Review of Living Soul by S.B. Niccum

When my new friend S.B. Niccum advertised on her Facebook page that she was looking for folks to review her book, I jumped on the chance. Not only was it an opportunity to help a friend, but also to revamp my blog (which I haven't been to in almost a year). In exchange for this review, I was gifted a signed copy of her book - sweet! So without further adieu, here is my spoiler-free review of Living Soul by S.B. Niccum:

I was a bit nervous to begin reading Living Soul because I hadn't read the first book in the series, Veiled. However, once I got into it, I found it didn't matter. Living Soul is a fun story that is easy to read but hard to put down. I love that our heroine Tess does not have the perfect life; she's in foster care with difficult circumstances and a nightmare of a foster sister. There is humor, joy, and hearbreak, but Ms. Niccum weaves them all together into a wonderful story. Be on the lookout for book #3 – sure to please!

You can connect with Ms. Niccum on her Facebook page , via her website, or follow her on Twitter @SilviniaVeiled. You can buy her books on Amazon. 

I'm on another blog!

I have the extreme honor of guesting over at Bird's Eye View with my good friend Michelle. She asked me about my experience writing in the unique genre of YA memoir.

While you're there, take some time to look around and leave a comment or two. Michelle's first literary work has been requested by several agents, so get ready to hear her name on the scene. I couldn't be happier for her!

Busy, busy, busy!

Raise your hand if you can tell that I haven't been online much lately!










Yep, that's what I thought.

My time is seriously compromised when school starts and I go back to my day job: teaching some of the world's coolest kids. I love them, I love my job...but I hate not having the time to write and work on all things author-ish.

I am going to do better! Starting now!

Okay, well, starting Thursday with a guest post at Bird's Eye View with Michelle. She picked my brain about writing a memoir-based YA. I hope that you'll stop by her place, leave some comments, and let us know what you think.

Guest Post/Question

I was speaking (via e-mail) with Michelle Fayard the other day and asked her opinion on the following question: Do you think it’s wise to post on my blog excerpts from the book I’m writing? It’s not that I’m worried someone will steal my idea, but I don’t want to put too much of me out there. What do you think?

Michelle's response really gave me something to think about. I'll get into that in a moment, but for now, here's what Michelle had to say.

I’ve read in some places that you might not want to put too many excerpts out there for one reason—if you generate a lot of buzz about your book but people can’t buy it yet, they might get frustrated and not listen when the book does go live.

However, I’ve seen so many authors do excerpts, it makes me wonder about the validity of the advice.


Where I stand right now is somewhere in the middle. I plan to post only occasional snippets until I have a contract, and when I post these excerpts, I’m accompany them with a short article about it’s bigger significance. For example, I might post the lines where my character Reeca, the daughter of an abolitionist, encourages Josepha, a slave, to help make quilts with coded messages for use on the Underground Railroad. Then I could continue the post by talking about this fascinating possibility, which still is open for speculation today among historians.

Once I have a contract for my current book, the closer I get to the pub date, the more I’ll up the snippet volume both on my blog and on my Facebook fan page.

Pre-published author Michelle Fayard has more than 20 years’ experience as a writer and editor, and her nonfiction articles have been published internationally. Michelle lives in Northern California with her husband, Marcelo, and their 12 rescue cats.

To read the first five chapters of her historical young-adult novel, The Underground Gift, visit http://michellefayard.blogspot.com/ and click on Work in Progress.


So now what I was saying. Many agenst these days want an author to have a platform; something that matters to them, that they are teaching the rest of the writing world. When Michelle mentioned that she might start having excerpts accompany an article about its greater significance, well I couldn't help but make a connection.


It's a blessing in disguise that Tough Love comes with its own educational platform: HIV/AIDS. When the time comes, I plan to showcase information about the AIDS crisis, both here in the states and worldwide. Perhaps that is one of the reasons for me to have gone through the whole ordeal...and to be writing this book.

