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May 2007
News, updates, &
pronouncements from Pat Ballard,
the Queen of Rubenesque Romances |
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Nobody can make you feel inferior
without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt |
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Something to think
about....
In dog years, I'm dead.
Author Unknown
When I read this quote I
was overcome with the giggles. I guess it was so humorous to me because I
have a poodle, Rowdy, who is twelve years old, and I'm always saying
things like, "Aw, he's eighty-four, now." And I even went so far as to
figure out how many years each dog month is. (Do not say I have too much
time on my hands!)
So when I read this quote, it hit me how everything really does just boil
down to perspective. To viewpoint. To how we see the world through the
life-screen that each one of us has developed from the experiences,
troubles, triumphs, failures and successes we've had.
I'm amazed that we can operate as a human race and manage as well as we
do. For instance, our president, George W. Bush, is quoted as saying, "He
can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the
low road." Huh?
C. S. Lewis said, "What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you
are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are."
So the next time I'm talking to Rowdy about being eighty-four yeas old, he
may be looking up at me thinking, "So what? You're way over 350 years old!
In fact, you're dead!"
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A
Word From Pat
I'm happy to report that
April has been much, much quieter than March was! But it has been busy.
As you can see in the
next section, The Best Man is now in print. I have a book
signing/event on Saturday, May 12 at two o'clock, at the Borders bookstore
on Franklin Road in Brentwood, TN. So I've been busy trying to promote that. Also this
week, the Nashville chapter of the Women's National Book Association is
giving all the published members a chance to do a five-minute reading at
their Thursday, May 3 meeting, and to sign books if anyone wants to
purchase one, so I'll participate in that.
I think we've finally had our last frost, so I'm excited to get out in my
flowers and pull some weeds and wait for things to start blooming.
Yesterday I noticed a Russian sage that had peeked up through the spring
weeds and is already blooming.
It's so much fun to watch things come alive again. I've had a couple of my
aloe plants and a cactus in the greenhouse through the winter, and they've
actually bloomed! I've never seen an aloe vera plant bloom, although I
know that they do. Also, I've never had a cactus bloom for me. So I just
feel so special!
I hope everyone has a wonderful May. And remember, take time to smell the
May flowers.
Love,
Pat
Visit Pat's Place at
www.patballard.com | Write me at
patballard@bellsouth.net
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 Coming May 2007
from Pearlsong Press:
Pat's new Romantic Suspense novel,
The Best Man
Sparks fly the night Lana Clarke meets to plan her sister's wedding―and
not just because curvaceous Lana announces she's stopped dieting and
doesn't care if she's fat as maid of honor.
The strong-willed sister of the bride attracts the attention of the
groom's devastatingly handsome best man, Anthony Angelino. But when the
sparks become flames, Lana's in trouble.
Tony's first wife died
mysteriously. Will Lana be next?
Read an excerpt
online | Free shipping within the U.S.
for advance sales at the
Pearlsong Press website. (Books will be shipped in May.) |
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Links
About The Queen & Her Books
Pat's Place website
The Queen's Blog
About Pat Ballard
Dangerous Curves Ahead
The Best Man
Abigail's Revenge
Wanted: One Groom
Nobody's Perfect
His Brother's Child
A Worthy Heir
Pearlsong Press blog posts about Pat |
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Weighty Matters
I ran across these quotes and couldn't resist using them in the "Weighty
Matters" section this time. Enjoy!
When we
lose twenty pounds...we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We
may be losing the pounds that contain our genius,
our humanity, our love and honesty.
Woody Allen
Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out,
but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake.
Author Unknown
If nature had intended our skeletons to be visible
it would have put them on the outside of our bodies.
Elmer Rice
Avoid any diet that discourages the use of hot fudge.
Don Kardong
I never worry about diets.
The only carrots that interest me
are the number you get in a diamond.
Mae West
"Stressed" spelled backwards is "desserts."
Coincidence? I think not!
Author Unknown
If I had been around when Rubens was painting,
I would have been revered as a fabulous model.
Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush.
Dawn French
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Request from a fellow writer
Dear Reader,
May I ask
for a few minutes of your time? I need some information for the book I'm
writing. My book will be written to help people going through (or who have
already gone through) a traumatic period in their lifetime. I need true
life stories on how [the contributor] has dealt with healing after a
traumatic event.
