Hundreds of literary bloggers are uniting today for a generous group effort on behalf of author Patry Francis, who is battling cancer (and has written eloquently about it at her blog, Simply Wait). Check out Backspace and Litpark for the latest details and a list of some of the participants.
According to her agent, Alice Tasman, Patry is the "mother of four children [and] spent years writing novels, not getting published, working as a waitress on Cape Cod. But this Brockton, Mass., native finally sold and published her debut last spring. Within a few months of this pivotal event, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Since November she's had two surgeries and a third scheduled. The writing community just learned about her illness and is rallying to promote the paperback release of her debut novel, The Liar's Diary (Plume, $14, 9780452289154/0452289157), as she is still recovering at home."
Today is the release date for The Liar's Diary and hundreds of bloggers worldwide "are holding a huge, joint-effort blogging day to show support for Patry, for cancer survivors, for writers helping writers and for the strength and spirit of the blogging community. Circle of Seven has produced a video for the event and Brilliance audio is contributing sound bytes.
"The hook here isn't cancer (though Patry's incredible spirit and grace under these difficult circumstances should be an inspiration to us all!)," Tasman continues, "but that the writing community--not known for its fraternity--is banding together and using the Internet to market books in a profoundly new way. Patry has captured and inspired world-wide attention. Just how far can the power of the Internet and the goodwill and generosity of the literary community take this?"