My First Award!

I spent a lot of time during July participating in a BlogFest. It was hosted by my friend and fellow writer Deana Barnhart. During that time, I was able to get some wonderful advice, work on my craft a bit more and get to know other writers. The best part, though, was meeting some ladies that I am now priviledged to call friend.

One such friend is Michelle Fayard. Michelle is a pre-published author who has just received a couple of requests from agents. Things are about to change in her world and I couldn't be more excited for her.

But anyway, back to the award. There are a ton of awards out in the blogging world - everything from "You're cute!" to "Great advice!" and thousands in between. The Liebster Blog award, which spotlights up-and-coming bloggers who currently have fewer than 200 followers, is one of those.




The guidelines of the award are:

~ Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
~ Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
~ Copy and paste the award on your blog.
~ Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
~ And, most of all, have fun!

So here are my five:

Melody Wright, a lifelong writer who is just now starting to get serious about the craft. She is currently running a contest, so check her out.

My friend and mentor Tawdra Kandle. Tawdra is on quest to be published; she writes about the joys, the pain, and the monotony of stories, queries, and rejections.

Lori Butterfield is my sister-in-law. She is a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mom to five of my nieces and nephews. How she finds time to still knit, worship our Lord, and blog is beyond me. But she does it...and she does it well.

One of my sweet, dear friends (from my college years) has recently returned from a misison trip to Africa. Rachael Willey was able to fulfill a lifelong dream when she visited Ngoswani in June. Her blog is all about living life to the fullest, praising God for the blessings we have, and being thankful.

Lastly, I'd like to extend this award to Kristi Bernard. Kristi is another friend that I met through the BlogFest. She has some great info and giveaways on her blog.

Again, I am so blessed to have these ladies in my life and feel very honored to have recieved my first blogger award. By the way, come back on Monday to learn more about Michelle Fayard, when she will be my first ever guest post.

I'm in love!

No, not with my husband. Okay, well, yes with my husband...but that's not the point.

I'm in love with the Query Shark. Most of you have already heard of her, I'm sure, but for those that haven't, QS (aka Janet Reid) is awesome. Her blog is full of great information through the posting of hundreds of query letters. A few are awesome and have gotten it right from the very start; most, however, are not.

Through each letter she gives wonderful advice, telling the author how to fix what's wrong and, more importantly, why it's wrong. She isn't just being a class-A you-know-what. Her only job is to help those of us working on query letters to get stronger. Oh and she's funny while doing it.

Here's a great tip:

There's a simple way to figure out what goes in the first paragraph of a query.

1. What is your main character's name?

2. What problem/choice does the character face? (20 words or fewer)

3. Who wants to foil the main character's plan and why? (20 words or fewer)

These three questions are the blueprint of your query. You don't write the answers and send it as a query any more than a real estate agent posts blueprints instead of photographs of a house for sale.

You USE these questions to guide you on what to include (action/plot) and what not to include (description/character list)

Think of it as a writing exercise. Answer each of these questions. Use as many words as you need, then pare down to 20.

Another point Janet says: do NOT write a QL from the POV of your character. Most agents see this as a gimmick, and they aren't interested in gimmicks. They are interested in your book.

And lastly she say, "The SOLE purpose of the query is to get me to read your book." If you can write a QL that leaves 'em wanting more, you've done it! Plain and simple, right?

Yeah, not so much. :)

I WON! I WON!

Oh my gosh, y'all, I am so excited!

As you know, I've been participating in Deana Barnhart's Gearing Up to Get an Agent blogfest the past couple of weeks. The first week was the post I did title "I Just Gotta Ask". Week two was the super fun Story Chain; the full story can be found here.

Each week, Deana has been able to offer some amazing prizes (as if meeting a bunch of cool authors and new friends wasn't enough, right??). And guess who was the winner for week 2?!?!

That's right baby - ME!!!!

