OPPORTUNITY TO CONTRIBUTE TO GARY CHAPMAN BOOK

Dear Writer,

Would you like to be part of an exciting writing venture with Dr. Gary Chapman, best-selling author of The Five Love Languages? Dr. Chapman and I are pulling together a new book and we’d like to invite you to be a part of it.

You may be familiar with me as the editor of the Christian segment of A Cup of Comfort series of inspirational stories published by Adams Media. Or you may connect me with the Life Savors series published by Tyndale House. Whether you’re one of the wonderful writers who has inspired and encouraged others through these compilations, or whether you’re new to my projects, I’d like to hear your story.

A number of Dr. Chapman’s books have dealt with the theme of love in relationships – not only how to effectively communicate love but also learning to become a loving person. Now Dr. Chapman would like to give others an opportunity to share the lessons they’ve learned on their love journeys. We are compiling a collection of these stories in a volume entitled, Love Lessons: Everyday Acts of Love That Change Lives, which Bethany House will publish in Spring, 2009. We will accept 40-50 stories at 1,200 to 2,000 words each.

The stories should demonstrate a progression in your learning to love authentically and how you learned to become a more loving person. Most of the stories should focus on growth in relationships, including: married couples, family members, parenting, friendships, and work relationships. But they may also relate to a neighbor, or even a homeless person.

The story should include descriptive character development, especially related to the soul; how emotions, perspective, and quality of life changed based on the interactions between people. We prefer stories to be in first person, based on your personal experience of growth. But “as-told-to” stories will be considered. These stories do not have to include God in them and, if they do, God should not be the focus. We will be appealing to both the Christian and secular markets with the message of how to love others from a human perspective, so please eliminate Christian jargon. At this time, we are not accepting previously published submissions.

If your story is selected you will receive a one-time fee of $100 upon publication. We would like to receive all submissions by August 31, but would hope that most will be in by the beginning of that month. We will also judge what we consider to be the three best stories – with awards of $500, $300, and $200, respectively. The selection and editorial process will take a considerable amount of time and we will not be able to let you know if your story is chosen until mid November, so we ask for your patience. We will let you know as soon as we know.

Also, include all relevant contact information on the actual manuscript, which may be attached in an email: names, full address, email address, social security number and phone number, and brief bio. Your social security number can be received by regular mail if you prefer, but it will only be used for payment purposes. Please address all queries and manuscripts to my associate, Jeanette Littleton, at lovelessons@earthlink.net. Please feel free to pass this letter along to others you think might be interested in submitting to this book. Thank you so much for considering participating in this exciting and groundbreaking project.

Blessings to you and yours,

James Stuart Bell
Editor for Dr. Gary Chapman