Anyway, here’s how the contest works.  My entry consisted of my pitch which is a less than 300 word blurb about my book (kind of what you would see on the back jacket cover of the book), a 5000 word excerpt, and a copy of the manuscript.

• First Round: Amazon editors will review a 300-word pitch of each entry. The top 1,000 entries in each category (2,000 total entries) will move on to the second round.  (Announced 2/23/12)
• Second Round: The field will be narrowed to 250 entries in each category (500 total entries) by Amazon top customer reviewers from ratings of a 5,000 word excerpt. (Announced 3/20/12)
• Quarterfinals: Publishers Weekly reviewers will read the full manuscript of each quarterfinalist, and based on their review scores, the top 50 in each category (100 total entries) will move on to the semifinals. (Announced 4/24/12)
• Semifinals: Penguin USA editors will read the full manuscript and review all accompanying data for each semifinalist and will then select three finalists in each category (six total finalists). (Announced 5/22/12)
• Finals:  Amazon customers will vote on the three finalists in each category resulting in two grand prize winners. (Announced 6/16/12)

Missing the deadline and not entering the contest wouldn’t have been such horrific events if I hadn’t spent most of the week and the entire weekend before the deadline editing the novel (and I do mean the entire weekend – I barely slept).

Why did I do that to myself?  Fear.  Fear of losing the contest, fear of winning the contest and being locked into the terms of the publishing contract that is first prize, fear of having others review the book and tear it apart, fear of never even making it through the first stage of the contest.  You name it, I was terrified of it.

This year, I entered my romantic legal thriller – “Just Dreams” – into the contest at 12:02 a.m. on the very first day of the contest.  What was so different about this year?  I asked myself some very valid questions like:  How will I ever know how far I could get in the contest if I never enter it?  How will I ever find out whether people enjoy my writing if I don’t let anyone read it?  And then there’s the most relevant question:  Why the hell am I writing all these books if I’m too afraid to let anyone read them?  Do you have any idea how much work it is to write a book?!!  But I digress.

Don’t be fooled.  I’m still as terrified as I was last year.  I darn near had a heart attack after I pressed the “Submit” button and I’ve used the “Edit” feature on the site quite a few times since then.  The difference this year is that I refuse to let my fear stop me from trying to realize my dream of becoming a published novelist.  I’m pushing through it to get to where I want to be.

How about you?  What are you afraid of?  Public speaking?  Looking for a new job?  Getting back out there and dating after a divorce or bad breakup?  Wearing a mini-skirt? Making a fool of yourself?  Succeeding? Failing? If your fears are stopping you from living and/or realizing your dreams, then maybe you need to find a way to push through them.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  I might get kicked out of the contest at an early stage or I might take it all.  At least this year, I get to find out.

Peace

It’s funny how certain foods evoke memories of events.  You see a turkey or cranberries, you think holidays.  I smell sage and I think of Mom’s stuffing.

In fiction, novice writers tend to rely more heavily on sight and sound and touch to trigger memories or to make an event more real.  Two powerful but underused senses we could use to make scenes more palpable are taste and scent.  A scent or a taste could trigger a memory into our hero or heroine’s mind that could serve as the vehicle for inserting much needed backstory into a book.  The scent or taste of garlic or spices or beer could trigger a memory of a vacation to Italy or India or of having been stationed on an army base in Germany or of helping a parent or a spouse prepare a meal.

Scents and tastes could also be used to make settings more real or to establish facets of characters.  For example, the scent of paprika or cumin or curry could be used to make a scene in a Hungarian kitchen or a Mexican marketplace or an Indian restaurant more real.  The taste of coconut milk and ginger in a dish could be used to make a scene in a Thai restaurant or kitchen more palpable or hint at a cook’s Thai or Indian heritage or connection to those places.

These are ideas that popped into my head while in the process of editing my novels since I am bombarded by the scents and tastes and images of the Thanksgiving holiday.  I hope you find them helpful.

I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.  May you enjoy and savor the opportunity to spend the holiday with friends and family and create new memories.

