HAPPY NEW YEAR!

LET’S KICK OFF THE NEW YEAR WITH SOME BOOK WINNERS!

Lynne Marie won NIGHT BAZAAR edited by Lenore Hart

Carol Baldwin won A REAL FRIEND by Jennifer Wolfthal

Chark won THE QUEEN AND THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE by Nancy Churnin

Ellen Leventhal won A DREIDEL IN TIME by Marcia Berneger

Winners, please send me your address. Everyone else check the last few winner announcements to see if you won a book and send me you address, too.

If you write middle grade sci-fi/fantasy. You should try to win JONESY FLUX AND THE GRAY LEGION by James Pray and published by Sterling Children’s Books. Reading this book will give you a good idea of what Sterling is looking to publish. Here is the link to the book giveaway. I missed pointing out in the text that is was a book giveaway, so I am going to give everyone a week to leave a comment or share on social media before I chose the winner. https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2020/12/17/book-giveaway-jonesy-flux-and-the-gray-legion-by-james-pray/

The first New Year’s celebration dates back 4,000 years. Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome, was the first to declare Jan. 1 a national holiday. He named the month after Janus, the Roman god of doors and gates. Janus had two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. Caesar felt that a month named after this god would be fitting.

ANA OCHOA: FEATURED ON ILLUSTRATOR SATURDAY.

Be sure to eat leafy greens on New Year’s. Tradition says that the more leafy greens a person eats, the more prosperity he or she will experience (what an incentive for staying healthy!). Tradition also says that legumes bring prosperity because beans and peas look like coins. No wonder why so many people eat black eyed peas on Jan. 1.

CHERYL KIRK NOLL: Featured on Illustrator Saturday.

According to statistics from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, vehicles are stolen on New Year’s Day more than any other holiday. Don’t think your old car is safe, either. In 2011, the 1994 Honda Accord was the most stolen car. To discourage car theft, make sure your car is in a populated area and always take your keys.

EILEEN SPINELLI: Poem that appeared in Highlight’s Magazine.

Forty-five percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. The top resolutions are: to lose weight, get organized, to spend less and save more, to stay fit and healthy, and to quit smoking. While nearly half of all Americans make resolutions, 25 percent of them give up on their resolutions by the second week of January.

Thought I would share what Melissa sent out to me and her followers a few days ago in her newsletter.

“I pray to the birds. I pray to the birds because I believe they will carry the messages of my heart upward. I pray to them because I believe in their existence, the way their songs begin and end each day—the invocations and benedictions of Earth. I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen.”
–Terry Tempest Williams, REFUGE

Here is the link to read Melissa’s full end of the year message. You can also sign up for her newsletter. It comes out six times a year. 

WISHING EVERYONE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy