Laura and I believe in the power of a well-told story. They’re not just words or merely the rehashing of a series of events, those stories. They’re so much more. They’re windows into the deepest realities we as human beings are capable of experiencing. And you’ve got one. In fact, you’ve got lots of them. We’d like to hear a piece of your story, and we’d like to share it with others who’d like to hear it, too. So we’re calling for your submissions.
What We’re Asking For
Our tagline at The Untamed Places is “capturing the world at hand, the appealing and the appalling, in pictures and in words.” Life happens all around you every moment of every day. Sometimes those moments are beautiful and full of hope. Sometimes they’re repulsive and full of tears. Many times they’re multilayered and contain a muddle of both. It’s precisely such snippets from daily life that we seek to capture and preserve for others.
So we’d like to invite you to share your tale. In general, we’re looking for stories that show readers some aspects of reality rather than those that simply tell readers about it. If you’re not sure what kind of stories we’re mean, here are two guest posts published in December that demonstrate exactly what we’re looking for:
Where’s My Sister? (A 9/11 Story)
But by all means, don’t let those stories limit you. If told well, even the eating of a salad can reveal an often hidden aspect of reality about this big and broken world in which we live. Your account of waiting in line at the post office might be full of more truth than some Sunday morning sermons. So surprise us. We’re looking forward to reading your stories.
Know someone with a story to share? Pass the word along. We’d love to hear from them.
The Not-So-Fine Fine Print
Please submit your stories to the.untamed.places@gmail.com with the subject line as follows:
SUBMISSION: [your name], [“title of your story”]
For example, one of our past posts to The Untamed Places would have had this in the subject line:
SUBMISSION: Eric Evans, “Focus”
Send your story as the text in the email or as an attachment. If you have a picture to go along with the story, we’d love to see it. If not, maybe Laura has a picture that might complement the story nicely.
If your submission is accepted, I’ll work with you to edit and polish it. Once posted, we only ask that you share a link to the post with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, on your own blog, or in whatever other networks you might have, and we’ll do the same. Unfortunately, we cannot offer any remuneration for accepted posts.
If you’re curious as to a length, I’d say use only as many words as it takes to tell the tale. If that means 500 words, hammer them out and send them our way. If that means 2,000 words, by all means, let us have a look.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Happy storytelling.
This is awesome. Do the submissions have to be stories that have never been published? For example, can I submit one I’ve published on my own blog previously?
That’s a good question and one I hadn’t thought about before you asked it. So thanks for bringing that up. We would like the stories posted here to be ones not previously published elsewhere. That being said, when we publish your story here, we would encourage you to post a blurb (either the first few paragraphs or some sort of statement) about the story on your own blog that includes the link back to The Untamed Places where your readers can read the rest of your story. Thanks for your interest! I’ve enjoyed reading several of your posts, too 🙂