Celebrating A Need so Beautiful with Random Acts of Kindness

Out today is a book that is not only a favorite of mine, but a powerful and poignant one that will resonate with many. To celebrate this book, I've teamed up with several other authors, writers and bloggers to bring you guys some amazing stories and awesome giveaways.

So what book is all this for? A Need so Beautiful by Suzanne Young.

But this isn't just any celebration. Nope. To keep in line with the most notable element of the book, we're all making a post about how someone's self sacrifice or random act of kindness has changed our life.

And I have to admit, this is actually really hard to think of. Yes, there are people who have had an impact on me, but to have truly changed my life? That one took more thought, because yes, my parents have made plenty of sacrifices, and some friends have had some big roles in my life... but some of the bigger life changing events for me weren't born from self sacrifice of others or kindness, but bad events that ended up maybe not so bad down the road. Someone came to mind, often, but I just didn't know who to write about. Maybe the main reason why I debated so hard is because the most notable person right now truly is the very person this entire celebrating is about: Suzanne.

My friendship with Suzanne started because she was kind enough to donate a 15 page critique and the first copy of So Many Boys for charity after the Nashville flood last year. I bid on it, and won, but had absolutely no idea I was getting one of my closest friends out of it. Yet the kindness Suzanne has shown me didn't end there. Even just in emails, she can know when I'm not doing so okay, when life is kicking me a little too hard, and when maybe all I need is an email with a funky subject line and nothing more than a "thinking about you." And knowing you have someone like that, someone you can talk to any time, even when life is kicking them too, is amazing, and has honestly done so much for me.

But it didn't stop there, because out of this came the person who is my biggest supporter outside of the obligated friends in my own writing aspirations. And not just "oh you can do it," but you will do it, and you have the talent for it, and knows just when to give me that friendly kick in the pants without forcing me to keep pushing along. Maybe it's because I don't want all she's done for me writing wise to go to waste, but no matter how much I might put it off and procrastinate, I can't imagine just giving up completely on wanting to eventually be a published authors. And I know without a doubt that Suzanne is the number one reason for that. She has put me on a new playing field, given me so much more insight into my own writing, my revisions, everything... and my biggest passion right now is writing, and I owe so much of that to Suzanne.

So this post, and this entire celebration and everything set up for it, is not only my way of saying a very big, gracious thank you to Suzanne, but to show how easily one of the biggest concepts of Suzanne's book fits right into real life.

And with that in mind, there is absolutely more to this post-- it is a celebration after all! Because we all want to pay it forward on the kindness, both for Suzanne and other authors, as well as for readers and aspiring writers, we are bringing you a multitude of prizes that you can win. Before I get to the prize list, however, here are all the different ways you can earn entry into the contest.

Earn one extra entry for each of the following:
Take a picture of any author's book in the wild and tweet it to me and the author
Post a positive Amazon review for a book you loved
Donate a book to a library or classroom
Tweet a good deed you plan to do this week, using the #ANeedSoBeautiful hashtag


Earn 10 extra entries for each of the following:
Take a picture of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL in the wild and tweet it to me and Suzanne Young
Post an Amazon review for A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL
Donate a copy of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL to a library or classroom


To enter, just fill out THIS form! Note: This is the same form no matter what blog you enter from, so please only enter once, and please wait until you have all your links, etc to enter.

Contest starts today, and ends June 28.


Now, what can you win?

Three lucky winners will get a signed copy of A Need so Beautiful, in addition to one of the following (US Only for the signed copies). The remaining prizes from below will go to one winner each. And because every participant has a different story for who has changed their life, definitely be sure you check out every one's post, then be sure to spread the kindness.


*First Chapter Critique from Lisa and Laura Roecker
*Query Letter Critique from Shannon Messenger
*Signed copy of Invincible Summer from Hannah Moskowitz
*First Chapter Critique and a Skype Chat from Keri Mikulski
*Signed copy of Tell Me a Secret with signed art print from Holly Cupala
*Signed copy of Chasing Brooklyn from Lisa Schroeder
*The Pledge Swag Pack including ARC from Kimberly Derting
*First 3 chapter critique from Jessica at Confessions of a Bookaholic
*Hourglass by Myra McEntire from Corrine at Lost for Words
*ARC of Wolfsbane from Jessi at The Elliott Review
*2 Header/Button Packs from Jessica at Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
*First 3 chapters Critique from Cindy at Books Complete Me
*YA Lit Swag Bag from Sara at Novel Novice
*First 15 pages Critique from me
*Signed ARC of Hereafter (to a different winner) from me
*Daisy Whitney is also giving away five copies of the book on her facebook page and blog!


So tell me, guys, what single act of kindness or self sacrifice has changed your life? And how do you plan to try to change someone else's life?