The Queen's Proclamation January 2006: newsletter of the Queen of Rubenesque Romances

January 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....

New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Day:
Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.
Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.

Mark Twain

I don't make New Year's resolutions. But I do set new goals—or renew the goals that I didn't accomplish the year before.

But if I were going to make a New Year's resolution, this year, it would be in accordance with one I read in today's paper.

Duane Eddy, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, said, "Everything I read about junk food claims it is fattening, bad for you, and bad for your health. So I have resolved...to stop reading about it."

To that I give a hearty "Amen!" I think we're all sick and tired of reading and hearing about the "bad" foods and the "good" foods." I think we're sick and tired of the constant hype of "getting in shape" and trying to become super-humans.

So, as January sets in and all the renewed propaganda starts—because January is the month that we'll be bombarded with all the "let's get in shape" brainwashing from the media—let's join Duane Eddy and just not read about it or listen to it!

A Word From Pat

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a wonderful time with family and friends. And I hope everyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas had a wonderful and safe day.

Joe and I went to East Texas and visited with family and friends. It was a rewarding time. Everyone was in good health and of seemingly happy moods.

My only complaint was that it was HOT! Almost 80 degrees on a couple of days. That's just not right for the end of December! And my dear, precious mother-in-law is cold-natured, so her house is HOT, no matter what the outside temperature is. She is wonderful about trying to keep the house comfortable for us, but at the same time she doesn't need to be cold in her own home—so I took summer clothes, but was still HOT!

I did enjoy sitting outside at my brother Tim's house. Tim and his wife, Angela, have a big front yard with enough swings and gliders to seat a church congregation! A nice East Texas, balmy wind was blowing leaves around and it was more like September than December.

But, other than being HOT, it was a wonderful trip.

Everyone have a great January!

Love,

Pat

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

Links About The Queen & Her Books

Weighty Matters

I'll have to admit that a segment of my trip to Texas made me sad and very angry. Joe's best friend, whom I'll refer to as "He," and his wife, whom I'll refer to as "She," insist that we're a part of their family Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve when we're in town. Their family, brothers, sisters, moms and dads and children, all gather for an evening meal, then exchange gifts. This gives Joe a chance to visit with people he knew while growing up.

We'd heard that She had lost around 60 lbs. since we were there last year. She's walking two and a half miles six days a week and "watching every bite she puts in her mouth" to lose this weight. I watched her during the course of the evening, and she looked old and tired. The She that I know and love just didn't look healthy, even though, according to the "experts," she should be much healthier now than she was.

Their daughter, who is 39 years old, has been fat since she came into this world. I've known her for 31 of her 39 years. Before I'd been there long, she came and sat down beside me. I asked how she was doing, and knowing that she was recently divorced, I asked if she'd found a "significant other" yet. The daughter beamed and said, "How about three?"

The daughter said she just didn't understand what all the fuss was about when it came to fat women being able to find dates. She said she'd never had that problem, and the guys she was dating liked her just the way she was. I commented that it was because she was confident in herself and that was why she didn't have any trouble finding dates. Her aunt agreed with me.

But after about 10 minutes of talking, Daughter informed me that she'd had LAP-BAND surgery two weeks earlier! I almost fell out of my chair from shock and disappointment!

"Why?" I almost yelled. I mean, she'd just told me how happy she was with herself.

"Because I was afraid I'd develop health problems," she answered. "I've been running 5 miles a week and watching what I eat and just can't lose any weight, and my doctor told me that I was doing all I could and it wasn't working."

Now she can only eat 9 ounces of food at a time and had lost 25 pounds in two weeks! Any health professional with any training at all knows that this is too fast to lose weight.

Okay, by now I was so angry that I could barely continue the conversation, because I knew that her doctor and all the brainwashing that we're getting from the media had set up this fear in this beautiful person.

All I could say was, "Oh! I wish I could have talked with you first."

The only "good" I can find in this is that the LAP-BAND procedure is a minimally invasive surgery that involves applying a prosthesis (the LAP-BAND) around the stomach—creating a small gastric pouch—and a calibrated opening to the rest of the stomach, and can be reversed at any time.

But the thing that angers me the most is the fear that is being instilled in people regarding weight. Not just the fear that is instilled in fat people for their own health, but the fear of becoming fat. And this fear leads to more and more open "hunting season" on fat folks.

It's okay to shoot us down because maybe someday, somehow, we'll become ashamed enough, scared enough or just tired of hearing about it and finally do whatever it takes to lose the weight.

Or, just maybe, we'll become tired enough of hearing it to stop listening.

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

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.

Newsletter Archives

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

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