Good News/Bad News

I had some good news this week. An editor from the Chicken Soup for the Soul books sent me an e-mail to say that a story I'd sent for consideration in a new book has made it into the finals. Ah yes, writing for Chicken Soup is comparable to a contest, or a race. They weed out the stories until they come to a hundred plus that fit the criteria for the book. Then, they notify the writers and send a Permission Release Form. It's a contract between the publishers and the writer, and I've always wondered if you sign the contract, shouldn't that mean you're in? Not necessarily in this case.

The editor wrote that only 5% of all the stories they'd received for the book had made it into the finals making the odds of my story getting in much better. So that made me feel pretty good. If all goes well, and I make the cut, this will be my 10th Chicken Soup book. They have increased the number of copies of the book each writer receives to ten. Use to be one copy. I'm wondering what to do with ten copies. Ken said I should stand on a street corner and sell them! Maybe not.

But the bad news is that they will not notify the writers who made it into the book and who didn't until November of 2010. The book is to be released in December 2010. That's a long wait, but here's where a writer has to practice patience. Never having been a patient person, that's been difficult for me, but I'm learning. Boy, am I learning!

Meanwhile, I signed the contract and sent it to the editor. And I'm inspired to see what else I might write for another Chicken Soup book. If you're interested in writing for them, visit the website at http://www.chickensoup.com/ Read the guidelines and section under Submit Story carefully before sending.
They toss out a lot of stories because they don't fit the guidelines.