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Something happened in your life and it won't let you rest until you write about it. Maybe your toddler taught you a lesson about being a work-at-home mom, or your best friend surprised you with a special gift when you met an important goal. Maybe you laughed so hard yesterday that you cried, or you cried so hard you thought you'd never laugh again.

You can write your story for an anthology. An anthology is a collection of stories written by people just like you.

Many people write anthology stories to leave a written legacy to their children. Others do it to share personal experiences, especially if it helps someone else in the same situation. Aspiring writers submit them to get their first clip; while other anthology writers are just natural storytellers and enjoy entertaining an audience.

Publishing your story in an anthology is not a way to make a living, but many anthology publishers do pay between $50 and $300 for stories. Some anthologies even pay royalties! Don't sell all rights to your story, and you may be able to resell it again and again.

Once you have a story idea, sit down and start writing. When you write a first draft, write for yourself, not your reader. Concentrate on getting the story down on paper. Unleash the tornado of words and ideas and let them scatter across the page without stopping to straighten them up.

Next, set the manuscript aside for two hours, two days or two weeks—long enough to shift from artist (right brain) to editor (left brain). Then, rewrite your story by testing it against the four essentials of anthology writing:

1. A Great Beginning
When you are in a bookstore, do you ever pick up a book, turn to chapter one, and read the first paragraph before you decide to buy the book? I do. Nothing is more important to your story than an interesting lead. The lead is the first word, sentence or paragraph of your story. It's also your one and only chance to get your readers interested. Remember: no one starts reading a story in the middle.

"No rambling beginnings," advised Carol Kline, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul 2. "First draft beginnings can be what I call scaffolding for the real story and should often be left off the final draft."

The age-old advice of throwing away the first page of your first draft and beginning your story on page two has merit. Don't give your readers a history lesson in your lead. Make your readers think. If you tell them everything in the first paragraph, they will have no incentive to read the second paragraph.

Start with the action. Begin with a conversation. Make the readers wonder, as Kathryn Lay did in her lead of "A Simple Prayer," (Chicken Soup for the Soul Bible), a story about her daughter's youthful faith:

"Please let me see a frog tonight, in Jesus' name. Amen."

A frog? Why would someone pray for frogs? Lay drew me in as a reader because I wanted to know the answer to such an unusual prayer. Don't give your readers too much information. Give them something to look forward to discovering.

2. Lights, Camera, Action
Lay, a writer with over 1000 articles, essays, and stories included in magazines and anthologies, said, "[make your stories] emotional without melodrama, giving them a fiction-like quality with dialogue, action, scene...and putting in a take-home message for the readers."

Add dialogue and action-filled anecdotes to your manuscript. An anecdote is a short, entertaining account of an incident. Most importantly, an anecdote is a moment in life worth remembering. Be careful that your dialogue and anecdotes relate to your story, or they will distract and frustrate your readers.

Write in active voice. An active voice equals active readers. Get rid of linking verbs. Linking verbs connect words in a sentence, but don't express action. For example:

Randy is driving.
I was shopping.

Use active verbs:
Randy drove.
I shopped.

Replace weak nouns and verbs with strong nouns and verbs: "German Shepard" instead of "dog"; "bistro" instead of "restaurant"; "scamper" instead of "run"; "roar" instead of "yell." Delete unnecessary adjectives and adverbs – most of them are unnecessary if you are using strong nouns and verbs.

"Take out the words that tell," said Shirley Kawa-Jump, an author of both fiction and non-fiction books. "When you say, 'It was hot,' you are telling the reader how the day was, not showing a single thing. Instead, you need to capture the senses—the buzz of the mosquitos, the burn of the sun on your skin, the stale heavy air.

"Secondly, watch movies and note how you know something without them telling you," said Kawa-Jump. "Movies are entirely visual, i.e., they are all about showing. Then try to translate what you see on a screen into your writing. How did you know that woman in the movie was upset by the news she'd heard? What did she do? How did she look? Use those elements in your writing, too."

