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***We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please submit your stories to cupofcomfort@fwmedia.com, and include your full name, email, mailing address, phone number, story title, word count, the book/contest for which the story is being submitted, and copy/paste your story into the body of the email.

Share your love story with the world!
Enter the Cup of Comfort and REDBOOK Your Love Story contest today!

Here, from the comfort of your own home, you can: Read sample stories from our books and tell us about your favorites. Review our call for submissions page and submit your personal essays for our upcoming books. Learn how to write great stories that get published with our story critique services and writing workshops. Share stories and ideas with our readers, writers, and editors in our forums. Shop for Cup of Comfort books, including personalized books printed with your personal inscription and/or photograph. Get breaking news on new books, special offers, writing tips, author appearances, and more with our free newsletter and the Cup of Comfort Blog.
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Lucky in Love? Share Your Story & Win a Pot O'Gold
Well, not exactly a pot of gold ... But any respectable leprechaun would be proud of the grand prize at the end of the "Your Love Story Contest" rainbow: $1,000, plus publication of your true story of true love in both A Cup of Comfort for Couples and REDBOOK magazine, plus a whole library of Cup of Comfort books. Of course, the competition is stiff, so you'll need to put your best writing forward. You'll also need to get Irish-jiggy with it, because the submission deadline is only a month away.  Read full post...
Learn How to Find and Fine-Tune Your Literary Voice
One of my most important objectives when editing someone else's story is to retain that author's "voice." Given all the voices I've worked with during all the years I've been midwifing other people's stories, I'm usually able to accomplish that objective without too much ado—provided the author's voice is compelling, distinctive, consistent, and appropriate for the literary category and audience. Therein, for the writer, lies the challenge: developing a strong voice and applying it effectively. The challenge for me, as an editor, is often that the story's voice is indistinguishable, inappropriate, ineffective ... or, worse, nonexistent.  Read full post...
Writing Quote of the Day-3/15/2010: Jean Luc Godard
Like short stories, narrative essays require a beginning, middle, and end--a narrative arc is key. However, many Cup of Comfort submissions lack this pivotal moment of "how is this all going to be resolved?", resulting in a story that is not really a story at all. Jean Luc Godard, a French and Swiss filmmaker, gives us today's writing quote of the day, which stresses the importance of a beginning, middle, and end--as well as the writer's freedom to determine how these three come together.  Read full post...

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from, A Cup of Comfort for a Better World, Stories that celebrate those who give, care, and volunteer



 You Bought Me Sleep
The idea of volunteering in another country has long been considered the province of students and recent graduates; images of intrepid, twenty-year-old Peace Corps workers in a remote Sierra Leone village might spring to mind. Today, however, the idea has reached far beyond and become an accessible and highly popular pursuit among travelers of all ages and backgrounds. Volunteer travel has grown so popular that a term has even been coined for it: 'voluntourism.' Foreign destinations are luring American citizens who want to sightsee while simultaneously engaging in community service. Companies and websites specializing in voluntourism have sprung up by the hundreds, and volunteer vacations can be found in all parts of the world, doing all kinds of activities—from digging wells for clean water in South America, to protecting the elephant population in South Africa, to working with children living in orphanages.

We’re always cooking up fresh Cups of Comfort -- each filled to the brim with heartwarming true stories about the extraordinary experiences of “ordinary” people. And we’d love to include your stories in an upcoming Cup of Comfort anthology.

Check out our call for submissions page and submit your story today!
 
 
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It's Not Just What You Say, It's How You Say It!

In writing, voice is the way you choose your words, describe what you see, view the world. The individual perspective that only you have. And writing true-life stories in the first person requires a particularly deft use of voice. 

In this practical, hands-on online writing workshop, we'll address everything you need to know to develop your voice and create effective and appealing true-life stories.
Date: Tuesday, April 13th
Time: 1:00 pm EST
Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Cost: $49.95

Register Today!

 

 Is Your Story Ready for Publication? Is Your Essay an Award-Winner?

You've written a real-life story—a narrative essay, creative nonfiction story, or inspiring true story. You think your story is great—and so do your friends. But you want to get it published. But have you ever wondered how a publisher would critique your writing?

Well, now you can find out with our Story Critique Services. Let a story consultant with hands-on experience in writing, editing, and publishing show you how to increase your chance of getting published and learn how to write award-winning stories that both publishers and readers will love.