'Reader's Digest' Wants Your Life Story in 150 Words or Less

Oh boy, do I have a contest for you long-winded Facebookers and personal bloggers. It's called, "Your Life: The Reader's Digest Version." The venerable magazine is willing to shell out $25,000 if you can keep The Story of You to a crisp and compelling 150 words (words, not characters—this isn't Twitter). Hell, I'd fork over that much if certain "friends" would stop sending me six-page family missives disguised as Christmas cards. Short and sweet, people! You are not that interesting. Jane Lynch, star of Glee and host of next month's Emmy Awards, gets the ball rolling with her own abbreviated life story on the magazine's Facebook page (see it after the jump). Shame, it sounds nothing like her caustic Sue Sylvester character from the Fox musical. Rather, it's an earnest promo-within-a-promo for Lynch's memoir, Happy Accidents, dropping in September. More celebrities with books to hawk will follow. But if Lynch, a sought-after, award-winning actress (Best in Show, Role Models, Party Down), can give a snapshot into her psyche within just a few sentences, so can you. I'd be even happier with a haiku. Jane Lynch's entry: "At the tender age of 50, I realized that I had the family, friends and the acting career I had always wanted. I had suffered on the way, feeling out of place, overcontrolling and drinking too much, but all that suffering had not fueled anything useful. The good things were a result of happy accidents that I had been willing, and let's hope smart enough, to... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #award-winning actress #role models #tender age #acting career #good things #stay open

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[ Folio Magazine | 2016-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Middle Grade neglect risks isolating generation of readers, author warns

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[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Short story collection smuggled out of North Korea sparks global interest

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[ The Guardian | 2016-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lee Child on Amazon’s real-life bookshops – and why we should be worried

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[ The Guardian | 2016-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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History and Historicals: At 75, Avon Romances the Readers

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New 'life-affirming' Jodi Picoult book to Hodder

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[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sourcebooks’ ‘Put Me In the Story’: B&N Puts It In the Stores

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Story Of Mark Zuckerberg's TheFacebook.com, As Told By The Harvard Crimson In 2004

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[ Fast Company | 2016-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Day in the life: What a publisher social media manager does

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[ Digiday | 2016-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Slate | 2016-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kindle e-reader update gives quick access to your books

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[ Engadget | 2016-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook's latest News Feed overhaul puts stories you want to see at the top

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[ PC World | 2016-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kitty-in-Boots: New Beatrix Potter story starring Peter Rabbit found

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[ Stuff | 2016-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2016-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Guardian | 2016-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Identities of Costa Short Story authors revealed

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[ The Bookseller | 2016-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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French Readers Put Arab Authors on the Bestseller List

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary Magazines As Training Ground for Readers, Writers and Publishers

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