Michael Thomas Barry's book, Final Resting Places: Orange County's Dead & Famous, was honored as a runner-up finalist for nonfiction, United States History, in the National Best Books 2010 Awards, sponsored by USA Book News

Joan Barthel has signed with St. Martin's Press, Thomas Dunne Books, to publish her biography of Elizabeth Seton: Secret Soul: How Elizabeth Seton Shaped a New World for American Women. Publication is scheduled for the fall of 2012

Karen Berger's 15th book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Piano Exercises (Alpha), will be published this month. Karen, who is a writer and a musician, published previous music books, including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Teaching Music on Your Own, and The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Piano Chords. When not writing about music, Karen writes about travel, ecotourism, and outdoor adventure

Bonnie Biafore's latest book, QuickBooks 2011: The Missing Manual, was published in November. She is working on a manuscript called Successful Project Management and will be writing the Project Management Professional Training Kit this winter. She has additional books and online courses in the pipeline for the rest of 2011. She is also producing marketing materials and specifying software functionality for a small software company

Angela Bonavoglia, who has written extensively on Catholic women working to change the Church (Good Catholic Girls, HarperCollins, 2005), appears in the film, Pink Smoke Over the Vatican, which will have its New York City premier at the Athena Film Festival at Barnard College in Manhattan (February 10-13). She will moderate the panel discussion to follow, featuring the filmmaker Jules Hart; Father Roy Bourgeois, a beloved peace activist, founder of School of the Americas Watch, and a supporter of women's ordination in the Catholic Church, for which he has been threatened with excommunication; and an ordained Catholic woman priest

Bill and Mary Burnham will again be offering overnight kayaking expeditions from the pages of their award-winning Florida Keys Paddling Atlas this winter. Trips range from a Seven Mile Bridge overnight to the 100-mile bucket list trip from Key Largo to Key West

Julie Candler accepted the invitation of Democratic party leaders to run for state representative in the 40th district. Its boundaries include Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, and several other suburban Detroit communities. She ran for the same office two years earlier. Both campaigns were staged against a Republican incumbent and both were unsuccessful. Julie still writes automotive articles, chiefly for the Michigan-Ohio business publication, Corp!

Alan Caruba has taken The Boring Institute, a media spoof, out of the hiatus that followed 9/11 and announced once again his annual list of "The Most Boring Celebrities of the Year" in mid-December. Based on media over-exposure, the list evoked extensive media coverage. These days Caruba, in addition to his blog, is a daily contributor to CanadaFreePress.com and widely posted on news/opinion websites, both nationally and internationally

Ann Chandler from Vancouver, B.C., Canada, has just released her second YA novel Kootenay Silver (Dundurn Press). This fast-paced historical fiction, set in BC during World War One, tells the story of a young girl's relentless search for her older brother. Ann also writes for publications such as Reader's Digest, More, and Best Health. Her previous novel, Siena Summer (Tradewind Books), is set in Italy

Penny Colman narrated a short documentary, Pioneering Women War Correspondents, based on her book Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War II. Produced by Milena Jovanovich for the Newswomen's Club of New York, the video is posted at www.newswomensclubnewyork.com

Dan Daley won the 2010 gold award for technical magazine article writing by the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE)

Laura Del Rosso recently received a Bronze Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism award from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation in the travel broadcast-audio category. Del Rosso photographed and wrote the script for San Francisco's Ferry Building and Embarcadero, a travel guide podcast produced by California-based Visual Travel Tour

Linda Eve Diamond has created National Picture Book Week (NPBW), an annual celebration of picture books that will take place the first week of May. The first NPBW will be May 1 - May 7, 2011. NPBW invites authors, parents, schools, and libraries to create reading, signing, or celebration events during this time. NPBW also celebrates children's picture books year-round with a "Beauty of Picture Books" blog. Authors, illustrators, parents, grandparents, or anyone with a love of picture books is invited to contribute to this blog

Colleen Fliedner's new travel guidebook, Quick Escapes From Orange County (Globe Pequot Press), was released in December. The book is filled with one- and two-night itineraries from the Orange County area to extra-special destinations in the southern half of California

Susy Flory is collaborating with 9/11 survivor, Michael Hingson, on Thunder Dog: A Blind Man, A Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero (Thomas Nelson, 2011). An inspirational story about embracing life's challenges with principles forged in the fires of 9/11, Thunder Dog will release next year in time for the ten-year anniversary of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center

Barry Fox is ghostwriting a book for the "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About" series, published by Grand Central Publishing (formerly Warner Books). This is the third book in the series he has ghosted or coauthored

Jodie Gould's seventh book Beautiful Brain, Beautiful You: Look Radiant From the Inside Out By Empowering Your Mind, will be released in January from Hyperion. Co-authored with Harvard neurologist Marie Pasinski, M.D., the book contains simple lifestyle changes that women can make for a younger, smarter, and stronger mind. The publisher is in discussion with PBS for a potential special based on the book

Aliza Green's new book, The Fishmonger's Apprentice, will be published this month by Quarry Books. The book is an expert's guide, with hundreds of photos, that teaches the reader how to prepare seafood in step-by-step techniques. International seafood experts share their skills and tips in extensive interviews for the October meeting of the Metropolitan New York chapter of the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA), Bob Kirsch organized and moderated a program for new and transitioning medical and health writers and editors.

