February 2006

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....

Soul Mates
by
Pat Ballard

A Word From Pat

HAPPY VALENTINES!

Okay, I'm about to get ticked off at Mother Nature! In Nashville, we've had one of the 10 warmest Januarys in history! I believe one of our weather stats was that we've had 12 days with temps over 60 degrees! I WANT MY WINTER!

January has been a slow month for the Ballards. But it's kind of nice to rest up after the holidays. My husband, Joe, has put in some long hours in his truck. He's worked most of the Saturdays since Christmas. Several of the Saturdays that he worked, we didn't go on our weekly "date." We just stayed at home and read or surfed the net.

February 23rd will be our 32nd wedding anniversary. All of us who have had long-term relationships know that it's hard to live with one person for that long. We tend to get in a rut and forget to keep romance alive. And keeping romance alive is one of the best ways to keep a marriage alive. We  have to keep flirting...playing...loving. We have to make sure we keep the "newness" there. Otherwise the rut deepens until we can barely see each other over the top of the hole we're in.

I believe it's harder to keep a marriage alive and well for a long period of time than it is to go out and find someone new. Finding someone new is easy. Keeping them is the hard part.

So...I guess I'll keep Joe. Hmmm. I'd better start shopping for a new Valentine's Day negligee to surprise him with!

Everyone have a wonderful February!

                                               Love,

                                                                    Pat

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

Links About The Queen & Her Books

Pat's Place website | The Queen's Blog | About Pat Ballard | Dangerous Curves Ahead | Abigail's Revenge | Wanted: One Groom | Nobody's Perfect | His Brother's Child | A Worthy Heir | Pearlsong Press blog posts about Pat

Weighty Matters

The average American woman is 5'4", weighs 140 lbs, and wears a size 14 dress.

 The "ideal" woman—portrayed by models, Miss America, Barbie dolls, and screen actresses—is 5' 7" weighs 100 lbs, and wears a size 8.

One-third of all American women wear a size 16 or larger.

75% of American women are dissatisfied with their appearance.

50% of American women are on a diet at any one time.

Between 90% and 99% of reducing diets fail to produce permanent weight loss.

Two-thirds of dieters regain the weight within one year. Virtually all regain it within five years.

The diet industry (diet foods, diet programs, diet drugs, etc.) takes in over $40 billion each year, and is still growing.

Quick-weight-loss schemes are among the most common consumer frauds, and diet programs have the highest customer dissatisfaction of any service industry.

A recent survey found only 30 percent of 250 randomly chosen women age 21 to 35 had normal bone mass—the researchers concluded women are so afraid eating dairy products will make them gain weight that they are starving themselves into osteoporosis.

Young girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or losing their parents.

50% of 9-year-old girls and 80% of 10-year-old girls have dieted.

90% of high school junior and senior women diet regularly, even though only between 10% and 15% are over the weight recommended by the standard height-weight charts.

1% of teenage girls, and 5% of college-age women, become anorexic or bulimic.

Anorexia has the highest mortality rate (up to 20%) of any psychiatric diagnosis.

Girls develop eating and self-image problems before drug or alcohol problems; there are drug and alcohol programs in almost every school, but no eating disorder programs.


This information is a public service of Largesse, the Network for Size Esteem http://www.largesse.net/ and may be freely copied and distributed in its entirety for non-commercial use in promoting size diversity empowerment, provided this statement is included.
 

Pat's newest book, Abigail's Revenge, is featured on the Beautiful Portal website: http://www.beautifulportal.com/news.php?item.900034.8
and has been reviewed by AmaZe eMag: http://www.venusimaging.com/Magazine/2005/decjanrealistic/jennifer.htm
 

Calendar of Events

Pat will spend the next few months promoting Abigail's Revenge. She's in the process of setting up booksignings with local Borders Bookstores, and others.

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, 2004 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 blog!
 

Books — Existing and Upcoming

Abigail's Revenge, my fifth novel, is published! My publisher, Peggy Elam, pulled a few rabbits out of the hat and the book debuted at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville the weekend of Oct. 7-9. In fact, it was delivered to the booth on Friday after the festival had started. That is where I saw my first copy... hot off the press!

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 falsely convicted of the murder of her father and sent to prison when she was only eighteen years old. The supposedly good citizens of Leaky Springs, Mississippi were silent as an innocent young woman was orphaned, accused, swiftly tried and locked away. Her only clue in the travesty of justice is that a bunch of crooked "good ole boys"—headed by the judge who presided at her trial—keep pestering her to sell the family farm.

Now, a decade later, Abigail's out of prison and heading back to Leaky Springs. It won't be a pleasant homecoming. She's out for revenge on the people who stole ten years of her life. Especially the judge.

Karen Sparks, owner of Top100womensites.com (and an avid reader), says of Abigail's Revenge, "Injustice, romance and suspense with page-turning flair! This is Ballard's greatest work. Her fragile, yet beautifully big heroine is pushed to the edge with family tragedy, but she's determined to fight back and avenge the injustice that cost her ten years of her life. Ballard has created a rich romantic-suspense that you cannot put down until it's finished."

Click here to go to the Pearlsong Press website page for Abigail's Revenge. They're offering an advance sales special of free shipping within the U.S. for copies sold through their online store.

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 a magazine.

Meanwhile, my short story collection Dangerous Curves Ahead 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. (The eBook edition of Abigail's Revenge  has not yet been published, however.) Please visit Pearlsong Press and check out all the options that are available.
 

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

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.

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©2006 Pearlsong Press