Celebrating A Need So Beautiful: Random Acts of Kindness

In case you missed our post about today’s YA releases earlier today, A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young is in stores today, and we really must insist you go out and get yourself a copy pronto.

One of the main themes of the book is about self sacrifice, so to mark the book’s release we’ve teamed up with several other bloggers & YA authors to present Celebrating A Need So Beautiful with Random Acts of Kindness. Each of us are sharing our stories about sacrifice or random acts of kindness from strangers that have affected our lives.

Now, when I started brainstorming a story to tell, I had a hard time at first thinking of what to write. At first, all I could think of was that time when I went to the drive-through Starbucks, pulled up to the window to pay and found out that the woman in the car ahead of me had paid for my order, for no reason, and told the Barista to tell me, “Have a nice day.” It was such a simple act. My order wasn’t expensive — about six dollars for my latte and pastry — but the random act of kindness from a person I’ve never met (and likely never will) has stuck with me.

Here’s why: it gives me hope. When you have those really awful days, when nothing goes right and it seems like people are treating you like crap, I remember the stranger who paid for my Starbucks run. And I realize … sure, there may be some jerks in the world. But there are still people who care; who do the right thing.

I guess this isn’t the “life changing” sacrifice/random acts of kindness story I originally set out to write. But it’s significant to me because it proves that small acts still make a big impact. Working in the news industry, it’s very easy for me to become jaded and cynical. It’s a quality that I don’t like about myself, and one I am constantly fighting. (And it’s a large reason I want to leave the news industry.) So I need these little reminders that the world isn’t a completely lost cause. That strangers will still randomly and anonymously treat me to a latte and a pastry. That a busy New Yorker will still stop and give a confused looking tourist directions to where she’s headed without being asked (the dazed look in my eye must have been pretty obvious). That when it’s time to put down our dog of 12+ years because she is sick and old, the vet will sit with us for hours and let us feed her chocolate truffles and say good-bye the best way we know how.

So that’s my message about random acts of kindness. Don’t feel pressure to make a grand gesture. Something simple is all it takes to remind people that there is goodness in the world. And here’s the magical thing about random acts of kindness? They usually get passed along.

So to pass along more random acts of kindness to celebrate the release of A Need So Beautiful, we have a contest that encourages YOU to spread a little love to the writing community. And there are some really awesome prizes from the various blogs/authors participating that you can win. Here are the details:

The Contest:

Fill out the contest entry form, which is the same for every participating website — so only fill it out ONCE. Multiple form entries will be disqualified. Here’s how you can earn extra entries:

Earn one extra entry for each of the following:

Take a picture of an author’s book in the wild and tweet it to @flamingo1325 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 @flamingo1325 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

The Prizes:

One winner will be chosen for each of the following prizes:

YA Lit Swag Bag from Novel Novice (US)
First 3 Chapters Critique from Jessica at Confessions of a Bookaholic
Hourglass by Myra McEntire – ordered from The Book Depository (International)
ARC of Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer
Blog or Website Header/Button Combo (2 winners)
First 3 Chapters or up to 10K Critique from Cindy at Books Complete Me
Signed ARC of Hereafter by Tara Hudson (US)
First 20 pages Critique by Kari at A Good Addiction
Query Letter Critique from Shannon Messenger
Signed copy of Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz (US/Can)
First Chapter Critique and Skype Chat from Keri Mikulski
Signed copy of Tell Me a Secret with signed art print from Holly Cupala (US)
Signed copy of Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder (US)
The Pledge Swag Pack including ARC from Kimberly Derting (US/Can)

PLUS, three U.S. winners will each receive a signed copy of A Need So Beautiful.

The Rules:

Remember: only fill out the entry form ONCE!

Open internationally, though some prizes are only eligible for U.S. winners

The Deadline:

The contest closes after June 28th.

If you want another chance to win a copy of A Need So Beautiful, also head over to author Daisy Whitney’s blog — where she’s giving away five copies of the book!

Thanks to Kari at A Good Addiction for organizing such a fun launch day contest!