For a list of upcoming book signings and events by ASJA members, click here.
September 2006
Society Page
New and Noteworthy Member Happenings
Stacie Zoe Berg won Best Trade Magazine Article from the National Mental Health Association, June 2006, for "The Color of BP," published in bp Magazine (Bipolar)
Rachel S. Cox's front-page article in The Washington Post, "A Movement to Bring Grief Back Home," won Honorable Mention in the Reported Articles category of the 2006 Washington Writing Prize competition. Cox reported a revival of the practice of caring for the dead at home before cremation or burial
Mark H. Masse received an Indiana Arts Commission grant to complete his novel-in-progress, Whatever Comes. His novel, Delamore's Dreams (Booklocker.com), was published in January 2005. His nonfiction book, Inspired to Serve: Today's Faith Activists (Indiana University Press), was published in September 2004
This month Crown publishes longtime family writer-editor and mom of four Paula Spencer's Momfidence!: An Oreo Never Killed Anybody and Other Secrets of Happier Parenting. Parenting Magazine has bought first serial rights, and Woman's Day, which runs her Momfidence! column, has a related feature and book giveaway
Rena Dictor LeBlanc's story, "Amy's Choice," is included in the new book, Reader's Digest True Lives: Stories of Hope, Honor & Humor. LeBlanc's story also was the basis for the Lifetime television movie, Gracie's Choice
The Wall Street Journal recently reviewed Bill Yenne's book, Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West (Westholme Publishing, 2005), where it was described as "Splendid a book that has the rare quality of being both an excellent reference work and a pleasure to read with a cinematic vividness." The book has also been adopted as a text at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Barbara Bartocci's seventh book, Grace on the Go: 104 Quick Ways to Pray (Morehouse Publishing) was published in June. Bartocci has also been traveling the country giving two-day seminars on advertising copywriting
Marie Proeller Hueston's sixth book for Hearst Books, Country Living Farmhouse Style, is due out this month. Her fifth title, House Beautiful Decorating With Books, was published last spring
Amy Hill Hearth has signed a contract with Atria Books/Simon & Schuster for an oral history of an 84-year-old Native American woman whose Indian name is "Strong Medicine." Hearth is the author, with the Delany sisters, of Having Our Say, a New York Times bestseller for two years
As a part of their employee holistic wellness program, Pat Shapiro gave a speech called, "Best Friends for Life," six times over the course of two days for staff members of Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City, IA. The speech was based on her book, Heart to Heart: Deepening Women's Friendships at Midlife
Sharon McDonnell had 14 articles on travel, food and writing published in July and August, in magazines such as Golf Connoisseur, American Spirit and Writer's Digest. A book she ghostwrote, SELLSation! How Companies Can Capture Today's Hottest Market: Women Business Owners and Executives, for expert Leslie Grossman, was published this year as well
Janice Harayda was named the featured author of the month (June, 2006) in the "Invite an Author" series at the Bergen County Cooperative Library System, a consortium of 73 libraries in northern New Jersey. During the month of June, all the libraries in the system were encouraged to invite Harayda to speak or read from her books and also to recommend her comic novels, The Accidental Bride (St. Martins, 1999) and Manhattan on the Rocks (Sourcebooks, 2004), to their book clubs
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Success as a Mortgage Broker by Daniel S. Kahn and Marian Edelman Borden was published in June. Borden has also recently been named a parenting expert at ClubMom.com, is editor of Giftpax Media's magazine New Family
Milly Dawson, who wrote in a recent issue of this newsletter about the value for writers of
honing their public speaking skills, has reached the level of a Competent Toastmaster through work at her local Toastmasters club. Dawson gives presentations on ways for business communicators to improve their writing and enjoy it more. She calls her hands-on program Write for Results
Kerri Allen was named a 2006 fellow to the Eugene O'Neill Critics Institute in Waterford, CT to work with theater critics from the Village Voice and New York Newsday. Allen was awarded an $1,800 scholarship through The New York Times Company Foundation to participate. She is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association
Lauraine Snelling's new novel, The Brushstroke Legacy (Waterbrook Press) was just published. A Promise For Ellie? the first book in the Daughters of Blessing series by Baker/Bethany House Publishers, was released in August
Minority Rules: Turn Your Ethnicity into a Competitive Edge (HarperCollins), which Gary M. Stern co-wrote with Kenneth Arroyo Roldan, is out this month and includes interviews with 25 top minority
CEO's, CFO's and COO's
Raeann Berman's Caring for Your Aging Parents (Champion Press Ltd.) won the Merit Award from the Midwest Independent Publisher Association Awards for 2005
Susanne M. Alexander's book, Can We Dance? Learning the Steps for a Fulfilling Relationship (Marriage Transformation, June 2006), is called a revolutionary approach for preparing for, seeking and being in a friendship-based relationship
Traveling With Grandkids (Cedar Fort, 2006), by Dean and Nancy Hoch, has been endorsed by the publisher of Frommer's Travel Guides. This humorous guide includes a "Suitcase Full of Resources" and a chapter devoted to leaving a travel trust
The first of Janet Groene's many books to be translated into French is Cooking Aboard Your RV (Ragged Mountain Press/McGraw-Hill, 2004, 2nd edition)
Andrea M. Rotondo was recently installed as treasurer and executive board member of the Women's National Book Association-New York Chapter
Mary Jo Rulnick's new book, The Frantic Woman's Guide to Feeding Family and Friends: Shopping Lists, Recipes and Tips for Every Dinner of the Year (Warner Books, 2006) offers family-friendly meals that can be created in 30 minutes or less, along with time and money-saving tips
Eugene L. Meyer has been awarded the Washington Independent Writers' 2006 top prize for reported nonfiction. For the first time, the judges gave a dual award for two articles by the same author. They are "Down by the Waterfront," in the June, 2005, Washingtonian and "Easy Come, Easy Go," in the April, 2005, Chesapeake Bay Magazine.
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