I stumbled upon the coolest website, called 29gifts.org. It's a community of people who have committed to giving something to someone for 29 days in a row. The "something" could be time or money or talent or advice or opportunity. It turns out to be an incredibly inspirational site. I mean, they have Refigerator Poetry contests on there! And the whole idea of giving is so key for artists. The book The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World by Lewis Hyde talks at length about this idea -- that making art falls more in the realm of gift giving than it does in the realm of commerce. I signed onto 29gifts.org and started giving away books. Three weeks before my novel comes out, I am so trapped in this "sell, sell, sell" mode of thinking that I forget the simple pleasure of just having a reader. Giving them away is my antidote.
3 comments:
Isn't that wonderful! I'm going to have to check out this site. 29 days of giving. Wow!
Oh, it's the coolest thing. Really. I did it because I was obsessed about SELLING, SELLING, SELLING my books, and decided I needed to have some giving in my live. It's been really nice. Make me a friend if you do it.
Hi Jennie -
Yes, 29 Gifts.org is a great site. I've been a member since last August, after sitting beside the founder, Cami, at SF Writer's Conference for Change as she told me her story - the rest is history. I faithfully recorded my purposeful giving for the prescribed 29 days, as well as continuing my great passion of the last decade: Encouraging, teaching, and coaching women & men to "Keep Our Mothers' Spirits Alive One Story at a Time" by "Giving their Gift of Story." I'm happy to make a new friend of you!
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