FriendshipAndFaith welcomes any woman to share a story of a cross-cultural friendship that makes a difference in your life. Some of the stories in our book (and in our online series) tell about dramatic changes in the world: perhaps the creation of a new program or the resolution of major conflict. But, most of the stories are about relatively small moments that define our lives, such as walking into a new school or meeting another patient in a hospital ward. What makes these stories so engaging is that women write honestly about a single moment, or a specific friendship or even a lifelong relationship that opened doors to new insight.
Our motto puts this simply: Making peace 1 friend at a time.
How to Start Writing Your Story
Select a story that you may have told to friends, already. You know how people respond. You’ve already practiced telling it. Generally, the length is about 500 to 1,500 words, about the length of a story you might tell to friends over coffee.
Don’t Try to Tell Too Much in One Story
Sometimes, when people get started, they realize that their story is connected to so many other things in life. That means it’s a good story, because it focuses on a life-changing moment. It also means you’ll need to carefully limit your story to the core experiences. If you’ve had several great experiences, you can write more stories over time. We’ve already had one woman publish two stories, over time.
If You Find Writing Difficult
Record your story and transcribe it, then edit the text into a final version. That’s how many stories in our book were produced. Or, if you do enjoy writing, try to write your story in one single session of writing. Don’t worry about correcting each phrase, until you’re done. Or, email your story to a friend and ask for help.
The Final Format
Our stories are told in the “first person.” You’re telling your own story.
Do I Need to Draw a Conclusion?
Most of our stories do close with a few words of wisdom women have learned from the friendship they are describing. But that’s not necessary and a few of our stories deliberately raise open-ended questions. We welcome both approaches.
Will You Use My Name?
All of our stories have identified the authors by name. We plan to continue that approach. It’s honest and encourages other people to open up as well.
Questions? Or, Ready to Submit Your Story?
Email [email protected], which will reach our offices and we can ask one of the women in charge of the FaithAndFriendship project to get in touch with you.
(Originally published in www.FriendshipAndFaith.com )
