SA Rocks

Everyone has had that moment. The one where you think “Dammit, why didn’t I think of that”. This is one of those moments.

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet that moment for me has been suitably rubbed in my face (read: kindly sent through) by many twitterers, bloggers, friends and colleagues asking me to blog about this. So here goes.

Alan Knott-Craig, MD of iBurst, wrote one helluva email to his employees earlier this year. It was moving, inspiration and started something massive.

Penguin books decided, after reading the email, decided that inspiration should be turned in to a book. What a brilliant move – Enter that kick-yourself-stupid moment I was talking about. Upon hearing the news I quietly excused myself, went outside, bent over and kicked myself. How could I have missed the opportunity? Easy.

Penguin and Knott-Craig are now doing what SA Rocks has been predicting for more than a year now; change. A change in attitude and mindset is taking place eventually and this, in my opinion, is where it starts.

The basics about the book:

When Louise Grantham, Publisher at Penguin Books read the email, she contacted Alan and convinced him that this could be a great idea for a book. As a result, iBurst in collaboration with Penguin have set up this blog as well as an email (dontpanic@iburstgroup.co.za) and SMS* forum inviting all South Africans to contribute their positive thoughts about South Africa. A selection of these positive responses are going to be published in a book, called ‘Don’t Panic’. The aim is to motivate South Africans to remember the silver lining in every dark cloud.
All royalties for this book will be donated to the Tomorrow Trust.

We look forward to receiving your comments
*SMS number 31889 (standard SMS rates apply)

I have already submitted my email, comments, thoughts and suggestions. But I have a request.

SA Rocks has now managed to amass posts, stories, interviews, thoughts, insights and opinions totalling more than 500 posts. That is an entire book in itself. My request that you email or sms Penguin books and get them to read your story on SA Rocks. Spread the word and get people to love SA and think that it Rocks as much as I do.

Put plainly, we’ve been saying for a while now, Don’t Panic (like the Hitch Hiker’s guide to the Galaxy says), stick around and wait for this book. In the meantime send your stories to SA Rocks cause we’ll publish them straight away!

Keep rocking and congratulations to Knott-Craig and Penguin books for this brilliant initiative. Great job.

Original Pic: JL2003

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