Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Shameless Self Promotion Day

Hello and welcome to Shameless Self Promotion Day. It's just a brief departure from our discussion of Switzerland to let you know that I'm excited (well who am I kidding, I'm practically peeing my pants) that not just one, but two of my essays are out in bookstores across the United States today in one of the best-selling Chicken Soup anthologies, Chicken Soup for the Soul: All in the Family: 101 Incredible Stories about our Funny, Quirky, Lovable & "Dysfunctional" Families.

I don't know what having multiple essays in a book about dysfunctional families says about my family, but I want to take a moment to thank them for providing endless inspiration.

The first story (which is actually the first one in the book--you can read it by clicking on the "see inside this book" button) is about how my father wraps everything (including plastic lawn chairs) in plastic (oh, and happy birthday today, dad...you know what you're getting for the big day).

The second essay is about the DNA I've inherited from multiple family members that just makes me want to steal those butter packets from the table at Denny's (and also the DNA that makes living in Switzerland so difficult because of the lack of these kind of things to take.)

To make Shameless Self-Promotion Day slightly less shameful, I'm giving away a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: All in the Family: 101 Incredible Stories about our Funny, Quirky, Lovable & "Dysfunctional" Families. All you have to do to win is leave a comment on this post about something crazy your family does from now until November 3. Craziest family story (in my opinion, of course) wins. You'll get the book and your story will be posted on my blog in a future post along with a link to your blog or website. Please keep stories to 150 words or less.

11 comments:

Lori said...

Congratulations, Chantal!! What neat clips! Can I say I knew you before you made it big? :)

Chantal said...

Ha, ha. Thanks, Lori. Yeah, they will be fun clips to have and imagine that, I already added them to my website...

M'dame Jo said...

My family does all kind of crazy shit. Not the funny type, unfortunately.

Chantal said...

Hmm. Maybe it's just me. Most things my family does I find incredibly funny and strange.

Amanda said...

One million congrats, Chantal! That's fantastic news!

My story: For the last several years, the oldies in our family have requested that my cousins and I begin to add babies to the clan to make Thanksgiving more entertaining. To buy some time, we have had to come up with alternative forms of entertainment. First, we asked our then-preteen cousin to serenade us with Gwen Stefani singles. Once we realized she would never be an American Idol finalist, it occurred to my sister and me that we should take it upon ourselves to entertain the family at holiday gatherings. We now tell "arm stories" in which one sister sits in a chair and tells an embarrassing story about another family member (in the first person) while the other sister "does the arms.” Hair twirling and other gestures I shan't mention are often involved, revealing the truth to surprised parents for five years and counting!

Chantal said...

Amanda, thanks for the great story!

And everyone else, don't forget, you can enter yours for a chance to win by Nov 3.

Deborah said...

Such exciting news! Congrats! I will have to do some thinking about crazy family stories. My family is just oh-so-normal.

Chantal said...

One advice I can give for writers or anyone thinking of something strange their family does (or on writing anything else) is to think small. And figure out how to make that small thing large.

Anonymous said...

What fabulous news Chantal. I can't wait to click on that book and read your first story. And first story in the book did you say ? Very impressive indeed. You have all reason to pee in your pants - I mean, to be real excited ! haha!

I'd be thrilled to win a copy for sure, but um, gee, my family is just normal and boring. Ok, that was clearly the funniest thing I have ever said. haha! No way, normal = boring. But alas, too many stories to sort through...

Congrats again Chantal !

Chantal said...

Thanks, Kerrin. I appreciate it!

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