24 Heartwarming Illustrations That Show How Love is in the Little Things We Do Everyday
AN EXCLUSIVE MONTHLY COMMUNIQUÉ FOR OUR WRITERSdownloads.chickensoup.com/communique/CSS... · My...
5
Ruth Jones and her best friend Marilyn were at the coffee shop complaining about Thanksgiving. “My entire family is coming this year,” Ruth said. “I love them dearly, but you know what that means.” “Yep,” Marilyn said. “Cooking and cleaning, changing sheets, wondering what to feed everybody for breakfast. I go through the same thing every year.” As Ruth wrote in her story, “The Great Thanksgiving Challenge,” published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness, these complaints gave her pause. “You know something?” she said. “Some days, all I do is complain.” “Me, too,” Marilyn said. So they decided to start noticing the good things in their lives and keep journals to track their progress. “As weeks passed,” Ruth wrote, “I noticed my notebook recorded more blessings than complaints.” And she found that focusing on the things she was thankful for instead of trivial problems actually changed her outlook. “I feel better about myself and about life in general,” Ruth wrote. By Thanksgiving, Ruth and Marilyn had succeeded in their challenge. Their first instinct was no longer to complain, but to focus on the things that made them feel fortunate. In the process, they’d both learned that all it had taken to be happier was to appreciate what they had, which is not a bad lesson to keep in mind this time of year. Do you have a wonderful story about gratitude? We’d love to consider it for Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Gratitude. The submission deadline is December 15th! Click here to learn more about the book. Your publisher, Amy Newmark @amynewmark INSPIRATION for riters W Joy is the simplest form of gratitude. ~Karl Barth I NNER C IRCLE N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5 A Note from Your Publisher the AN EXCLUSIVE MONTHLY COMMUNIQUÉ FOR OUR WRITERS
Transcript of AN EXCLUSIVE MONTHLY COMMUNIQUÉ FOR OUR WRITERSdownloads.chickensoup.com/communique/CSS... · My...
Ruth Jones and her best friend Marilyn were at the coffee shop complaining about Thanksgiving. “My entire family is coming this year,” Ruth said. “I love them dearly, but you know what that means.”
“Yep,” Marilyn said. “Cooking and cleaning, changing sheets, wondering what to feed everybody for breakfast. I go through the same thing every year.”
As Ruth wrote in her story, “The Great Thanksgiving Challenge,” published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness, these complaints gave her pause.
“You know something?” she said. “Some days, all I do is complain.”
“Me, too,” Marilyn said.
So they decided to start noticing the good things in their lives and keep journals to track their progress.
“As weeks passed,” Ruth wrote, “I noticed my notebook recorded more blessings than complaints.” And she found that focusing on the things she was thankful for instead of trivial problems actually changed her outlook. “I feel better about myself and about life in general,” Ruth wrote.
By Thanksgiving, Ruth and Marilyn had succeeded in their challenge. Their first instinct was no longer to complain, but to focus on the things that made them feel fortunate. In the process, they’d both learned that all it had taken to be happier was to appreciate what they had, which is not a bad lesson to keep in mind this time of year.
Do you have a wonderful story about gratitude? We’d love to consider it for Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Gratitude. The submission deadline is December 15th! Click here to learn more about the book.
Your publisher, Amy Newmark @amynewmark
INSPIRATION for
ritersWJoy is the simplest form of gratitude.
~Karl Barth
INNER CIRCLEN O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5
A Note from Your Publisher
the
A N E X C L U S I V E M O N T H L Y C O M M U N I Q U É F O R O U R W R I T E R S
Changing your life one story at a time®
We hosted another successful weekend of contributor luncheons in October. We met on Saturday, October 10th at 76 House in Tappan, New York. Below, pictured from left to right, is the entire group smiling after a delicious lunch. Peter Wood and Dorann Weber, both contributors in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Reboot Your Life, smile proudly for the camera. Rob Norden, the owner of 76 House, shares the history of the restaurant with the contributors.
We Loved Meeting Our NY-Area Contributors!
Our second luncheon was on October 11th at Coast Seafood Restaurant in Cos Cob, Connecticut. The group enjoyed delicious seafood followed by a tour of the Chicken Soup for the Soul office. Below from left to right you’ll see Ed Joseph standing next to the book he contributed to, Editor Kristi Pastir and Publisher Amy Newmark with four fabulous writers, and Doris Leddy standing next to her book.
Will you be in the Boca Raton, Florida–area the weekend before Thanksgiving? We’re planning another contributor luncheon, in Boca Raton, FL on Saturday November 21st, and we want you to join us! We’ll be e-mailing all the contributors for whom we have Florida addresses, but our address files are only up-to-date for people we’ve published in the last few years. If you’ll be in the area and you haven’t received an invitation, please send an e-mail to [email protected].
