I got this email from my pal erotic writer Sage Vivant (we’ve worked together quite often over the years) about a writer in our community, and felt I should reprint it here as I know several people who will want to know that Jamie is okay:
“Today we learned that New Orleans-based erotica writer Jamie Joy Gatto did manage to escape the worst of the storm and has found shelter with friends in Houston, Texas. Although she escaped (walking for five hours through waist deep water), she was unable to bring any of her personal belongings with her, including clothing. She is in dire need of assistance.
Jamie Joy has long been a personal friend to me. Through her various Web sites (most notably, Mind Caviar, which recently closed but hopefully will soon reopen), she has helped other writers get their work seen and been a source of encouragement for many. She is also one of Custom Erotica Source‘s celebrity writers.
I and author M. Christian have started a fund to help get Jamie Joy and her fiance on their feet again. Her good friend and fellow writer Tina Hess is helping to spread the word about Jamie Joy’s predicament and has even begun a search for a laptop so that she can begin writing again (if any of you have or know of a laptop that Jamie Joy might benefit from, please write me and I’ll pass the information along to Tina). Probably many of you have already made donations to the organization of your choice to help Katrina’s thousands of victims, but it is unlikely that people like Jamie Joy will benefit from those contributions. Therefore, we’d like to collect money for her and send her a check as soon as possible to help her out.
If you’d like to contribute (and honestly, any amount you can spare will be helpful), please go to PayPal and send money to me (sage@customeroticasource.com), specifying that your payment is for Jamie Joy. PayPal’s records will help me keep track of who gave what, and I will then send her a check for the total amount collected along with a list of names who contributed. M. Christian and I would like to send this check no later than September 8.”
