It’s been a rather gray and gloomy day, but the minute we found the train, the sun started peeking out!

And a bubble kiss!

Mindy (Comment #5)
Morna Crites-Moore (Comment #41)
Dolly (Comment #29)
nfmgirl (Comment #86)
Chelsea (Comment #77)

I have emailed all the winners, and once I get everyone’s snail mail addresses, I will forward the addresses to Hachette Books. Hachette Books will then send out copies of My Little Red Book.

Thank you everyone for participating – it’s been fun getting to know everyone better!

Update: The giveaway has now ended and comments on this post are now closed. Winners of this giveaway have been announced here. Thank you everyone for participating!

Yesterday I was surfing around, and I came across One World – One Heart 2009, a wonderful site whose aim is to foster connections among bloggers in the art and creativity world:

The common denominator in blogging is that we all have stories to tell….be it through visual means or life stories or the day-to-day or art work or handwork of varying kinds or poetry and journaling.  We can be inspired or inspire others by finding a blog and taking the time to read/see someone’s story. Often times a spark happens….this palpable spark of recognition through kindred understanding and shared passions in life. It is in those times when we take a moment to comment and comment again…….when those comments are reciprocated a discovery is made that we share commonalities which connect us sight unseen.

I read this and fell in love with the idea, and after surfing through the list of blogs on the site, I really wanted to join in. And then, synchronicity – if you’ve been reading Belle Enchanted, you know how much I adore synchronicities! Hachette Book Group asked if I’d be interested in hosting a giveaway of a wonderful book that will be released in February! The timing could not be more perfect. I have a review copy of this book – My Little Red Book, by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff – and looking through it, I know it’s a book that many, many of you will love.

I have FIVE copies of the book to give away, so there will be five winners!

Before I get to the rules, here’s a synopsis of My Little Red Book:

MY LITTLE RED BOOK is an anthology of stories about first periods, collected from women of all ages from around the world. The accounts range from light-hearted (the editor got hers while water skiing in a yellow bathing suit) to heart-stopping (a first period discovered just as one girl was about to be strip-searched by the Nazis). The contributors include well-known women writers (Meg Cabot, Erica Jong, Gloria Steinem, Cecily von Ziegesar), alongside today’s teens. And while the authors differ in race, faith, or cultural background, their stories share a common bond: they are all accessible, deeply honest, and highly informative.

Doesn’t this sound like such a wonderful book? The stories in here are at times poignant and at times humorous. Some of my favorite authors have contributed (like Meg Cabot, Michelle Jaffe, Gloria Steinem) but the stories are written not just by well-known authors, but by women from all walks of life, young and old, from around the world. There are artists, students, business people – a long list of women sharing their memories.

The Rules:

1. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post (just scroll down to the comment box at the bottom of this page), and in keeping with the theme of One World One Heart, and I’d love to know one unique thing about you! And make sure you enter a valid email address so that I can contact you in the event you win.

2. For extra entries: Help me spread the word about this giveaway! You will receive an extra entry if you blog about the giveaway with a link back to this post. Not a blogger? Not to worry – post about it at Facebook or Twitter with a link back to this post. You must, however, come back here and leave me a separate comment with a link to your blog post, Facebook comment or Twitter tweet. You can receive up to three extra entries, but you must leave a separate comment for each one, as I will be doing the draw using Random.org and the winners will be based on their comment numbers (note: you can only win once, however – the prizes must go to five different winners.)

3. Giveaway End Date: All comments must be received by February 12, 2009, at 5:59 pm EST. Winners will be announced on the evening of February 12, 2009.

4. Eligibility: This giveaway is open only to US and Canada residents – no PO boxes, please. Quebec residents are excluded, and you must be 18 years of age or older at the time of your entry.

I am so sorry this giveaway can’t be global, but unfortunately, Hachette Group can only ship the books within the US and Canada. And I apologize for excluding Quebec residents, too, but Quebec has very strict regulations about contests and giveaways.

