THE HEART OF A MOTHER-SECOND EDITION
If you are interested in contributing to this book project,
"The Heart of a Mother," please follow these guidelines and send your story using the JotForm app below.
"The Heart of a Mother," please follow these guidelines and send your story using the JotForm app below.
THE HEART OF A MOTHER GUIDELINES
Guidelines for Submissions to Baby Hearts Press for “The Heart of a Mother” Formula for a successful
“The Heart of a Mother” submission
1) Your story is written in the first person and is a story with a beginning, middle and an ending that is inspirational.
2) Your story is a true story about you– an “ordinary” person who has had remarkable experiences.
3) You use all of your senses to give the reader the opportunity to feel they are right there with you in the story –
create vivid word pictures using sight, touch, taste, smell and sound.
4) Your story has emotion and perhaps even a sense of drama – there is something about your story that will make it memorable and something that other people can relate to or learn from.
5) The best stories make us cry, make us laugh and make us think.
6) The most powerful stories are about people going outside of themselves to do for someone else – performing an act of love, service, kindness or courage. If we publish your story or poem, you will receive two free copies of the book your story or poem appears in. You will also become part of the Baby Hearts Press family and you will be entitled to buy books from us at a discount.
Guidelines your story
1) Remember that this is a book about “Heart Moms” so the story needs to have something to do with the congenital heart defect community, congenital heart defects or living with a congenital heart defect as told by a heart mom. You should tell your story in an exciting, tender,heartwarming or funny way.
2) People need to be able to relate to your story – it should make them cry, laugh, feel inspired, surprised or educated.
3) Write in an active tense; start your story with what is happening and do NOT tell us what you’re going to tell us and then summarize what you said; make every word count.
4) Make it personal; your story should be from your heart for the heart of your reader.
If you are concerned about mentioning certain places or names, you may change them and you may use a pen name.
5) All stories should be 1200 words or less. Be concise and make sure your writing is tight. Edit, edit, edit.
The best writing is rewriting.
6) Your story needs to be as true and as factual as possible. No fiction or creative writing. Stick to the facts.
Guidelines for a “Heart of a Mother” poem
1) Poems are another way of telling a story. Make sure your reader has learned something about you through the poem.
2) The poem may or may not rhyme; what’s important is the story.
3) The poem needs to be 500 words or less.
A few more tips about submitting
1) The only way to submit your stories or poems to us is via our website.
If you have any problems doing this, you may contact our Webmaster, Bren Vignaroli at brenvignaroli@gmail.com.
2) Responses from the webmaster usually take several days, so be patient. Our web-master cannot help you with your personal computer problems. If you have questions, such as, “How do I attach my story to the submission form?” please ask a friend or relative, not our webmaster.
3) Please submit only stories or poems that have not been previously published. The only exception to this is if your work has only been published in a small local publication with limited circulation or on your own blog.
Please make sure you obtain permission from the publisher if published previously.
4) Please do not send us any book manuscripts in this form.
What happens after I submit my story or poem?
Please be patient after you press the SUBMIT button. Wait for the next screen to come up with a message that says: Thank you for your submission to Baby Hearts Press! This is your confirmation that we have received your story or poem and that it has been entered into our database. This is the only confirmation you will receive. There is noseparate e-mail message from us.
A very obvious “Error” message comes up if your submission does not go through. How will you know if your story is selected?
We will send notification toeach author prior to the publication date via email; therefore it is extremelyimportant to make sure your email address is typed correctly in the submission form. You may wish to also include a phone number.
