Happy New Year, everybody!
Got any new stories for our tell-it-yourself storytelling column?
“Everybody Has a Story” has come a long way since we began it in late 2007. We’ve rarely missed a week of printing Columbian readers’ real-life tales since then, and on holidays we’ve been known to print a bunch at once. The astonishing tally, as of now, appears to be nearly 700 true stories supplied by you, our readers.
And, as befits a new year, we’re just getting started. Let’s make the new year a great one with a great new batch of stories.
What kinds of stories? That’s mostly up to you. We’ve featured formative childhood events and late-life lessons; career and military adventures; solo and family trips; tragic losses; hilarious happenings. Serious or silly, big or small, way back when or just yesterday — we’ll consider it all. (And we’re looking forward to some sweet ‘will-you-marry-me?’ stories for a special Valentine’s Day compilation about marriage proposals on Feb. 14.)
Just keep the usual guidelines in mind, please:
• Your story must be true.
• It must be no longer than 1,000 words. Shorter is better. No epics here.
• It must be a coherent tale — not an editorial, how-to manual, scientific explainer or declaration of personal faith. Is it one solid story, with a beginning, middle and ending? (“Once upon a time, this happened and then this happened and it all ended like this.”)
