Woeful Spotlight: Vikki

Mug of Woe is very close to going to press! Leading up to the big release date we’re going to shine the spotlight on each of our contributors.  And who better to kick off the spotlights than our cover designer, Vikki?  Here are her answers to our frivolous questions. 

How did you get the inspiration for the cover style? 

I spoke with Jenn about the whole idea of a book filled with stories about how shitty  life can be sometimes. So I thought, great, a giant mug with stuff spilling everywhere. There’s the cover.

Give us a tale of your own personal woe.  

My woe was a booty kind of woe. I was driving over to this guy’s house for a booty call. While I was primping in the car, I reached into my purse and pulled out my lip gloss. I put it on, but when I rubbed my lips together they didn’t slide like they always did with this lip gloss. I thought maybe I left the cover off of it and it dried up. I put the interior light on to look in the rearview mirror. My lips were black. I had put on my mascara instead of my lip gloss. The tubes were the same size. I freaked out trying to wipe the mascara off my lips. I was so happy that I had a wetnap in my purse. I was able to clean up, apply the right lip gloss and get to my destination all while still driving.

What was the best prank you ever pulled on someone? 

The best prank, huh? Well I guess that would have to be one time I asked Jenn to review a “promotional flyer” I designed for a client.  Instead, Jenn got a PowerPoint slide show of all of her various cubicle stuffed animals posed in different positions. I didn’t act alone. Our co-worker Jason helped (OK, it was really all his idea). I captured a stunning picture of Jason riding Jenn’s sparkled stuffed pony. 

(Note from Jenn:  After that day, Sparkly Pony never was the same.)

Pimp yourself -- what else are you working on? 
I’ve been working a lot on taking it to eleven.

Submission Period Closed!

Thank you to all who submitted to Mug of Woe. The submission period is officially closed as of today, 3/31/2011. We appreciate all of your awesome tales of woe, and we look forward to reading them. You will be hearing from us shortly regarding the status of your piece.

Thanks!

Love Kyle and Jenn

Submission Guidelines

Want to submit a true story of yours to Mug of Woe? Here's what you need to do:


1. Visit our About the Book FAQ page to get all your questions about the book answered. 
2. Type up your tale and send it as a MS word attachment to mugofwoe@gmail.com by March 30, 2011.
3. Keep it to a maximum of 1,200 words. We don't have a set minimum.
4. All accepted submissions will receive a copy of the book.
5. Include a short bio of yourself in 3rd person in the body of the email. In this bio, you can list other publications, what you do, what you want to do, what you like to do, etc.


Here's an example of Kyle's:


Kyle Therese Cranston is a Boston-based copywriter who writes fiction and creative nonfiction on the side. She currently writes the Boston Online Dating column for Examiner.com, and her work has also been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul. Besides writing and working on trying to get her first novel published, Kyle likes to spend her time watching funny movies, dork dancing, drinking wine, eating chocolate, and making people laugh with her tales of woe.

Calling All Writers!!!

Had something funny, mortifying, and just dang unpleasant happen to you? Did your last vacation turn into a comedy-of-errors?  Want to share it with the world?

 Mug of Woe: Tales To Make You Realize Your Life Is Awesome, is seeking personal essays up to 1200 words, focusing on the "not so awesome" side of life, with a humorous twist.


So, come on...write it out and submit it to us! You know you want to.


Love Kyle and Jenn