Zette Appreciation Day

The Official Announcement of Zette Appreciation Day

There are a few people in this world who think first of others and a better example has never been found than Lazette Gifford. She would give the coat off her back and the precious minutes of her day away to anyone she thought she could help.

People like Zette rarely receive the notice they deserve. Complainers tend to speak louder than those who quietly appreciate her efforts. With that in mind, we have declared a Zette Appreciate Day to give those who she has helped the opportunity to speak up...and maybe introduce a few new people to the wonderful person Zette is.

P.S. Word went out by whisper campaign to keep this a surprise so if you were somehow missed, it's certainly not too late. Jump on the bandwagon and be welcome. Write up your post on your blog or website then post a link in the comments here. That goes for those who did know as well. If all goes well, the comments will contain a collection of links so we can share the experience.

Also, add a link to this post at the bottom of yours, so people who find one can find them all.

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My Post:

When I first arrived at Forward Motion, back when Holly Lisle still ran the site, I quickly learned Zette was one of the ones to set the writing bar. Umm...two years later, I realized that was completely impossible and scaled my goals back down to what a normal person could conceivably achieve.

And it's not just in writing that Zette shows her incredible drive, creativity, sheer stick-with-it-ness, and open heart.

Just off the top of my head, I can come up with a small fraction of Zette's projects: writing; photography; editing; managing a Double Dragon Publishing imprint; managing/editing Vision, a free webzine for writers; and of course, running the Forward Motion site where the amount of time she devotes to coming up with creative activities and to making the site better for all of us is incredible.

And because it's me, I have to say her ability to get other people involved is also remarkable.

I was laid off from a tech job some years ago and my career counselor tried to get me to write articles about my experiences. I tried to wrap my mind around the concept that someone would be interested in what I had to say and failed. Two years later, Zette poked me in FM chat about writing a non-fiction article for Vision. I had the same reaction, but she said that was nonsense. So I said I'd think about it, fully planning to forget the whole crazy idea. Umm, not only did I write one article for Vision, I wrote several. And have had people unknown to me mention the articles on their blogs, in newsletters, and in conversations. I guess people were interested in what I had to say, something I would never have discovered without Zette. Oddly, she doesn't even remember pushing me to do it. Encouraging people just comes by instinct.

But that's Zette for you. She'll offer to help with what she can, encourage you to act on skills you might not know you have, help you gain confidence in the skills you do have, and generally provide a thriving, supportive environment all while she's scrambling quietly in the background to accomplish the mountain of tasks she's taken on.

I'm not a public speaker (writer) despite having taken courses in it so I know this all sounds hokey, but the emotions behind it, the stunned amazement, gratitude, and appreciation, are all heartfelt.

Thank you Zette for everything you do every single day no matter what the challenges you might be facing. (And I even refrained from using smilies.)

To learn more about Zette:

Forward Motion - http://www.fmwriters.com
Vision - http://www.lazette.net/Vision/
Zette's website - http://www.lazette.net

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Check out the other tributes in the links below or in the comments:

http://www.mercuryranch.org/blog/2007/06/05/zette-appreciation-day/
http://hollylisle.com/writingdiary2/index.php/2007/06/06/thank-you-zette/
http://cheryl-p.livejournal.com/1331.html
http://jacob-day.livejournal.com/68231.html
http://snitchcat.livejournal.com/108202.html
http://david-bridger.livejournal.com/2236.html *Moved from comments*
http://hookedoncoffee.livejournal.com/37602.html
http://jasonpenney.net/blog/2007/06/06/zette-appreciation-day/ *Moved from comments*
http://livingindawnworld.blogspot.com/2007/06/heroes.html *Moved from comments*
http://dragonsroost.blogspot.com/2007/06/zette-appreciation-day.html *Moved from comments*
http://alienmoon76.livejournal.com/90234.html *Moved from comments*
http://evulkoneko.livejournal.com/90696.html *Moved from comments*
http://pickledherring.livejournal.com/58254.html *Moved from comments*
http://catrinp.livejournal.com/15533.html *Moved from comments*
http://maripat.livejournal.com/2007/06/06/
http://pllogan.wordpress.com/2007/06/06/you-ever-have-someone-help-you/
http://invalslittleworld.blogspot.com/2007/06/zette-appreciation-day.html
http://ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com/2007/06/zette-appreciation-day.html *Moved from comments*
http://bonniers.livejournal.com/104901.html *Moved from comments*
http://abennettstrong.livejournal.com/32994.html
http://blssdndcnt.blogspot.com/2007/06/zette-appreciation-day.html *Moved from comments*
http://www.tamarasilerjones.com/blog/C1203046112/index.html
http://erinkendall.wordpress.com/2007/06/06/zette-appreciation-day/
http://karenee.blogspot.com/2007/06/zette-appreciation-day.html *Moved from comments*
http://www.carternipper.com/wordpress/?p=552 *Moved from comments*
http://ca-bookwyrm.livejournal.com/53974.html *Moved from comments*
http://mayakda.livejournal.com/112879.html *Moved from comments*
http://suelder.livejournal.com/1593.html *Moved from comments*
http://underpope.livejournal.com/586207.html *Moved from comments*
http://dsgood.livejournal.com/805047.html *Moved from comments*
http://kalima62.livejournal.com/62379.html *Moved from comments*
http://hoshikaze.livejournal.com/51427.html *Moved from comments*
http://enchantedonyx.livejournal.com/158727.html *Moved from comments*
http://l-clausewitz.livejournal.com/311754.html
http://criticgal.livejournal.com/9903.html *Moved from comments*
http://manonf.blogspot.com/2007/06/zette-forward-motion-for-writers.html
http://vegetarianbear.cityonahill.com/2007/06/thank-you-zette.html *Moved from comments*
http://dsgood.livejournal.com/805047.html




More to come as I get them or as they are added to comments.