Chicken Soup seeking submissions

This comes from the Yahoo Group, "Paying Writer Jobs" message boards.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms

Subtitle: 101 Stories Celebrating the Power of Choice
for Stay at Home and Work from Home Moms

Raising children, managing homes, and maybe even keeping a hand in the
working world can place incredible demands on mothers. These multi-tasking,
high-performing women have become today’s power moms.

Moms – share your stories about being a mom and doing it all.
Dads – share your feelings about your stay at home wife.
And children of moms who stayed at home – tell us about your mom.

Stories should be written in the first person and should not exceed 1200 words. Any stories are welcomed, including those on the following topics:

• Celebrating the choice to be at home: Share your most treasured moments
• Making the choice to stay home or scale back work to raise kids
• Managing the new demands of raising healthy, accomplished and
well-balanced children
• Meeting the challenges of running a household in an increasingly busy
world
• Clever ways of multi-tasking: getting it all done every day
• Dad at work, Mom at home: Surviving the division of labor in your marriage
• Facing Baby Brain Drain: Making quality time for yourself
• Reclaiming the joys of work through charity and community service
• Creative ways to work from home
• Mompreneurs: Making your own family-friendly job
• Reinventing yourself when the kids are all in school
• The power of female friendship: How women rely on each other to get
through the day
• The buck stops with you: Feeling the pressure of being everyone’s go-to person
• Life in the minivan: Making the most of the driving black hole
• Giving up the Guilt: When doing it all is impossible

If your story is chosen, you will be a published author and your bio will be printed in the book. You will also receive a check for $200 and ten free copies of the book, worth more than $100. Your story will be copyrighted in your name and you will retain your rights to resell the story to another publication after it is published by Chicken Soup.

DEADLINE IS SEPTEMBER 1, 2008. SUBMISSIONS GO TO
Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Submissions to our web site receive faster attention and are more likely to be published, but if you do not have Internet access, please submit your story by mail or by facsimile.

Chicken Soup for the Soul
P.O. Box 700
Cos Cob, CT 06807-0700
Fax 203-861-7194

A Nursing Triad

Read LM columnist, of (Me and My House), Elrena Evans' essay in this month's issue of online Mothering.

"Should I have weaned her? The question looms in my mind. Should I have weaned her when I had the chance, before the baby was born? But I didn't want to wean her then. I was so aware of the dwindling days, the end of our time together as just the two of us. Every moment was saffron-precious, and I couldn't bear to waste it. Weaning was not an option."

Readings in Portland and Pasadena

Just a quick reminder about two events this week: readings in Portland, OR, and Pasadena, CA, for The Maternal Is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change, edited by LM senior editor Shari MacDonald Strong, and including pieces by LM editors and columnists Violeta Garcia-Marquez, Ona Gritz, Susan Ito, Helaine Olen, and Jennifer Margulis -- and contributors Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser, Jennifer Brisendine, Jennifer Graf Groneberg, Kris Malone Grossman, and Karen Maezen Miller. Bring a friend (or a group)! Come feel politically energized! This is the year of empowered political motherhood!

June 25, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
A reading for The Maternal Is Political with Jennifer Margulis,
Gigi Rosenberg, Margaret McConnell, and Shari MacDonald Strong
In Other Words Bookstore
8 NE Killingsworth St.
Portland, OR 97211

June 28, 2008, 5:00 p.m.
A reading for The Maternal Is Political with Gayle Brandeis, Mona Gable, Karen Maezen Miller, and Shari MacDonald Strong
Vroman’s Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91101

Ain't I a Mommy?

Read LM columnist and freelance writer, Deesha Philyaw's essay, "Ain't I a Mommy?" in B*tch Magazine.

So if black women haven’t beaten down publishers’ doors with manuscripts about mothering or about pulling second shifts, it’s probably because this is what we’ve always done, without fanfare and without the luxury of “what about the children?” pearl-clutching. Perhaps because many of us are only a generation or two removed from poverty, we can’t in good conscience write unconcerned screeds that ignore the hard realities for poor women and children. Maybe we look at our girlfriends—working women who aren’t mothers—and are reminded that it’s not all about the mommies. Maybe we realize that mommy-centrism lets employers and policy-makers off the hook with regard to family-friendly workplace changes that would allow mothers and fathers to work more flexible hours without sacrificing their careers in the process.


