Chicken Soup for the Soul: Family Matters
101 Unforgettable Stories about Our Nutty but Lovable Families

Our first book on dysfunctional and weird family members, Chicken Soup for the Soul: All in the Family, has been a big hit, so let’s do it again! Susan Heim will join our team once again to deliver another volume of 101 outrageous stories about our families.

We all have that certain someone in our own family who, while usually lovable, is nutty or outrageous. A parent, an in-law, a brother or sister, an aunt, uncle or cousin. You know who they are! We are looking for true stories and poems about those family members. We would like your stories to be outrageous, hilarious, or just plain weird, but we know that there are serious issues too. All of the stories should help readers understand that their families are not so different from other families.

Submit under your real name, but rest assured we expect many of you to use pen names for publication and change the names of family members to protect the innocent (or guilty!). Stories and poems must be written in the first person and should be no more than 1,200 words. Please, no ‘creative writing’ as these must be true firsthand accounts.

Here are some suggested topics, but we know you can think of many more, since there is no way we can think of all the ways that families can be nutty:

Wedding woes
Compulsions and obsessions
Holiday meltdowns
Mean or controlling family members
Funny foibles
Funeral flare-ups
Estate issues
Vacationing together
Annoying habits
… Anything else that you think is interesting about your outrageous relatives
We are not looking for stories about the normal trials and tribulations of raising children and teenagers. We already know your kids do weird things, since ours did too! We want these stories to be outrageous and about out-of-the-ordinary situations.

If your story is chosen, you will be a published author and your bio will be printed in the book if you so choose. You will also receive a check for $200 and 10 free copies of your book, worth more than $100. You will retain the copyright for your story and you will retain the right to resell it.

SUBMISSIONS GO TO http://chickensoupforthesoul.com/form.asp?cid=submit_story.