Chicken Soup for the Soul

One of My Many Embarrassing Stories from China

Everyone loves Chicken Soup for the Soul. It's the most comforting book series out there. (Plus, there's a podcast, and movies, and a bunch of other stuff. A whole mini-empire of heartwarming goodness.)

I've just been included in my fifth Chicken Soup book, a comedy-themed one called Laughter's Always the Best Medicine. Look for a bunch of smiling llamas on the cover.

My story is called "My First Party in China," and if you know me personally, you've probably heard me tell this story. If not, I won't spoil it. Just know that it's from my experiences teaching in rural China and it's very, very embarrassing.

But that's not the big reason I wanted to post this. (I mean, I'd love to help sell more copies of this thing, but I think Chicken Soup is doing just fine marketing-wise.)

Instead, I wanted to tell everyone out there that you (yes, you) really should submit a story to Chicken Soup. It's very easy, the editing process is super-pleasant, and you'll get a couple hundred bucks for your trouble. Plus, you'll be published in this awesome, best-selling series. Like I said, this is my fifth story and I plan to keep submitting. I love these books.

(And if you're curious about my past stories, the topics were: dogs, grandparents, kindness, and gratitude.)

If you go to their website, they always have five-ish topics that they're currently looking for. Usually some animal-related ones, a holiday-themed one, and more general ones like "miracles" and "forgiveness."

You pick a topic, write a true story of something that happened to you, and then submit directly to the website. Don't get fancy with the prose, because you want the story itself to be the focus. And you only have 1,200 words.

I've never met a single person in my life who hasn't had a least one experience that would make a good Chicken Soup story. That's what's so great about these anthologies. They're relatable. Just think of a story you like to tell at parties or a memory that still chokes you up and write it down.

Please do that. I'm serious. Even if you've never written anything before, even if the whole thing sounds intimidating... Just open Microsoft Word, turn on the dictation feature, and tell your story like you're telling it to a friend. You'll be surprised how little you have to edit (and how short 1,200 words actually is).

And one piece of advice before you do that: Try to focus on how you changed during the story. That's something I noticed with all of my published ones. (I submitted a lot more that were rejected.) The editors seem to like stories with some kind of personal growth. 

So if you have a funny story about your dog embarrassing you in front of your neighbors, for example, then add some context at the very beginning and end showing how this experience helped you be more confident around your neighbors. Something like that.

Anyway, Chicken Soup is great.