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July 2005 |
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News, updates, & pronouncements from Pat Ballard, the Queen of Rubenesque Romances |
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Nobody can make you feel inferior
without your consent.
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Something to think about....
Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can, John Wesley When my sister Jerri and I were leaving Mississippi a few weeks ago, we drove past a man who was obviously having car problems. Although we weren't on the interstate yet, the road was a big four-lane, with a good bit of traffic, and I knew the man wasn't that far from a gas station. But Jerri said, "Aw, look at his face. We need to call someone to help him." I made some casual remark like, "Someone will stop and help him." And we drove on, although both of us were carrying cell phones.
But my conscience really nagged at me for
several miles before I forgot about the man, and never thought about him
again until a few days ago. So he locked the truck up and headed out. He'd gotten only about 50 feet from the truck when a van pulled over and started backing up toward him. He thought, 'Oh, no, I'm going to be robbed." It was a middle-aged couple in the van. "This is worse," he thought. 'I'm going to be robbed by old people!"
But they gave him a ride and let him use
their cell phone to call his wife. |
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A Word From Pat What a busy, fun-filled month was June! On the 8th, Jerri, my sister from California, flew in to Nashville, and on the 10th she and I drove to see our sister Ellen in Mississippi. After getting to Mississippi we visited with aunts, uncles and cousins, then went to Alabama and visited with more aunts, uncles and cousins! It was one of those times when I felt that my "love-tank" was full and running over. Jerri went back home on the 15th, and I had a weekend to rest. Then the following weekend I kept my grandkids, Shaun and Kayla, from mid-Friday afternoon until late Sunday afternoon. Joe and I took them to the Nashville Zoo Saturday morning, then to McDonald's, then home for a nap, then to the movies to see Madagascar Saturday night. It was their first time in a "real" theater. They loved it, and were perfect during the entire movie. Not one trip to the bathroom! Wow! Now there's an
experience. It was the first time I'd ever kept them for that long. I
won't have to exercise for another month after that!
Love,
Blog me at
http://pearlsong.typepad.com/the_queens_proclamation |
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Books — Existing and Upcoming A couple of months ago I signed a contract with Pearlsong Press for Abigail's Revenge, my fifth novel. The publisher, Peggy Elam, Ph.D., hopes to have the Abigail's Revenge ready for sale in the Pearlsong Press booth at the Southern Festival of Books October 7-9, 2005. Abigail's Revenge is a romantic suspense, and is different than any other novel I've written. It's also a good bit longer. Abigail Avery was framed for the murder of her father and sent to prison when she was only eighteen years old. A bunch of crooked "good ole boys" from her hometown of Leaky Springs, Mississippi want her land and house. Abigail doesn't have any idea why they would want her property. But they were willing to kill for it and send her to prison, hoping to get her out of the way long enough to convince her to sell or to acquire it in some other manner. But now, ten years later, Abigail's out of prison and heading back to Leaky Springs to get revenge on the people, especially the judge, who stole ten years of her life. I'm continuing to work on my first nonfiction book, The 10 Commandments of Self-Love, a motivational book on accepting ourselves as we are instead of obsessing over trying to look like some unrealistic actress or image we see in an magazine. Meanwhile, my new book Dangerous Curves Ahead—a compilation of 10 short stories—is available through Pearlsong Press (www.pearlsong.com). After its May 2004 publication, Dangerous Curves Ahead received a glowing review from Cindi Appel on the Fearless Books review website. Appel wrote: Ballard doesn’t pull punches. She shows her heroines exhibiting ample will and tenacity to tell off those who would shame them into becoming something they aren’t just to blend in with society's narrow-minded notions of beauty. To read the entire review, go to www.pearlsong.com/dangerouscurvesahead.htm. You can also read an excerpt from Dangerous Curves Ahead's title story, Dangerous Curves, by clicking on the title link in this sentence. Pearlsong Press has also re-released my existing books, Wanted: One Groom, Nobody’s Perfect, His Brother’s Child and A Worthy Heir.
The Pearlsong Press edition
of Nobody's Perfect was called
"a charming, witty love story with a twist"
in the July 2004 Small Press Bookwatch section of Midwest Book Review.
Read the whole review at
www.pearlsong.com/nobodysperfect.htm, or an excerpt at I’m extremely happy that
my books are now available in both print and eBook format. Please visit
Pearlsong Press and check out all the options that are available. |
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Ask your local
library to stock my books, allowing many others to enjoy them |
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Weighty Matters A few weeks ago I was thinking about the millions of unhappy people, mostly women, who are starving themselves, trying to fit the mold that our present day society dictates, and the thought occurred to me, as it has in the past, that I should be trying to reach people other than those of us who're already making an attempt to accept ourselves. "I'm preaching to the choir," I told myself. "I need to try to reach people who haven't heard this 'accept yourself' message." So I bravely went online to the Weight Watchers website and set up a message board account so I could post. Then I posted my "10 Commandments," but rewrote them in present-day English and put a new title, "10 Steps To Loving The Body You're In." (These steps are posted at the bottom of this section, if you want to read them.) I posted the steps in a message and wrote a little introductory paragraph about "while we're dieting, we still need to love ourselves, until we reach our intended goal." Well, I immediately started getting postings. People thanking me for
posting those steps. Several people said they'd just done # such-and-such that
very day. But eventually, one of the noted troublemakers came on and accused me
of spamming. Well, we went back and forth on that one, and I told her if she
thought I was spamming to turn me in to Weight Watchers. She didn't, of course.
There were 51 posts on my subject within just a few hours. I've never gotten
that many posts to anything before. I don't think so.
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Calendar Of Events
Hear Pat Monday,
July 11 on the Health At
Every Size radio show with Dr. Peggy Elam. The show airs on Radio Free
Nashville (WRFN Pasquo, TN, lpfm 98.9) Monday morning from 10:00 to 11
a.m. CST. The show is streamed live over the Internet at You can still hear the taped radio shows from Size Matters with Veronica, WCRS Radio, on Pat's website.
Show #1 discusses
Pat's romance novels
Pat will also be appearing
at the Pearlsong Press booth at the Southern Festival of Books in downtown
Nashville October 7-9, 2005. |
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Book Contest
Register to win a free copy of the Pat
Ballard book of your choice at Top 100 Women Sites:
http://www.top100womensites.com/contest.htm. |
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Newsletter Archives Read previous issues of The Queen's Proclamation at http://www.pearlsong.com/newsletterarchives.htm.
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The
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