Constance Hale's Sin and Syntax just went into its 12th printing

Tam Harbert won a silver Digital Azbee Award for her feature article, "Employee Monitoring: When IT is Asked to Spy," in Computerworld. The story ran online in June and was the cover story for Computerworld's Oct. 11 print edition. The Digital Azbee Awards are given by the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) to honor the best business-to-business editorial and design for digital content

Julie Jason's latest book, the AARP Retirement Survival Guide, just won two more awards, making it a total of four: The EIFEL Award (Excellence in Financial Literacy Education), The International Book Award, The National Best Books Award for Personal Finance, and named as a Top Ten Business Book by Booklist. Plus the NY State Society of CPA's Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism for an AAII article she wrote based on two chapters of the book

Liz Holzemer is the new inspirational columnist for Out of Denver magazine. She is also a regular contributor to The American Dog Magazine

Oprah: A Biography by Kitty Kelley, #1 on The New York Times bestseller list as well as Amazon.com, will appear in paperback on January 14, 2011, along with the trade publication of His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra. Kelley's essay, "In Defense of the Unauthorized Biography," appears in the winter issue of The American Scholar

With the November issue of The Vocabula Review, an online publlication packed with good information about the use of language, Robert M. Knight began a monthly column, 'Verbal Knightcap.

Cassandra Langer is now reviewing regularly for Art in America Magazine online. Sandy is happy to announce that her agent is currently shopping her All or Nothing: Romaine Brooks—A life in Art

The Nashville Essential Guide is a new iPhone/iPad app to Music City. GPS-enabled, and linked to music picks in iTunes. This digital guidebook gives visitors and locals a peek at Nashville's best. Nashville transplant Margaret Littman wrote the guide, which has been updated to reflect Nashville's post-flood rebirth

The Chicago Public Library has bought more than 60 copies of Chicago's Fashion History: 1865-1945 by Mary Beth Klatt for branch libraries citywide

Charlotte Libov prepares to speak on heart disease and women at the Research and Fitness Institute of the U.S. Army War College in February. Located in Carlisle, PA, it is the Army's most senior educational institution and prepares mid-level officers for higher command. Charlotte, whose book, The Women's Heart Book, was one of the first to call attention to heart disease as the #1 killer disease of women, and became a PBS special, it is considered a pioneer in the field of women's heart health

Julie Mautner's Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook, co-authored with festival founder/director Lee Schrager, was published by Clarkson Potter on Nov. 16th. The book contains 100 recipes from well-known chefs, plus Q&As, festival stories and more. The book was launched at a party at Barney's (Madison Avenue, NYC), along with the store's "Foodie Holiday" themed windows, and will remain on display in the windows and store throughout the holiday season

Rich Mintzer is pleased to mention that a title for which he served as ghostwriter, The Irlen Revolution, is out from Square One Publishing and receiving positive feedback

Penny Musco is performing Steal Away, her one-woman show about the Exodusters, at several locations during Black History Month in February. She'll be in the New York metropolitan area and also in Kansas, the primary destination of these former slaves who fled the South after Reconstruction ended

Joan Price is proud that her blog about sex and aging, www. NakedAtOurAge.com, was voted #10 of the Top 100 Sex Blogs 2010

Sue Russell's book, Lethal Intent, a biography of executed serial killer Aileen Wuornos, was reissued in November as a Pinnacle Books "True Crime Classic." Sue also won two San Diego Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards for science & technology and criminal justice reporting for her 5-part series on Wildfire Fighting for Miller-McCune.com

Daylle Deanna Schwartz registered January as Self-Love Month and issued a 31 Days of Self-Love challenge—do something loving for yourself every day of January. People can take a pledge on www.howdoiloveme.com, where her book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways, can be downloaded free

Author and commercial copywriter Mary Shafer won a Certificate of Excellence and a Muse Medallion from the Cat Writers Association at their 17th annual conference in November. Her work was recognized for the press kit she developed for the Enspirio House title, Almost Perfect: Disabled Pets and the People Who Love Them.

A 30,000-word booklet called Breast Cancer Today: A Guide for Breast Cancer Patients and Those Who Care About Them by Mary-Ellen Siegel, MSW, LCSW, has just been published by the Chemotherapy Foundation, Inc.. You can get a complimentary copy by writing to scox@chemotherapyfoundation.org

Laura Vanderkam recently signed a deal with Portfolio to write a new book on money, how we earn and spend it. The currently untitled book will be published in January 2012 (Portfolio published her previous book, 168 Hours, in May 2010)

Wendy Lyons Sunshine (polishedwriting.com) has joined About.com, a website owned by the New York Times Co., as Energy Guide for their Industry and Trade channel. She'll be writing, editing, and blogging about energy-related topics, and welcomes review copies of related books and reports

MileHighOnTheCheap.com, a site owned Laura Daily and Claire Walter, won Best Service Blog honors in the first annual Westword Blog Awards for its coverage of Denver/Boulder area freebies, bargains and deals (including regional travel values). Additionally, Denver's alternative weekly selected Claire's Culinary-Colorado.com as one of five finalists in the Best Food Blog category.