Want to Publish Your Boook?

I purchased a block of ISBN numbers when I got mine because I thought I could use them. I can't - at least not right now.

So, I'm willing to publish for someone else. I will accept book-length submissions, word files, with illustrations or pictures, minimum 120 pages. I have a model with no pre-paid expenses, but your book must be ready to format into the book template. That means no editing, except for formatting into the template. If there are a lot of mis-spelled words or bad grammar, edit it again.

I hope to publish 2-3 works this year, so I'll be reading (skimming) for content, quality, and so on. Looking for women's issues in particular, women authors encouraged.

My terms? 20 years of rights, including screen/stage negotiation, print and electronic rights. I get paid a portion of the royalties, and you get the rest. There will be a real contract, but I don't intend to lock up your work for the rest of eternity. I figure that if your book doesn't walk or run in 20 years, it probably isn't going to grow legs.

If you change a work substantially, then the new version is yours, but I can still use the old version until the term is up.

Cover art is appreciated.

Marketing includes placement at Amazon and on shelves. You can purchase up to 10 books at cost. Other marketing is up to you.

If you are interested, post a comment with your e-mail address and I'll send you the mailing address.

Diet Disappointment

I've been pretty faithful to the caloric restrictions, done some walking and a little bit of exercise. I'm certainly not fanatic about it, and I'm not really dedicated to the exercise part of this. But I'm doing a lot more than I used to, so that's good.

As a result, the loss has been disappointing. Yes, some weight is coming off, but not near the two pounds a week I was hoping for. It seems to be up and down. I'll lose a little, gain it back, and so on. The long-term is in the right direction, but it's a lot slower than I anticipated.

I guess more exercise would be a good addition. More walks, more exercise sessions. I pulled out the Dancercize DVD, so I'm heading toward it. Do I expect to be able to do it the first time? No! I expect to learn some of the moves - maybe a few of them. But I don't expect to keep up with the video. That's down the road a bit, yet.

I've been taking the B-12 as suggested by the doctor. I take the sublingual in the morning and before meals, and the caplet with my meds.

I've heard of people following their diets with no results for up to two weeks, and then there's a large loss registered. I'm hoping that's part of what's happening. I hope it's just my metabolism figuring out that I'm serious, and learning that it will be fueled every couple of hours. It's kind of like a plateau. Eventually, the body has to use energy from somewhere and the weight comes off.

Well, school again today. Have to make my snack & lunch.

Theft Discovery...

I hired a lady to help me around the house in November. Actually, I'd hired her in October, and she came on Nov 7th. I did all the due diligence, checked references, and had an interview with her. She seemed the most qualified and most used to working under the conditions I have here. Occasional help for seniors.

Well, the month goes by, I'd been thinking about having the gal back, but hadn't called her yet.

About this time, I got my hair cut for a photo shoot so I could have a nice photo for the back of my book. You know how folks like to see a picture of the author on the back of the book, right? Well, the salon had some earrings in a case on sale, and I got a pair that would match a ring I had.

I got home and looked for the ring. It was no where to be found. I turned the place upside down, checked all my purses, all over my dresser, all the jewelery boxes. It just was not there.

Ok. So, I figured out right away what had happened, and was deciding if I needed to do anything or if God could take the ring. It was gaudy, and I hardly ever wore it. I was doing pretty well at blessing her and leaving the hurt and anger aside.

Well, Friday last week, I was thinking about some other rings. My pearl and my amethyst rings, in particular. The pearl ring was in pot metal, but the pearl itself was worth quite a lot. The amethyst was more sentimental than valuable. It marked my first year sober, and was a gift from my then-sponsor. So, I came home and looked for them. They were gone, too. And the wedding ring of my set - the engagement ring is still here.

So, now I feel violated and pretty angry. I tried for three hours to let God take the pain, humiliation, and feeling of violation away. The answer kept coming back to report the woman and press charges. So, I drove over to do that, yesterday, and because it was Sunday, they were closed.

I printed out the canceled check, and the response to the ad I'd placed with her phone number. I still have to call the police. Once they take the report, I can file a claim with the insurance company.

