Giving Back or Paying Forward

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This is a case of where being the Saturday member of the group has its disadvantages, because pretty much all the ways I think of giving back or paying my own good fortune forward have been brought up already this week. Lots of excellent ideas in the previous six posts!

So I decided to research the topic and see if I could find some interesting tidbits. I learned that this whole concept of paying forward was first written about in about by Menander in 317 BCE, in his play The Grouch. (As far as we know anyway, no other ancient manuscripts with this theme having surfaced.) Menander won a first place award for the play and it particularly pleases me as a romance author that not only is there a Happily Ever After ending for the two main characters, but also for the secondary characters, and the Grouch of the title is finally persuaded to dance and sing with everyone else as the play ends.

OK, so with that fascinating historical slant, I guess the main ways I try to pay forward the benefits and assistance I've received as an author are much like others have mentioned - I belong to the Romance Writers of America, I stepped up to be Treasurer for their special interest Fantasy Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter (and wow, that's been fun but lots of work and my Quicken skills are darn good now, not that I'd ever aspired to have such expertise before!)...I've done panels, I've been a contest judge, I contribute on various author loops if someone is seeking advice and it happens to be an area where I've got a mite of experience...I try to spread the word (mostly on Twitter but some Facebook shares) if I find a book or a blog post that I've enjoyed, or even a tweet...

I have a unique forum in my periodic SciFi Encounters column at USA Today Happily Ever After blog, where part of my charter is to try to find and highlight self published authors and small pub authors in the science fiction/fantasy/paranormal romance genres, along with interviews of more established authors. On the one hand, I love to mention books I've enjoyed but on the other hand I can only read so many (I do have a day job and also write my own novels). Space is limited. The books have to be well written, contain romantic elements, tell a good story, have been well edited and put together in a quality manner - cover, formatting, you name it....so I do my best, I welcome suggestions by the way,  made to the column's e mail: scifiencounters@gmail.com  (Due to the volume of mail, e mails may not be answered personally but all are read.)

I feel very grateful to have the chance to write that column, and I definitely count it as one of my major opportunities to give back by paying forward.

Closing with a quote from William Wordsworth: "The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love."