Did You Know. . .

That today is http://www.giftoffat.com's/ birthday! 

To celebrate, I will eat a cupcake and let someone take a photo of me smashing it in my face. 

I originally concieved of The Gift of Fat as a book.   A New York Times Bestselling book.

My book will explore a fat girl's life.  (yeah -- that's never been done before. *snort*).

I have been fat all of my life.  A lot of people think that they are fat. In many cases, it's more of a self-perception than a concrete reality. Not that the fat feelings are any less significant, it's just that . . .well, it's different. In my case, everyone else knew I was fat too. How. . . .validating.

My book will be original because I will explain how I came to realize -- in my 30's -- that while being fat really really sucks, there are gifts associated with being fat.  No one ever talks about the gifts.

Gifts like devloping a quick sense of humor.  Developing a strong sense of justice.  A powerful work ethic and a thirst to prove that I can do anything a thin person can do.  Gifts like realizing that I stand out -- and if I wasn't fat, I would look just like everybody else.  Friendships.  Experiences.  Revelations.  Advocacy. The book will cover all of those things.

I started the blog to begin chapters of my book.  I thought I could just tie up all the blog posts in a shiny package and sell it to Penguin Books, who would publish it with great fanfare and retail it at $29.99 hardcover, $9.99 on Kindle. 

Turns out, the blog is not the book. 

Not that there won't be a book.  There will be.  I think.  The blog serves different, but important purposes.

I am a sucker for being the center of attention, and I love to make people laugh.  Much of this blog has been trying to make you laugh, which guarantees me a spot in the center of attention for a few minutes.

The blog is also about my journey.  My journey into fitness. . .and my newfound passion for working out.  I never expected to love excercise.  In fact, did I just write that I love excercise?  WTF?

I don't consider myself a "mommy-blogger", but I am a mom. . . so I write about it.

I never expected the blog to be relational.  Who knew you could make friends with people you've never met?  Turns out -- I have made cyber friends.  Nikki, Lex, Andi, Annabelle, plus my wonderful commenters (Hi Diane!).

Mostly, the blog helps me find my "voice".  Writing the blog has been a great experience.  I plan to continue.

For at least another year.

She Answered Me!

Check out this wonderful, well thought out, gracious response to my De-Facebooking quandry!

Annabel Manners is the BEST! 

Click HERE to read her answer!


Thank you Miss Annabel! 

Dear Annabel Manners. . . .

One of my favorite bloggers is Annabel Manners.  She's awesome.

I have an etiquette problem that may be a problem for some of you as well, so I am writing my Dear Annabel letter here.

Dear Annabel:

I love Facebook and tend to be somewhat of a . .. . you know.  Rhymes with "door". 

This week I noticed that I had over 450 Facebook friends. 

They are my friends.  Really.  Each of them.

The thing is, some of them are people who are never on facebook, so we rarely connect.  Some of them are people I see ALL THE TIME, so we over connect. 

So I un-facebooked a few.  I un-facebooked 142 to be exact.  I didn't say I un-FRIENDED them.  They are all still my friends -- I hope, anyway.  I meant them to still be friends.  Some people are better friends in person than on line.  In fact, I sent an e-mail to the 142 people explaining that I was limiting my Facebook connections, but I still value their friendship.

Of the 142 people, 140 didn't care.  Hell, they might not have even noticed.  But 2 got offended. 

Both of the 2 who were offended were people I see ALL THE TIME.  It's not like I severed contact.  I didn't disown them.  I didn't delete their e-mails.  I just didn't feel like Facebook added anything to our friendship.

Please, Miss Annabel, tell me what I should do to remedy the situation?  I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. 

Sincerely,

Mary A


I'll let you know what Miss Annabel says!