Share a Story

Submissions are currently: CLOSED

What We’re Looking For:

Menderist was most recently seeking stories for its December 2024 issue, whose theme is ‘Gifts of Another Kind’.

We accept some submissions for publishing under the byline Anonymous, for those who wish to protect their privacy.

REAPPEARANCE

When I’ve Googled my mother’s family – or, more recently, tried to find information about my father who died in the 1980s – little is returned. Sometimes, I learn what cemetery a person is buried in.

How will my descendants learn about family who were born before the internet generation? For example, I don’t think I’ve ever told my children about my stepmother’s dad. My husband remembers Cec as a cheerful senior, who liked to whistle just as one of us was about to take a shot at the pool table. And I recall the roses Grandpa grew after his day job as an accountant: each garden stake had a small white tag dangling from it, with his neat printing noting the name of a rose varietal.

Cec died when I was in my 20s. Yet he’s still alive – or that’s what I thought the other day, when I’d just returned my cart to the grocery store.

“Can I give you a quarter for that?” a male voice asked. I turned to see Cec’s doppelganger: a trim man in his 80s, holding out a coin between his thumb and forefinger. He wore pale blue seersucker pants, a short-sleeved shirt and tie, and a slim straw hat – the type known as a ‘stingy brim fedora’. It was Sunday and he looked like he’d come straight from church. I pictured the suit jacket, carefully folded and resting on the back seat of his car.

“Oh, sorry – ” I replied, holding the quarter I’d just retrieved. I half expected the familiar stranger to pick up the conversation where Cec left off, decades ago. But the moment passed and I walked back to my car, buoyed by seeing a relative again after many years.

Submission Guidelines:

Style and Audience Notes:

The style of Menderist content is literary and accessible; insightful; often playful; and includes rich sensory and seasonal details.

Our readers are primarily people who are 30 + years of age, who are parenting adolescent or older children. Much of our content deals with family and other components of daily adult life, as drawn from contributors’ own experiences.

We are giving priority to pieces that:

1. Include interesting details about the setting of the story, including time of year
2. Between 100 – 350 words
3. Written by Menderist Subscribers living in Canada or the United States, who reflect our main audience: people 30 + years of age who are parenting adolescent or older children

Submission Deadline:

November 18– for the December 2024 issue

Published Submissions are to:

1. Briefly describe a challenge faced by the writer or the writer’s family member, and the steps that helped the person rise above or turn the difficulty around
2. Be an original piece, not published elsewhere (ie. blogs, other websites or publications, or on social media). Menderist verifies the originality of submissions via plagiarism checking software, but each author has the final responsibility for ensuring originality
3. Suit one of Menderist’s main subject categories: Health, Relationships, At Home, Outside & Around, or Work
4. Be carefully edited by the author; and ready to publish

You can send a story idea by completing the form below or by email to submissions @ menderist. com

DETAILS ABOUT YOUR STORY IDEA

To assist with planning, Menderist requires that potential contributors first provide a brief description of their story idea (see form below). Upon acceptance of your proposal, we’ll be in touch to provide you with the remaining information. Our standard response time is 1 week.