The Lost Children Charity Anthologies: a little about... Gill Hoffs

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

a little about... Gill Hoffs

Gill Hoffs contributed her story "The Premature Ending of Annie MacLeod" to the challenge:

What inspired your story?

I grew up in a small fishing village on the Scottish coast, with tales of lost travellers, witchcraft and shipwrecks. It's hard not to be inspired by a place as rugged and beautiful as that. Exploring further north where there are whole villages of ruins from the Clearances and blackened cooking pots hidden beneath the bracken, I thought about the children lost throughout history, the many names and anonymous babies detailed on surviving gravestones, and the importance of education especially to those in geographically and/or culturally isolated places. The challenge brought all of this fizzing to a head. 'Annie' and 'MacLeod' are names from my husband's side of the family, and when the story 'clicked', I could see her in my mind's eye, and the piece wrote itself from there.

What makes this cause important to you?

Before I had my son, I spent my working life with children who had a diverse range of needs, including ADHD, ASD, and emotional/behavioural problems. Despite their issues, they could be joyous and funny - and I have enormous respect for them. So many children, throughout the world, slip through the systems and struggle with themselves and society. Childhood is confusing enough with a loving, supportive family and good health. It's important to do what you can to help every child find their way through the mixed messages and rules to a happy, healthy adulthood. Charities such as the ones supported by this challenge do just that.

Tell us a bit about yourself and where to find more of your writing.

All I want to do is write. I've won three competitions and been placed in two others, have work included in six anthologies [including this one], online, and in several magazines and journals. For links, please visit my site http://gillhoffs.wordpress.com/ . I'm 32, I live in the North of England, and when I was about 15 I tried to make candles out of plastic explosive - I thought it was a lump of candle wax. Thank goodness we had a soldier over for tea!

1 comment:

Fiona JohnsonOctober 25, 2011 at 7:25 PM
Gill - I know exactly what you mean about your character and the magic of the villages on the Scottish coast..the ghosts can almost be seen!

Thanks so much for taking part.
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What's the story behind the project?

Protectors:
The Lost Children Charity Anthology was such a success, that Thomas Pluck decided to collect stories from a variety of authors to benefit PROTECT, a lobby whose victories against child abuse include the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008, the Hero to Hero program, and Alicia's Law. He collected 41 stories from all new authors. Thanks to the inspiration of goodhearted people like Fiona Johnson, and the people of PROTECT who fight the abuse and exploitation of our children every day, the book is a reality, and 100% of proceeds benefit PROTECT.

For the first anthology:
The challenge began on Flash Fiction Friday, when author Fiona Johnson was guest writer for the fiction prompt, and asked us to write about the lost children. She asked photographer Danielle Tunstall for permission to use the arresting photo shown in the right sidebar, and said:

Some children are lost before they have even started living. Some children are a throw-away commodity like a burger box that’s left to blow down the street in the wind and rain.

I offered to donate $5 for each story submitted to PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children, and Fiona would donate $5 to Children 1st, a children's charity in Scotland. Together we raised $300 for each of the charities thanks to the generous and creative writing communities of Flash Fiction Friday, Fictionaut, and the crime fiction community on Twitter.

It was such a success that we thought we could go further. Ron Earl Phillips, Fiona and I chose 30 of the best stories to put in a charity anthology, all proceeds of which will go to PROTECT and Children 1st.

100% of royalties donated to two causes:

OUR DONATION RECORD

PROTECT and The National Association to Protect Children (USA)

The National Association to Protect Children is a national, pro-child, anti-crime membership association founded on the belief that our first and most sacred obligation as parents, citizens, and members of the human species is the protection of children from harm.

PROTECT is a bipartisan pro-child, anti-crime lobby whose sole focus is making the protection of children a top political and policy priority at the national, state and local level.

You can read about PROTECT's Victories here.

100% of the proceeds of Protectors, and 50% of the proceeds of Lost Children: A Charity Anthology, are donated to PROTECT.

This is an independently organized event, not officially sponsored by [NAPC/PROTECT]

Children 1st (UK)

Children 1st has 125 years experience of working with children and families, previously as the Royal Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (RSSPCC). Today, they support families under stress, protect children from harm and neglect, help them to recover from abuse and promote children's rights and interests. You can read more about their work with children here.

50% of proceeds of the Lost Children Charity Anthology go to Children 1st.

This is an independently organized event, not officially sponsored by Children 1st.