January 2020
MsWas's Message Corner
Greetings to all of our veteran and new Cannonballers, and all of our friends,
Happy New Year! I’m always excited for the beginning of a new CBR, and one of the reasons is that we get to read reviews from new participants. Don’t get me wrong, veteran Cannonballers are some of the best writers I know, and I’m continually impressed by their thoughtful, funny, and pointed reviews. But there’s nothing like reading CBR12 review #1 from someone new, someone who may have divulged how nervous they were to post the review, and realizing that this writer is a true gem. There may even be some kind of ratio as to how worried they are, compared to how excellent the review is.
So for those of you who are just getting started, please continue on - you are excellent, and you are welcome. To those folks who have been here a while - remember posting your first review? How hard was it to click that “Publish” button? Remember that, and then take a minute to go take a look at some of those first reviews (check out the Leaderboard to find them), and send them some and encouragement.
To all of you, please reach out to me with any questions or suggestions. I want to hear from you, I really do!
Take care and Happy Reading!
Bonnie (aka "MsWas")
Q&A with a Cannonballer: Beth Ellen
 How long have you been helping out with the book club? What made you decide to become a CBR volunteer?
I started helping out with CBR in 2017? 2018? Ummm, yeah. My years have blurred tremendously. I decided to help out when MsWas asked because I love the community CBR has built. For the past year plus due to personal stuff I have taken a backseat, but it's wonderful to know everyone is still there. One of my goals for 2020 is to get back to reviewing/participating/volunteering. This year I read my requisite 52 books, but I just had to look up my number of reviews: 2. Ouch. Not my best showing. Thankfully! No one here judges when life gets in the way of fun and kicking cancer's *ss.
#CannonBookClub
Way back in CBR7, we read Station Eleven for #CannonBookClub. In anticipation of Emily St. John Mandel's new book coming out this fall ( The Glass Hotel - see Ale's review for a sneak peek), we're going to do a Station Eleven reread for the March book club, then we will read the new one later in the year. If you haven't read this post-apocalyptic treat, now's your chance! And if you already have, it'll be a perfect chance to revisit it.
Website updates
What do you think of the new look? Mostly the changes are cosmetic (so pretty!), but there are some fun new features. You no longer have to tag the author for each review; that is now an automatic function. Our featured reviews of the week now appear on the homepage, and the FAQs are in a brand new set-up. To go along with these items, we have several new categories that are to only be used by MsWas and the admins. Several are at the bottom of the categories list, and begin with "Z-ADMIN-ONLY," but there's another important one we need to ask you NOT to use: the Feature category. This is for our featured reviews of the week.
Thoughts/feedback/suggestions/questions? MsWas can point you in the right direction!
Registration still open
If you haven't signed up yet for CBR12, you have until January 15. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, the servers at your favorite diner - the more the merrier! You get to read books and raise money to fight cancer - two great tastes that taste great together!
And if you're new this year, welcome! Don't forget to check out our Merch page, the ever-helpful FAQ, and all the miscellaneous fun stuff like Fan Mail. If you'd like to join the crew of volunteers, we'd love to have you! Beth Ellen is part of a crack team of talented amateurs and eager professionals who help out for one specific event (like Book Bingo) or year-round (like social media). Have a talent you'd like to share? Let us know!
Census 2020
Okay, this isn't book-related, but it's still important! The 2020 Census will be gearing up soon. This is the first year in history that you can fill it out online. Two of the most-missed groups of people are children under five and senior citizens. I know there are lots of Cannonballers with wee ones, and likely just as many with elderly parents. So, when you get your postcard, make sure you count everyone in your power to count, and encourage those who aren't in your household to fill out the census themselves.
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