Friday, December 14, 2007

Holiday round up


Yesterday was my last day for this semester's Read Aloud program. This was a great class. The kids were very eager readers and really loved stories. That's me buried under (from left) Jayla, Nakia, Sean, and Danisha. I believe we start up again sometime next month. Next semester, at the teacher's request, I'm going to work with the kids to write a book.

I just got home from the Ladies Literary Luncheon white elephant gift exchange and boy did I get some stinkers (though I gave as good as I got-hee hee Kristin)! I'd like to thank Rebecca and Debra for some truly "special" gifts.

Seriously though, Robin Owens (who's book Keepers of the Flame comes out next month), handed out lovely cards. I selected Magnificence. On the other side it says "Own your magnificence. The world needs your brilliance and grace." Nice, huh?






Look for LLL's Andrea Cohen's signing at the Lodo Tattered Cover on January 29th and Debra Fine's signing at the same store on January 30th.


Now a note from hubby's and my friend T.M. who always writes a hell of a Christmas letter. He always includes a round-up of his favorites from the Harper's Index of Harper's Magazine. A couple of relevant stats:


Minimum number of different books sold in the U.S. last year, as tracked by Nielsen BookScan: 1,446,000.

Number of these that sold fewer than 99 copies: 1,123,000.

Number that sold more than 100,000 copies: 481.

And FINALLY as I was scouring for links for my LLL friends I happened to notice this little open secret on Amazon. Guess the cat's outta the bag. Check out the emblem on the cover: It's for the Essence Magazine Book Club, which has named Orange Mint and Honey as an upcoming selection. Merry Christmas baby!!!!!

12 comments:

olufunke grace bankole: said...

carleen,
how lovely is all of this--the kids, the magnificence card, and the essence magazine emblem on your novel. what a beautiful season you're having!

Lisa said...

Merry Merry Merry Christmas! Essence Magazine -- congratulations :)))

Sherry said...

You are the embodiment of the season and what it is all about...

you give so much and you are working with children which grabs my heart in a way I can't even begin to explain...a love of reading and writing from a young age is the gateway to the world...

And you are being repaid over and over by the abundance of goodness happening in your own life right now.

Essence magazine?!? Icing...such sweet, sweet icing!!!

Anonymous said...

Carleen,
It was so great seeing you yesterday--especially since you've taken a esthetically challenged item off my hands :)

Again, Congrats on the Essence selection--you're going all the way baby and I can't imagine a more gracious person.

Well, I'm off to soak in my tub with your wonderful gift of orange-mint salts. Seriously, I'm soo impressed you made those yourself. Of course, if this bath goes well, I may be hounding you for more.

Carleen Brice said...

Dear Olufunke, Thank you and you're having quite the beautiful season yourself, no?

Lisa, Hmmm. Where were you yesterday?

Sherry, Bless you for saying this, but the Read Aloud volunteer gig is the easiest one in town!

Rebecca, Yeah, my husband was THRILLED with what I brought home yesterday. :) Let me know how the bath goes!

Sustenance Scout said...

LOL, Carleen about your husband's reaction to your winnings! My girls loved the pumpkin bark, btw, though I'm still wondering about that name. I thought it tasted pretty close to pumpkin-flavored cardboard! Good call and I still can't believe the karma between you and Andrea with the pumpkin-themed items. The cookbook actually looks like fun so I'm set for next year's pumpkin season. :)

As for this photo (love it!) and your big ESSENCE news (Wowwy wow wow!) I agree with Sherry; what goes around comes around and you deserve every wonderful thing headed your way. K.

p.s. Thanks for the fun tag! K.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

Now that's a great Christmas present! And you deserve it!

Lisa said...

Carleen -- Alas, despite my predictions to the contrary, my customers insisted on having business as usual on Friday and I had a conference call I couldn't miss :( I'm hoping maybe I can make the January LLL.

Congratulations again -- I am so excited for you!

Travis Erwin said...

Congrats on the book club selection, and those are very intersting stats on the book business.

Carleen Brice said...

Thanks Ello!

Travis, Those stats either mean it's really hard to have a best-seller or really easy...guess which one I'm going with? :)

Shauna Roberts said...

Congratulations again! How wonderful that your publisher has gotten so strong behind your book and is getting it all kinds of prominent attention.

Have a great time teaching the children to write! That sounds like a lot of fun.

FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens said...

I wanted to say that the cards are:
Self-Care Cards by Cheryl Richardson, various authors.

Robin