I'm still learning about the details, but basically I've won a double query critique from fellow author Rachael Harrie (her blog is RachWrites). Besides writing YA horror/paranormal, Rachael is the founder of the Writers' Platform-Building Crusade, where she "link(s) aspiring writers, beginner bloggers, industry people, and published authors together with the aim of helping to build our online platforms." Pretty sweet, eh? The 3rd installment is coming up soon; go here for more details.

Okay, time to stop blogging and get to writing that query letter. Wish me luck!

Story Chain

Well, here it is; my portion of the story chain. If you'd like to see what was written just prior to me, head over to the lovely Catherine Johnson's blog.


By the time Dio got to the first floor of the house, Uncle Tony was in the driveway. “Hey, wait up,” she called.

“Glad to see you changed your mind,” he said when she hopped in the passenger seat. “I have a feeling today is going to be amazing.”

Dio processed his words as she played with the funny little fuzz balls hanging from the rearview mirror. Nothing in her family was said or done that didn’t have a hidden meaning, so just what was Uncle Tony up to? She guessed his mind-reading abilities had something to do with it.

When they reached Sandy's house and Dio saw the taxi in the driveway she knew something was up. What's going on, she wondered?

Sandy came rushing out of the house. Well, as fast as she could go carrying two very heavy suitcases. "Oh, hey Dio," she called when she looked up. She dropped the luggage off with the driver and hurried over. "Sorry about all this," she gestured around, "but I leave for Europe today. Which reminds me, Tony, have you finalized the adoption papers?"

And for what happens with Dio next, go check out our beautiful and tremedous host, Ms. Deana Barnhart.

Happy Dance!

First of all, have y'all seen how many followers I'm up to?!? Sixteen! Woot woot! I know that 16 isn't exactly an astronomical number or anything, but I had...count 'em...ZERO until about, oh, a month ago. So I'm pretty psyched!

Secondly, I'm happy to announce that tomorrow is going to be a great day! Yup, I already know it for a few reasons:

1 - I have a doctor appt that is going to go smashingly well. He's a wonderful dermatologist at Vanderbilt; such a sweet man and I enjoy my appts with him every 6 months.

2 - As part of Deana Barnhart's Gearing up to Get an Agent blogfest, several of us are doing a story chain. My portion will be up before 8:45 (Eastern time), which is before said doctor appointment. Nothing like getting the creative juices flowing first thing in the morning. ;)

3 - Due to said appointment (and two more un-said ones) Halen is going to a sitter tomorrow. After several days of just her and I at home, I'm *so* ready for a break. I love her, but I was NOT built to be a stay-at-home mom and we need time away from each other to stay sane. Plus, I can't write when she's around which means...hoping to get some writing done.

Okay, so your assignment is to come back here after 8:45 (EASTERN TIME) tomorrow morning and check out my part of the story. See you then!

Just gotta ask...

Now that I'm getting a bit more serious about my writing, I have started doing more research about agents, platforms, editors, etc... One of my friends Deana has recently started a a blogfest. It's called Gearing Up to Get an Agent; you can find her blog and more about the contest here.

Part one of this contest is all about questions. A lot of times aspiring (or sometimes even veteran) writers have questions that seem silly, stupid, or crazy and they never want to ask them for fear of looking silly, stupid, or crazy. You get the idea. Now is my chance to ask one of those quesitons. So here goes.

Since I'm writing about my own life, is it a memoir? Then again it was so long ago that I don't remember every detail, so is it creative nonfiction? My book is definitely YA; can you even have YA nonfiction? I am having a hard time trying to figure out which agents to even approach because I'm not sure what my book is.

If you feel like you need to know more about my book to answer these questions for me, just read below. The first couple of chapters are listed here as previous posts.
Thanks, y'all!

Anybody out there?

I know there are a few people that check this blog once in a while, but I'm not really sure how many followers I really have.