You know, one ring wasn't so bad. I could live with that, even if it was the heaviest in gold. It was from my mother, but I still have the garnet earrings. I wear earrings a lot more often than rings.

But she took all of the pieces. If she had stolen my drugs, I would have been angry and never given it another thought. But the rings were part of me. That pearl was the only thing I had left from my favorite ex-husband.

I'll never see the jewelery again. I'm sure it's been melted down and taken apart. The check was cashed in Middleboro, KY, so I'm sure she's long gone,too. It's just the formalities, now.

You just can't trust people, I guess.

Med Tests Kill Metabolism, Oatmeal Cookies

I spent half the day at the hospital yesterday, having a test done. It involved not drinking or eating from midnight the night before, so I was suitably dehydrated by morning. Consequently, it took 4 tries to get a vein and I felt like a pincushion. At least one vein was blown, so I'm pretty bruised up.

But the real issue is eating regularly. I need to eat breakfast to keep the momentum going in my metabolism. Not eating breakfast until noon really doesn't help anything. I feel really sluggish today, and I ended up eating too much yesterday, making up for the missing meals.

I had two large meals with no snacks, while I normally eat three reasonable meals and two snacks every day. That eating of two large meals just set me off on a tailspin. I had sugar cravings that were nearly impossible to resist.

I ended up making some low-sugar cookies with ground oatmeal for most of the flour. That was a good substitute, and satisfied my craving, but added too many calories because I had little self-control. Luckily, I didn't eat them all, so I have some for "correct usage" in my diet.

Low Sugar Oatmeal Cookie Recipe:
1 stick softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons dark molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1 cup oatmeal, sent through the coffee grinder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins, optional

Cream butter, molasses and sugar. Add vanilla and egg and mix well. Add the rest in 3 parts, incorporating well after each addition. Fold in raisins if you want them. Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes. I used a teaspoon to make rounded mounds, and they didn't spread too much. Cool on racks and store covered. Makes about 2- to 2 1/2 dozen, depending on the size.

Real simple, real good, low sugar, and the oatmeal adds a nice dose of fiber.

I used self-rising flour because I got it by mistake and want to use it up. If you don't have that, add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, and increase the salt to 1/2 teaspoon.

A good thing that came out of the test yesterday, is that I have no blockages in my heart, so I can start exercising. I start with "Functional Fitness" for the rest of this week. I got the DVD some time ago, and used it. It adds basic flexibility for everyday movement. Not a lot of calorie burning, but it gets me off my butt. Several reps of each exercise will get me ready for the next step by Monday.

Second Liver Cleanse and Heart Health

I did the second liver cleanse just before Christmas. On Dec 29, I had a "heart episode" that brought me to the ER to be checked out. All seemed well, but I had a stress test today to be sure. The two may be related. I did really well on the liver cleanse! :)

The experience showed me just how bad my health is, and I became really dedicated to losing the extra weight I carry.

Because I haven't been allowed to exercise, I'm just doing calorie restriction right now. Not severe, but under 2000 calories a day is my hope. I eat 3 good meals and 2 snacks a day, which is LOTS of food. As long as portion control is in play and I eat stuff that's good for me, I should be OK. I have a food plan that is between 1400-1600 calories a day.

So far, I've lost about 3 pounds all together. Not an auspicious start, but something. Once I can move about and get some exercise, the weight should start to fall off.

My goal is to lose about 2 pounds a week. If I can sustain that level of weight loss over time, I'll hit my goal by Christmas - maybe even Thanksgiving!

I won't be posting the progress on a regular basis. I have too much psychological baggage around weight issues to be that transparent. However, there may be occasional posts.

So, all is well. There is no obvious damage to my heart. I can begin building flexibility after today. I will continue to restrict my calories, and build up to some cardio exercises.

Looking forward to it!

Today's Report...Lost Some!

Not near enough, but almost a pound gone overnight. Now, before you think I'm off my rocker, I've been tracking daily since this began. I don't report loss figures, but I'm tracking. I'm not allowed to exercise yet.

