“Where’s my sentence?!”
One Sentence has gotten quite popular. In fact, a lot more popular, a lot more quickly than I expected. Combine that with the mistake of launching such a site shortly before the birth of one’s first child and you’re left with about 1,000 submissions waiting to be approved.
That said, I don’t regret the decision to moderate all submissions. If I left this open as a free-for-all, I know I wouldn’t be happy with the site at this moment (believe me, I’ve seen some terrible submissions). A site like this runs the risk of becoming stale very quickly with a lot of thematically similar stories, so I want to keep it high-quality.
I’ve gotten a number of e-mails asking, “Where’s my submission? I submitted it, like, four seconds ago! Where is it?” If your story hasn’t appeared here, it’s for one of the following reasons:
- I just haven’t gotten to it. This is the most likely reason for reasons stated above. Hang in there. You’ll get an e-mail if your submission is accepted.
- Not one sentence. You’d think that because of the name of the site, people might realize that submitting, say, two sentences would be frowned upon. A few don’t, it seems.
- A paragraph masquerading as a sentence. This usually happens when a submitter simply replaces all periods with semicolons, has a long string of phrases connected by “and,” or simply leaves out periods altogether without replacing them with anything. Your sentence may be gramatically correct, but if it’s five lines long, it’s not keeping with the original spirit of the site.
- Nonsense. This includes things I can’t make out as well as stupid stories that clearly have no basis in reality. Plus, if there are crazy misspellings or grammatical errors, I will pass it by. I don’t have time to edit everything, so think before you submit.
- Played out theme. This is starting to happen more now that there have been more than 1,000 submissions. I really don’t want to include 50 variations of “I thought I loved him/her, but then realized I didn’t” unless it’s presented in a unique way. Still, I’m pretty lenient here.
- Not a story about a life event. This one’s the trickiest and one that I haven’t really cracked down on thusfar, but probably will soon. The original intention of the site was to get people to submit a one sentence story about a particular event in their life. While most people do this, a lot of the stuff that’s come in reminds me of what I see in the PostSecret project. As an example of what I wouldn’t want: “I’m in love with someone who doesn’t know.” That’s more of a confession than a story about an actual event. So, to flip that into something more appropriate for this site, something like, “I snapped out of my daydream, where I was planning our wedding before I had even spoken a word to him.” Keep it true, keep it interesting.
Note that if you get a screen that your submission was “rejected” it may have been so because of an anti-spam measure I built in. If you have a legitimate entry that’s rejected, e-mail me through the contact form and include all of the information exactly as you entered it.
I was hoping I wouldn’t have to get so verbose on a site whose theme is brevity, but I’ve gotten the same questions enough times that I figured it was time to write a proper post about the matter.
One last thing — I’m not necessarily reviewing submissions in the order they came in. I’m sporadic that way.
Now, back to the sentences.
October 12th, 2006 at 1:42 am
Hey Congrats!! I remember when my son was born- I went from feeling like I was being pressure cooked by reality to complete clarity and sense of direction, just from seeing him. Of course the adrenalin and endorphines in my system, brought on by my GF having amost bitten through my shoulder during birth, didnt hurt hurt either :)
January 1st, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I was thrilled when I heard the publishers of my faovirte site was celebrating the birth of their newborn child :)
January 14th, 2007 at 12:45 am
The older I get, the more I feel a need for peace. I have a high hope that the children of tomorrow, find the peace in there life that I have found in mind.
February 12th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
[...] People continue to write to ask “Where’s my sentence?” Sometimes, they even submit sentences about it. In addition to my original list, let me add two more things that will keep your sentence from being published: [...]
May 26th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
What a great idea! WHy not a page for the worst “one sentence” entries?
June 21st, 2007 at 9:07 am
I submitted just now my first sentence to what I think might be my new favorite website since the advent of this Interweb, but even more recently came to understand that posts should be more specific than that to which I’d devoted some fifteen of my minutes. The management can expect several more.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:09 am
…and even more recently that the supposed management had lately become a father and could not be expected to read my sentence for what might be several years. Still, I envy him.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:25 am
Hah!