Below is the entire group before their tour of the office after getting the inside scoop from Amy about everything going on at Chicken Soup for the Soul. Below right you’ll see three of our writers: Lois Kipnis and sisters Eileen Hession and Kathy Levine.
Book Signings Across the Country!
Deborah Norville, coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Possible, spoke at The Ferguson Library in Stamford, Connecticut on the release date of the book—October 6th. Deborah, pictured left with Amy and at right speaking to the group, told some of the stories from our latest bestselling book to a rapt audience. Earlier that day, she had featured the book on her show, Inside Edition. You can watch the segment here.
Contributor Lynne Leite has hosted several speaking engagements. She’s contributed to Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Multitasking Mom’s Survival Guide, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks to My Mom, and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Parenthood.
“It is such a blessing to be a contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul,” Lynne said. “You really do make us feel like we are part of something special. I am always encouraging friends that have stories to submit them. In fact, a friend gave a speech in my Toastmaster’s club recently and I told her, ‘That would be a great Chicken Soup for the Soul story!’ Great ending—her story was chosen for that book!”
Celeste Palmer and Kay Presto hosted a joint book signing at Klatch Coffee in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Celeste has a story in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injuries and has been doing lots of signings for the book. Kay has stories in Chicken Soup for the Coffee Lover’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Soul: NASCAR.
Linda Smith hosted a book signing for Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Nurses at Givens Books in Virginia. Givens Books sold all the books they had ordered, plus one of the books that Linda brought with her to the signing. Lots of Linda’s nurse friends came by, plus other folks and friends. Linda has also done a local TV interview and newspaper interview to help promote the book.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Hallway Heroes
We’ve talked to you in the past about our work with The Boniuk Foundation using Chicken Soup for the Soul stories to spread the values of tolerance, respect, and compassion. Now we’re heading into schools nationwide with a literacy-based anti-bullying program that combines your stories with lesson plans for Grades 1-6.
This program, offered with the financial support of The Boniuk Foundation, is fun! Teachers will love using the stories as the basis for lesson plans that kids will truly enjoy. Learning values becomes enjoyable in these colorful and entertaining, yet thought provoking, programs.
We’re also spreading these values through Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Hidden Heroes, our CBS weekend television show, also sponsored by The Boniuk Foundation. Click here to find out when it’s airing on your local CBS station.
We’re excited to announce the winners of copies of A Taste of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive and A Taste of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Messages from Heaven.
Alice Klies Vicki Jullian
Kelly Kittel Jackie Thrasher Irena Nielson
Congratulations to our winners, who were chosen at random! Stay tuned for another giveaway next month!
Announcing the Winners of Our Latest Giveaway!
Visit www.chickensoup.com/hallwayheroes to learn more. You can also contact the program via e-mail at [email protected]. We’ll connect you with our representative for your state.
Classroom Package • 26 copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Be the Best You Can Be • Teacher Guide • 25 Student Journals • Implementation Guide • Subsidized Online Story Library Access
A while ago, I received an e-mail about buying books from the Chicken Soup for the Soul office. Are those books still available for holiday shopping? Absolutely! We still have too many copies of some
titles in our storage room, so you can buy any six of our extra books for $7.50 each, assuming we still have extra copies of the titles you want. We only have extra copies of books published since 2008 by the way. We will ship them anywhere in the U.S.
via Priority Mail. The cost per box is $45: 6 books x $7.50 = $45. Unfortunately, the cost to ship to Canada and other countries from our office is prohibitive, so we can only ship within the U.S.
Payment will be made via PayPal. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about which titles are still available in our storage room and to place your order.
We will also be able to include copies of the special hardcover Christmas books that we made for Walmart and B&N back in 2010. Four of them will fit in the mailing box along with two regular-size books.
Unveiling Your Early 2016 Books!
Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Joy of Less
101 Stories about Having More by Simplifying Our Lives
By Amy Newmark & Brooke Burke-Charvet,
CEO ModernMom, Host of Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Hidden Heroes
On Sale: April 19, 2016
Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Very Good, Very Bad Cat 101 Heartwarming Stories about Our
Happy, Heroic & Hilarious Pets
By Amy Newmark Foreword by Robin Ganzert
President and CEO American Humane Association
On Sale: February 9, 2016
Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Very Good, Very Bad Dog 101 Heartwarming Stories about Our
Happy, Heroic & Hilarious Pets
By Amy Newmark Foreword by Robin Ganzert
President and CEO American Humane Association
On Sale: February 9, 2016
We’re excited to show you the covers for the first three Chicken Soup for the Soul books of 2016. All three are in various stages of production now and they are looking wonderful.