Peace.

On one hand, I can hardly believe that an entire year has passed since Nanowrimo (National November Writing Month) 2010.  On the other hand, I can barely remember what I wrote during the last Nanowrimo. That’s probably because this year, after writing a draft of my fourth book during the month of November, I worked hard at rewriting my first book – a “romantic” suspense novel – increasing it from 57,000 words to a full length single title manuscript of 94,000 words.  My reasons for putting the word romantic in quotes is the subject of future posts.

Normally, I write a book during Nanowrimo and then refuse to touch or even look at it again during any other month of the year.  This year, I was determined to break that cycle and complete a polished full-length novel that I could submit to agents and editors.  Thanks to seminars called “Fast Draft” and “Revision Hell” given by an author named Candace Havens, among others, I am well on my way to achieving that goal.  I’ll tell you more about those seminars in future posts.

Although I have been participating in Nanowrimo since 2007 and have managed to “win” every year by whipping out 50,000 words, I think this will be my most challenging year ever.  I have a mediation and a trial scheduled to take place in November.  I am a member of a gospel choir that is now in “concert mode” for  an upcoming performance in December at the Arscht Center in Miami, Florida (with Take 6 and the Miami Mass choir) and I have embarked on a professional campaign that has me attending and participating in all sorts of events, lunches, meetings, conferences, etc. in addition to my normal job duties.  Needless to say I am a tad bit busier than I normally am this time of year.

With all of that being said, I am determined to whip out another book and win Nanowrimo once again this year because, well, I am a writer, and as the head of my writers group likes to say: “writers write.”

One of the secrets to being a successful author is to be prolific.  For me, that means I have to write at least one book a year.  I hope to increase that to two or more novels a year, but I need to start somewhere.  My goal for this year is to write a new first draft of a novel and to complete revising two of the novels I have written already.  It sounds daunting I know, but I’ve already gotten further than I ever have before in revising my first book.

If you think you have a novel in you, you should participate in Nanowrimo this year.  The accountability inherent in the program together with the pep talks, the resources on the Nanowrimo website and the fellowship with other writers is invaluable.  That’s why I’m able to write first drafts of novels during the month of November.  Pick up a copy of Chris Baty’s book No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days  and sign up on the Nanowrimo website.  You’ll be that much further to making your dream a reality.

My handle on Nanowrimo is Candique.  If you sign up, you can make me one of your buddies.  I’ll be happy to support you every step of the way.  Let me know how it goes.

Peace

Thrillerfest is an event devoted to thriller writers and thriller enthusiasts.  Every year, bestselling authors such as R.L. Stine, Ken Follett, Jon Land, John Lescroart, Diana Gabaldon, Steve Berry, and more participate in the conference along with some of the top agents and editors in the industry.

The conference is divided into three parts:  Craftfest, Agentfest and Thrillerfest.  I attended Craftfest and Agentfest but did not stay for Thrillerfest.  Next year, I will be sure to rectify that.

Craftfest is a day and a half of writing seminars given by bestselling thriller writers on such interesting topics as forensics in fiction, writing suspense, how to keep relationships alive without killing the pace of your novel, point of view, psychic distance and passive voice., ways to make your thriller ring with emotion and how to write compelling and believable villains.  The seminars were interesting and informative and I learned new things in each of them.

The event that gave me the most bang for my money was Agentfest, which was held on Thursday, July 7, 2011.  Because the conference is held in New York, which is publishing Mecca, Agentfest offers unprecedented access to the most top-notch agents I have ever seen in a single setting.  More than fifty agents participated this year.

Agentfest is a version of speed dating with agents held over a two and a half hour period with a short break after the first hour (to allow the agents an opportunity to breathe).  Agents looking to sign up the next bestselling novelist are seated in alphabetical order in three large rooms.  Writers hoping to find an agent to represent them line up and then head into one of the three rooms to pitch their novels to the agents of their choice.

