What Readers are saying about Patrick Sanchez and The Way It Is:
 
 ”This book is drama drama drama from start to finish…..You’ll find it hard to put down and if you read it in public you’ll find people staring at you for laughing out loud.”
 
 ”… It was so refreshing to read a book about two truly large women and see how each one of them handled it so differently. The book was hilarious, well written, and has a great ending. BUY IT!“

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Book Review: The Way It Is

By Jen Henderson of Dangerously Curvy Novels for Elegant Plus Magazine

Heroine’s Body Types: Varied

 They don’t know it but they are on a collision course with each other, three women who will change each other’s lives:

           Rubenesque Ruby wants to be thin and craves her mother’s and society’s acceptance almost as much as she does food.  But every time these opposing desires start bickering in her head, the food demons win out and she finds herself agonizing as each bite she consumes carries her farther away from her size six ideal.  Anxious to love something other than food Ruby fixes her eye on her gorgeous coworker, but her low self esteem keeps her from trying to reach out to him.  Or to any man she wants.  Up until this point the peaks of her romantic experiences have been flatter than Kansas, and the only men in her life now are her lackluster ex-hubby and her gay pal.

           Bootylicious Wanda is anxious to make it big in the plus modeling world, but she has three strikes against her: size, age, and race.   Add to that a snotty, rich, daddy’s girl coworker who undermines her at every turn, Wanda will be lucky not to wind up in the slammer for wringing the chick’s neck.

            Luscious Simone is dying to get out of the local TV news racket and into the limelight of the entertainment industry.  Literally.  She even figures the notoriety of leaving behind a trail of boy toys might add to her cachet.  But she’s got tunnel vision where her career is concerned and doesn’t see that her life is unraveling around the edges.  Living fast and furious might be her ticket to the top–or to six feet underground.

What worked for me:

This book has a great cover!  It’s sexy and sassy, colorful and eye-catching.  And most importantly it doesn’t downsize the big girls.

            The story is funny, has interesting characters, good plot twists, and a great if not completely pat (the way I like it) ending.  Yet it takes the time to insert insightful comments on various social issues rather than deliver up pure fluff.

           The characters have some flaws that render them unlikable at times, but it’s these same flaws which make them leap off the page with realism.  (The author also did a great job nailing down the behavior and  innermost thoughts of an unhappy-to-be-fat woman.)

            Size-wise Ruby and Wanda were abundant and Simone was petite but shapely.

What didn’t work for me:

I slurped this story down in one sitting.  So honestly, the few technical issues I saw barely registered with me as I was so anxious to keep cruising along.

Overall:

The Way It Is  is: . . . outrageous!  You’ll laugh, cry, and possibly throw a few things while reading this book. Don’t miss it!

Popularity: 20% [?]

  An Interview with Author Patrick Sanchez:  The Way It Is

by Elegant Plus Magazine

    Elegant Plus Managing Editor, Thea Politis, takes a few minutes to chat with Patrick Sanchez, the hot author who penned the voluptuous and entertaining current  Chick Lit hit  The Way It Is .    A native of the Washington, D.C. area he currently lives in Arlington, VA with his daschund, Gomez.  He loves to hear from his readers and you can drop him a line at:  PO Box 4493, Falls Church VA 22044.

EP: Patrick, glad to have you here. Tell us a little about what led you to write novels from the perspective of a woman, let alone a plus size woman?  And how do you get so well into their/our heads?

PS:  I actually sort of fell into writing from the perspective of women.  I wrote my first novel, Girlfriends, when I was still in my twenties and part of the whole bar scene.  I spent so much time in different bars and nightclubs and thought it would be fun to write about how ridiculous the single’s scene was and that’s where Girlfriends came from.  But originally Girlfriends was more about both women and men making they’re way and finding romance; however, when I sold the manuscript to Kensington Publishing, they requested that I work it into more of a women’s fiction, Sex and The City-type book (now referred to as “Chick-Lit”).  They thought the book would be more marketable that way.  So I did as I was told and scaled back the male characters and beefed up the female characters.  Luckily, Girlfriends was a success, so I decided to stay in the genre when I wrote my second novel, but I wanted to do something a little different.

When I started The Way It Is, I was in my thirties and rarely saw the inside of bars or nightclubs anymore.  I had grown out of the whole club scene and wanted to write about more mature characters (the characters in Girlfriends are in their twenties while the characters in The Way It Is are in their thirties).  I’d read a few books about large woman and noticed that most of them ended with the heroine losing vast amounts of weight and then finding love and having her whole life come together.  I thought it would be fun to write a book where the heroine never loses weight but, instead, learns to love herself for who she is.

