Deadline Looming For Grandparent Stories

That's me a few years ago holding the Chicken Soup for the Soul book that had just arrived on my doorstep. It's pretty exciting when your story is included in those ten copies that arrive. They're yours to do with what you will. Sell them, give them away, run a contest with the books as the prize. Be sure to keep one for your personal collection of books.

It's not easy to have your story accepted by Chicken Soup but it's also quite possible. The biggest help you can give yourself is to study the guidelines that this anthology publisher kindly provides. They have given you a blueprint but it's up to you to write a story that fits. Note that I highlighted the word study. You cannot simply scan the lengthy page of guidelines and absorb it all. Multiple readings are worth your time. Send a story that does not fit the guidelines and it's never going to be accepted.

That said, there is a deadline coming up for the Grandparent book. Stories must be submitted by August 31st. You can read the call for submissions on this book here.  This only allows you ten days to submit the story. The submission page is here

You can write your story from the view of a grandparent about your grandchildren or about becoming a grandparent. Another viewpoint would be to write about one of your grandparents. The story can be humorous, heart-warming, or even a bit sad. Just remember that it must be a story, not a tribute to a grandparent or an essay about a grandparent. Take one incident and write the story with a beginning, a middle and an ending.

Poems that tell a story are also accepted and receive the same payment and number of books as full stories do.

A few questions to trigger some memories:

• When did you first truly feel that you were a grandparent? 
• Did anything happen at your grandchild's christening?
• Did your grandchild teach you something?
• Did you learn something about yourself from a grandchild?
• Did one of your grandparents do something that impressed you for life?
• Did one of your grandparents do something funny that still makes you laugh?
• What about shopping for a grandchild?
• Have you traveled with grandchildren?
• Have you established a tradition with a grandchild? 

No time to waste on this one. Study those guidelines and start writing!