Now that the excitement of voting for me in the Neil Gaiman Audio Contest is over (thank you! still waiting for the final winner!!), I'd like to ask people to turn their attention to another thing they can help with - donating time, money, items, or even just spreading the word to help with relief efforts in the South after the devastation caused by the approximately 178 tornadoes that ripped through Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, and other Southern areas recently. The damage is immense, and so much is needed in the areas that were hit.

My friend cleolinda, who fortunately was not hit by the storms directly, but lives really close to areas that were, has done an excellent job of providing news, links, photos, videos, and most importantly, ways to help on her journal. So I am going to direct people over there for more information on all of those things. There are ways to donate money to the Red Cross, ways to buy or donate auction items for fandom and literary fundraisers, and more.

Please go and read these entries, and then if you can manage to help in some manner, please do. Our friends in the South need us.

Post 1: "Emergency post"

Post 2: As coherent as I could manage (some good "how to help" links here)

Post 3: Tornado update (more ways to help)

Thanks, everyone.