March 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....

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
Small people always do that, but the really great
make you feel that you, too, can become great.
Mark Twain

Has someone told you that you can't follow your dream because you're "too this" or "too that" or just not good enough? Not smart enough? Has some small-minded person stolen your dream?

Here's an excerpt of an article I wrote and had published on About.com for awhile:
 

Dreams. When we’re young, the world is at our feet. Our dreams are just waiting to be accomplished. We’re sure that as soon as we get out of high school and/or college, we’ll take the world by storm.

For some of us, reality sets in and we find ourselves putting our dreams on the back burners of life in order to…well, to live. Raising our children, working at jobs we may or may not like, paying for the house, the car, college for the kids, and whatever else may show up at any given time.

But if those dreams we had refuse to go away, if they keep nagging at us, sometimes in the most unlikely settings, then maybe we need to take them out and reexamine them.

It has been my experience that ignored dreams turn into ignored needs. These disregarded needs, no matter how vague, can turn into unhappiness, discontent, and an unfulfilled emptiness. They can lead to different levels of volatile unrest until a person can be miserable in the life they’re leading because they’re not furnishing an outlet for those needs.

So, if you've dreamed of being or doing something that you haven't done yet, what are you waiting on? Remember, you don't need anyone to validate who you are. Sure, compliments, encouragement and praise are wonderful and we all love getting them, but we don't have to have them from someone else to make us "good enough" to do what we want to do.

Have enough confidence in yourself to stand alone and follow that dream. Don't take it to the grave with you.
 

 A Word From Pat

Well, I feel like I missed most of February!

I had a potent case of the head/chest crud that seems to have invaded the world, and am in my fourth week of it. Hopefully, it's gone except for a little leftover coughing and clogged sinuses that make me sound like I'm talking with a bucket over my head.

But even with all my feelbad, I finally got my "old" computer set up in the spare bedroom for Joe, and the new one up and running for me. The reason I bring this up is because I got a major education on cleaning computer hard drives, and wanted to share a link that I found. This page has some excellent, easy-to-follow directions, and after I got finished using it, I realized I didn't even need a new computer because I'd cleared up almost half of the hard drive space!

Here's the link: http://www.southalabama.edu/nursing/keasler_link.html

It's March!! I guess everyone is ready for spring? A time for new beginnings. For renewed hope. A time to stop and smell the fresh new flowers that will soon be coming up everywhere.

See you in April!

                                                 Love,

                                                                    Pat

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

Books — Existing and Upcoming

Abigail's Revenge, my fifth novel, is now finished! It's 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.

And now that I'm finished with Abigail's Revenge, I'm going to finish 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 my new publisher, 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

CNN reported on Monday, Feb. 28 that "U.S. life expectancy hits high mark." (Http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/02/28/life.expectancy.reut/)

Below is an excerpt from the Reuters article, datelined Atlanta, Georgia:

Average life expectancy in the United States rose to a record 77.6 years in 2003 from 77.3 years in 2002, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although women on average still lived longer than men in 2003—80.1 years versus 74.8 years—the gender gap in mortality narrowed, continuing a 25-year trend, the CDC said in a report.

The Atlanta-based agency, which is responsible for monitoring and responding to health threats, attributed the improvement in life expectancy to corresponding drops in eight of the 15 leading causes of death.

Chief among them were significant declines in mortality from heart disease, cancer and stroke, the three biggest killers. Death rates for these conditions fell between 2.2 percent and 4.6 percent.

"Those are the big three," said Donna Hoyert, a CDC statistician and the lead author of the report. "They drive everything else because they're such large numbers to start off with."

So my question is, if America is getting fatter, and being fat is killing us all, why is the life expectancy continuing to go up? And why don't we hear more positive news about the decline in deaths from the three biggest killers, heart disease, cancer and stroke? Why isn't this news being broadcast from every station around?

I guess it's because good news just doesn't make good news reports like bad news does.

Probably the only way this report would really make news headlines is if some journalist gave it this spin:

"We have some really horrible news to tell you about today. There's been a decline in deaths from the three largest killers, heart disease, cancer and stroke. This is devastating, folks! This means that all those fat folks are actually living. And they're not only living, they're living longer!

"This means we'll have to look at them that much longer. We're going to have to keep seeing their bulging bellies and wobbly butts in all those horrible T.V. newsflashes in which stations use the same shots over and over. This is a sad day in America, people. We're actually living longer!"

But chances are we won't even see it reported like that.
 

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!)
 

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.

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The Queen's Proclamation is published by Pearlsong Press, Inc.

P.O. Box 58065 │ Nashville, TN  37205  │ www.pearlsong.com

©2005 Pearlsong Press