Charla Krupp’s new book, How To Never Look Fat Again is in stores today!

Charla is getting fantastic publicity. In fact, she was a guest on the Today Show this morning.

Check out the clip here!

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We are very excited to announce that last night a Springboard book won a Books For A Better Life Award!

Sponsored by the Southern New York Chapter of the National MS Society, the awards recognize self-improvement authors whose books “inspire people to live their best lives.” 

There were 500 entries in each of 10 categories, and Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke was the book that won the award for the Motivational category.

We are very proud of Gail and her fantastic book! 

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Check out this in-depth interview with Lisa Johnson Mandell that was recently posted on Careersolvers.com!

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Our fabulous author Lisa Johnson Mandell has come out with the ultimate guide to jump-starting your job search. Lisa has all sorts of amazing tips for getting mid-life job seekers on the payroll. Check out some of the great press she’s gotten so far!

article from More magazine!

article from The Denver Post!   

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 Check out this fantastic in-depth interview with Katrina Kenison on CommitmentNow.com about The Gift of an Ordinary Day!

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Katrina Kenison, author of The Gift of an Ordinary Day, put together this moving video about motherhood and about recognizing the value of those fleeting, “normal” moments which end up being the most cherished memories.

Watch the video and share your feelings with us!

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Paula Span has received another great review for When the Time Comes!

Read the article here on Silver Planet!

The article ends with this great quotation from the reviewer:

“Thank you, Paula. I’m going to give a copy of your book to all my children. ”

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Exciting news!

The National MS Society has named Gail Blanke’s wonderful book Throw Out Fifty Things as a finalist for their books-for-a-better-life award!

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The Gift of an Ordinary Day

by Katrina Kenison

The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition–boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, an attempt to find a deeper sense of place, and a slower pace, in a small New England town.  It is a story of mid-life longings and discoveries, of lessons learned in the search for home and a new sense of purpose, and the bittersweet intensity of life with teenagers–holding on, letting go. 
 
Poised on the threshold between family life as she’s always known it and her older son’s departure for college, Kenison is surprised to find that the times she treasures most  are the ordinary, unremarkable moments of everyday life, the very moments that she once took for granted, or rushed right through without noticing at all. 

The relationships, hopes, and dreams that Kenison illuminates will touch women’s hearts, and her words will inspire mothers everywhere as they try to make peace with the inevitable changes in store.

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Let It Bleed

by Ethan Russell with Gerard Van der Leun

LET IT BLEED takes you where no Rolling Stones book has before. Author and photographer Ethan Russell was one of only sixteen people–including the Rolling Stones–who made up the 1969 tour. He was with them in their hotel rooms, at rehearsals, and on stage. He tells the story of this monumental and historic tour firsthand, including recollections from band members, crew, security, and other sixties icons–like Abbie Hoffman and Little Richard–they met along the way. And he also includes amazing photos of the performers who toured with the Stones that year: the legendary Tina Turner and B. B. King.

Through vivid quotes taken from his interviews with the band and crew, and through more than 220 revealing photographs, Russell takes you behind the scenes for an uncensored look inside the Rolling Stones’ world at the end of the sixties. It was an idealistic time, with an overarching belief that music could bring us all together. But the events that led to the terrible violence and stabbing death at Altamont would change rock and roll forever.

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Career Comeback
by Lisa Johnson Mandell

Unfortunately, getting older can be a career killer. That’s what entertainment journalist Lisa Johnson Mandell discovered when she sent out a resume that made her sound like an aged veteran. Her new career makeover guide-expanded from the Wall Street Journal article about revamping her “older” image to land her dream job-acknowledges that experience matters, but looking and acting up-to-date matter just as much.

Mandell provides ten strategies for putting a youthful spin on resumes, Web pages, and personal presentation. Looking young and staying technologically current is crucial to competing in an increasingly tough job market. CAREER COMEBACK offers the ultimate makeover to-do list: From “botoxing” your resume by deleting dates and early jobs, tech-savvy tricks for starting and improving your website or blog and online networking, to updating your wardrobe, Mandell shares the secrets that will get mid-career job seekers noticed and on the payroll.

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Usually when we multi-task, we feel very productive because we think that we’re saving time and “killing two birds with one stone.” However yesterday The New York Times ran an article (here) about multi-tasking that suggests multi-tasking isn’t as great as we think it is.

According to the article, productivity significantly decreased in adults who were multitasking. As Dr. Christakis put it, “The truth is you don’t really multitask, you just think you do; the brain can’t process two high-level cognitive things.”  In other words, when we multi-task we are doing each task less competantly and less efficiently than we would if we were focussing solely on that task. So instead of doing one task quickly and then another task quickly, we are really doing both tasks more slowly and carelessly. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. How many times have you put your keys or glasses down while talking on the phone only to find that you have no idea where you put them?

But the article goes on to say that multitasking may not actually be a problem for the generation that has grown up texting-while-walking, and that all that extra media stimulation has likely made for greater mental dexterity. As Dr. Christakis puts it, “Parents are digital immigrants; children are digital natives.”

Read the article and let us know what you think!

Could the constant texting/calling/surfing-the-web be beneficial to younger generations, or do you think  it’s just a distraction, plain and simple?

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It has been over two weeks since I dropped my youngest son off at college, so I have gotten over the initial void I felt everyday and the teariness that overcame me as I walked by his empty room. 

But, it is funny how difficult it is to let go of the daily news blasts from your children, or the knowledge of who they’re with and what they’re doing.  I find that as long as I know where he is (or should be), like a class or crew practice, I can have a visual in my head of how he’s doing.  It’s the other times–the weekends and evenings–where I really feel the need to find out where he is so I can imagine his comings and goings.

 I think these obsessions/neuroses I have are just an outgrowth of survival of the species.  I think that they are hardwired into mothers as a way to protect their young.  So I’m not embarrassed by them.  But I do need to figure out how to control them, especially because my kids are pretty darn safe (I hope), at a good college, and don’t need me to worry about them every day.  In fact, I think they’d be horrified if they knew I did so!

One way I know I can calm myself down is by reading Katrina Kenison’s words in THE GIFT OF AN ORDINARY DAY.  I’ve been working with Katrina for the last couple of years on this book and I have to say her emails with draft chapters got me through two kids’  college applications processes.  She reminds us that our children do not need our hovering or our controlling them when they’re teens. What they need is for us to have confidence in them, knowing they may fail, but that they’ll be okay.  And, ultimately they’ll succeed on their own and that will give them the confidence they need.  They’ll figure it out.  In fact, a beautiful essay from the book will be excerpted in the October issue of Family Circle. It is about her 9th grade son trying out for the basketball team and the heartbreak, but ultimately success and self-knowledge he earned from that challenge.

I will reread another chapter tonight and take strength from Katrina’ insights about letting go, and about finding beauty, grace and transformation in the ordinary days of our life…and maybe on Saturday I’ll call my sons!

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