CAL – Al-Anon’s Best Sellers of 2021

WHAT I LEARNED: A few weeks ago I recently received my hardcopy of the new “2022 World Service Conference Summary” (item # P-46).  Pasted below are images from pages 80-81 that show some stats for 2021’s best selling Al-Anon books, booklets, and the “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2021” (item # N/A) outreach magazine.  It’s surprising that…

CAL – Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2008 (Item # N/A)

WHAT I LEARNED: 1. In keeping with the same printing schedule as the first “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2007” that came out in September 2006, the subsequent annual edition, “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2008,” debuted in the fall of 2007.  (From 2007 to 2019, the outreach magazine had only 2 print runs each year, so Al-Anon members could…

CAL – Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2007 (Item # N/A)

Usually around February, my order of the new annual public outreach magazine, “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism” arrives. However, it is now the middle of 2022, & I haven’t received an answer yet on whether there will even be a new issue for this year. I’m guessing that since the 2021 issue was the first time a…

CAL – How Al-Anon Works – Audiobook (Item # eA-22)

My next “CAL Chat” podcast guest mentioned that “How Al-Anon Works” (item # B-32) was her favorite piece to use for outreach purposes that she wanted to discuss on the new upcoming Episode #13. To prepare, I was going to re-read it but then I thought, “How could I do it differently this time?” So…

CAL – The Forum Writing Guideline (Item # F-1)

Next week I’ll be posting an update on several Al‑Anon guidelines that have been revised this year.  However while I was researching those, it led me to this guideline for The Forum that was very recently updated – just last month, in October 2021, in fact!  It got me wondering, 🤔 “What changed exactly?”  See…

MTG – Orlando – “You’re Not Alone AFG”

WHAT I LEARNED: “Later… [Bill W.] expanded the number to Twelve Steps so as to be sure there were no loopholes through which a drunk could escape.” – quote from softcover version of “How Al-Anon Works” (item # B-32), page 153.

CAL – My Journey in Service (Item # M-57)

WHAT I LEARNED: 1. While perusing through some Al-Anon service tools in the Area Archives, I came across “My Journey in Service” (item # M-57).  At roughly 60 pages, the booklet is designed as a journal so it has lots of lined paper & blank spaces for writing, plus it includes a CAL service-oriented quote…

CAL – Reaching For Personal Freedom (Item # P-92)

WHAT I LEARNED: 1. The guest for my next “CAL Chat” podcast show (Episode #7) chose this workbook, “Reaching for Personal Freedom” (item # P-92), as his favorite literature piece.  I’ll be posting that episode soon at calchatpodcast.com, but wanted to get my review in this blog first…  This workbook has the rare distinction of…

PODCAST – One Day At A Time / Detachment (Item #’s B-6 / S-19)

EPISODE 2 of my “CAL Chat” podcast is now available to listen to!  Why is Al-Anon not considered a self-help recovery program?  How is detaching different than separating?  Am I making my spirit sick?  It was such a good conversation, I didn’t want to edit anything out, so I had to break it into 2…