A New Chicken Soup for the Soul book

The FedEx man delivered a box of happiness to my front porch yesterday afternoon. The box contained my ten author copies of the newest Chicken Soup book that includes one of my stories. It's always fun to see what the cover is like, and this one made me smile. Madame Rabbit with her carrot certainly depicts happiness. The book theme is Find Your Happiness.

This book makes an even dozen Chicken Soup books for me. It's a nice feeling. Definitely makes me feel just like that rabbit who found her carrot.

TV personality, Deborah Norville, has written the foreword which is followed by 101 inspirational stories. They're all true. The stories in the Chicken Soup books are classified as creavtive nonfiction. The authors have succeeded in making readers laugh, cry, or sigh with satisfaction.

The title tells us that these stories are going to be positive tales. Sometimes , we search high and low for happiness when it's right in front of our eyes all the time. We can pursue it recklessly or wait until it falls gently around us. Attaining happiness might show up on a majority of goal lists. Perhaps some of the stories in this newest Chicken Soup book will open a door for some readers.

"The Girls On The Bus" is the story I sent to the editor many months ago. It's one I inadvertently sent to another anthology series some months later. A complete lapse of memory and the fact that I failed to do a careful check before sending it out the second time created a dilemma for me when both publishers wanted the story. I had to go with the first one that accepted it, which was Chicken Soup. I still feel a little guilty and remorseful about having to withdraw the story from the second one. Happily, the editor was most understanding and I didn't end up on her black list.

The story is about my mother who had to ride a senior bus in her community after my dad passed away. She'd never learned to drive, so the bus was her only way to get out to do errands. She was most unhappy about it and even more so when she saw the sad, silent people on the bus. The story is about what she did to make the time on the bus better for all the riders, herself included.

The book will be released on October 25, 2011. Look for it in your favorite bookstore or on Amazon. It would make a nice gift or a treat for yourself.