5. Prizes: Five winners will each receive one copy of My Little Red Book. Value of each prize: $14.99 US/$16.99 Canada.

6. Prize delivery: Hachette Group will ship the books directly to the winners. If you win, I will collect your mailing address to give to Hachette Group.

So please, fill out a comment – I look forward to meeting you all! Good luck, everyone!

Taking a minute to let it sink in …

And now, without further ado, simply because I love cats:

Found while reading Meg Cabot’s blog.

NaNoWriMo: I didn’t reach my 50,000 words on the one hand, but my initial goal was never to do that. It was to simply get myself sitting down and writing. So I must say, I’m looking at my official 32,532 words with great pride.

Here’s what I’ve discovered: for me, the biggest obstacle is the first step of sitting down and opening up my writing software. Once I place my fingers on the keys, the magic happens. I’m not sure why I have such a block about sitting down and just doing it, since I really enjoy the process so much. But one step at a time, right?

Starting tomorrow, I will have a new widget thingie on the sidebar, showing my word count for whichever novel I’ll be working on. I wasn’t able to keep going with the NaNoWriMo novel these past few days because of deadlines, and also because it suddenly seemed to me that I had to change the narrative from third person omniscient to first person, but only for the scenes involving the main protagonist. Who also wants a name change, too. (I’m not too sure about that one.)

NaBloPoMo: I was actually on track with blogging every day in November (despite what the dates on the posts tell you – I personally count a day as that period of time before I sleep and wake up to the next day. Blogging software has a more rigid, machine-driven view of “a day”.) And then I went and forgot to post yesterday!

So I very nearly posted every day here. Not too shabby, I think.

Art Every Day Month for November: I couldn’t keep up. Too many deadlines, and I also discovered that the writing took priority. I only did four pieces of work, and only posted three of them because I truly didn’t like the fourth one. I may do this challenge again, but probably not until the new year.

It’s been a good month. Ive still not had the time to check out all my favourite blogs regularly, but hopefully, because the deadlines are lighter in December, I’ll be able to get back to it. It’s one of the most enjoyable things about blogging, I’ve been discovering.

I was just over at Lynn’s blog, and she’s got a wonderful meme up. It looks like great fun, so here are my one word answers:

1. Where is your cell phone? Here
2. Where is your significant other? Kitchen
3. Your hair color? Black
4. Your mother? Toronto
5. Your father? uncertain
6. Your favorite thing? books
7. Your dream last night? running
8. Your dream/goal? published
9. The room you’re in? office
10. Your hobby? art
11. Your fear? Mice
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Vancouver
13. Where were you last night? Here
14. What you’re not? unhappy
15. One of your wish list items? oceanview
16. Where you grew up? Vancouver
17. The last thing you did? read
18. What are you wearing? Clothes
19. Your T.V.? off
20. Your pet? Cat
21. Your computer? yes
22. Your mood? happy
23. Missing someone? no
24. Your car? outside
25. Something you’re not wearing? glasses
26. Favorite store? books
27. Your Summer? maritimes
28. Love someone? lots
29. Your favorite color? Green
30. When is the last time you laughed? now
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

But I have to say, yesterday’s tears were tears of joy. These days, they usually are.

Thanks, Lynn! That was fun!

1. Field Center
2. My darling FC group.
3. My darling affiliate goddesses.
4. My kids and how they’re growing and learning
5. My husband the Sensei Chef (ssshhh … don’t tell him I used that term. He really really really doesn’t like it. But it’s true)
6. Eating so many lovely, delicious dishes.
7. Finding my way back to writing.
8. Finding my art again.
9. Finding a contractor and having the renovations start!
10. All the beautiful little glorious moments that make up my days – things like sipping coffee while nestled in the comfy armchair, sunlight splashing over me; hugs from Dylan; talking with Ward into the wee hours of the night; having wonderful, amazing conversations with Hayley and Sean; loving the colour of my manicure, of all things; emails from friends; and many, many more beautiful glorious little moments.