Help Haunt Jaunts Decide How to Celebrate Its Birthday and Raise Money for the LRF

At the end of this month, Haunt Jaunts will celebrate its third blogiversary. I want to do something meaningful again like I did the first year. I did a couple of things to celebrate then.

1. One was a Guess the Followers contest where the person who guessed closest to the number of Twitter followers HJ would have by a certain date won a prize pack.
2. I also donated five cents to the Lymphoma Research Foundation for every Twitter follower HJ had by that date. (But of course I didn’t do that. I donated five cents not only for HJ’s Twitter followers, but also for its FB friends, as well as LRF’s Twitter followers and FB friends.)

Whenever I make money from any of my affiliate sources, I donate a percentage to LRF anyway. But for HJ’s birthday this year I want to see how much money I can specifically raise for the LRF.

I have a couple of ideas, but, as usual, I’m Ms. Indecisive. (Along with cellulite and a slow metabolism, it’s my curse.)

Anyway, here are the options I’m considering:

1. Creating a calendar
2. Running a fiction contest

THE CALENDAR

I’ve had an idea for a calendar for a long time now. I wanted to do it last year, but then budget constraints deterred me. I’ve since found some budget-friendly options for making a calendar.

Here’s what I have in  mind:

• People submit photos for consideration to be included in the calendar.
• The calendar will be sold, but $5 from every sale will go to the Lymphoma Research Foundation.
• The people who submit “winning” photos (so to speak, it’s not truly a photo contest but I will only be able to pick 12) will each receive a copy of the calendar.

THE WRITING CONTEST

Another thought I had was a writing contest. Here’s how that would work:

• Contestants pay $5 and submit either a short story (in the genre of their choice, because I like more than just horror/sci fi/fantasy) or a travel article of no more than 2,500 words.
• The $5 entry fee will be donated to the Lymphoma Research Foundation.
• Three winners will be selected: a 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place. Their winning entry will be published on Haunt Jaunts, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will be awarded a $25 Amazon.com gift card, a $15 Amazon.com gift card, and $10 Amazon.com gift card, respectively.

WHY THE IMPORTANCE OF DONATING TO A CHARITY, PARTICULARLY LRF?

The goal is to get people involved and excited about helping me raise awareness for the Lymphoma Research Foundation. I figure either a calendar or a writing contest is a good way to get people participating.

And if you don’t know why the Lymphoma Research Foundation is so important to me, as I describe in the About section, Haunt Jaunts was my “get off the couch” project as I battled lymphoma.

I’m currently three years in remission. HJ has become so much more than I hoped. Not because it’s so successful. It’s had some shining moments, don’t get me wrong. It’s certainly nothing to sneeze at. Yet, everyone defines success differently.

HJ isn’t the most popular blog out there, but I define success by all the amazing connections I’ve made with what I can only describe as kindred spirits thanks to Haunt Jaunts and my passion for the paranormal as well as travel. All the hits in the world can’t compare to the friendships I’ve forged thanks to my blog.

HELP HJ DECIDE

So…you now know my mission. Which would you be most interested in participating in to help HJ celebrate it’s third birthday and raise money for the Lymphoma Research Foundation?