After her experience rallying followers on Twitter to
contribute more than $15,000 in donations for victims of the earthquakes in New
Zealand and Japan earlier this year, YA novelist Maureen Johnson didn't waste
any time springing into action Monday morning to support the people of Joplin,
Missouri. She started by announcing a random drawing for everyone who tweeted
about their donations to the Red Cross using the hashtag #starforjoplin, with
an ARC of her fall 2011 novel, The Name
of the Star, as a prize. Then, she decided to auction a manuscript critique
to the highest bidder: "I will read your book. I will send back my notes.
If you're not done, you can send it later. If you don't have a book, I'll
critique something else, like your life, or I'll make up lies." Other
authors and editors offered up their own critiques: the auctions for YA
novelists Robin Wasserman and Beth Revis, and Harry Potter continuity editor
Cheryl Klein, are running concurrently with Johnson's and will end today at 2 p.m.
Eastern. National Book Award novelist Laurie Halse Anderson will participate in
a separate auction this weekend. Full details are available on Johnson's
blog.