Call for personal essay submissions for book

CALL FOR PERSONAL ESSAY SUBMISSIONS FOR BOOK
Topic: THE HEALING POWER OF GIVING
posted: September 26, 2008
Submission Deadline: November 29, 2008

Book Title
29 GIFTS: How to cultivate a daily giving practice that will ignite your energy for life
by Cami Walker and the 29Gifts.org Community

Book Description
29 Gifts is the story of how 29Gifts.org founder, Cami Walker, healed from a major illness by taking an unusual prescription from a South African medicine woman. The remedy? Give 29 gifts to others in 29 days. Midway through Cami's 29 days of giving, after seeing many miraculous changes in her life, she launched a website encouraging others to take the 29 Gifts Challenge and share their stories about how it impacted their lives. Six months and 1,765 committed givers later, Cami was contacted by a major publisher and decided to say YES to their request and write a book. The book is scheduled for release Fall 2009.

In addition to Cami's inspiring personal story, 29 Gifts will also include a collection of 29 personal essays from others about the Healing Power of Giving.

SUBMISSION DETAILS
Authors whose stories are chosen for publication in the 29 Gifts book will receive a one-time payment of $200.

Selected contributors also get a brief bio at the end of their story and a link to their 29Gifts.org profile page. On your 29Gifts.org profile page, readers can learn more about you, leave comments for you about your story, and link to your website.

How to Submit:
1. SIGN UP for the 29 Gifts Challenge at http://www.29Gifts.org

2. Give away 29 gifts in 29 days. Your gifts can be ANYTHING given to ANYONE -- smiles, kind thoughts, old sweaters, cans of soup, spare change...

3. Write and submit a story that is 2,500 words or less about how it impacted your life to focus on giving for 29 days

4. Email your story in the BODY of an email to story@29Gifts.org (NO ATTACHMENTS, please)
*Put STORY in the SUBJECT LINE of your email
*Include your FULL CONTACT DETAILS: first and last name (as you want it published in your byline), phone number, mailing address, email address and the link to your 29Gifts.org profile at the TOP of your email and the story below that.

Submission deadline: November 29, 2008

NOTE: You MUST be a member of the 29Gifts.org site (i.e. have a profile on the site) to be considered for the book.

If you haven't signed up at http://www.29Gifts.org yet, DO IT NOW and start your giving because story submissions for the book are due 11/29/08!


A FEW GUIDELINES TO GIVE YOU THE BEST CHANCE OF BEING SELECTED FOR THE 29 GIFTS BOOK:
1. Write in present, active tense.

2. Use a lot of sensory detail that helps stimulate all five senses.

3. Use conversational tone, as if you are sitting down and telling the story in person to your best friend.

4. Tell the story of the gift(s) you gave, but also communicate how it impacted you. How did you feel about yourself after offering the gift(s)? Did the gift(s) change your perception about something? Did you receive something unexpected in return? Was there an evident impact on the recipient of the gift(s)?

Please direct any submission-related questions to: story@29Gifts.org
*Absolutely NO phone calls please.

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Please pass this along to anyone you feel might be interested!