Since there are a lot of writers participating in the event and some agents are more popular than others, it helps to have a game plan.  Being the maniac that I am, I researched the agents participating in Agentfest beforehand.  By the time the event began, I had a chart in hand listing the agents I wanted to pitch and the book best suited to pitch to each particular agent.  I had to do that because not all agents would be interested in hearing about a romantic suspense novel.  So, I pitched my mainstream suspense novel to those agents and my romantic suspense novel to the agents who represented romance authors.

My plan of attack was to first pitch those agents on my list who had either no line or only a short line of writers waiting for them.  After I picked off the low hanging fruit, I got in line to see the agents I thought would be the perfect fit for me and my novels to the extent I hadn’t already pitched to them.  I had time left over  after that, so I pitched two agents who were not on my list but who were available.  One very kind agent was even willing to hear my pitch after the event had officially ended.

It proved to be a wildly successful afternoon.  I was able to pitch to a total of fourteen agents and every single one of them asked me to send them anything from the first 25 pages and a synopsis to a full manuscript.   Many of my colleagues  did not enjoy the same measure of success.  Apparently, all of the preparation I had done for Agentfest paid off.  That preparation included evading the persistent advances of a fellow writer the night before Agentfest and returning to my hotel room alone to hone and practice my pitches.

Speaking of fellow writers, Thrillerfest offered great networking opportunities.  The night before Agentfest, I met a group of writers at a cocktail reception who invited me to have dinner with them afterwards.  That group included one of my personal idols, Jon Land.  He is the writer of amazing thriller novels featuring a hero named Blaine McCracken.  I followed that series avidly during my spy novel craze in the late 1980′s and 1990′s and devoured every single one of those books I could find.  He now writes great novels featuring a heroine named Caitlin Strong who is a female Texas ranger.  It was amazing to be able to meet him and tell him how much I enjoyed his work.  He turned out to be a very nice man who offered to help me with my pitch for Agentfest.

I missed the Thrillerfest part of the event which, according to the program, offers additional seminars on writing and publishing topics, including a bonus session given by the C.IA. on how to make your spy novels more realistic.  It also offers even more networking opportunities.

All in all, I had a great time, met some great people and had a very productive conference.  I will definitely attend Thrillerfest next year and stay for the entire event.  Maybe I’ll see some of you there.

Peace

One of the things that helped me to put on more than 100 pounds since college is my fondness for ice cream. I used to devour entire pints of Haagen Daz Butter Pecan, Ben and Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk or Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey in a single sitting. You would think the name of that last ice cream flavor would have given me pause. But it didn’t.  Eating a pint of ice cream in a single sitting is easier to do than one would think while under work-related or emotional stress or while sitting mindlessly in front of the television at night.

Ice cream wasn’t the only sweet treat that I would mindlessly consume. I’ve never been a big cookie eater, but I am very partial to the taste of peanuts and chocolate. My favorite candies as a child were Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. As I got older, I grew to love M&M’s Peanuts, Snickers, Payday and Almond Joy candy bars as well.

As an attorney, I work long hours and rarely leave the office before 7:00p.m. Before I started my weight loss journey, every afternoon, around 4:00p.m., I would get hungry and hit the vending machine for something sweet and something salty. I would invariably return to my desk with a candy bar and a bag of chips to tide me over until I could have dinner (usually at 8:00p.m. or 9:00p.m.). The junk food would provide me with a temporary spike in energy followed by a crash and overeating at dinner later on. That’s not to mention the 400 or more empty calories, sugar, fat and sodium I was consuming as a snack every afternoon.

One of the things that helped me to change my eating habits was the fact that a friend of mine referred me to a doctor of Chinese medicine who took me off dairy in an effort to treat my migraines. Suddenly, I could no longer eat ice cream or mindlessly consume milk chocolate candy bars from the vending machine because they contained dairy. I had to find another way to get through that mid-afternoon slump.

