The Give Back Solution

If the Obamas have inspired you to give back to your community, but you don't know how or you think you don't have enough time or money, have I got the book for you!

The Give Back Solution: Create a Better World with Your Time Talents and Travel (Whether You Have $10 or $10,000). From the book description:

Reaching out and supporting others brings out the best in all of us. Giving back strengthens America—but the under-appreciated secret is that it lifts us up, too. Part call-to-action, part inspiration, part practical research guide to make-a-difference opportunities, The Give-Back Solution captures the idealism and generosity sweeping our country, even in the face of serious challenges.

Dance to raise money for fighting malaria
Organize an office book drive
Build schools in Belize on a volunteer vacation
Invite friends over for a dinner that benefits the hungry
Visit the Amazon and support sustainable rainforests
Work in a Kenyan orphanage
Clear trails in America's wilderness
Clean up rivers in your own backyard
Micro-bankroll an African entrepreneur climbing out of poverty
Use your 9-to-5 experience to teach business skills in your community or online

With amazing stories of everyday volunteers having the time of their lives giving back, social change leader Susan Skog shows how you can join the groundswell of goodwill, whether you volunteer abroad or support efforts locally, and whatever your time, talents, or resources.

Check out Susan's list of easy, inexpensive Ways to Be a Change Agent.

Good news for Denver folks: Susan (who happens to be a pal) will be at Tattered Cover Colfax on Friday night talking about her new book. Hope to see you there! And if you can't be there, you can ask TC to have Susan sign a book for you and send it to you--an easy, inexpensive way to give back to a local indie bookstore!

Gemini weather

Yesterday the high was 78. I wore shorts and got tan lines on my feet (I took a picture of them, but winter feet ain't pretty!) while I worked in the yard. Today the high is supposed to be 43. Last night it rained and today rain/snow is in the forecast. Though right now the sun is shining. The paper says we'll have another blast of winter this week and gives tips for protecting tender plants. Which I'm not following, by the way. Anything coming up now is coming up and if it dies back, oh well. I'm not that cruel. I just really don't expect there to be much damage.

I swear Colorado must be a Gemini the way the weather changes moods so quickly. How's spring where you are?

Greeting my ancestors

Okay, I did it again. I tossed rose petals on my front walk (the roses were left from the Literary Ladies book club I met with last Saturday) last week to welcome the ancestors (& bring good luck). This week I got a great contract gig, an offer to blog on another site (for $!) and a request to teach a writing workshop next month. Last year when I did it, I got an unexpected check in the mail.


Strewing flowers to welcome the ancestors is something I got from Stephanie Rose Bird and is something one of the characters in Children of the Waters does.


Try it y'all! Worse case scenario: you'll have a pretty walk. Best case: good luck!

This is an actual photo (last year's was clip art).

Blurb alert: Jacquelyn Mitchard likes Children of the Waters!

The wait while the blurbs come in and galleys for review go out is nerve-grinding. Luckily, there are some lovely writers like Jacquelyn Mitchard willing to take a little time to give a newbie a shot.

"I was exhausted and singing the blues the hour I began Carleen Brice's new novel, 'Children of the Waters.' Five hours later, I'd finished this fresh, free-rein novel about mothers' secrets and children's sorrows and was shouting 'Hurray!'" - Jacquelyn Mitchard author, 'The Deep End of the Ocean'

F*&%ing cool, huh?! She also told my agent of my writing "she shines"! Stay tuned...there's more to come!

Social networking

I'm going to be on a panel at BEA at the end of May on the topic of social networking. Got any tips or suggestions for me to share with other authors & publishers? I love online networking. Been blogging for 2 years. I've been on Twitter now for a few months and getting to know my way around Facebook. But I have to say, sometimes keeping up with it all can feel a little overwhelming. Mostly I'll probably be asked about my other blog, since that's the one that's a little bit outta the box. But I want to go with 5-10 great suggestions to share on how to make the best use of social media. So if anything comes to you, please let me know.

The woman who reads Orange Mint

Many have asked who reads the audio version of Orange Mint and Honey. She's an actress named Cherise Boothe. I noticed in today's NY Times she's currently starring in "Lynn Nottage’s new drama "Ruined," set in an African brothel in a small mining town in war-torn Congo. The play continues through April 12 at Manhattan Theater Club at City Center." If you're in NYC check it out!

Should bookstores have AfAm fiction sections?

We're taking a poll on my other blog. Please stop by and vote. If you link to the poll/blog about it, you might win a copy of SEEN IT ALL AND DONE THE REST by Pearl Cleage!

Spring cleaning

Sorry to all y'all on the East Coast, but it's supposed to be 75 here today! So I spent a little time starting the garden clean-up. Excavating plants under fall leaves and twigs, here is what I found:

A johnny jump up.

crocus and daffodil shoots

leaves on the privet hedge

a pretty mature black-eyed Susan!

leaves on a rose

I also saw a butterfly, but it was too quick for me to get a picture. We could still get snow anytime this month through May. If it gets really cold anytime soon, some of these guys will die off, but snow actually works to keep the ground warm, so hopefully we'll only get cold if we get snow.

I've been working out, lifting light weights, but my arms were still shaking after a 30 minutes of raking and hauling stuff to the Dumpster.

Nice rolling in the dirt weather!