I’m not sure how I “get so well into women’s heads” or if I even do.  Believe it or not, there is so much of me in all my characters.  I did do a lot of research and interviews when writing The Way It Is, but most of who the characters are just came from my gut and my instincts about how they would react in certain situations.

EP: Are your characters in The Way It Is drawn from real life people? If so, whom?

PS: I think all writers borrow traits and personalities from real life people and weave bits and pieces into our characters.  None of the characters are based on any one real-life person, but they do share some traits of people I know.  Although, like I mentioned earlier, there is more of me in all the characters than anyone else.  A lot of my own life and personal struggles where channeled into Ruby.  I thought a lot of Queen Latifah when I was writing about Wanda as both Queen Latifah and Wanda are confident and beautiful plus-size African American women.  I thought about Jennifer Lopez too when I wrote about Simone.  I certainly have no knowledge of Jennifer Lopez having an eating disorder, but I think she and Simone share the same raw determination to succeed.

EP: Ruby, one of your main characters, in the opening scene is enduring what has clearly been a lifetime of put downs about her size from her own mother. This is something many plus women can relate to. What is it about our  society, do you think, that makes this sort of cruel behavior towards our loved ones acceptable?

PS:  I think it’s all about equating being thin with being healthy and happy.  Even though their words hurt, I think loved ones may think they are ultimately helping their fat family members or friends by motivating them to lose weight.  I also think there is this misconception that it’s okay to degrade fat people because fat people “choose to be fat,” that it’s “their fault” and “if they just had some self control they could lose weight.”

EP: Not only are your main characters in different head spaces in regards to their weight — Ruby battles self-esteem issues and related “feel good” closet eating, Wanda is supremely confident in her own skin, and Simone is a once fat, skinny girl who battles her fear of becoming fat again — but they are also each of different races: Caucasian, African-American, and Latina, respectively.  Do you think that any of these weight related behaviors are typical of one American sub-culture or ethnicity or another?  Or were you trying to draw characters to which almost any woman in America could relate?

PS:  I absolutely wanted to draw characters to which almost any woman in America could relate, but at the same time I think there are some cultural differences related to size.  Although I know a number of African American women who diet themselves to death to try and be thin, it does seem that a larger number of plus-size black women seem to be comfortable with their size.  And it’s been my experience that large African American women are much more likely than their white counter parts to dress in sexy revealing clothes.

EP:  What was the significance of including the gay guy pal in the story? The gay community often struggles with many of the same “buff body” ideals that  women do in our society.  Is this significant?

PS:  Absolutely!  Not only are gay men just as obsessed with body image as straight women.  Gay men and fat women seem to share a bond.  It’s like gay men and Cher…for whatever reason where ever you find gay men, you find fat women.  We are both often treated badly by society, misunderstood, and crazy loons are always trying to make us into something we are not…something/someone that fits their ideals and complies with their agenda.

EP:  Do you like the artwork on the cover of your book? Does it capture the essence of your characters in the way you envisioned them?

PS: There are things about the cover art that I do like and things about it that I wasn’t thrilled with.  I like the bright yellow background and, although she is portrayed as impossibly thin (her neck is as big as her waist), the artist’s rendition of Simone was pretty much dead on; however, in my mind, I pictured both Ruby and Wanda much larger than they appeared on the cover.  I’m glad they were not represented as stick figures.  At least they appear as voluptuous women, but I still would have liked them to have been larger.

EP:  Your first novel, Girlfriends was a huge success.  And The Way It Is  looks like it is following suit. What was the difference in your experience in getting the two published?  How did you get the interest of the publishers the first time out?

PS:  When I finished the manuscript for Girlfriends (which I had called Misery & Company when I was shopping it around), I sent query letters and the first few pages of the manuscript to several agents with no luck.  After a little retooling, I contacted some additional agents and actually approached some publishers directly.  This time around I got some interest from two agents (in addition to about 30 rejects), but I also got a direct offer from Kensington Publishing.  The advance was tiny, but I was so thrilled to find a publisher I immediately accepted their offer.

When I was ready to shop around an outline for The Way It Is (after you publish one book you can usually get an advance based on just an outline for later ones) I hired an agent to represent me and negotiate my contract.  This time around the advance was much more substantial and the terms of the contract were much better.