Over time, I developed habits to help me keep my sweet tooth from sabotaging my weight loss efforts.  The first thing I did was to start taking healthy snacks with me to work  to tide me over that late afternoon hurdle and prevent me from attacking the vending machine.  I started bringing balanced snacks like fruit and nuts that would provide me with nutrients while also assuaging some of those cravings.  So, I might have a banana and some peanut butter, or an apple and a handful of roasted almonds or some baby carrots and hummus or 2.5 oz. of tuna fish and a fruit.  If you can eat dairy, you can have low-fat cheese and whole grain crackers, or low-fat yogurt and fruit.

If I am craving chocolate, I find a way to indulge it.  I might allow myself the occasional ounce or two of  dark chocolate, or I might make a chocolate flavored pb&j smoothie with almond milk, peanut butter, strawberries and cocoa powder and get my fruit, calcium, vitamin E and antioxidants while I’m at it.  Or I might have a handful of cocoa-flavored almonds or I might make myself some hot chocolate with Ghirardelli dark cocoa, vanilla flavored almond milk, cinnamon and  stevia.

I often have a Vitatops Vitamuffin or VitaBrownie in flavors like Dark Chocolate with Pomegranate and Triple Chocolate Chunk with my after dinner evening tea.  They taste delicious, satisfy my chocolate cravings, have only 100 calories each and have the added benefit of providing me with lots of nutrients, including 200mg calcium and 50% of the recommended daily amount of iron and vitamins A, B6, C and E.  Some of those flavors do have a little bit of dairy though, so don’t eat them if you absolutely can’t have dairy.

If I have an undeniable craving for ice cream, I go for So Delicious Minis.  They come in the form of ice cream sandwiches made of soy or chocolate covered coconut ice cream pops.  That way, I satisfy the craving, but still  have portion control.  I’ve also discovered Purely Decadent ice cream which can be made of either soy or coconut milk and is absolutely delicious.  I have to watch that though.  It still takes a lot of willpower for me not to take more than one serving of it at a time.

I still sometimes overindulge by giving in to the urge to get a pastry with my afternoon tea or an after lunch dessert if I hit a coffee shop or have lunch with my friends or by eating too much coconut milk ice cream or too much dark chocolate.  I just try to balance that out over the course of the day and the course of the week by having a lighter dinner and/or strictly keeping within my WeightWatchers Pointsplus values on other days and/or stepping up the exercise as necessary.

So, you see, it is possible to keep your sweet tooth from sabotaging your weight loss goals.  All you have to do is find a way to indulge your cravings without going overboard by finding healthier substitutes, enforcing portion control and finding balance.

Let me know how it goes for you.

Peace

This was the second RWA annual conference I’ve attended.  The first time was last year in Orlando, Florida.  At that time, I was amazed at the quality and proficiency of the seminar programming, the networking and the inspiration I received from the speakers which included one of my personal idols – Nora Roberts. This time, I was equally impressed.  The speakers at the conference included best-selling novelists such as Madeline Hunter, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Steve Berry and Tess Gerritsen - the author of the novels that inspired one of my favorite television shows – Rizzoli  & Isles.

The first thing I did when I got to the hotel was drop my bags in my room, register and race into the keynote luncheon where I caught some of Madeline Hunter’s keynote address.  She talked about her journey to publication, trends in the industry and what it takes to be a writer.  Her speech was very inspirational to say the least.  Fired up, I next headed to the PRO Retreat.  You see, once you’ve submitted your manuscript to an agent or editor and are rejected, you qualify to advance to the level of PRO membership in the RWA.  I am now a card-carrying member of that club.

The PRO retreat is a series of workshops designed to get RWA members who are serious about and ready to get published over the hurdles they face on their way.  Once a member gets published, they rise to the level of PAN (Published Author Network) membership in the RWA.  The PRO retreat offered a wealth of information, great opportunities for networking with other writers at the same stage as me and great raffle prizes.  I won a free critique of the first 25 pages of my novel by a published author.  That will prove invaluable to me since most agents and editors decide, based on the first few chapters, whether they’re interested in reviewing the rest of a manuscript.

