ll add more to this post, but I just want to have something for now. You know how to do. You have until kickoff before the Big Ten Championship, but let’s just call it like what, 8:03 PM Eastern Time?
Hi friends! So October has “Make a Difference Day” and I’ve been doing a form of Social Media for Social Good the past, gosh, seven years now. It started my last year with another blog, actually.
This year things are crazy and I still have surgery brain, but we all know I love my Buckeyes like the thousands who have graduated from that university.
I’m still not 100% sure what charity I’m going to donate to – things are just so wild and so many different people and places need help. I think we also know though that I was out of work for most of this year so … I’m not 100% sure on how much I’ll be donating (I’m thinking $50-$100 per game, tentatively), but this is what I want to do to make it interactive.
Guess the final score of the Buckeye game. If we win, I’ll make a donation to a non-profit organization in your honor. If anyone puts in a guess for the Maryland vs. Ohio State game before kickoff (if I get this up in time) that counts too.
So – are you ready? You can guess every week, but only one guess per person per week please. Closest score wins and gets the donation!
GET SET … GUESS!!
xoxo
Games:
Oct 14: OSU vs. Nebraska
Oct 28: OSU vs. Penn State
Nov 4: OSU vs. Iowa
Nov 11: OSU vs. M*ch State
Nov 18: OSU vs. Illinois
Nov 25: OSU vs. M*ch*g*n
Dec 2: Big 10 Championship [B1G!] OSU vs. Wisconsin
Dec 29 Cotton Bowl: OSU vs. USC
ETA: THAT’S IT! And this might be it forever! Forever. (Hi, fuck you, GOP Tax … fuckery.)
**N.B. for the Cotton Bowl: Please include the non-profit charity you’d want me to donate to. I’ll need to get it done before 2017, so there probably won’t be time for follow up. Thanks for playing! Xoxo
Hi friends! So as you know (maybe), I’ve been largely absent the past few months. This means I also missed my annual Social Media for Social Good Charity Fundraiser. I have to say, I’m tapped out. I know people care, but not being able to see it hurts. In the past we’ve supported relief efforts – twice in fact – from famine to child refugees from Syria, clean water for people, against human trafficking, for Native Americans, and more. We’ve done great.
This time … I’m leaving it up to you.
Here’s what I mean. I’d like you to comment with your favorite non-profit charity. If you can, leave a link to the organization etc, so others can check it out, and make it easier on me.
Why do you want to make it easy on me? Well, I think you all know I love football. Like really love. Especially college football. What I’m doing this year is, for every touchdown the Buckeyes score tonight, I’ll donate $10 to a charity. $5 for a fieldgoal. (Hey any points should be rewarded, right?) Uhhh… if there does happen to be a safety I’ll figure it out later.
I figured I’d mix it up, so we hit a variety. What do I mean? Let’s say there are six touchdowns tonight. That means $10 to comment 1’s charity, $10 to comment 2’s charity, and so on and so forth. We’ll just go in order. If there aren’t enough comments to cover all the touchdowns, I’ll probably donate to UNICEF or something. If there are more comments than scores … well that’s cool too. I might donate up to $500. We’re playing this by ear. [Please one charity per comment though, and give others a chance to add?]
Sound good? Feel free to ask questions too. Let’s make this interactive and fun!
ETA: I’m leaving SMSG open through the rest of the season … and post season, so let’s home they win the championship again, shall we? 😉
If you don’t know anything about me … let me tell you now that I am a big football fan. HUGE. I’m a football girl through and through.
I get depressed at the end of the season. I am unreasonably happy when football season rolls around. I LOVE football. I can happily sit and watch football from 12 PM – 12 AM on Saturdays. And eagerly wait for the 1 PM kickoffs on Sundays. When I grow up I want to be able to afford the NFL channel.
… How my teams do affects my mood.
You should all know as well that I am a proud Buckeye. [Even though we ended the season on a HORRIBLE note.] If you know nothing about sports, let me tell you, The Ohio State University was on our way to the national championship. But we lost the Big Ten Championship to MSU (a team I normally like. I mean, Spartans! Whoo! … At least the Spartans won the Rose Bowl.) But the Bucks just played in, and lost the Orange Bowl to … Clemson. [Which I guess maybe fate wanted it that way? What with Clemson being orange and hello Orange Bowl and their first appearance to a BCS bowl and this being the last year…] But I don’t care. Because a) I wanted the win b) everyone loves to hate on OSU and we had to prove them wrong. Only… we proved them right.]
So it makes me sad, and sulky, and grumpy, and not want to do a damn thing. So there you have it. Expect posts, but when I get to them.
I might also ‘break” one of my own “rules” – and you know what? I think I’ll make the 3rd ALBTALBS Blogiversary Grand Prize tie into SMSG13 somehow. Because I can. [And as far as I can recall at 12:22 AM and in grumpy+ mode… it’s not illegal.]