So, if you're out there post a comment or do something so that I know you are listening. =)

In the coming weeks/months I plan to change the blog a bit to make it more about my life/family/etc and less about the weight loss journey. Of course, that will always be a part of this blog because it will always be a part of me but there are other things to write about too.

For now, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Snow Day!

Nashville has been blessed (or cursed, depending how you see things) with its first snow fall of the 2010 - 2011 school year. I was actually really hoping we'd have school today as my class has been looking forward to this day for a long time.

See, we were scheduled to attend a viewing of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader today. We read the book last year and have been waiting for today since we finished it. Now we have to wait until after Christmas break to see it. The good news is that I'm confident the movie will continue to be at the theater three weeks from now; the bad news is we have to wait that long.

In the meantime, Halen is having fun with the snow...well, for about the 10 minutes she was able to stand the cold.

After we tried (and failed) to build a snowman, we came in for some hot chocolate. Funny how that makes everything better!

Enjoy the snow...and the hot chocolate!

It's so cliche`...

...but I'm going to say it anyway: what a difference a year makes!!

This was me one year ago:


See the date stamp? Oct 7th, 2009. More importantly, see how I didn't even have a lap to set that pumpkin on? I had to rest it on my belly to work on it. Sad when you think about it.

And here is a picture I asked Halen to take of me two days ago, Oct 7th, 2010.

So it bears repeating: what a difference a year makes!

Now for some really cool news; at least I'm excited about it. Next Wednesday, which will be my actual 1 year "surgiversary", I am having a friend take some photos of me. We're going to do it like a real photo shoot with me wearing a couple of different outfits and taking the pictures outside while having some fun. I can't wait; I even bought a new dress!


I also want to share my new stats from the body analyzer with you.


Weight: 142.0
BMI: 26.0 <---- OMG!!
Fat%: 28.5% (desireable range = 21 - 33%)
Fat mass: 40.5 lbs (desireable range = 27 - 50 lbs)
Fat free mass: 101.5 lbs (this is everything in my body that is NOT fatty tissues)


And, as I've done before, here are my beginning stats for comparison:


Weight: 288.0
BMI: 51.8
Fat %: 53.0
Fat Mass: 150 lbs
FFM: 133 lbs


Everything has gone great and the surgeon was very pleased, which makes me very pleased! My 1-year post op appointment was a success--as am I!! =)

September Pictures

Gosh, time goes by so fast...I just realized that I didn't put up any Septemeber pictures.

The picture of me sitting down at the bottom of this page is from August, so even though I didn't do the three pictures like I have in the past, you can see me from August.

I'm down 140 lbs, weighing in at 148 in these pictures. I've stayed the same weight for about a month now, so I've been focusing on learning how to stabalize and then maintain my new weight. Anyway, here are my 11 month post op pictures:

Also, just for fun I thought I'd post pictures of me from this past week. We had Homecoming week at LHS and I dressed up for our spirit days. Here I am on Favorite Team Day:

GO BUCKS!!

Since next month is going to mark 1 year since surgery, I'm asking a photographer friend to take some "real" pictures of me. I can't wait to get them made and show them to y'all!

I'm such a chicken!

You know, I've never been one to experiment in the kitchen but post-op I've had to get to used to that a bit more. But I'm still afraid. I'm afraid that I'll make a mess or screw something up (hey, this is the girl that once made spaghetti soup--tell ya about that another time); mostly I'm afraid that I'll dump something that doesn't agree with me.

But I've been dying to try these sugar free syrups for stuff: Torani. And here's my chance. The coolest post-op cook that I know is giving some away and I WANNA WIN because I really want to try them out and make some new stuff.

The Saga Continues....

....though very slowly.

Well, not VERY slowly I guess but much slower than before. I'm still losing--both weight and inches-- but it's slowed down quite a bit these last few months. Right after surgery I was losing upwards of 40 lbs a month, which then slowed to 20 lbs a month, and then 10 each month. But now it's taken me almost 2 months to lose 10 lbs.