Hopefully it won’t take me several years, although with the amount of submissions that have been flowing in since the Dooce link, it very well could end up being that way! :)
July 17th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Oops – I’m an idiot & didn’t read this first. I thought you didn’t post my sentence because I typed “1″ instead of “one”. Sorry for being a repeat-poster.
August 18th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Talk about a quick course in writing for the web–wow! Well, okay no one was actually talking about it. This is a great idea, wish I had thought of it. God bless the new addition to your family.
August 29th, 2007 at 6:39 am
This is such a brilliant site, Inspiration doesn’t need to take forever. One of my favorite poems is one sentence long by Jewel “It has been to long of being with, to now suddenly be without” Thankyou for giving peoples stories a voice.
Ooh, and
Congratulations on your new child, anyone who can create such a brilliant site is going to make the best parent :)
August 29th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I just discovered this site thanks to Stumble. I love it. I submitted my first sentence before reading this & realize now that mine might be considered a confession. Ah well. I hope it’s posted anyway bc it really is a life altering thing that I did not expect. Thanks for this site. It’s really rather neat!
October 19th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
have fun with that baby…they grow up so fast.
November 24th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I agree with your reasons for not publishing some of the stories submitted. I hope you like mine. I think it’s a funny anecdote of my life when I was five.
November 27th, 2007 at 6:12 am
#6
OMG! 4RLZ-ROFL! OUCH!
November 30th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
“All you have to do is write one true sentence.
Write the truest sentence you know.” – Ernest Hemingway
December 12th, 2007 at 4:26 am
i wish you could tell me if my story wasn’t published. hahaha, just tell me. (: i really wanted to write something about ”six more, till the rain comes” cos the sentence by itself is soo abstract. so yea, just tell me please(:
February 25th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I love this site and just spent an hour reading one sentences stories, which is likely the most stories I’ve ever read in one hour. I got turned onto this site by Rosina Lippi’s web log and I thank her for it. And thank you for such a great site.
Congratulations on the new addition to your family although i think they might have grown a little since you wrote that.
March 8th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
eye just figured “one” the lowercase letters was spelt incorrectly.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:58 am
though i do understand and am completely fine with the idea of my sentence not being able to be published it does irk me some to see multiple sentences published by the same person. especially the authors with multiple sentences published in a row.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Have you ever considered getting some other people to help you moderate the sentences?
May 21st, 2008 at 4:48 pm
If I believed in awards this site would win the best one.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Wow, what a beautifully inspiring website to a blocked writer!
June 11th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I am merely hopeful that someone may read something I felt better for writing.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:53 am
I’ve been looking for a simple site like this one for a while. I’m just a kid who like’s to write and has neither the time nor patience to create big, long masterpieces, so this place is perfect!
My writing has been deteriorating ever since summer started, but I definitely can practice here!
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I like the idea of repurposing the rejected sentences for consumption elsewhere. What about something like “thisisnotonesentence.org” ?
July 29th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I love this website! My friend found it on stumble and forwarded it on to me. I don’t think my poor managers like it nearly as much seeing as how I haven’t done an ounce of work for the past six hours. I’m addicted to how gorgeous everyones writing is and it makes me want to start writing again. Well done!
August 26th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
This was not as easy as the idea of one simple sentence would infer. I dug deep for mine. Matter of fact, it is the first time I went public with it. Up to now, only family and very close friends know what went down. And very few of them know why. Sometimes I think I am not one of the few.
Great site.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I stumbled across this and am addicted…I love reading these sentences and now try to sum up everything in one sentence, but I usually don’t submit them. My life is far to boring haha. Congratulations on the baby :D Babies can be neat sometimes….cept after they digest Heehee.
I’ve nearly read all the old sentences :( I won’t have anything to read until new ones come!!!! Ack!
Excited :D
October 26th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
It’s so sad, some of the unapproved sentences are really good.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
If you need help, just ask! I love reading these!