The event can be from death, divorce, broken relationships, etc. I'm not
looking for people who are still victims. I'm trying to find people who
are going on with their lives. The reality of the trauma (the easy part,
for it is a fact), surviving the event, and the courage to go on (which
will be the most difficult to capture). I believe the traumas will all be
different, but the courage, intestinal fortitude of the survivors, is what
I want to capture. Somehow, from people like you, I must relay the ways
and hows for all those of us who are/will be facing trauma.
The focus
of the new book I'm writing is not on the traumas people face, but how
people have been able to go on with their lives, the methods they have
used in healing, coping, functioning, and becoming productive again. If a
step you took
(please
share them if you have any)
did not
work, say why you feel it did not.
Of course, all names
and locations will be changed to protect the identity of those who
contribute their stories.
www.MenDontListen.com
Email me at:
MenDontListen@aol.com.
I may need to reply to your email and ask some additional questions.
Wayne L. Misner
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Reader Review of the
Month
Editor's Note:
We're now featuring reader reviews of Pat's books in
The Queen's Proclamation.
Post a review at an online
bookstore, magazine, or public website and email us at proclamation @
pearlsong.com to let us know, and we'll consider yours for inclusion
in The QP.
This month's Reader Review of Nobody's Perfect was posted by
Midwest Book Review on Amazon.com.
A charming, witty, and tender love story with a twist (5 stars)
Nobody's Perfect is an engaging novel about a marriage of
convenience―or is it? A "plus-sized" woman needs to keep her childhood
home, and a fairly egotistical man has had it for relationships, and just
wants a mother for his son...a mother that, he hopes, he will not be
physically attracted to and with whom he will not be tempted to share a
relationship. Or so he keeps telling himself, but life and human hearts
have unpredictable surprises in store in this charming, witty, and tender
love story with a twist.
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Communicate with Pat
via her "Amazon Connect" blog on Amazon.com!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/id/AC8LT66HFJQ1Y/ref=cm_blog_blog/102-0429066-5275365
Pat's romantic suspense novel 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
An article on Pat has been
posted at:
http://eastmanpublishing.com/epextra/articles/eparticle1007.htm.
And an EP Extra review of Abigail's Revenge is posted at
http://eastmanpublishing.com/epextra/articles/eparticle1011.htm
Look for an interview with Pat on Lonnie Cruse's blog at
http://www.lonniecruse.blogspot.com. |
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Calendar of Events
Coming May 2007—Pat's
latest Romantic Suspense, The Best Man.
Free shipping within the U.S. for advance sales of The
Best Man purchased through the Pearlsong Press website. (Books
will be shipped in May)
See
http://www.pearlsong.com/thebestman.htm to order. Read an excerpt
online at
http://www.pearlsong.com/thebestmanexcerpt.htm.
Pat regularly guests on the Health At
Every Size show with Dr. Peggy Elam on WRFN Radio Free Nashville.
Check the show blog at
http://www.healthateverysize.info for mentions of Pat's next guest
appearance. The show is streamed live
over the Internet 10-11 a.m. CST Mondays and now can also be
listened to live over your phone via UPSNAP.COM.
Listen to or download the mp3 recording
of Pat's Jan. 22, 2007 guest spot on the show at
http://www.pearlsong.com/audio/HAES01222007.mp3.
(Right click on the link & "save as" to download.)
Listen to the live
broadcasts over the Internet at
http://www.radiofreenashville.org/.
To listen through
your cell phone or any other phone (home, office, etc.), simply call
646-213-0005. After the prompt, enter the Radio Free Nashville
code―9989―with your keypad. Listen and
enjoy!
There is no charge for listening through your phone, and you don't have to
register your phone with the service (as was necessary for the previous
phone-streaming provider, Mobile Broadcast Network). Your usual long distance and/or cell phone charges will apply,
however.
For more on the show, check out
the show blog at
http://www.healthateverysize.info. You can also listen to or download recordings of some of the shows at
www.pearlsong.com/audio.htm.
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!
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Give someone a good
read as well as support in loving themselves.
Pat's books make great gifts!
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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
Queen's Proclamation is published by Pearlsong Press.
P.O. Box
58065 │ Nashville, TN
37205 │
www.pearlsong.com
©2007 Pearlsong Press
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