On this weekend after Thanksgiving, are you still feeling a little overstuffed? Not with turkey and gravy and cranberry relish and sweet potato with tiny marshmallows buried inside — but with stories?
Try slimming down by sending them our way. “Everybody Has a Story,” The Columbian’s feature where readers tell their own true-life tales, is looking for contributions.
What sorts of contributions? In recent months we’ve learned about a family’s fateful fortune cookie; a single dad’s juggling education; a UFO sighting from a Montana hot tub; and a childhood experience of racism at a campground. Serious or silly, decades ago or just this morning, we like it all.
Just remember the following guidelines:
- 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, science 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.”)
- Focus on your personal experience. What were you seeing, hearing, thinking, feeling?
- Expect a little editing.
Send your stories to neighbors@columbian.com or P.O. Box 180, Vancouver WA, 98666. Call “Everybody Has an Editor” Scott Hewitt, 360-735-4525, with questions.
