Saying Goodbye Call For Submissions
Update: Submissions are closed.
My friend, Stephen Parrish, is known for his humor, but he has a serious side, too. In “Bridget,” he tells the thoughtful — almost haunting — story of his childhood encounter with a little girl he never actually met, but to whom he almost couldn’t say goodbye.
Call for submissions: The Saying Goodbye anthology is inspired by “Bridget.” If you have a story about “saying goodbye,” please consider submitting it for this collection. Some of the stories will be about people who died before we got a chance to say goodbye. Such stories can be a tribute to the deceased person and/or cathartic to the author. Some stories might be about friends whose paths diverged never to cross again. Or about a romantic relationship that ended prematurely. Or a beloved pet. Or the house where you grew up. Or that old blanket or pair of sneakers you can’t quite give up! In other words, the stories can be a mix of all the things that make up our lives, happy and sad. (Don’t worry…we’ll make sure the humor is appropriate for a book that will likely contain some sad moments, too.)
If you have a story about saying goodbye, submit it today by using our online submissions form. For an example of a story about saying goodbye, read Stephen Parrish’s “Bridget.”
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m a HUGE fan of Stephen’s and have read his fine tale and therefore would love the opportunity to be associate with this project, but I fear my best saying goodbye story is too long. What kind of word count restrictions are there for this anthology?
Hi Travis. I’m a fan of Stephen’s too, so I also need to write something for this anthology! As for length: 500-5,000 words, give or take. How long is your story?
About 6500 words but I’m already hard at work trimming.
Please tell me I have a week or so to make some revisions.
what a great site and informative posts, I will add a backlink and bookmark your site. Keep up the good work!
Sounds good, Travis. No rush.
Thanks very much!
Are submissions still being accepted? I realize it’s been about a month.
Yes, you can still submit for Saying Goodbye. Submissions will probably still be open for a few more months.
Hi there, I was wondering about the submission length? How long/short should these things be?
Hi Nikki. 500 to 5,000 words, roughly.
Thanks so much, Mike, for letting us know about the deadline closing in for Saying Goodbye. I’d been thinking about another possible tale, so just finished it and sent it in.
Mike:
John and Julie Rember just stopped by for a minute, and Julie told me of your site, your business, and your story anthologies. Sounds interesting. I’ve been wriitng about 15 years now and have some things I might send in. (I was a colleague of John’s at The College of Idaho before I retired in ’96, and had Julie as a student once upon a time, too.)
(No response necessary. Les T.)
Les, Thanks for the hote. I would love to read some of your stories.
Mike, your story was very moving and made me decide to submit something to this anthology. Until I read your haunting words about that little girl, I was unsure if this project was right for me …
Roberta: I’m very glad you decided to submit something. I’ll look forward to reading it. And thank you to Stephen Parrish for sharing the story about “Bridget.”
Will you edit the stories, prior to publication, should edits — such as passive sentences, etc. — be needed?
Hi Jill. Yes, we will either ask authors to make revisions, or we will edit.
HELLO,
I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY STORY FOR THE GOODBYE ANTHOLOGY. I HAVE NOT HAD THE INTERNET AND AM BORROWING A FRIENDS’ COMPUTER. IS THE JUNE 30TH DEADLINE SET IN STONE? MAY I STILL SUBMIT MY STORY TOMORROW MORNING? THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.
SINCERELY,
VICTORIA THURMAN