I'm not complaining, I swear! In fact, I'm about to where I want to be so it's time to start thinking about stabilizing and learning how to maintain my weight. I am guessing that will be the major topic of conversation at my 1 year post-op doctor appointment on October 7th.

In the meantime I have an appointment on Aug. 24th with the general surgeon that helped to spur this whole thing. I plan to have her evaluate how the tumors in my abdomen are doing and see if we should still wait a year before we take them out. And see if she even thinks we *should* still take them out. I'll be sure to let y'all know. :)

Month 10 Stats:

Weight - 150
Bust - 36.75"
Waist - 33"
Hips - 42.5"
Thigh - 20"
Arm - 10.75"

Just showing off....

I had to take a minute and show off my new wedding/anniversary ring. After losing all of this weight, my original wedding ring from 15 years ago was 4+ sizes too big so it was time to get a new one. Plus it is a congratulatory gift for losing weight and getting my Master's degree, a birthday gift, and a 15th anniversary gift.

Matt and I chose a 3-stonte style with an emerald in the center to represent Halen (she was born May 6).

A huge thank you to Daniel (a former student) at American Jewelry Company in Mt. Juliet for helping us construct the perfect ring!

From 14 to 3

I thought I would share with y'all the goals that I have achieved so far. There are 11 of them; only 3 to go!

To be smaller around than I am tall
Look down and see my feet
walk into Victoria's Secret and feel like it's okay
Be able to shop in Misses section instead of the Plus Size section
TO SIT IN A AIRPLANE SEAT AND NOT HAVE TO USE AN EXTENSION
Fit comfortably in any seat I choose (lawnchair, movie theater, airplane etc.)
to fit in the auditorium seats at school
Cross my legs
to have a lap for my daughter to sit on
pick something up off the floor while I'm still sitting
To wear panties with a single digit size!

The 3 that I'd still like to achieve are:

to wear a real "little black dress"
to join a dance class
to sit on my husband's lap

Not gonna give up 'til these three happen!

It's time, it's time!

Here are the new measurements and pictures from the 13th.

Weight - 156

Bust - 36.75" - a loss of 9.75"

Waist - 33.25" - a loss of 9.75"

Hips - 43" - a loss of 23" <------ GO ME!! =)

Thigh - 20.75" - a loss of 8.25"

Arm - 11" - a loss of 6.5"

If you add up the total inches that I've lost it's 57.25". Isn't that amazing? To think that I've lost almost 60" - that's almost my height!

And check this out: did a little shopping the other day. Some clothes are size 12, some are size 10 and two tops are even a small. A SMALL!!! Can you believe it?!!?

Okay, picture time!

Let's backup

In order to really have this hit home, I need to back up a bit and give you some backstory.

My heaviest weight was 350. It was during the couple of years after finishing college and I just ballooned up. I have no idea why, but it happened. This is what I looked like then:

Not long after that, I realized that I needed to do something about all this weight, so I started working out in our basement. At the time, I weighed 308. Matt helped me set some rewards for every 50 lbs that I lost: a night at a B&B for 258, Disney World for 208, and a cruise for 158. And then Daddy got leukemia and I put some of the weight back on. By the time his funeral rolled around, I was back up to over 280.

A couple of months after the school year started that fall (2001), I went to LA Weight Loss and signed up for thier year-long program. I did a great job on LAWL, losing 100 lbs in 41 weeks. I weighed 181 and I felt wonderful! I was only 25 lbs away from my goal of 158.

I was cute....and I got pregnant. During my pregnancy with Halen, I managed to put 80 lbs back on by eating ice cream every day between school and my homebound student. By the time I gave birth (via a c-section), I weighed 260 again.

Six years later, here I sit FINALLY weighing 158!

I can't believe it's actually happened. Better yet, I'm not finished losing weight so what I thought was my ultimate goal has become another stepping stone. When I am finished, I will weigh between 130 and 140 lbs. My smallest ever!