Kline agreed. "The best tip for showing rather than telling is to imagine your story made into a film. What really happens in your story? If your film has a lot of voice-over or a standing narrator speaking, then you are telling not showing," Kline said.

3. A Defining Moment
Your story must have a defining moment. Usually, it is the moment that prompted you to sit down and write the story.

"For me, there's a moment in time that I learned a lesson and that's when I know it's not just a story I'll tell my friends over coffee, but an essay I'll take the time to write and send off to an anthology or magazine," said Kawa-Jump.

Refrain from typing the words, "this is what I learned." Your readers will figure out what you learned without you typing "this is what I learned." In my story, "Raising Daughters Differently," (Chocolate for a Woman's Soul II), an essay about starting a freelance writing business part-time, I wrote:

Louisa May Alcott said it best, "Far away, there in the sunshine, are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." I don't know when I'll be a full-time work-at-home mom. Yet, I am making progress, and I continue the journey with the same drive I felt on day one of this decision."

A defining moment can be reinforced by a quote or Bible verse that holds special meaning to the writer.

"'What I learned' endings to stories are weak and overused. I often read an ending out loud to see if the 'rhythm' is right. A good ending feels like the final note of a song. There is a sense of completion," said Kline.

Quotes will make your defining moment shimmer and stay with your readers long after they read your story. Just keep in mind that a defining moment is more than the moment the writer learned a lesson. It is also the moment that the writer's life changed.

Kawa-Jump explained how she identifies a defining moment. "I look back at that snapshot in time and see that I became different somehow then," she said.

4. No Fish Stories
Readers cannot be fooled. If you are trying too hard to cover up how you really feel in a story, they will see right through it. Self-revelation is a necessary process when writing from the heart. You have to earn the trust of your readers for the story to mean anything to them.

I wrote about how hard it can be to reveal my true self in my article, "My Fish Story," (Spirit-Led Writer, 2003): It's easier for me to say "we" instead of "I." I remember a phone conversation I had last winter with a good friend. She had buried her mother a few months prior to our conversation, and was struggling with her sister's terminal illness.

"We love you," I said, but I knew I didn't say enough.

"We love you," I repeated, "all of us do." Still, it sounded empty.

"I love you," I said, finally saying what I wanted to say the first time.

Why was that so hard?

Because saying "we" puts me with the gang, and I feel less vulnerable in a crowd. "I" puts me out there front and center with no one to hide behind. Getting close enough to my heart to write the "I" of a difficult situation is a painful process.

To make your readers care about what you are feeling, let them stand next to you as the story is unfolding. In my essay, "Enough Love," (Brave Hearts, 2002), a story about my son's rebellious teenage years, I wrote:

The police officer snapped the steel cuffs around my teenage son's wrists. Tony's gaze met mine for just a moment, long enough for me to see what he was thinking: 'Mom, stop this. Please do something.'

I turned away from him and began straightening some papers that were scattered across the kitchen counter. Chunks of drywall were crumbled across the floor a few feet from where a splintered wooden stool lay.

The officer accompanied my son out the front door and into the waiting patrol car. I stood in the kitchen. I couldn't move. I couldn't cry. I was too tired of the whole scene.

I could have written:

My son was arrested in front of me. It was a terrible scene, and I was tired of struggling against his rebellion.

But that would have been telling the readers what happen, and the readers would not be there with me. Readers don't care how you feel when you say, "take my word for it, I was there." Readers want to be there. They do care when you take the time to: set the scene; describe the action; and let them see you unguarded. Fish stories are empty exaggerations. Have a little faith in your readers and tell the truth.

Ready to submit? You can find anthology markets by joining an online writer's group, in writer's magazines, and in Writer's Market (published by Writer's Digest).

An anthology story is special because it's in a book, and books raise your status as a writer in the eyes of others. Books open doors when establishing yourself as an expert, and help you get publicity and speaking engagements. Whatever you do, don't let your story sit on your desk. Submit it for publication and reap the benefits of being an anthology writer.

About The Author
Barbara Carr Phillips freelances from her home in East Tennessee. Her work has appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul and many other print publications. She enjoys instructing others in the art of journaling.

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