Sharing, Caring and >than Surviving
We understand that major reform is needed in the foster Care System; however, this anthology is not dedicated to such. We endeavor to convey the poignant and intimate thoughts of those who inhabit the system and those who sustain them. We wish to share the perspectives and experiences of children and teenagers living in foster care.
We want to promote a more positive image of foster youth among agency staff, youth workers and the general public. These children are precious to us, and we know that they are intelligent, awesome, God fearing individuals.
The essays are organized into the following categories:
- What the public should know about young people in foster care
- A vision for the future
- How we've helped others
- A disability won't hold me back!
- Advice about facing demons (fears)
- Change is good...
- Sharing, Caring and more than surviving
Submission Guidelines:
- Follow the instructions about email submission hat will keep your story from possibly being filtered as spam.
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Stories should be original, non-fiction (true), ranging in length between 300-1200 words (approximately).
- Write about what you witnessed or experienced. Be specific. Include the "where" and "when" of your story. Try to include details. How did you feel? What did you see? Are there any smells or touches that help describe the event?
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We do not return submissions, so please don't send the original.
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The stories should create emotion, making the reader laugh, cry or get goosebumps or all of the above.
- SPECIFIC TO THOSE 18 AND UNDER: To comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we do not collect information from children under the age of 13. You must be 13 or older to submit your story and/or photographs. If you are age 18 or younger, you must have the permission of your parent or guardian to complete your submission.
Writing Suggestions:
The most impacting stories, although not necessarily, tend to be
about a particular moment in time, or one experience that then
transformed the character or situation. Time spans stories (like
life histories) don’t seem to be as effective unless masterfully
handled in the writing process.
Be sure to introduce the characters and make sure that you include
feelings—how did you (or the other characters) feel?
STORY FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
- All stories must be in English.
- Text should be single spaced with no extra return between paragraphs. Wrap paragraph text (no hard returns at the end of lines).
- Use 12 pt Times New Roman.
- Indent paragraphs using tabs, not the space bar.
- Do not use footers or headers in your document!
- No smart (curly) quotes or em dashes. Use straight quotes and double hyphens.
- No underlining.
- Use American convention of single and double quotes.
You may send work compressed in WINZIP format if necessary.Work should be saved in either:
- Microsoft Word. This is the preferred format for submissions.
- RTF (Rich Text Format). RTF must have the ".rtf" extension.
Email submissions to: JWPublishing@gmail.com
SUBMITTING BY EMAIL:
Email is the only way to submit stories and art. If your story is illustrated, you must scan the artwork and send it via email.
Send a Microsoft Word document. Attach your Word file and graphics files to the email message and enter "Foster Care Submission" in the subject line of the email message. That's the only thing your subject line should say. If you do not use this subject line, your work will most likely not get published.
Your email must include a short single paragraph synopsis of your story.
Format illustrations as jpeg graphic files. These have a .jpg extension on the file name. You can attach graphic files to email.
The deadline date for story submissions is : open until further notice.
