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The months of October and November flew by and December is threatening to do likewise. Before it does, I wanted to touch base with you. I attended the RMC-SCBWI Fall Conference in Golden, Colorado. It was tremendous (no surprise). One special follow-up from the conference is that one of our speakers, Cheryl Klein, editor at Arthur A. Levine Books, gave me her talk so I could make an eBook out of it. We've posted Rules of Engagement: How to Get (and Keep!) A Reader Involved in Your Novel to the site and are offering the eBook as a free resource to writers. We've automated the download process as within days of posting to the site we received over 300 requests for it! This little gem will help both published and yet-to-be-published writers take their careers to the next level.

There's still time for you to submit your favorite holiday titles and traditions. We've received and posted several submissions and would love to receive even more for our Holiday Favorites section of the site. From singing mice to the power of family dinner times to an eBook by Cheryl Klein, editor at Arthur A. Levine Books, to a new book on what it really takes to find satisfaction in life we've posted some good resources. Here's the December 2005 CCF Bulletin with news and information recently posted to the CCF site:

NEW TO THE CCF SITE:

• Holiday Favorites: You can still send in your favorite titles and traditions for us to post to the CCF site!
  • How Murray Saved Christmas - reviewed by Kelly Michaelis.
  • The Polar Express - reviewed by Suan Rust.
  • The Snowman - reviewed by Sandy Carlson.
• CCF Kids: 
  • Mice Sing Love Songs to their Mates - I've just about got that love song melody memorized! Can you believe it? Scientists have, for the first time, been able to record the love songs mice sing to their mates.
• Parents:
  • Dinner Table's Power - "In a convenience-oriented society, families and especially kids are the very definition of inconvenient. Family meals are the most inconvenient of all." Julia Steiny's article acknowledges this truth and goes beyond it, to the life-learning skills to be gained by having family times together.
• Writing:
  • Rules of Engagement: How To Get (and Keep!) A Reader Involved In Your Novel - Cheryl Klein, Editor at Arthur A. Levine Books, gives us a rare opportunity to understand, from an editor's point of view, what it is that makes a manuscript work and what keeps it from working.
• Book Reviews:
  • Satisfaction: The Science of True Fulfillment -  reviewed by Carol McGraw and posted to the CCF site with permission of The Gazette. Read McGraw's article and then take the quiz to see whether you know what it takes to be satisfied.
• CCF Top Picks:
  • Rainbow Maker: Magical Show! Beautiful Gift - Especially as a gift for the holidays, this is a maintenance free little gizmo that'll delight both kids and their parents on an ongoing basis. Most everyone who buys one of there precious double rainbow makers from us comes back to buy more!

• Bestsellers:

  • Booksense Bestseller Lists - Links to the lists are updated regularly.
• Olgy's Blogs: Read the blogs and share your comments!
  • ZITS: Understanding Teenage Boys - I love the cartoon strip ZITS. When I first discovered it years ago, I realized my son was absolutely normal. It helped me understand boys more than any other self-help book I'd read on the subject. Have you read it? What do you think of it? I'd love to hear back from you. Post to the blog and let me know what you think of it.  
  • On writing short stories - Alright, I've asked all my friends to stop sending me those cute email attachments that seem to navigate through cyberspace with a life of their own. For once I'm glad this one friend ignored my request. You got to laugh at people's creativity. I did this morning when looking at this image. Enjoy!
  • Visiting the UK this Christmas - This blog is for anyone who knows the UK and can send me suggestions on how can I best see this wondrous land within the two weeks I have to be there this Christmas.

REVISIT OLD FRIENDS: View some of our favorite articles posted over the years.

• Wild About Harry: A 1999 TIME cover story - amazon.com is offering a free download of a very interesting TIME Magazine 1999 cover story by Paul Gray. This is a PDF file you'll be able to download and save to your computer. Enjoy! 
• Check Yourself - We came across the www.checkyourself.org site after seeing advertisements for it on TV. It's a good "mirror" to look into. There are short quizzes one can take related to alcohol, marijuana and other drug uses and the answer, based on your responses, comes back as you soon as you click the submit button.
• December Holidays Can Teach Kids About Giving - Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa's gift giving times can be used to teach kids about altruism. This article provides good suggestions and also links to kids' Christmas parties and projects as well as kids' Hanukkah crafts and projects. An article with year-round advice by Kimberly L. Keith of about.com.

Thank you for subscribing to the CCF Bulletin. Make the CCF site your own! Keep sending us your favorite links, news items, book reviews and questions we can design polls for. It's great to hear from our visitors and post their input to the CCF site. Also, let us know if you notice links that are not working. Let's keep the CCF site free of link rot! 

Olgy
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Olgy Gary, M.A., CCF's General Manager
Children Come First...because they're our greatest treasure!
http://www.childrencomefirst.com/