14 Comments

Are you interested in stories if they are already published elsewhere? Thank you.

Expand full comment

I am excited to see that email. I'm actually having glitches with that account this week so I'll come back and give you a different email address if that continues. I'm so gullible that of course I assumed that was your given name and that you were born to be the writer that you are. Which you were anyway. This might sound goofy because I'm writing it on very little sleep, but let's just keep living in a world where we say the things that are too good to be true and thereby make them true! I can't wait to read your submissions!

Expand full comment

I should have just said thanks and left it at that 😂 - I'll have to stop telling people that it's a pen name. The last name is my real name, it's just the first that I changed, and it's for a family member I am really close to. So I guess I can claim half of the coolness as real.

Expand full comment

Ha! I love you and I get you. The first sentence of this comment "I should have just said thanks" is a line I could use multiple times a day myself.

Expand full comment

You have such a great name, by the way.

Expand full comment

Thank you - it's a pen name, not real. Too good to be real, like so many things in life.

I did sent an email about stories you can post, without paying me. Maybe that will make them a better fit (LOL)

Expand full comment

We are really looking for original work here, but it could certainly be another angle on an incident that you have written about elsewhere or an updated version of a story that you've told. Having said that, if you have something that you are looking to submit that has already been published exactly the way that you would want it to run as an It Happened To Me, go ahead and send that in if you would and just note where it has been published before. There's always a possibility that it got published but was not widely read and that we can find a way to work with that. So send him anything and everything and I'm really really excited (kind of chomping at the bit) to start reading your submissions. Thanks for asking the question!

Expand full comment

Yay! So excited to see this submission opportunity. I tried to send something over, but the email bounced back. Do you have a different email to try?

Expand full comment

So excited we got in touch and i'm really looking forward to the piece. It was a great pitch and one of the easier assignments I've made! Thank you!

Expand full comment

First off, the Cleveland Clinic recently warned that the Parvovirus B 19 is on the upsurge this season. My advice to you is to avoid children this holiday season, especially if you are a woman over the age of 40. Do Not Mess Around With This Virus, it will ruin your life.

Back in 2008 I contracted Fifth's Disease aka Parvovirus B 19. If you get Fifths as a child you have a high fever and a rash that looks like someone slapped your face for about a week and then go on your merry little way, happy. But if you contract Fifth's as an adult, especially as an adult woman over the age of 40, all of your joints swell and hurt for months on end. The virus elicits an autoimmune response in the body, which tends to be more severe in women. I was sick for at least five months, laid out for three months. I could not drive a car or turn a round door knob. One afternoon I went to pick up my toothbrush and was met with a sharp, stabbing pain in my hand. I had to pay a gal to walk my dog for me.

Although there is a blood test to diagnose the Parvovirus B 19, there is no vaccine or treatment for the virus that I know of. All these years later, I have not regained strength in my hands and when I do get sick with a virus it tends to settle in my joints. Even the early covid vaccines left my shoulders and hips aching for at least a week. I never regained my health or fitness to my pre-Fifth's level.

My advice to all y'all is: take a pass on playing Santa Clause for children this year, avoid events with children as much as possible, and ask a lot of questions about your grandchildren's health before socializing with them.

Expand full comment

Wow, Jennifer, I'm so bummed you went through and are going through that. Thank you for sharing it here though. And for your good advice for the rest of us.

Expand full comment

Amazing! It's been on my To Do list to research whether you accept reader submissions! I wasn't sure where the IHTM stories came from, but I've been wanting to write something, and now I will!

It's something I had originally wanted to test out at a The Moth Story Slam, but I'd love to start here first (you know, where I don't have to get on a stage and look at people and maybe have an anxiety attack or something equally fun)

Expand full comment

I'm so thrilled that you're submitting and I look forward to reading it!

Expand full comment

Yeah 👍

Expand full comment