OMG ... Only 9 Days Till Nano!!!!!

**hee hee**
I'm beginning to feel very anxious, but without any reason. Granted, I don't have many plot notes, or even a list of characters, but I do have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to write, and I'll trust the Muse (thank you Trudibelle!) to fill in the blanks as we go. It seems like there's still a lot of RL stuff that needs to be done, but hey, it's not like I'm going disappear off the planet for 30 days. Oh ... wait ... it kinda is!!

But today, I'd like to step away from NaNoWriMo for a moment to tell you about my most favorite charity. It's called KIVA, and is a fun and relatively inexpensive way to help fund entrepreneurs around the world. KIVA partners with 'micro-finance' organizations ... bank groups in less-developed nations, who give unsecured loans to people wanting to start their own business, or to expand a business they're already running. Loans requested are listed on the KIVA website, and you can lend as little as $25, along with other members who are also lending on the same request, to make up the total loan. It's a true community effort, to band together with other KIVA members to help someone half a world away provide more for their family.

But, there's an even better part!! When the borrower repays the loan to their micro-finance group, your contribution is returned to you!! That's right!! Every cent you donate comes back to you as the loans you helped to fund are repaid!! Then, you can relend the same money to someone else!! It's just a brilliant concept!! From my original investment to contribute to 8 loans, I've gotten the money back and reloaned it to 69 more deserving business people!! Every month, I get an email telling me how much credit I have in loan payouts, at which time I choose a few more people to lend to. And unless I decide to put more money into it in the meantime, it will never cost me another cent!! (You can also get the money returned to you, if you wish. But I figured I'd already spent it and hadn't missed it, so it might as well stay out there, doing some good!) And by the way ... of the 77 loans I've contributed to, not one loan has defaulted!

Visit the KIVA website and click on "Lend", and read some of the stories of the hopes and dreams people have for bettering their lives and taking better care of their families! (My favorite so far was a woman in the Philippines, who sells Tupperware and wanted to get more stock, because it was something new in her community, and everybody wanted some! And I'm particularly drawn to the ones who want to expand their business so they can hire someone else to assist them ... helping 2 or more people with one loan!)

And if you decide that this is worthy cause you could support, please drop me a note and let me know!!