Charlene Ann Baumbich's Don't Miss Your Life!: An Uncommon Guide to Living with Freedom, Laughter and Grace (Howard Books/Simon & Schuster), releases on June 2. PW says, "...poignant essays on the power of imagination, the importance of questioning assumptions, awakening every sense ... just what the doctor ordered for a time such as this."

Florence Isaacs has published a new book, What Do You Say When…Talking To People With Confidence On Any Social Or Business Occasion. It's her ninth book and the latest in a series for Clarkson Potter that began with the best-selling Just A Note To Say...The Perfect Words For Every Occasion.

Joan Detz was invited to teach a workshop on speechwriting at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Associ-ation's annual conference. Detz is the author of How To Write and Give A Speech, now celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Perry Glasser's short fiction collection, Dangerous Places, has been named the winner of the GS Sharat Chandra Prize and will be published by BkMk Press at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in September 2009. This is Perry's third collection, but his first in 25 years. "No second acts in America?" he says. "Maybe F. Scott Fitzgerald had it wrong."

Beacon Press will publish Nancy Rubin Stuart's The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation ( July 2008) in paperback this July. C-Span's BookTV featured Nancy's talk about the book at Brown University in December 2008 and February 2009.

Caitlin Kelly's Feb. 15 essay about working retail (and why it's sometimes better than journalism) in The New York Times' business section garnered 100 emails from as far away as Dubai and Brazil. She discussed it on WNYC's two-hour morning talk show, The Brian Lehrer Show and again on CNN. Despite its woes, The Times continues to be a major outlet for her, with upcoming pieces scheduled on business travel and small business.

Hilary Davidson is building quite the rap sheet with her crime fiction. In April, she published three short stories: "Step-monster" in Thuglit, "Family Man" in Crimespree, and "Silent Partners" in The Rose & Thorn. Another story, "Cheap Bastard," will appear in the Summer 2009 issue of Spinetingler.

Scott Snair's fourth business book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Power Words (Alpha/Pen-guin), arrives at bookstores this month. The text offers the right words for successful negotiation and persuasion. It tells readers how to set themselves apart and be more assertive with words.

Mary and Bill Burnham's Car Camping for Everyone has been been released by Globe Pequot. The authors distill their years of experience into one handy guide. They are also working on a kayaking book in a new Knack series of photo-driven step-by-step guides.

Francesca De Grandis figures prominently in Dancing With Gaia, a new feature-length documentary. It premiered at the Fairfax (Va.) Documentary Film Fes-tival in April. Fifteen visionaries discuss our connection to the earth, sacred sexuality, and the earth seen as sacred.

This month Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, The ASJA Monthly editor, will be a presenter at the California Crime Writers Conference in Pasadena, California.

Nonnie Thompson has won a Boating Writers International 2008 Annual Writing Contest award for "The Promise of the Cork" (Dockside magazine). Nonnie's work, specializing in boating, travel, and the environment, appears nationally and in her column for Pacific Yachting.

Cheryl Jarvis's The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Transformed Their Lives (Ballan-tine, 2008), co-authored with the Women of Jewelia, was featured on Good Morning, America and The Rachael Ray Show and excerpted in Reader's Digest and the UK's Daily Mail. Redbook recommended it for book clubs.

Hilary Nangle hiked, biked, paddled, shopped, explored, drove, dined, and slept her way through Maine's Acadia region for the third edition of her Moon Acadia National Park guidebook. She's now researching a new edition of Moon Coastal Maine.

Victoria Moran had two books published in May. Living a Charmed Life: Your Guide to Finding Magic in Every Moment of Every Day (HarperOne) is a tenth anniversary sequel to her international bestseller, Creating a Charmed Life (Harper SanFrancisco, 1999). Also hot off the presses is Victoria's The Love-Powered Diet: Eating for Freedom, Health, and Joy (Lantern Books), revised and updated.

Emma Johnson contributed a number of articles to The Thrifty Book: How to Do Everything for Less (Workman, Oct., 2009). Emma's MSN Money series, "Jump Start Your Life," explores personal finance topics of interest to people in their 20s and 30s.

