Are you ready to Live Your Five?

We're delighted to have you joining us for our launch week as we introduce the world to the Living Your Five way of life. Living Your Five is all about knowing what matters most to you and making a difference in your world in ways large and small.

It began with an idea

In late 2008, I created the concept of Living Your Five as a way to help me focus my energies on the parts of my world that were most important to me. Goodness knows we're all busy - we've got school or jobs (or both!), loved ones and friends, activities and volunteer work, and so much more. Most of the time we're so busy it's all we can do to just go about the business of living our lives.

But we're capable of so much more. Every one of us has an opportunity to make a difference in the world around us. Sometimes it's hard to remember that when you're working long hours and come home to face bills that need to be paid, laundry piles that need to be tamed, and bathrooms that need to be degrunged. Or going to school all day, rushing off to practice, then high-tailing it home for a quick bite to eat before tackling hours of homework. It's easy to let the things you aspire to do fall by the wayside.

No matter how busy we are (or how tight our budgets are), we can always reach out and make a positive impact on our world. We don't have to change the entire world in a single day. Just one small effort every day adds up faster than you'd ever imagine. All it takes is remembering what's important to you. And that's where we come in.

It's time to make the shift from living our lives to Living Our Fives.

What matters most?

Living Your Five is a simple concept. It starts by sitting down and taking a good look at the world around you. What are the issues you're concerned about? What do you read about in the newspaper and think "I wish I could help"?

Living Your Five is all about how you can make a difference to others, whether those others are people you know, people you've never met, animals, the Earth... whatever you care about deeply. You can make a difference - you just have to decide where you want to make a difference.

Once you know what matters to you (and if you're like us, you'll probably come up with way more than five things!), it's time to narrow it down to the five things you're most passionate about. The things you would stand up on a park bench and tell the world about if you could.

Your list can include anything you're passionate about... from caring for shelter animals to living a greener life to supporting a charity that resonates with you to mentoring a younger person. The sky’s the limit! The key is that it has to make a difference to others rather than just to yourself.

Once you choose those five areas, you've created a foundation for changing your world. You don't have to know exactly how you'll make a difference in those areas. You just need to know that's where you want to focus your attention.

The how will fall into place once you begin Living Your Five. I promise.

Creating my Five was one of the most powerful and life-changing things I've ever done. I truly believe every one of us has the capacity to change our world in a meaningful way. And it got me thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if we all came together to cheer each other on as we did?"

Changing the world, one Fiver at a time

I'm very fortunate to have wonderful author friends who are every bit as passionate as I am about making a difference in the world. So in early 2009, I shared the Living Your Five concept with Tera Lynn Childs, Alyson Noel and Becca Fitzpatrick and invited them to join forces with me and create an online community devoted to living our Five. They all enthusiastically climbed aboard for the adventure.

And now, many months later, it's time to say... welcome to Living Your Five!

As you'll see in our inaugural posts this week, Tera, Alyson and Becca are more than just brilliant YA authors. They're amazing, caring people as well. The Living Your Five community will grow and change over time, but we're launching the interactive group blog piece first to take advantage of its ability to quickly connect us all on the Living Your Five path.

As we kick off Living Your Five's adventure this week, we will each be sharing a post about what our Five are and why our Five are important to us. (Update: Want to read our Fives? Check them out here: Kay's Five - Alyson's Five - Becca's Five - Tera's Five) Then, beginning next Monday, we'll begin our regular bi-weekly rotation on Mondays and Wednesdays to share with you what we've done in the last two weeks to live our Five.

We'll be cheering each other on with our successes, sharing the obstacles we overcome along the way, and even giving you a sneak peek into our sentimental side when something we've done comes full circle and we can see first-hand the difference we've made. (And let me tell you, those are incredibly powerful moments.)

But it's not just about us. It's about you! It's about all of us working together and cheering each other on as we change our world. As our favorite quote says:

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
~ Mahatma Gandhi

We're ready to be that change. And if you're ready to embrace your amazing potential, we want you to be that change with us.

So we'll be chiming in on Mondays and Wednesdays. Fridays we save for our exclusive Friday FiveSpot features. One of those Friday features is an extra special series we host on the first Friday of every month. (Psst... the first one's coming up on Friday, September 4th!)

This special series is called Honorary Fivers. It's a chance to share your Five and become an Honorary Fiver (you'll even get a cool Honorary Fiver badge for your web site created by our own Tera Lynn Childs!). Once you've officially shared your Five on an Honorary Fivers Friday, you'll be able to share your progress toward living your Five just like we'll be doing.

It all begins with a single step. And we'll be taking our steps right alongside you.

And that's worth celebrating!

To celebrate the official launch of Living Your Five, we're kicking off with a week-long mega contest where we're giving away daily prizes plus a fabulous grand prize!

The lucky grand prize winner will win:

A $100 Barnes & Noble gift card
(because we know you love books!)

A $100 donation in your name to the non-profit of your choice
(because we know you love making a difference!)

And the latest book (or ARC) from each Founding Fiver
(that's four signed books!)

You can earn entries into the contest in tons of different ways. Here’s how the contest works (each point = one entry into the contest):

+4 Comment below to share why you're excited about Living Your Five
+4 Follow Living Your Five via Google Friend Connect
+3 Follow Living Your Five via RSS
+3 Mention Living Your Five on your blog

(check out any of our blogs today for the official announcement - permission granted to forward!)
+2 Add Living Your Five to your blogroll
+2 Tweet about Living Your Five with a link to LivingYourFive.com

(be sure to use the #fivers hashtag!)
+1 Check out Kay Cassidy's web site and blog
+1 Check out Alyson Noel's web site and blog
+1 Check out Tera Lynn Childs' web site and blog
+1 Check out Becca Fitzpatrick's web site and blog

Once you’re finished, simply post a comment with the things you’ve done and your total points. Comments must be posted below by 9:00 p.m. EST on Friday, August 28th, 2009. The grand prize winner will be announced on Saturday, August 29th, 2009.

But that's not all!

You can also enter to win the latest book (or ARC) from a Founding Fiver by commenting on her debut Five post this week. Here's the launch week schedule:

** Tuesday - Kay shares her Five
** Wednesday - Alyson shares her Five
** Thursday - Becca shares her Five
** Friday - Tera shares her Five

All winners of the daily contests will be announced on Saturday along with the grand prize winner.

Are you ready to Live Your Five?