PLEASE VOTE NOW for our January 2015 “My Gutsy Story®”
You have from now, until February 11th, to vote on the sidebar, (only one vote per person) and the winner will be announced on February 12th and will select a prize from our generous sponsors.
Our 1st “My Gutsy Story®” is from Kenn Aschcraft., “From Morbid Obesity to Taking Charge of my Life.”
Our 2nd “My Gutsy Story®” is from Suzanne Chun, “How to Take a Leap, and Another and Another, Until You Get it Right.”
Our 3rd “My Gutsy Story®” is from Lola De Maci, “What Mom Taught me About Life.”
Our 4th “My Gutsy Story®” is from Connie Fenty, “How I Learned to Let Go of Security,”
The “My Gutsy Story®”story submissions have been trickling in, so I am re-evaluating whether to take a break for the time being.
Hi Sonia,
I am so excited to see you continue to share these gutsy stories. The world is so full of bad news, and if you take a snapshot of any given day there is enough sorrow to fill an ocean with tears. But when you extend your view over time and add courage, hope, generous moral support, and all the other things that lift the human spirit, the sorrows turn out to be opportunities for greatness.
Thanks for the opportunity to vote for my favorite. But the real winners of your contest are your readers!
Best wishes,
Jerry Waxler
Author of Memoir Revolution
Jerry Waxler recently posted..Launching – from Sex to Committed Relationships in Memoirs
Jerry,
Thank you for your very kind comment. I wish I could receive more stories to add to the “My Gutsy Story” collection. Please let me know how?
Sonia Marsh recently posted..January 2015 Vote For Your Favorite “My Gutsy Story®”
Hi Sonia,
I think you are already doing a great job. The fact that you want to do an even better one is a sign of a mind bent on succeeding. Cool!
Since you are the mover and shaker of this enterprise, I suspect you have had a zillion ideas, but because you asked, I put on my brainstorming hat and came up with a couple of suggestions to throw into the pot:
Add some prestige and clout by figuring out what you need to do to call it a contest. Get a couple of people to be on the jury. Ask for a small entry fee and use the entry fees as a pool of money to reward the winner. A juried contest could be advertised in Poets and Writers, for example, and could earn some buzz in writing groups.
Extend the “gutsy” contest to kids, especially college kids who had to overcome hardships, and reach toward their goals. By extending to a younger set, you could potentially add a new pool of submissions, and distinguish yourself as a multi-generational site.
Trawl other free story sites looking for good stories and asking the authors if they would like to post on yours.
Keep doing what you’re doing, and look toward the future – sometimes word of mouth goes to the tenacious survivors. Over the years, people will know Gutsy Stories and tell their friends.
I hope this helps. I have been blogging about memoirs since 2007, and inch by inch, I have built a reputation, but at any step along the way I had the option to be discouraged by slow progress. I do my best to reject that option.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Jerry Waxler recently posted..Launching – from Sex to Committed Relationships in Memoirs
Jerry,
You have offered several brilliant ideas. I did not think about the jury idea, and advertising it in Poets and Writers. Thank you for that. I shall consider your ideas.
Sonia Marsh recently posted..Finding the Guts to Change