The next day I pitched my romance novel to an agent and an editor.  The editor wasn’t all that interested because my book is a romantic suspense/legal thriller she thought would be best suited for another division of her publishing company headed by another editor.  However, the agent – a well-known and highly respected player in the industry – seemed excited about the storyline and requested to see a portion of the manuscript and a synopsis.

While at the conference, I attended a series of well-designed and informative seminars on everything from the writers craft to the writers market to the writers life, including, but not limited to, seminars on how to write better sex scenes, advice from the pros on the romantic suspense market, how to turn rejection (of your manuscript) into an advantage, how to write better dialogue, etc.  One of the best seminars I attended, however, was given by Candace Havens – a bestselling author and writing guru – called “Fast Draft: How to Write Your First Draft in Two Weeks.”  If you thought National November Writing Month a/k/a Nanowrimo (where you draft a 50,000 word novel in 30 days during the month of November) was a whirlwind experience, Fast Draft is like a hurricane by comparison.

In Fast Draft, you create a first draft of a 280 page novel  (70,000) words in 14 days (20 pages a day).  She says it takes about three hours a day to do.  After you finish your first draft, you take a break (usually two weeks) and then edit the novel into something that is publishable.  You can do this any time of year with the help of a few fellow authors to provide support either online or in person if they live in your area.  Candace Havens used the Fast Draft technique as a way to be more prolific as an author at a time when she had a very demanding 60 hour per week day job.  I plan to give Fast Draft a try.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Since there were more seminars I wanted to take but couldn’t get to, I ordered the conference CD’s which will have mp3 files of all the seminars,  panels and speeches presented at the conference for $99.00.  I am sure that will prove to be invaluable.

Did you attend the RWA annual conference this year?  If so, how was your experience?  Have any questions about the conference?  Ask them and I will be sure to answer.

Peace

The first “signpost” that Dr. Wade identifies in her book “Power Choices” is investigation.  That’s where you take a look at your life and see what is working for you and what isn’t.  In connection with that, she gives you a Cosmopolitan Magazine-like test to take. Remember those  “Test your Sexual IQ” tests?   Anyway, the test she gives you is designed to measure how much attention we pay to various areas of our lives – Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual.  I took the test and discovered that I was really lacking in the spiritual area. This wasn’t a great surprise to me. I had known for a while that I needed to do something in that area.  I flirted with the idea of learning how to meditate and/or joining a church, but I had done nothing about it.

I knew that I’d never be able to learn how to meditate effectively without  getting some guidance first and the thought of organized religion seemed so restrictive.  You see, I’ve always been more spiritual than religious and I’ve always related better spiritually through music.  That’s when the lightbulb went off.  I decided to audition for and join a gospel choir.

At first, I was a little worried about whether I’d really be able to make the time commitment necessary for rehearsals and performances.  My choir rehearses for two hours each Monday and Wednesday evening and performs at two services over a five-hour time period on Sundays.   Then, when I  found out that we had to be at the church by 8:00a.m. each Sunday morning to warm up and do final preparations for the 9:00a.m. service, I wondered whether I’d be able to get there on time since I don’t even get to work that early.  I even wondered whether my burning desire to join a gospel choir and devote so many hours a week to it was just another form of procrastination in finishing my books.

Despite my concerns, I have to say that my decision to join the choir has been one of the best I ever made.  I couldn’t have found a church better suited to my personality and personal philosophy or a better group of people with whom to sing.  My choir is a large one comprised of an extremely diverse group of people in terms of race, national origin, sexual orientation, professions, talents, walks of life  and even religions since you don’t have to join the church to be a part of the choir.  Yet somehow, we come together every Sunday and make beautiful, uplifting and inspiring music.  I can’t begin to tell you how good it feels to help make music that touches people’s hearts, gives them hope and inspires them.  I wake up crazy early every Sunday morning looking forward to repeating the experience.

Being a part of the choir has had a positive effect on my writing too.  Using my talent for singing, which had remained dormant and unused for years, has stirred up my creative juices and inspired my writing.  Being a member of the choir has also exposed me to some very interesting people and gave me a few ideas for future books.   More on that later.

