'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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Seven Stories has delved into its own archive to put together a book about children’s illustration, which it will publish with Walker Books in October. Drawn from the Archive: Hidden Histories of Illustration is edited by Sarah Lawrence, Seven Stories’ collection director, who looks at the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How to Survive the Cruel Times: Life Lessons from Bestselling Rabbi Harold Kushner

In Kushner's 12th book, 'Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life,' he offers reasons to come back to religion for those who have walked away. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mobile Readers Abound; the Ads, Not So Much

Traditional and online publishers are struggling to cash in on their surging mobile traffic, raising questions about their future growth as consumers increasingly turn to smartphones and tablets for media. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sample New Writing from Indonesia at Words Without Borders

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mario Vargas Llosa hits back at claim he sold story to Hola!

Nobel laureate slams ‘slanderous’ New York Times Book Review article that repeated information from the Daily MailNobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa has been forced to deny that he sold a story to Hola! magazine in Spain, and that he announced a new relationship on Twitter, following a review in... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The girl who came back to life: Lisbeth Salander resurrected for a new novel

Early in 2004, a pair of green folders labelled "Men Who Hate Women 1 and 2" landed on the desk of Eva Gedin, an editor at the Swedish publishing house Norstedts. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2015-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Story of de Beauvoir love affair to Myriad

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hitting bookstores soon: J.R.R. Tolkien's first fantasy story

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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Galley Beggar launches short story comp

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gillian Flynn short story to be published

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reading Rainbow: Hoping to Engage Lifelong Readers Through Licensing

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins to publish Tolkien 'legend' story

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Empire of Fear’ Author Shares Inside Story On ISIS

BBC reporter Andrew Hosken builds a comprehensive picture of the Islamic State, their ideology, and what life is like under their regime. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-Readers and Erotica Are a Perfect Match

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Staff Pick: A Little Life

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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World's first braille smartwatch is an ebook reader and more

On the surface, Dot sounds like a fairly standard smartwatch: It resembles a Fitbit and features a messaging system, navigation functions, Bluetooth 4.0, an alarm and, of course, a timepiece. Dot is remarkable because it's a braille smartwatch -- t... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2015-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Orbile Promises Mexican Readers Ebook Ecstacy

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Laws to publish 'inside story' of Coalition

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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