Anne Hart is Examiner.com's newest nutrition writer. Also, ASJA Press published Hart's latest nonfiction book of assessments in March 2009, titled, Do You Have the Aptitude & Personality to be a Popular Author? Professional Creative Writing Assessments.

Candy Harrington's third edition of Barrier-Free Travels: A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Wheelers and Slow Walkers hits bookstores this month. This evergreen title features updates on access laws and regulations, plus lots of tips, tricks, and resources for disabled and mature travelers.

Susan Kuchinskas' second book, The Chemistry of Connection: How the Oxytocin Response Can Help You Find Trust, Intimacy and Love, was published by New Harbinger. The book synthesizes research in biology, neuro-science, psychology, and sociology to explain how we learn to love -- and why we sometimes can't/

Alma Bond has finally found a publisher for her first book, The Quantum Twins, after it lay in her drawer for 15 years. Alma recently was awarded finalist status for her latest book, Margaret Mahler: A Biography of the Psychoanalyst, by both Best Books Award Finalist USA Book News and Foreword magazine Book of the Year. Alma's mantra, which she carries around in her wallet, was written 70 years ago by Anne Mary Lawler: "Yes, dreams do come true, if you dream them long and hard and earnestly, and never, never give them up."

On April 7, Susan Tyler Hitchcock told the life story of the Frankenstein monster, based on her book Frankenstein: A Cultural History (Norton, 2005) as part of the Great Lives series at University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Alan Caruba, editor of http://www.bookviews.com , a popular monthly Internet report on new nonfiction and fiction, reports that the publication also now appears on http://www.ReaditNews.com , a Prescott, Arizona website. Alan is a charter member of the National Book Critics Circle.

Pat Thomson, a film and wine writer, has recently gained membership in the Wine Media Guild of New York. She also moderated a cinematography panel at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this May.

In May, Joan Rattner Heilman began writing "Senior Traveler," a monthly column for the travel section of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rena Dictor LeBlanc's science fiction short story, "The Rules Of Raffle," won honorable mention in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category of the fourth annual Writer's Digest Popular Fiction Awards. According to Writer's Digest editor Jessica Strawser "...Your success in the face of such formidable competition speaks highly of your writing talent..."

Mary L. Peachin, award-winning adventure travel writer/photographer (represented worldwide by Lonely Planet Images), is author of Scuba Caribbean (University Press Florida, late 2008), Sport Fishing the Caribbean, (University Press Florida, late 2010) and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Sharks (Alpha/Penguin).

The 9th edition of Carole Terwilliger Meyers' Weekend Adventures in San Francisco & Northern California (Carousel Press) has just been published. Former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown says, "Ms. Meyers' love for the city and her familiarity with its abundant charms are evident in every entry."

Mary Beth Temple has released two new crochet books. Hooked for Life: Adventures of a Crochet Zealot is a book of humorous essays, published by Andrews McMeel Publishing, and DIY (Design it Yourself) Afghans is a pattern book with bonus CD-ROM from Leisure Arts.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Branding Yourself (Alpha/Penguin), co-authored by ASJA member Sherry Beck Paprocki, was released May 5. Prior to the book's release, Paprocki was quoted in the New York Times' business section on March 27 saying: "If you don't brand yourself, Google will brand you."

Sandra E. Lamb has signed a contract with St. Martin's Press to do another book on writing etiquette, due for publication in 2010, and she has just signed a contract -- after her agent's auction -- with Crown to write a narrative nonfiction book on a social issue, due out in 2010.

Claire Berman's new book, When a Brother or Sister Dies: Looking Back, Moving Forward, was published by Praeger in February.

Siri Carpenter was named as a finalist for the 2009 National Magazine Award for her story, "Is Your Parent Over-Medicated?" The story appeared in the December 2008 issue of Prevention magazine

For the second year in a row (and the third year in five), Peter Rose has been awarded first prize for the best travel article written for the Internet in the annual juried competition of the North American Travel Journalists Association.