The New Year’s Resolution that changes the world

My New Year’s resolution is, as it has been often lately, all about one of the world’s greatest paradoxes: giving. Why? Well if you want to think of it from a purely selfish point of view, it is the key to so many successes in life, including publication. There is a profound principle at work when we give unselfishly. It is not only the key to a new phenomenon that is solving everything from teenage addictions to Presidential victories, it is a Biblical principle— “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)

Here’s one example of how the giving principle works in publishing…

Scott Sigler gave the world, free, chapter by chapter, his first five novels. He started in 2005 and in a few short years he had developed such a following on his novel podcasts that one of the world’s biggest publishers saw the demand and signed him up on a five-book deal.

When  people share their work with the world, they are abandoning a time old principle of writing, that is all about keeping copyright for the owner. They are sharing their most precious possession they have—their intellectual property. And by this Biblical law, they are reaping rewards. (Please note this is not an endorsement of Scott Sigler’s writing)

To learn how to make your own podcast, stay tuned for my next blog.

For now, share your work with your friends. Write for someone else’s therapy. Remember, in the words of St Francis of Assisi, ‘it is in giving that we receive’.

And if you want some more friends to social network with, here are a few more Christian writing networks to join:-

Associations (in alphabetical order)

Australian and New Zealand

Omega Writers Association.  Contact scribe@scribeofspirit.com

New Zealand Christian Writers Guild

http://www.authors.org.nz/info_for_writers/contactus.asp?em=Janet_Fleming

 

Canada

Inscribe Christian Writers

http://www.inscribe.org/000-firstpage.htm

UK

Association of Christian Writers

http://www.christianwriters.org.uk/?p=9

UK Christian Writer’s group (Subway)

http://www.subway-writers.org.uk/community.html

USA

Christian Writers Guild

http://www.christianwritersguild.com/

American Christian Writers Association

www.ACWriters.com

(For a more complete list, see my blog Dec 7^th)

(Wendy McNeice is a writer, editor, inspirational speaker and tutor and a one-time history teacher and information adviser. Find more writing tips at http://www.scribeofspirit.com . Read her latest book As the Eagle Flies the King, based around the remarkable true story of the release of the Israelites from ancient Babylon by a Persian king.

http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60604-339-4 . http://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Flies-King-Wendy-McNeice/dp/1606043390/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223864553&sr=8-1

Permission is granted to distribute this material provided the following statement appears on any distributed copy: © W. McNeice http://www.scribeofspirit.com