I guess the moral of this story is not to let the pressures of daily life get us so bogged down that we forget to nurture our souls.  What would nurture your spirit?  Listening to some good gospel music? Practicing meditation or yoga? Communing with nature? Joining a church?  Whatever it is, take the time to do it.  The benefits are numerous.

Let me know how it goes.

Peace.

I know.  The term “bellydancers of color” sounds (as my mother would say) repetitively redundant since most people think of Middle Eastern women doing the dance.  But did you know that bellydance originated in Africa?  I mean, not just in the Middle East, which is, of course part of the African continent.

The Bellydancers of Color Association (“BOCA”) celebrates bellydancers and dancers of color from all over the world.  Dr. Sunyatta Amen  – the head of BOCA – was inspired to start it when she attended her first bellydancing class in which she was the only woman of color in the room.  Her teacher asked her where were the rest of her people.

The teachers and performers at the Expo are world-class dancers and include well-known African-American bellydancers as well as  dancers from Africa, the Middle East, Asia and India. At the Expo, you can take classes in traditional bellydance, tribal bellydance, and bellydance fusion such as bellydance dancehall fusion and hip hop bellydance.  In addition, you can take classes in Brazilian Samba, Afro-Cuban Orisha dance, Bollywood, traditional dances of India, burlesque and more.  You can also take classes on such interesting topics as astro-numerology, meditation, funk yoga, holistic health, muscle sculpting and deep tissue reflexology.

This was my second time attending the Expo and I had a fabulous time.  I paid for a VIP pass which gave me open access to all the classes and VIP seating at the show which was held on Saturday evening.

Being the maniac that I am, I, of course, signed up for way too many classes.  I was scheduled to take Bellydance Basics I, Pop Locking & Tick Tocking (tribal bellydance), and Bellydance Dancehall Fusion with Dr. Sunyatta Amen on Friday afternoon; however,  my plane was delayed for two hours and, as a result, I only made it to the dancehall fusion class.  It was fantastic.  We had a whole lot of fun dancing to music from Beenie Man and other dancehall  music artists.  It was also a serious workout. I knew that I was in trouble when I woke up, already sore, on Saturday morning with several dance and exercise classes ahead of me.

I started out with Soul Yoga at 9a.m.  It was a yoga class that focused on flexibility and was set to oldies but goodies music.  I learned that I’m not nearly as flexible as I should be.  The 61 year old instructor who taught the class is more flexible than I have ever been (and I was a modern dancer in college) or could ever hope to be.  I do, however, still hope to grow up to be just like him.  I certainly plan to incorporate yoga more fully into my exercise routine in the future.

Next was the “Bellydance Junk in the Trunk!” class.  In addition to getting a great workout, we had great fun dancing to hip hop and dancehall music.  We also picked up some health and wellness tips from Dr. Amen who is a naturopathic physician.

After a lunch break, I took the Belly Sculpt class with Gigi – a personal trainer – who worked us over from head to toe without using weights or any other exercise equipment.  My arms, legs, glutes and stomach were still begging for mercy two days later.  I’ve got to say though, that if working out like that will make our bodies as toned and tight as Gigi’s, then it’s almost worth the pain (she would call it a sensation).

Next, I took a Bellydance Basics Level II class.  Since, prior to the BOCA Expo, I hadn’t taken bellydancing lessons in a while, I figured that I should brush up on the basics.  I was one of eight students in the class, three of whom studied regularly at Dr. Amen’s MamaSita Studios in Washington, D.C. and were mavericks.  Needless to say, each beginner student received a lot of attention and encouragement in that class.  Unfortunately, I was pretty exhausted by then, having already taken four hours of dance and exercise classes.

After the class, I dragged myself up to my room and rested for a while before heading downstairs to see the show.  The dance instructors at the BOCA Expo, some of Dr. Amen’s students and guest dancers appeared in the show which featured traditional bellydancing, hip hop bellydancing, tribal bellydancing, African dance, Brazilian samba, traditional dances from India and so much more.  The show was absolutely fabulous and highly entertaining.

