Hello Rod,
 
I would guess that all they are asking is for your cards to fit more specifically into the 12 Step Recovery category and not knowing what you have written, I can not say whether that has been done or not, even though your message is personal and heartfelt.
 
Two suggestions; study the other cards in that category and see if yours would snuggle right in as if made to be there.  If not, then yes, you can modify your cards very simply by adding a word or phrase to the front or inside.  If you feel at that point the reviewers are incorrect, then yes you can have a conversation with them by replying to the email they sent you.
 
Good luck and perhaps if we knew more we could be of more help.

I too, submitted a 12-step recovery card and was also asked to be more specific.  What I did was to go to Big Book and look for hints, words, things that I could quote and then added them to the card.  It was approved.  It didn't change anything about the card; actually, it made a little more "dynamic?", strong, or whatever word you want to use there.  And depending upon your beliefs about Higher Power and God, well, I add a scripture of some sort to add a little more strength, if you will, to my message.  I am also a recovering addict and thought it awesome that we could go on GCU and create our own cards with our own personal messages , etc.  Who better than we...to know how tough Recovery can be!!!! I'm 4 yrs. 8 months...sober...YAY!!!!!  Hope this helps a little!!

I too had thought about putting AA into my cards or NA or whatever initials might be appropriate; however, I was informed by an "old-timer" in AA, who has 23 yrs. sober, that AA "does not lend itself or its initials or logo to anyone for anything".  In other words, he said it was better not to use it and of course we cannot use the triangle and circle.  We can quote out of the BIG BOOK and use the Serenity Prayer and other sayings like..."One day at a time" or "Keep it simple", but not anything official....Am I uh? clear as muddy water?  Anyway, just thought I'd let you know what I was told.  Maybe you can find out something different and if you do I would appreciate a thumbs up.  Good luck with your creativity and Good Luck with your Recovery.

Greetings!
 
This is the exact issue that I brought to Mindy's attention all the way back in December, via email to her.  I was told by reviewer #528 that not only could I not use the keywords, NA, AA, Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous in the cards that I had just submitted, BUT that I would have to go through ALL of my already approved cards and remove those keywords as well.  I actually began to do this, then I looked through the category and noticed that many artists have these as keywords, and were not being asked to remove those keywords. Some cards even have those words as part of the title, which is the major search term for the cards.
 
So for several months now, I have been ignored by Mindy on this issue, sending emails to her directly and getting no reply back.  I did receive a reply on March 18, nearly 3 months after my first request to her for help.  That email told me that she would contact me the following day.  (I had also sent an email to Shaun, because I was hoping that someone would look into the issue.)  I did not receive any replies again from Mindy until March 25, when she told me that she needed to do further research.
 
My only real issue with this is that if I cannot use those keywords, then NO ONE can.  GCU cannot pick and chose who can use specific keywords.  And if these words are off limits to me, then they have to be off limits to everyone and this includes title and keywords.
 
A couple of personal notes:
 
I had been emailing Mindy personally because I DID not want to pull this issue into the forums, I think that these kinds of topics tend to make some artists upset because they won't understand that I am not saying anything about them personally, their cards, artwork, etc.  It isn't an issue about other artist.  It's an issue about the keywords, and which words can be used.  And as I stated before, GCU cannot say that some artist can use certain words and others cannot.
 
And for Norma:  I agree!  
 
Thanks to Rod for bring up up this topic.  I sincerely hope that this issue gets resolved.
 
Penny
 

This comes directly from www.aa.org site:
 
"A.A. World Services and the Grapevine have registered a number of trademarks and logos, and the guidelines for using them are based partly on legal considerations and partly on the nature of A.A.
The following is a complete list of registered trademarks and service marks that symbolize Alcoholics Anonymous, its work and its purpose: A.A.; Alcoholics Anonymous; The Big Book; Box 4-5-9; The Grapevine; A.A. Grapevine; GV; Box 1980, La Viña.
 
Use of these marks on goods or services that do not emanate from A.A.,and have not been approved by A.A., both infringes upon and dilutes A.A. marks, in legal terms. The resulting harm is that the marks and A.A. itself, since A.A. is what the marks symbolize, will come to be associated with a variety of products and services that are not part of A.A., and are not consistent with A.A.’s purpose. This will cause the marks to lose their meaning and significance as symbols of Alcoholics Anonymous."
 
So it seems A.A. is indeed a registered trademark of Alcoholics Anonymous. I'd imagine the same goes for N.A., too.
 
Corrie
http://www.corrieweb.nl
 
Need more info and how-to on GCU?
GCU 101 - http://www.squidoo.com/gcu101
Card Design Tips - http://www.squidoo.com/designcardsatgcu
Marketing Tips - http://www.squidoo.com/makemoresalesatgcu
Retail Sales Tips - http://www.squidoo.com/sellcardsretail

Greetings again!
 
My husband helped me with this back in December by writing to Narcotics Anonymous.  This is the email reply that he received, but I removed the man's name and contact info.
 
"In response to your inquiry, it may be helpful to consider that the letters “NA” are not trademarked property of Narcotics Anonymous. And in fact, letters of the alphabet cannot be trademarked in this way. We know of no restrictions to the use of those letters. With that said, the stylized letters, as seen in our logo, are protected by trademark restriction.
 
Thanks again for writing. Feel free to follow-up with any additional thoughts or questions."
 
Warm regards,  
 
Fellowship Services Team Leader
NA World Services
 
I also sent a copy of this email to Mindy for her consideration.
 
Personally, it doesn't matter to me if cannot use those keywords.  I would just like to see that everyone has to follow the same rules.  The point that I tried to make is just this, if I can't use the keywords, NA, AA, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, then other artists shouldn't be using them either.  That's all.  Quite simple, really.
 
Penny