Tell your “better body” story in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book

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The folks at Chicken Soup for the Soul have a new book coming out and they’re looking for stories from women over 50. The subtitle explains it all “Say hello to a better body! Weight loss and fitness for women over 50.”
And there is a lot of power to be had in telling your health and fitness story, so if you’ve always wanted to be published in a book, this could be your chance.

Here is the link to submit your story (deadline is August 7, 2011) and they emailed me a description of possible story topics:

• Moving beyond past failures and trying again
• Finding new motivation after 50
• Finding the right exercise that you can stick with
• Ways to measure healthy weight and fitness
• Experiences with weight loss surgery
• Menopause and weight
• Osteoporosis and arthritis (prevention, managing with exercise, etc.)
• Sleep and weight
• Stress and weight
• Obesity health complications (heart disease, diabetes, cancers, sleep apnea, etc.)
• Assessing the array of diets
• Estimating portions
• Vitamins and minerals
• Has your success influenced your friends or family members?
• Do you have a success story in your seventies, eighties, nineties?

I’ve been published in two of these Chicken Soup books and I’ll admit it’s kind of cool to be part of a franchise that’s sold over 100 million copies and been translated into several dozen languages. If you want a small bit of inspiration, here is my story called “The God of the iPod” that appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Runners.

Now I’ll give you a warning first, when I went through the process and was accepted, they told me that fewer than 5 percent of submissions make it into each book. Also, you don’t do it for the pay, as getting a story accepted garners only $200 and 10 copies of the book.

However, just the act of writing about your health and fitness can be cathartic. If you’ve struggled and are making progress, getting those words down on paper can be an important motivational tool. Even if they never make it into a book, you could decide to start a blog. I know of many people who started writing fitness blogs just to tell the story of their own personal fitness journey.

It doesn’t matter if not many people read your blog; it is the act of writing and simply telling your story back to yourself that can keep you inspired.

So if you’ve got some talent as a writer, then feel free to submit your story.

And good luck!

Visit www.bodyforwife.com or email james@bodyforwife.com.