init.el

;; gist.el
;; https://github.com/defunkt/gist.el
;; added as a submodule:
;; % git submodule add https://github.com/defunkt/gist.el.git
;; now, to clone .emacs.d elsewhere:
;; % git clone git@github.com:nhoffman/.emacs.d.git
;; % cd .emacs.d
;; % git submodule init && git submodule update
(condition-case nil
    (require 'gist "~/.emacs.d/gist.el/gist.el")
  (error (message "** could not load gist")))

Testing gist.el - this is how I added it to my emacs config.