At the beginning of this year I decided to challenge myself to finish a novel I started in 2008. In the meantime I’ve had to take other writing gigs to pay the bills, but writing is writing and it all helps hone your skills. To spur myself to meet my self-imposed word-count goals I joined forces with MyGoalPosts.com and asked friends if they would be willing to sponsor me. For each month I met my goal of 16,000 words, each friend would make a donation to First Book. First Book is a group that provides free books to under-privileged children.
I have three sponsors so far. Two of them give $5 each month and one of them gives $10. In May I didn’t make my word count goal, so I had to make the donation myself. (That’s part of the deal with Goal Posts and it helps keep people on track if they know there will be a monetary penalty if they fail to meet their goals.)
I had a question about the donation process and contacted First Book about it. Today I got a reply from their VP of Development. She said:
“Your ingenuity and generosity – as well as your friends’ – is terrific. Thanks to all of you, at least 120 new books have gone to 40 children in need who otherwise wouldn’t have had them. We couldn’t think of a better inspiration.
Good luck to you as you finish your novel and thanks again.”
Isn’t that awesome? Just our small contributions have helped 40 children become more literate and, one presumes, be entertained by their new books at the same time. I’m so happy that I’ve been able to play a small part in helping these kids get books.
If you have a goal of any kind, and a charity or cause that you believe in, please consider using the resources available at MyGoalPosts to help your dream come true while helping others. It’s easy and it’s rewarding. Everyone wins!
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