Chicken Soup for the Soul: New Moms

Becoming a new mom is the most amazing experience. From the moment that baby is placed in your arms, there is an incredible feeling only a new mother can know. This book celebrates the physical, emotional, and spiritual experience of having a child and creating a family. We are looking for heartwarming, insightful, and humorous stories about raising babies and toddlers that share with our readers the wonders of early motherhood. Stories should not extend past the toddler years. We are also looking for stories about being pregnant and getting pregnant, including fertility issues, and becoming a new mom through adoption or surrogacy.

Please share your true stories and poems written in the first person of no more than 1,200 words. If you have already submitted a story to our New Moms database, please do not submit it again. We have it. Remember these are new mom stories about having that first baby or babies in the case of multiples, so please do not send us stories about your second or third babies, or about older siblings.

Stories should not have been previously published by Chicken Soup for the Soul or other major publications.

Here are some suggested topics, but we know you can think of many more:

The process of getting pregnant
Being pregnant
Waiting for the baby or babies (whether pregnant or waiting for a baby through surrogacy or adoption)
Birth
Bringing home the new baby(ies)
Those early weeks (if you can even remember them through the haze)
Watching your baby grow up
How the new baby affected your husband, parents, siblings
Toddler stories
Funny stories – we love funny stories
How having a baby changed you
Any other stories you would like to share with other new moms

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://chickensoup.com
Select the Submit Your Story link on the left tool bar and follow the directions.

DEADLINE IS JULY 31, 2010.