This is not to say that black women never sweat the career-family stuff, nor is it to say we aren’t writing about motherhood at all these days. However, the number of such books is woefully small, and the results are not as shrill or as navel-gazing as the typical mommy book tends to be. 


call for manuscripts - The Ultimate Series

From HCI Books:

We're looking for "slice-of-life" stories and photos that are inspirational, motivational, humorous or thought-provoking. Here's what's looming, please don't procrastinate - we're already evaluating stories (thank you if you've already sent one!):

submission deadline June 30, 2008(*) The Ultimate Christmas (pub date Nov 2008)
submission deadline July 31, 2008 The Ultimate Teacher (pub date Feb 2009)
submission deadline August 31, 2008 The Ultimate Mom (pub date March 2009)
submission deadline September 30, 2008 The Ultimate Dad (pub date April 2009)

All the details you'll need (e.g. what we pay, our guidelines, book synopses, and a full list of titles in development) can be found at www.ultimatehcibooks.com.

Links on the main menu will provide access to pages of details.

Cruise around and enjoy yourself.

Share Some Comfort

A Cup of Comfort is a bestselling anthology (book) series featuring uplifting true stories about the experiences and relationships that inspire and enrich our lives. These slice-of-life stories are written by people from all walks of life and provide unique personal insights into powerful universal truths.

We are now seeking submissions for the following volumes:

A Cup of Comfort for New Mothers
Submission Deadline: 5/15/2008
A Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Families
Submission Deadline: 6/15/2008
A Cup of Comfort for Fathers
Submission Deadline: 8/1/2008
A Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children with Special Needs
Submission Deadline: 8/15/2008
A Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers II
Submission Deadline: 12/15/2008
A Cup of Comfort for the Grieving Heart
Submission Deadline: 2/1/2009

See Writer's Guidelines for additional details.

Mothering Out Loud: Moms Tell the Truth About Blogging it All

Call for Submissions on Two Proposed Anthologies:

Looking for mama bloggers interested in opening up in a proposed anthology to be edited by the founder of MotherVerse Magazine and The MotherVerse Blog ( http://www.motherverse.com ). The anthology will focus on the behind the scenes lives of moms who blog their lives. The book will address questions such as why moms blog, what motivates them, the challenges they face, how they manage the personal/private dynamic of blogging about family and what impact mom blogs are having on a global societal level. Finished essays will need to be approximately 2000-4000 words in length. Queries will be accepted through July 15th 2008 and should be no more than 300 words explaining your proposed angle, a brief bio, a link to your blog (or places you blog) and why you feel your work should be included in the anthology. With your query please also include a short (500 words or less) writing sample. Please use a polished creative voice rather than an informal tone in your sample. Review the various categories that are being considered for the anthology and send queries to mamablogger[at]motherverse.com.

Possible Categories

Mama Blogging and…
-multiculturalism / global mothering
-feminism
-race / religion / politics
-making a living from it
-your family’s acceptance (or lack of it) / children’s reaction to it
-social import and reactions of society to mommy bloggers
-flukes and funny incidents
-and your job /career
-connecting to other mothers
-single motherhood
-lesbian motherhood
-and the mainstream media/publishing world

An essay could also combine two or more of these topics. Topics outside those suggested are welcome.

Proposed Global Motherhood Anthology

Looking for mothers who are living across the globe for a proposed anthology/research book on motherhood experiences in countries/cultures/political and religious environments around the world. Looking for mothers (writers or not) who would like to share stories and be part of an exploration of the diversity of motherhood experiences. If you are interested in becoming part of this project please write editor[at]motherverse.com with “Global Motherhood Anthology” in the subject line.

Tokoyo Families Magazine

Read LM Fiction Editor, Suzanne Kamata's interview with Tokoyo Families Magazine......

Completing and publishing a book is no mean feat in any circumstances. American author Suzanne Kamata wrote her first novel Losing Kei while raising twins in provincial Tokushima in Shikoku.

“Motherhood in Japan is potentially all-consuming. I was determined to keep a little bit of time for myself,” she says. “At times, I wrote in 20-minute increments, whenever I had the chance—while waiting for a pot to boil or late at night.”

Going Under

Profiles Editor, Lisa Sadikman writes about the pleasures of "Going Under" in The Monthly, a regional East Bay, CA magazine.

I love going under. Under water. Under warm blankets. Especially under anesthesia. For the hours I am gone, I don’t fret about wrinkles, I don’t worry about how my daughter is doing at school, I don’t feel guilty for not calling my grandmother. I don’t make appointments or play dates or lunch dates. I don’t know what the doctors cut, probe, slice, suck out, remove, stitch back together. I don’t see the flaps of skin, layers of fat, blood vessels, mucus, bone and cartilage. I am under.