Well, my team won today. Which, you know, makes them winners. They’re still the Sadeyes because, well it’s been a tough year, but I’m really proud of how they’re pulling through. I’m currently watching Alabama playing LSU, and I have to say I’m rooting for an upset. I can’t help it – I always do, unless my team is ranked higher. Do you generally go for the underdog? Am I just a freak? :X
Today has been nutters, so I used randomizer.org to pick a winner for Shiloh Walker and Mary G’s post. Stay tuned, because we hope to do something similar for If You See Her! (Yay Hope and Remy! *bounce bounce*) Anyway, the winner is aeternum_a – you have until Tuesday to email me to claim your prize. Shiloh did tell me she’s swamped though, so it might take a while for her to get back to you.
Next week of course we’ve got Teaser Tuesday, but no other currently scheduled guests, so I’m thinking a review, maybe, and recipes? I’ve been all about roasted vegetables. And frozen drinks. They’re not related, thankfully. For all that we all have a seriously developed sweet tooth in my family, we rarely have desserts.
Do you guys make desserts from scratch? Have a favorite? I also really want to try my hand at making cake balls again, but they’re too sweet for me, once coated with chocolate. Gah.
So how’s everyone’s weekend going?
Today we have Farrah Rochon guesting with us! She and I have totally bonded over football, and we even root for the same teams! It’s just a bonus that she’s an author with some awesome books too. 😀 So everyone please welcome Farrah – whether you’re a football fan or not.
Being a romance reader, I’ve known about Limecello’s blog for a while, but it wasn’t until we “met” on Twitter that I learned a love of romance novels was not all we shared. We are both huge football fans. (Interjecting here, actually, I think the blog first was TGTBTU – definitely we were talking before I started this little venture.)
Football isn’t just something to pass the time for me; it is an all-consuming passion. When Kimani Romance bought my fictional New York Sabers football series, it was like a dream come true. What can be better than having the opportunity to combine my two passions while working in a job with a dress code that consists of yoga pants and t-shirts? It is bliss.
Now, as you can imagine, writing a series about a football team takes much of the guess work out of developing the male characters. But when it came time to match the hot football heroes with heroines, I wanted to bring something different to the table. So far, the series has featured a heroine who is a book blogger (Huddle With Me Tonight) and a female sports agent (I’ll Catch You). Okay, so the female sports agent has been done before, but this agent is as knowledgeable about the game as many of the football players and she is a total bad ass when it comes to negotiations.
Chyna McCrea, the heroine in the latest installment, Field of Pleasure, is a freelance
choreographer hired to work with the team’s dance squad. I originally wrote her as a member of the squad, but my editor asked me to change her occupation because of the no-fraternizing rules between players and cheerleaders (but we all know that fraternizing sometimes takes place, right?)
I choose to feature a heroine affiliated with the dance squad after attending a NFL game and overhearing several derogatory comments directed at the cheerleaders. I’ll admit, some of the same thoughts had run through my mind a time or two, but this experience got me to thinking about how the dance squad members were probably being unfairly misjudged.
As I researched real life NFL dance squads, I discovered that many of the squad members are college educated, or current college students. A number of them were married, thus, not likely looking to land a rich husband. For the most part, what I found dispelled many of the stereotypes I had attributed to the women.
With the third Sabers book I wanted to show another side to the NFL cheerleader; that there is substance to these women. I hope I was able to accomplish this with Chyna. Of course, I just had to include a stereotypical, catty character, because, let’s face it, some of them are catty and they are there with one purpose in mind, to catch a husband. Others, however, have been in dance since they first learned to walk, and like the heroine of Field of Pleasure, being affiliated with an NFL cheerleading squad is one way for them to continue to indulge in their love of dance.
So, who will admit to being unfairly judgmental towards cheerleaders? Or, are there any current or former cheerleaders out there who have suffered with the stigma attached to that role?
I’ll offer one one reader their choice of one book in my Sabers series along with a bunch of Farrah Rochon swag (a tote bag, pens, ereader cleaner, etc.).
Bio: Farrah Rochon, award-winning author of the popular Holmes Brothers series, hails from a small town just west of New Orleans. She has garnered much acclaim for her New York Sabers football series for Harlequin’s Kimani Romance imprint. Farrah was named Shades of Romance Magazine’s Best New Author of 2007, and her debut novel, Deliver Me, claimed the prize for Best Multicultural Romance Debut.
I’ve got to add my question here too – have you ever seen those shows, maybe on like NFL free previews, where they follow/document the selection of a team’s dance squad? I’ve seen a few and find them hypnotically compelling. Anyway, answer our questions for your chance to win a book! A football romance!