During intermission, I grabbed a plate from the food vendor at the Boca Expo  who made very delicious vegan delights such as collard greens, macaroni and cheese, fried “chicken” made from a grain (seitan), red beans and dirty rice, some sort of stew that tasted as if it were made with beef, sweet potato pie, carrot cake, etc.  Let’s just say it’s a good thing I danced all weekend.  I had to do something to burn off all those delicious calories.

The next morning, I woke up even more sore than the day before.  I was scheduled to take a tribal bellydance class with Naimah at 8a.m., but I couldn’t quite make it.  I did, however, make it to the Hip Hop Bellydance class where we danced to the latest hip hop music and learned a short routine to take home with us.   Then I took a class called Transformational Meditation with Yirser Ra Hotep – a master yoga instructor.  It was a two-hour class, but the time just seemed to fly by.  Even though it was my first meditation class ever,  he was able to help me get into a state of relaxation and awareness I have never known before.

After that class, I traded my tribal bellydance pants for jeans and headed to the airport to catch my flight back to Miami.

I had a wonderful time at the Expo and would encourage anyone who has an interest in bellydance to attend.  Both the novice and the expert bellydancer would enjoy the classes, the show and the wonderful fellowship that the BOCA Expo has to offer.

Look out for future posts on my experiences with yoga and meditation.  Until then,

Peace

P.S.  If you are shy or self-conscious at all, you might not want to wear a t-shirt with the words “Got Hips?  Bellydancers of Color Association” written across the bustline at the airport.  I got comments from airport security and flight attendants alike, not to mention the looks from other passers by.  One TSA worker thought I was a professional bellydancer and asked me for my card.

For example. I recently discovered Gorton’s Grilled Tilapia Fillets.  Some of you might roll your eyes and call me Christopher Columbus.  You might ask how could I have discovered something that’s always been there and that a lot of other people already knew about.  But I’m not talking about claiming to be the first person to ever eat Gorton’s Grilled Tilapia Fillets.  I’m talking about discovering a very tasty and healthy protein source that is very WeightWatchers (read waistline) friendly and not high in sodium.

While fooling around on the WeightWatchers website (instead of working on my movie script or writing my book), I decided to find out how many PointsPlus values were in Gorton’s Grilled Tilapia Fillets.  I had clipped a coupon for them because they looked interesting and I was already a fan of Gorton’s grilled shrimp.  To my delight, I discovered that the fillets are only two PointsPlus values each.   Pair a couple of those with a cup of veggies and a half cup of rice or a baked potato or a serving of oven-baked fries and you have a healthy, satisfying meal for only seven PointsPlus  values.

Nowadays you could steam vegetables in the microwave right in their bags and make very tasty microwaveable brown rice in ninety seconds.  Two of my personal favorites include Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Medley (Roasted Garlic Flavor) and Seeds of Change Dharamsala and Moroccan Curry flavors.  At 500 milligrams of sodium per serving, these are not particularly low sodium selections, but they’re not high either.  Uncle Ben’s also has a plain microwaveable brown rice that only has 15 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Another frozen food discovery I recently made was Tyson’s Grilled and Ready Chicken Fillets.  At only 110 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, and 230 milligrams of sodium per serving with no preservatives, they are an excellent option - especially for maniacs like me who grill chicken to death for fear of poisoning myself and others with undercooked chicken.  You can throw the grilled chicken fillets  into the microwave and then into a Nature’s Own Whole Grain Sandwich Round with some barbecue sauce or honey mustard.  Pair that with a nice salad or veggie soup and you’ve got a healthy, tasty, low-calorie, and satisfying lunch or dinner that takes all of five minutes to prepare.

I’ve only mentioned a few frozen foods in this post; however, a plethora of frozen food options await you.  Just be sure to read the food labels for sodium content, nutritional value, fat and calories and you will be all right.   Also try to get foods with no preservatives.

Let me know how it goes.

Peace