Chicken Soup for the Blogger’s Soul?

~ Deborah Drezon Carroll

In my search of good places to submit original writing, one of the first I came across was the juggernaut that is the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. Having received many of these books as gifts over the years, I was intrigued. So with my usual, What the hell, attitude, I wrote an essay and sent it off to their call for submissions on Volunteering and Giving Back. (They have a boatload of titles and topics so check out their website and write an essay to submit.)

Much to my shock delight, I’m in! The book is publishing in August and my essay entitled, “A Little Lipstick,” will be inside.

So, the point of this post, is this. If you are a writer or a wannabe writer, adopt the useful, “What the Hell” attitude. Send off your work and send positive vibes into the universe. Or, do as I did. Send off your work and forget about it completely so that you too can be shocked delighted when someone out there likes what you’ve written enough to publish it. Hitting the submit button feels very powerful. Don’t take it personally if you never hear from an outlet again. Or, worse yet, if you get an actual rejection telling you the writing is the worst thing they’ve ever seen. (Okay, no one actually says that, it just feels that way.) Just reward yourself for being brave enough to send your creation out there. You just never know what may happen.

The founder of the Chicken Soup books, Jack Canfield, was rejected by 144 publishers. No, that’s not a typo. 144 publishers said no to his concept. Fast forward to today, 500,000,000 books in print worldwide. Again, no typo, 500 million books.

If you haven’t yet been rejected 144 times, keep trying! Eat a bowl of chicken soup for comfort if need be! But keep hitting SUBMIT!

42 thoughts on “Chicken Soup for the Blogger’s Soul?”

  6. Congratulations, Debby, and thank you so much for such a positive approach to the rejection that all writers encounter. I love your attitude towards this and when I finally do submit a piece of work I’ll certainly be taking your advise.

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      1. Thanks for following my blog. I am beginning to query agents now with my third book – I am expecting a long, long road – so I will still self-publish if nothing comes of it.

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      2. It’s great you have a back up plan. I was published by major houses in the 90s but this time I queried a few agents (my previous and fabulous agent retired) and after hearing nothing I just decided to self-publish. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Self publishing lacks the ego boost of someone thinking your work is good enough to publish but there is something grand about being in total control. Either way you end up going, at least you’re going! Thanks for taking the time to stop and write to me.

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  20. Thanks so much and I saw your Tweet about it too. Love spreading the word with you! It’s a lovely community, bloggers, and much of what I see is a wonderful cooperation as so many work together to support each other. You are a great example of that!

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  26. Very inspirational, it’s very easy to give up as a writer, but when you can just adopt that ‘what the he’ll’ attitude as you say and simply submit, you’re going places! Fabulous stuff!

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    1. It’s often way easier to give up but if you can just push yourself the tiniest bit there could be a big payoff. I’m so glad you found “What the hell” motivating! And, thanks for taking the time to write and say so.

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