I added some stuff to my soup yesterday:
fruit shake in the morning (with protein powder as usual)
1/2 avocado
3 oz chicken in a ceasar salad. I had cheese on the salad and dressing (sure wish the dressing bottle had a squeeze-top!).
I did not have my apple, and I made but did not sample, some gelatin dessert.

I got up before 5am today and had 1/2 slice of home made bread with neufchatel cheese. I've had lots of coffee.

I'll go to work, come home & nap and be ready for this evening's activities.

Adding Soup and Fruit

I am adding soup to my daily diet. Not just the one I made the other day, either! I make minestrone a lot, and finding new soup ideas is always wonderful!

I tried to lose weight years ago, and the best answer for me was to add fruit to my diet. Yep, ADD fruit. Fruit takes away the sugar-cravings by giving me the sweet. And the fiber of whole fruit is good for me.

So, my first full day with cabbage soup included: a fruit smoothie for breakfast with coffee;, a bowl of soup for lunch. No bread, although I have a french bread in the fridge. I had another bowl of soup before I went to meeting, about 5pm. Supper (later, after meeting) was a 4 oz piece of meat followed by an apple with a little cheese. I could have skipped the cheese, but I generally have an apple with cheese as a snack.

As I was cooking my meat, I portioned out the rest of it, into 4 oz portions, uncooked. These cook down to about 3 oz, and that's plenty of protein for me.

Today, I've carried through with a fruit smoothie and coffee for breakfast.

I'll admit that I had a snack of chips yesterday afternoon. I gotta stop buying that garbage! But that's the last of what's in the house. I had real strong sugar cravings after meeting, but I didn't go to the store to get junk food. I also did not have any coffee at the meeting.

Cabbage Soup Time!

Weight Loss Cabbage Soup Recipe

1 head cabbage, cut into 8 parts
2 cans diced tomatoes, no salt added
1 6 oz can sliced mushrooms
1 head celery, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 carrots, scraped & cut into 1 inch pieces
½ large bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
½ onion, cut into 1 inch dice
1 box chicken stock, no salt added, organic
1 6 oz can V-8 (low salt preferred)
1/4 cup dried parsley (diuretic)
1 tsp pepper flakes
1 tbsp rubbed thyme
¼ cup salt-free garlic and herb seasoning mix (like Mrs. Dash)
Water to cover

Put all the ingredients in a slow cooker for 4-6 hours, until the vegetables cook down. Take ½ the soup, one cup at a time, and put through a food processor or blender to add creaminess to the soup (optional).

Eat as much as you want, until the soup is gone. You can drop up to ten pounds if you don’t add bread or other carbs.

Time Limits!

I realized last night while I was on the phone, that I only have another 10 days or so for the book. I need to get OFF the internet and stay off it. But it's like I'm addicted or something. I really like reading e-mail, answering e-mail, forwarding articles to my friends, and staying informed on the issues that interest me (health, writing, cats).

And yesterday I filled out a scholarship application and wrote the essay for it. I even pulled out the old trusty manual typewriter to fill out the application, as they requested! Did you know that the @ symbol is not above the 2 on a typewriter? I forgot that and had to search the keys for it! I had to request some special people in my life to write letters of recommendation and get them to me by Jan 5th so I can have the scholarship application postmarked by January 6th, which is the deadline. I had a really short window, but I only found out about it yesterday, and it's a really good scholarship for me.

But I was talking to my sister, which was long overdue, and realized that my time on the book is getting pretty short.

I got overwhelmed by one of the submissions. A friend of over 40 years. I realized some stuff about my growing up that I didn't remember. Not nice, for sure! It reminded me of who I was all those years ago, all the stuff I'd forgotten, and from her point of view. She's a pretty incredible lady, to be sure, and I'm so very happy she put in her submission. But it triggered "stuff" for me. So, I took a couple of days off from the book. I need to write her a long letter, on paper, and mail it to her.

But first, back to the book, get it done, and to the publisher!

I hope to publish mid-January, so there you go!