Clarifications

Hi again. Sheila here. Peg and I are delighted to report that three wonderful women have already answered our Call for Stories. Thanks to Kim (www.scaredtohealth.com ), Ann (www.bygosch.com ) and Sue (PEG -- does Sue the Marathoner have a blog or website?) -- we are off to a great start in our effort to attract some "lived experience" into our book -- I mean, of course, beyond that which we can draw from our own lives, Peg's and mine.

One email we received this morning, however, has given us to know that we need to clarify a few things about our Call for Stories.

1. "This is not a paying gig." Sad but true. We wish it could be different, but there it is. The emailer who told us we should be ashamed of ourselves for not paying writers did so beneath the subject line "anthology," which brings me to my second point of clarification:

2. 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s is NOT an anthology! Peg and I are researching and writing all of the essays, sidebars, pop quizzes and journaling prompts that will make up the bulk of the manuscript. She and I are also gathering the many published quotations (as well as the required permissions for use) to serve as marginalia. Although our "Call" is for "Stories" -- the kind with a beginning, a middle, and an end -- I now come to the most important point of clarification:

3. "We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity -- or simply to excerpt as needed." We've been asked the "word count" question, which is certainly reasonable ... and yet, not easily answered as such. In a way, word count is irrelevant, as it is highly unlikely that accepted stories will appear in their entirety. (My two sure exceptions to this are reserved for my brother Sean, who just underwent a liver transplant, and my sister Theresa, who served as his living donor.) The far more likely scenario is that we will excerpt stories, condensing the illustrative points into a paragraph or two while leaving the writer's most quotable quotations intact. This is why we said, "Don't worry if it's well-written... just tell the story in your own words." My writerly-editorly-authorly friend Bill (www.billthorness.com) predicts this approach may offend the professional writers in the room, but, well, again... there it is. We're not out to offend anyone. We just want to enrich our book -- as space allows -- with authentic "lived experience" from actual people in midlife, input we believe will help to convey the essential messages of our "50 Ways."

Hope that clears things up. Should you have any other questions about our book or our Call for Stories, don't hesitate to email me at sheilakey@newmexico.com or leave a comment here at the blog.