"Time For Tears" Anthology Project
Ruby Bayan and Dante Gagelonia
Editors
= = = Project on hold until further notice. = = =
Make us cry. Better yet, make us weep.
We are putting together an anthology of real life stories that stir up only one reaction -- tears. The book's working title is "Time for Tears."
Because humans are moved to tears in more ways than one, your story can work around any of these themes (these are the working chapters of the book):
- Joy - success, victory, relief, triumph, celebration, happiness
- Sadness - death, separation, loss, depression, sorrow, melancholia, hopelessness, desolation
- Pain - disease, persecution, handicap, frailty, discrimination
- Regret - guilt, remorse, apology, atonement, contrition, repentance, penitence
- Fear - anxiety, suspense, fright, worry, panic, apprehension
Hint: Think heartfelt, heartrending, heartbreaking, and tug-at-heartstrings *heavy* drama. Effective sub-themes would be love, friendship, loyalty, compassion, forgiveness, etc.
Story should be no more than 1500 words.
Authors of stories chosen for publication will be advised of further details. They retain all rights and *will be paid* for the non-exclusive use of their stories.
Deadline has passed. Please read the project updates below.
 What's New (how the project is coming along)
07-27-05 - The project is not moving along as expected. If you submitted a story but would like to pull out, please send me an email. Otherwise, I will assume you want us to hold on to your story until something fruitful develops. No, we have not abandoned the project -- thank you for your patience.
12-13-04 - Gosh, has it been a year since my last update?! Several authors have contacted me, so they already know that we're still looking for a publisher who will give an advance to the owners of the chosen stories. I know that some writers will be happy to simply see their names in an anthology, but many will appreciate getting paid, which is what we're shooting for. I'll be in touch.
12-11-03 - Yes, the project is still in full swing. [Hopefully it won't take four years like one of the anthologies I wrote for. They did accept my story after the 4-year hiatus.] As I've told some authors who are doing year-end follow-ups on their submissions: I'm having the top stories go through several levels of review and intense editing so that we have only the best content for our target publishers. We may have to get in touch with some authors during this process, but we will advise everyone as soon as something concrete is worth announcing. Meanwhile, enjoy your holidays!
10-18-03 - I know you're all getting impatient. The process is taking longer than we expected. This is a very special project and we want to make an impact. We want to ensure it will all be worth the effort and the patience.
08-21-03 - Making progress. We've shortlisted the 200+ submissions to a Top 40 list. I think we've hurdled the toughest phase of this project. Now we'll be picking out the Top 12 best-written ones to include in our proposal to the publishers. As we've already mentioned, until we're squared away with a publisher, we won't be sending out acceptance or rejection letters. If for any reason you want to pull out your submission, please let me know.
07-21-03 - Reading and sorting all these wonderful tearjerkers (some for the nth time) is a monumental (not to mention emotional) task. We're struggling with some submissions that are "borderline" -- a story is borderline if it's touching, but doesn't quite hit the tear glands.
So, Folks, please be patient. We've received a few follow-up e-mails asking for the status of their submissions. Please bear with us -- we want to come up with a really good book. We're working hard to compile an anthology that will impact a lot of people -- our authors as well as our readers.
Right now, we're focused on preparing a book proposal that's nothing short of great -- one that'll knock the socks off the publishers. This is not going to happen overnight. Thank you, everyone, for your cooperation. We'll let everyone know when the proposal is ready.
Note that until we're squared away with a publisher, we won't be sending out any acceptance or rejection letters.
07-02-03 - Submissions are all in -- 230 tearjerkers in all. We will tabulate the stories and shortlist down to about 50 or so, and choose the 12 stories that will showcase our project to the publishers. We received several leads for publishing houses that roll out our kind of book. Hopefully, we can sign up with one who will be as enthusiastic about the project as we (the editors and the authors) are.
To everyone who sent us their heartfelt stories, thank you! We'll be in touch -- please be patient.
Why will anyone want to read the "Time for Tears" collection?
Because...
- we need to relate with other people and their reasons for tears
- we need to know that others share our pain and sorrow
- we need to be "moved" to stir the life force within us
- we need to see how blessed we are after all
- we need to cry every now and then -- to heal, purge, cleanse... catharsis.
"Time for Tears" will make us weep; but it will also inspire us to act, help us acquire a better perspective of life, and in the end give us comfort in knowing that we are hardly alone when we shed a tear.
Related Articles (these are not sample submissions)
- Eight Simple Ways to Express Yourself
No matter what we've learned from our parents, big brothers, and superheroes, letting go of emotions is healthy. In most cases, like times of grief or loss, it can be cathartic.
- The Comfort of Tears
Why do we hold back our tears? Crying, just like laughter and fits of anger, is a natural expression of perfectly human emotions. Crying is good for our soul.
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