January 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Resolve to join
a Pearlsong Conversation....

It's hard to imagine getting behind in sending out a once-a-year newsletter, isn't it? But that's what I've managed to do. The last Pearlsong letter went out in March 2007.

It's been a challenging year for me personally, as I'm sure it's been for many of you. My in-laws' health problems necessitated my husband and I stepping in this past summer to help (or nudge...well, really, push) them to go live with their other son, a physician in California who specializes in geriatric medicine.

It was incredibly difficult for my mother-and-father-in-law to leave their home in southern Mississippi. My husband was stunned by his father's Alzheimer's diagnosis, although in retrospect it explains a lot. Jeff is a nurse and had long thought that at some point he would move back home to take care of his parents in their old age (his mother is partially disabled by a stroke). But going to live with their geriatrician son―and grandchildren―is their best chance of staying together and out of a nursing home for as long as possible.

Now Jeff and I are traveling to and from Mississippi regularly to look after their property and figure out the best way to manage everything. We're also spending more time with my mother, who lives alone (but fortunately near my sister) in Mississippi. She developed her own health problems after my father shuffled off his mortal coil in 1988. But all-in-all she's doing pretty well at 84, even with rheumatoid arthritis.

That said, I've spent the past few weeks thinking about the future of Pearlsong Press. The publishing and bookselling industries were struggling even before the economy tanked. More and more independent bookstores are closing. Even the big chain bookstores are experiencing record low sales. One of the biggest commercial publishing houses has announced a moratorium on new acquisitions―which means they're not acquiring any new manuscripts to publish.

I want to keep Pearlsong Press viable. We have several good books coming out this year―FatLand by Frannie Zellman, Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society by Kathy Barron, Anne S. Kaplan, Corinna Makris, Lesleigh J. Owen & Frannie Zellman, Measure By Measure by Rebecca Fox & Bill Sherman, and The Giving Season by Rebecca Brock.

So we want to spread the word! And enjoy the life- and body-affirming nature of these books and authors and Pearlsong Press's mission. One way we're going to do that is by holding regular monthly teleconference conversations with Pearlsong authors and others. Won't you join us?

Our first Pearlsong Conversation will be on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central. (Right now the plans are to hold the teleconference calls on the second Wednesday of each month.) FatLand author Frannie Zellman will be our first featured author. She and I will chat on the phone and discuss whether she thinks we need a FatLand, how she became a fat rights/liberation activist, why we need fat fiction and fat poetry, and more. If time and technology permit, teleconference participants―that could be you!―will be able to ask questions and join in the discussion.

We plan to record these conversations and make them available for listening online after the call. I may play excerpts on my Health At Every Size radio show.

And all this is F.R.E.E.! There's no charge for participating in the teleconference, other than your usual cost for a long-distance phone call.

For more info and to request the call-in number and access code, see www.pearlsong.com/pearlsongconversations.htm.

I hope I'll hear your voice―or at least you'll hear Frannie Zellman's and mine―on Jan. 14. Until then, have fun celebrating the New Year....and buy/read Pearlsong Press books!

In Joy,

Peggy Elam
Founder & Publisher
Pearlsong Press

NEW from
Pearlsong Press

FATLAND
a novel
by Frannie Zellman

In the near future the Pro-Health Laws of the U.S. have become so oppressive a new country is formed. In FatLand, life is good and scales are forbidden. But not everyone is flourishing....

COMING in May 2009

FAT POETS SPEAK
Voices of the
Fat Poets' Society

Kathy Barron, Anne S. Kaplan, Corinna Makris, Lesleigh J. Owen & Frannie Zellman

Edited by
Frannie Zellman
 

New in 2008

10 STEPS TO LOVING YOUR BODY (No Matter What Size You Are)
by Pat Ballard

"...your body's
 best friend
 in pocket form."

Susan Schulherr, author of
Eating Disorders
 for Dummies

THE PROGRAM
by Charlie Lovett

Chick lit meets Stephen King in this suspense novel about a mysterious weight loss clinic.

"A lively first novel. Highly
 recommended."
 Library Journal

OFF KILTER
by Linda C. Wisniewski

"...about the difficult business of finding balance in our lives."

Susan Wittig Albert,
author of
Spanish Dagger
& Bleeding Hearts

 ___________________________

Special Promotions catalog
Trade paperback catalog
 Ebook catalog

To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites.

Robert Heinlein

Since we sent out the first email Pearlsong Letter, we have changed the format to a weblog (blog)
for ease in updating, archiving, syndicating and linking.

The blog URL is www.pearlsongpress.com. You can subscribe to the Pearlsong Letter blog (or it's "news feed" or syndication) for free using the news aggregator program of your choice. You can also subscribe to email updates of the blog via Feedblitz. The wonders of technology!

Did someone forward this newsletter to you, and you'd like to sign up to receive future issues yourself? Use the form below to subscribe. Although we now post news & updates at the
Pearlsong Letter blog (see above), we'll still occasionally send out email newsletters.

Already a subscriber, but want to remove your email address from our mailing list?
You can also use the form below to unsubscribe — just fill it in, select "Remove" from the
drop-down menu, and click "Go!"

©2009 Pearlsong Press │ All Rights Reserved
P.O. Box 58065 Nashville, TN 37205 | 1-866-4-A-PEARL
www.pearlsong.com | www.pearlsongpress.com