June 2005

News, updates, & pronouncements from Pat Ballard, the Queen of Rubenesque Romances

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. 
Eleanor Roosevelt

Something to think about....

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

We've all heard this saying, but I don't know who said it, if it's a direct quote, so I give credit to whoever needs credit!

This past weekend, Joe and I went to watch one of the baseball games of our grandson, Shaun. Four-, five- and six-year-olds playing, so you can imagine!

To keep Kayla (Shaun's little sister) occupied, her parents took a sand bucket and shovel for her to play with. Tiffany (our daughter-in-law), Tammy (the "other" grandmother), and I sat on the bottom bleacher, and Kayla seemed content to play in the sand (gravel) at my feet. We counted rocks, filled the bucket with sand and dumped it out repeatedly.

But occasionally she would come to me so I could get the sand (gravel dust) off her hands, then she'd sit on the bleacher beside me, her entire little body pressed closely to mine. That, in itself, was rewarding enough for me, but I began to notice that each time she sat down, she would look to see how I had my hands placed in my lap, and then she would put her little hands in the same position mine were in.

I've thought about this a lot since then. If she's watching me that closely, I'd better be very sure that everything I do is a good example for her. And who else is watching? Is there someone else watching me—imitating my actions? And, if so, am I setting a good example for her or him?

We never know who is watching us. Admiring us for what we do and who we are, and wanting to be like us. Hopefully, we'll—I'll—give them something worth imitating.
 

 A Word From Pat

May has been a full month. Shaun officially became Shaun Michael Ballard on May 9th. I had planned to be in court for the final adoption, but Kayla was in the hospital that day. So I wound up staying with her while my son Eric, Tiffany, and a few others went to the adoption.

It seems that a stomach virus called "rotavirus" was going around, and Kayla caught it. It's supposedly a very common stomach virus, although I didn't know it had a name, but it's really hard on two-year-olds and younger children. One report I read said that 55,000 children are hospitalized each year from dehydration from rotavirus. That's what happened to Kayla. She dehydrated and was a very sick little girl. She was in the hospital for two days and nights.

When Kayla got home, Shaun came down with an ear infection and pinkeye (conjunctivitis). Then Eric and Tiffany got the stomach virus. Then Kayla got pinkeye.
But as of this past Saturday, everyone was back to normal.

Joe and I had a quiet Memorial Day weekend. We worked in the yard and flowerbeds. I planted a few more perennials and a couple of annuals. My perennials from last year are blooming and simply beautiful.

I'm really excited because my sister Jerri is coming from California on Wednesday, June 8th, and she and I are going to Mississippi to see our other sister, Ellen, and some of the family down there. I'm looking forward to this visit and trip.

Check out pictures from the Enterprise May Festival trip at my blog. And Blog Me! (Which means—post a comment on my blog!) Click on the small pictures to enlarge them. There wasn't a big turnout for the Enterprise event, but I handed out around 50 packets of "goodies," so I did some advertising.

Everyone have a great June.


                                                 Love,

                                                                    Pat

Visit Pat's Place at www.patballard.com │ Write me at patballard@bellsouth.net

Blog me at http://pearlsong.typepad.com/the_queens_proclamation
 

Books — Existing and Upcoming

Last month 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
www.pearlsong.com/nobodys_excerpt.htm.

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.
 

Ask your local  library to stock my books, allowing many others to enjoy them
while spreading the size acceptance message.
 

Weighty Matters

Following the CDC's (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) report in April that they had made a mistake in their calculations on the deaths from obesity (see
http://www.techcentralstation.com/042505D.html), we now have another (not surprising) study that has proven what most of us already know—dieting is worse for us than not dieting.

I'm going to let this wonderful article below, by Sandy Szwarc, talk for me this time.

You Can Relax About Food and Eat What You Want

Just as the recent Flegal study by the Centers for Disease Control put the nail into the coffin of the obesity crisis myth, one published this week in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association buries the dieting myth. While it's popularly believed that dieting and weight loss improve health, this study found the greatest improvements are among women who don't diet.

"You can make significant improvements in both metabolic and psychological health without ever stepping on the scales or counting calories," said lead researcher Linda Bacon of the University of California, Davis. "You can relax about food and eat what you want."

Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.techcentralstation.com/060205D.html
 

Calendar Of Events

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
http://www.wcrsradio.org/RadioStage/size/SIZE051.mp3

Show #2 discusses women of size and their sexuality
http://www.wcrsradio.org/RadioStage/size/SIZE052.mp3

And check out the photos from the Nov. 6 Mississippi Authors Festival that are online at The Queen's Proclamation blog and The Pearlsong Letter blog. (Click on the Mississippi Authors Festival link under the "Photo Albums" heading in the lefthand column of either blog to view the photos. While you're visiting, post a comment on the blogs!)

Pat will also be appearing at the Pearlsong Press booth at the Southern Festival of Books in downtown Nashville October 7-9, 2005.
 

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.
 

Read previous issues of The Queen's Proclamation at http://www.pearlsong.com/newsletterarchives.htm.

 Subscribe Me! Remove Me!

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.

Already a subscriber, but want to remove your email address from the Queen's 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!"

The Queen's Proclamation is published by Pearlsong Press
P.O. Box 58065 │ Nashville, TN  37205  │ www.pearlsong.com
©2005 Pearlsong Press