May 2008
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....

A Word From Pat

I hope everyone has had a wonderful April.

We've had a wonderfully wet April, and my flowers (perennials) are coming up with a vengeance! We've had daylilies for several years, but they've never come out as full and beautiful as they are this year. Joe, my husband, counted 27 buds on one plant.

I have periwinkles, honeysuckle, forsythias, English dogwoods, and sweetshrubs (also known as Sweet Betsy or Carolina allspice) blooming.

Joe had also planted some annuals that my son, Eric, and his family brought me for my birthday. We knew that was dangerous, because we can get frost up until the end of April. And sure enough, a few days after he planted them we got a frost warning, so I had to use multiple sheets to cover everything. My yard looked like a ghost convention!

Last year he decided to "rustle" (that's what they call "stealing" plants in the gardening world) some wildflowers that he saw growing along the country road he traveled on his job. He came home with 5 different plants. They're also coming up this year and are much larger than when he brought them home. There is no telling what kind of invasive "things" he has planted. Our backyard may become the next "Little Shop Of Horrors!"

Everyone have a wonderful May!

                                                     Love,

                                                                    Pat

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

New 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  | More info at the Pearlsong Press website.

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

Weighty Matters

Starving for perfection: The changing face of anorexia
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/05/05/hlsa0505.htm#top

This is a power-packed article. Our children are developing eating disorders at younger and younger ages:

"All the while, the pressure to be thin reaches younger ages. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 51% of 9- to 10-year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet. Forty-two percent of first- to third-grade girls want to be thinner, and 81% of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat."

We have to pay more attention to our own attitudes and listen to our children. Really listen!

Thanks goodness, we still have people with some common sense. The last paragraph of the article says:

"It's a hard cycle to break. Dr. Brandt says new data on eating disorder prevention underscore the importance of people being comfortable in their own bodies and realizing what is overweight for one person might not be for another. "Maybe you are at your body's normal body weight. Maybe you have the genetics to be large. Discrimination against the obese drives people to change, and we encourage people to engage in unhealthy behaviors. Genetics loads the gun, and society pulls the trigger." [Emphasis mine]
 

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 Wanted: One Groom was posted by Cathy L. Yanda on Amazon.com.

Pat Ballard has done it again...she has given me a book to read and a fantasy to hope for! I fell in love with her character, Matt, from the very beginning. Many of us women remember being a teenager and having a crush on a rock star only to have it never materialize into anything more than a silly crush when we look back on it. Hanna Rockwell has hers come true through no doing of her own. Hanna needs to be married by the time she is 30 or she will lose her inheritance and home will be lost. Hanna doesn't feel attractive because she isn't a size 6 and she's been told by her mother and brother all of her life that she needs to lose weight. Along comes Matt Corbett, the has-been rock star who is recently bankrupt, to her rescue. Hanna doesn't even meet Matt until their wedding day. At the altar, we find Matt..."As he gazed down at her upturned face, awareness dawned on him. He was irrevocably, deeply in love with Hanna Rockwell!" What woman alive hasn't wished for a man to feel this way about her?!

If that isn't enough for you, "Wanted: One Groom" goes even further. Matt and Hanna do not make love on their wedding night since they have only just met. When they do, we hear Matt saying..."I'm going to make love to you all night. Over and over and over. I'm going to kiss every inch of your body. And when I'm finished, you're never going to doubt that you're beautiful. And you're going to know that you're worthy of any man's love." And he proceeded to do all he had promised. He proved to Hanna that not every man is attracted to petite women; some men like voluptuous curvy women and appreciate their unique qualities.

In Matt, Pat Ballard has created the dream man for most women. How many of us would love to hear a man say..."It dawned on me this morning when I woke up that I'm truly happy for the first time in my life"? Or, "You're the sexiest woman I've ever been with, and I love making love with you, but I also enjoy just being with you like this. I feel like a moonstruck kid this morning"? Or having him write song lyrics about a man who was so in love with a woman that every thought he had was centered around her and to have it be a song about you?

If you're a woman who has wished for just these things, this book will be a favorite of yours and you, too, will fall in love with Matt Corbett. Let's hope that Pat Ballard doesn't tire of writing because any of us who have taken the time to read her books will continue to look for the next one in print.
 

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.

Calendar of Events

New from Pearlsong Press—Pat's latest Romantic Suspense, The Best Man.

See http://www.pearlsong.com/thebestman.htm to order. Read an excerpt online at http://www.pearlsong.com/thebestmanexcerpt.htm.

Hear―and see―Pat on the air at Radio Free Nashville! Listen to or download the mp3 recording of Pat's April 28, 2008 guest appearance on the Health At Every Size show with Dr. Peggy Elam on WRFN Radio Free Nashville by going to http://www.healthateverysize.info/2008/04/april-28-2008-h.html.

Pat regularly guests on Radio Free Nashville's Health At Every Size show, which airs every Monday morning. She's usually in the studio on the fourth Monday of the month. The show is streamed live over the Internet 10-11 a.m. CST Mondays. You can also now subscribe to the podcast of the show (automatically receive the mp3 recordings of the weekly shows on your computer, iPod or mp3 player) via iTunes. Click on the "subscribe in a reader" button/link in the upper lefthand column, and select "Add to iTunes" or the podcatcher of your choice.

Listen to the live broadcasts over the Internet at http://www.radiofreenashville.org/. You can also listen to the live broadcasts through your telephone via UPSNAP.COM. It's free for wireless internet enabled phones, but there's a small monthly charge for other phones. See the Health At Every Size show website or the Radio Free Nashville website for details. Davidson County, Tennessee residents can also hear the show live through the Secondary Audio Programming of Comcast cable's Channel 10.

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, including several with Pat, at www.pearlsong.com/audio.htm.

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!
 

Give someone a good read as well as support in loving themselves.
Pat's books make great gifts!
 

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.
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©2008 Pearlsong Press