Developing Perseverance Story Guidelines
Everyone has had a time in their life when they have persevered. Whether you’re young or old, happy or sad, there’s been a time when you’ve told yourself to, “Just keep going.” If you can remember that time, and you’re proud of what you accomplished during it, we want your stories—and our readers are waiting to be inspired by them.
Submitting Your Story
We want to accept all stories, but there are some minimum guidelines that yours must meet in order to be considered for inclusion in the collection.
Guidelines for Stories of Perseverance
1) The story should be written in first person. First person is when you use the words, I, Me and My to speak directly to your reader.
2) Make sure that you start off your story by introducing who you are. Please include as much of your name as you feel comfortable revealing, with your first name as a minimum submission requirement.
3) Make your story factual so that you maintain your reader’s attention. We want to know as much of the surrounding details and feelings as possible. We want your emotions, your inner questions and conflict, and we want to know how the process resonated physically.
4) The story should come from your heart and be about a time that truly impacted you. These stories will influence the lives of so many other people—make sure your true voice is heard!
5) When writing your descriptions and emotions, please keep in mind that people of every age range will be reading these stories, including children. Use appropriate language and details when writing your story.
6) When you submit your entry, please include in the subject line of the email, or somewhere on the submission, which category you feel your story falls into (Military Members, Cancer Survivors, Natural Disasters, Bullying, Cleveland Clinic)
7) When submitting your story, please include a brief bio (250-300 words) about who you are and where you are from. This is optional but encouraged so the reader can really get to know you before reading your story. Your story is going to provide hope for people going through similar situations so as personal as you can get, the better!
How to submit an entry
1) We will accept stories by email or direct mail. The website they will be featured on is: storiesofperseverance.org. Our mailing address is: 2014 Baltimore Street Defiance OH. If mailing your submission, please label it as Developing Perseverance Attn: Kate Cooper. If you are submitting via email please identify the chapter your story belongs in in the subject line. If you feel your story belongs in two chapters please advise in your submission so we can make sure it’s placed in the relevant chapters.
2) On a case by case basis, pseudonyms will be used in situations where the person submitting the story would like to remain anonymous. We understand that the safety and privacy of some people will be at risk by submitting their story so we would like to avoid completely anonymous submissions.
3) Please document all submissions and make sure that all submissions are in final form. We cannot make edits once the story has been submitted.
4) Make sure that you are the sole author of the submission. If someone else’s ideas or words were at all presented, get their consent and include their name. They deserve credit as well.
5) Please keep in mind that publication of these books will take time and will depend on the number of stories that are submitted and when they are submitted. Submission of an entry does not guarantee that it will be published.
6) If your story is chosen and published in one of the books, you will receive three complimentary copies of the books in the mail as soon as they are published.
7) Submissions may be edited. They will be submitted to you for approval before the book is finalized, should any edits exist.
8) Please limit your submissions to 1,500 words or less.
Everyone has a story of perseverance, and we want to hear yours. We hope that all of you take the time to let your story be read because, whether you believe it or not, your story CAN make a difference.