Blog Entry

Stories... stories... stories... stories... stories... stories... stories... stories... stories... stories... stories... stories

Get the picture?

Seriously... whose bright idea was it to have ya'll submit stories for me to read? Like I didn't have enough on my plate!! HA HA.

Kidding, of course, obviously the idea was mine. And, I don't really regret it, but it has been mixed blessing! There are SOOOOOOOOOO many of them!!!!

Yet, they are really great! And, I am having a lot of fun reading about your memories of the holidays, be they happy, sad, funny, or sentimental. In truth, doing so really will provide me with one of my lasting holiday memories. And, while reading these, I can't help but get more and more excited about how memorable and special this season's JNT will be because so many of you will be able to be a special part of it, and share your fond memories with our "extended family"!

The ONLY downside is that there are SOOO many great stories that would all fit so nicely in to the program that I am having a very difficult time picking just a few for each show.

To be honest, initially I assumed that some of you who were submitting for more than one show might be asked to read the same story at more than one show, assuming that story fit beautifully into the program. And, while that may still be the case in limited situations, I am finding more and more that there are so many great writers out there with so many great stories, that we very possibly may have more unique memories shared at each concert than I initially anticipated. That's GREAT news.

But, in order to narrow down the literally hundreds of submissions that we have received in some cities, I have chosen to do a "semi-finals" of sorts. Some of the stories may be "pre-selected".

In these cases, you may find that you receive an email asking you to modify your submission in some way and resubmit. Some folks have submitted great stories that are simply a little too long, and I'd like to see them pared down a bit so that they might fit better. On the opposite side of that coin, some have submitted stories that really are phenomenal, but that I would love to see expounded on a bit with a few more of your colorful descriptions. At the same time, many (no, MOST) of the submissions really give me a great glimpse into who you really are, yet I feel I could get an even greater feeling of the power of your memories if I could hear you read them to me somehow, so you could inflect and emphasize the parts that you feel need it. (You know how sometimes meaning gets lost when you don't actually say the words.) So, we are working on a way to have a few of you actually audibly submit... we'll let you know when we have that figured out. Don't do anything yet. Don't resubmit. Don't edit your previously submitted works. Don't record anything and send it in. We will get word to you if there is something more we would like to ask you to do. It could be different in each situation. I really want to give everyone the best possible chance to do their best here. That said, some of you painted such a wonderful picture that I need nothing more, so we may not ask for you to do anything at all. So, by all means, if you don't hear from anyone about a revision or further submission, that does not mean you haven't possibly been chosen at all!

I'll be honest, we really don't have a strict timeline at this point as to when we anticipate taking the next step, so I can't guarantee when you might hear something. But, I hope it's soon. I have really enjoyed reading the first five cities and some of the second group of cities, and I really look forward to learning more about each of you.

Some cities still need help, and you really have less than two weeks to go to submit for the final shows..... so keep them coming.

Looking forward to what I hope to be the most memorable JNT yet!

Happy writing!

c