Thank you so much to everyone who participated in my charity push yesterday and donated to Open Arms Perinatal Services on GiveBIG Day! I'm so flattered that you guys would give so generously. Open Arms exceeded last year's GiveBIG totals, and based on the amounts that came in when I put out the call to my readers, it's clear you guys definitely played a big role. Thank you so much.

If you're just tuning in to all of this, we scored some sweet rewards for yesterday's donations. One of them is that you got the first chapter of Silver Shadows! Brace yourself--it's an emotional ride. Along with that, I'm going to be doing some q&a sessions closer to that book's release where you'll be able to send in questions, and if they're selected, I'll answer them on video for you. More details on that coming.

The other big reward was this amazing drawing of Sydney from Emma Vieceli. Emma is the artist who draws the Vampire Academy graphic novels. We still haven't heard from my publishers if the other graphic novels have sold well enough to justify a Blood Promise one, so I was worried we might never get to see Sydney! As a result, I'm so excited Emma did this to give us a taste of what Sydney could be like. Emma and I both have our fingers crossed we'll get to see more of Sydney in a full graphic novel and--dare I dream--a Bloodlines series.

I've got to tell you: I actually asked Emma to do this on zero notice. I've been sick and had to scramble when GiveBIG Day came. Emma is super busy but was so nice in agreeing to do it for me. Thanks, Emma! One of the things she's busy with right now is a comic series of her own, called Breaks, which is full of love and dysfunction and all the other things we adore. You can check it out here. And if by chance you haven't picked up the VA graphic novels (gasp!), you can read about them here and order a copy from Amazon or other retailers to help push the cause!

Thanks again, everybody!