Moments in Time: Parents write about special moments in the lives of their children with Williams syndrome
One thing that parents, and other family members need when they find out their child has Williams syndrome is support. We have a wonderful community on the website, Listserv, and Facebook pages. We also have informative books that people can buy, such as Fulfilling Dreams, and Ben’s Big Decision.
This year, we're building an additional means of support -- a collection of stories, to be published in 2013. And these stories will be yours.
How did you feel when you found out your child has Williams syndrome? What did you encourage your child to do, even though others said it would be impossible? What funny, but special moment have you experienced? What breakthrough did you witness, and how did you feel? These are some of our ideas. We’re sure you have your own. Feel free to write about any topic (related to your child and Williams syndrome) that comes to mind. Keep in mind that we envision the final product to be a very positive means of support.
We’d like you to tap into your emotions and put words on paper. It's perfectly fine if you don't consider yourself a writer. We'll be revising and editing (with your permission) before we publish.
We don’t know yet how many stories we'll need, but the more we receive, the better. We'd love to accept everyone's stories, but we'll have to filter for the sake of the overall project. We may have to choose one over another if they're about the same topic or if one doesn't fit with the spirit of the book. But we will let you know if your story is accepted, has undergone any revisions, or if it doesn't fit into this project. If we don't choose your story this time around, that doesn't mean that it won't work for another book, or Phase 2 of the website which will also include personal stories.
If you're interested in sharing your story with us, please do the following:
- Write a true story of 1250 words or less (please use Microsoft Word if possible).
- Focus on one main topic. For instance, one parent might center his heartwarming story around the day his daughter said her first word. Another parent might write a funny story about her son's forthright chat with a doctor.
- Give your story a title
- Send the story as a Word (or similar) document file to WilliamsSyndromeBook@gmail.com by April 1, 2013.
- Include a great photo of your child that goes along with the story
We will let you know if your story will be included in the collection. We reserve the right to edit all submissions, but you will have final approval of the edited story before publication. We look forward to reading your words of support and sharing them with other families.
Thank you!
Michelle Self & Vanessa Coggshall, project coordinators for the WSA.