Be Inspired to Write

For those of you who live in the Washington D.C. area (and those who are willing to travel), the Romance Writers of America (RWA) is hosting their 2009 Conference begining July 15 through July 18 at the Marriot Wardman Park Hotel. This year's conference promises to be exciting with headline writers such as Janet Evanovich as a keynote speaker. There are also breakout sessions where you can pitch your work to different editors and agents.

The conference offers many different workshops including interest grabbing workshops such as:

• 20 Questions to a Killer PR Plan
• Anatomy of a Best Seller
• Creating 3-D, Stereotype-Free Characters
• Emotion: the Heart of the Novel
• How Not to Suck
• Outwitting a Muse Who Just Won’t Behave

For more information about the conference, be sure to check out the RWA conference page.

The Skinny Binny

In light of the woman’s worth discussion the other day, I was thinking about some of the values I place on myself—things that make me feel good about being me. One of those values would be goal setting and accomplishment of that goal (be it weight, some sort of project, saving, etc). Two years ago, I published a book review written by Corey Podell on Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. I read it, and it was life changing in that it got me seriously thinking about what I eat and the health consequences for it. The book was quirky and fun even though it had some potty-mouthed tidbits to it. The reviews on it have been mixed, as it does encourage veganism, something that isn’t for everyone. But it did encourage me to make a lifestyle change—I became a vegetarian and have been so now for 2 years (after reading the book). An additional perk was that I lost 10 pounds (which was another goal I wanted to accomplish). Since Skinny Bitch came out a couple of years ago, they have launched a sort of Skinny Bitch franchise. I haven’t read any of the other books, but the one this video discusses, Skinny Bitch in the Kitch sounds promising. Has anyone read any of the books in this series? What do you think of them? Any converts to vegetarianism?