January 8th, 2009 at 4:32 am
Cool idea for a website. I get a kick out of how much people can get into one sentence. Anyway, I got it bookmarked and will check back often.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
I “stumbled upon” One sentence and read the heartfelt stories surprisingly bringing a tear to my eyes
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I am also a “stumbler” and I love this site-I am going to tell some friends about it.
Thanks for providing this!
February 4th, 2009 at 2:19 am
This website is absolutely wonderful. I just submitted a sentence, not life-changing but a sentence i read here finally reminded me why we were still together. I had to comment to thank you for this site. Keep up the good work!!
March 17th, 2009 at 12:31 am
“StumbleUpon” has brightened my day yet again. To find such a splendid place as this is the same as finding a hidden paradise in the real world; the internet is just as vast. I have alot in common with a handfull of these. My self esteem just rose from the pits of hell, or in reality, the fact that a fool cut my hair horably and I’m still in highschool.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
This is great! It’s great training for twitter and vice versa :) (I secretly hope my sentence makes the grade although I realize it won’t because I’m just not that good)
April 4th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Heys! I found this little gemstone through stumbleupon, too.
This place is great when I start getting that blank feeling I get sometimes.
Anyway, thank you so much for creating this website!
April 9th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Take your time, a new child, an old child, any child is immensely more important than any amount of stories. You do not get second chances at being a Dad.
May 6th, 2009 at 3:42 am
Thanks for publishing my sentence. I love the english language and the challenge you present, and I really did brush my teeth with Ben-Gay.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
I found this site through StumbleUpon initially too…but I’ve been coming back here for more than a year now because it constantly reminds me of the beauty of brevity. Thank you for providing such a great space for inspiration.
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Found your site thru I-A-B (i-am-bored.com) and have become addicted. I really enjoy the unapproved ones and having a vote in whether they should be posted or not (I am a control freak at heart!)
Your ‘rules’ was a very good idea and they feel very straight forward and sensible to me – which is all you need right? My approval? hoho
Enjoy the little one while little – they just grow up so fast. I know that’s such a cliche but it’s also very, very true.
Wonderful site!
June 16th, 2009 at 8:04 am
This site is incredible. Surely you can’t still be screening all the entries yourself…you were getting a thousand or so 3 years ago…you must be getting far more than that now. Have you considered putting in a donate button or something?
I found you on StumbleUpon as well. Looks like that has done wonders for your traffic.
Honestly, as a writer I’ve found this a great exercise to apply to my own writing as I’m sure many others have. Thanks for the good work.
November 14th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I think that your site is cool because:
-You have no ads. Let’s hear it for the .org sites!
-You do it your self. For me, my site is a labor of love and an expression of my geekyness….also, I’ve learned a lot about HTML/Java/how to defeat bots that try to post spam on your chat page
I’m sure that you get more hits in a week than I get in year but, I’ve just crossed the 15K mark….a number that I never thought I’d see. I wish you had a visible hit counter.
You’ve got a great idea and a great site…I salute you!
Cheers!
November 16th, 2009 at 1:23 am
Thank you for making this website, I love it!
December 10th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Thanks for the personal touch and the honest filtration of crap! It’s refreshing to read over a website of this genre that isn’t overflowing with distastefully fabricated and overly dramatic publications due to a lack of an editing process!
August 30th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Congratulations on the birth of your first child! Once you get back to a new “normal” of life, it might be interesting if you made a page of “the worst of the worst” submissions. This may not be a good idea, depending on how heartfelt/serious the submissions were intended to be, but I’ve seen it work with some other sites.
January 14th, 2011 at 4:01 am
Eloquence is brevity. (Author unknown to me)
February 3rd, 2011 at 2:07 am
Awesome sight mate.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Accept it. You can’t actually judge them because they are in a single sentence and are from other people. I’ve seen many useless posts coming up, especially the recent ones. Earlier they used to be real good. You should try to make it a bit social :-)
June 19th, 2011 at 1:52 am
i love the thought that something i thought worthy of writing, and which would be read and appreciated by someone who understands it (even if it gets rejected)!!! keep up the good work sir!!!