EP: Thanks for chatting with us Patrick!  Readers, , if you like Chick-Lit, this one is a must read! To learn a little bit more about Patrick Sanchez, you can also stop by his web-site.

 NOTE:  Since this interview was first published in 2003, Patrick Sanchez has gone on to write Once Upon a Nervous Breakdown and Tight. 

Check out the hilariously funny  Once Upon a Nervous Breakdown Video below!

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=q89ijBycfHI]

Popularity: 24% [?]

Could you be the next new face of Torrid?

American Idol, Jordin Sparks, was a Torrid model. Are you the next hottest face of plus-size fashion? Last year the model search took them to Chicago, Charlotte, Phoenix and Philadelphia.  This year it’s new locations and new cities, giving an opportunity for more curvy cuties to try out.  No registration fees, plus great shopping discounts the day of the model call and prizes.  So what do you have to lose?  Flaunt your curves and show the world your full-figured charisma, beauty and camera ready smile!

Torrid Cover Girl, Katie (left) 
Model Search Winner, Jordin Sparkes (right)

Registration for the Model Search will take place on-site at the day of the event.  There is no on-line registration.

Each Model Search begins at 10 A.M.  Get there early to get your place in line.

Dates and Cities for the Torrid 2007 Model Search are:

Saturday July 28, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Stephenson Galleria

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Saturday,  August 25, 2007

NORTH ATTLEBORO, MA

Emerald Square

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Saturday, September 22, 2007

ORLANDO, FL

Florida Mall

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Saturday, October 27, 2007

REDONDO BEACH, CA

Galleria at South Bay

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For more information visit Torrid on-line.

Popularity: 26% [?]

Season Three is almost here………..

By Guest Contributor to Elegant Plus Magazine

 Paris has always been fabulous. It’s about to get Fabulous and Thick.

Mo’Nique and Oxygen are taking their hit show to a worldwide stage!  They’ll continue the Miss F.A.T. tradition by taking on the world capital of couture– Paris, France. It all begins with a nationwide search for 5 big beautiful contestants willing to take on the challenge of their lives. We’ll follow their journey as they transform into divas ultimately strutting their stuff in a high fashion Paris runway show.
At the end of the night, the judges and Mo’Nique will evaluate the contestants on their entire journey and the winner will be named Miss F.A.T. 2007!

Judges this season include ground-breaking plus-size model Velvet d’Amour whose ample curves have graced the Paris runways in haute couture fashion!

 Tune in to the Oxygen Network on July 28th, 2007 at 8pm/7C and let the fun begin!

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Enter the Mo’Nique’s Let Them Eat Cake Sweepstakes for your chance to go to Paris Mo’Nique style!

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 To find out more visit the Oxygen Network F.A.T. Chance Paris website.

To contact Mo’Nique hereself, visit her website.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Kiss My Assets: Self-Esteem and Body Image
Back to School Shopping Battle: Is “Fit” the new “F” word?

by Dr. Robyn Silverman for Elegant Plus Magazine

New classes. New clients. New clothes.

Back to school time can bring up the anxiety levels of most everyone. Being in a routine can be wonderful but restarting a routine can be nerve-racking. Once we emerge from our summer stupors where life seems a bit slower and people are decidedly more lax, September hits us like a fist to the head. All of a sudden, it’s business as usual and school as expected. It’s about meeting new people, seeing old friends, and dealing with feeling that you have been here before but somehow, all of the rules have changed. The newness mixed with questionable familiarity breeds anxiety about how we look, what we are wearing and how we size up. So back-to -school shopping can be more like a battle than bliss—when “fit” is the proverbial “f” word.

I remember when I was about 15 years old. I was out shopping with my mother when we bumped into Jessica, the girl who had “stolen” my boyfriend during the previous year at the same time that she had “stolen” my part in the annual musical theater production. She was way too cute and over-the-top perky. Was I bitter? I couldn’t stand her and yet I admired her vehemently. Everything she tried on seemed to look perfect on her. In my eyes, I couldn’t measure up. The mirror wasn’t allowing me to see anything different—or perhaps—I wasn’t allowing myself to see anything different. I went into the dressing room and burst into tears. We have to remember as adults that while a size is just a size, it has a lot more impact when you are dealing with feelings of fitting in—not just fit—at back to school time.

How can we put back to school shopping into a more favorable light?

1. Discuss sizing discrepancies with the girls you love: While we have heard it before, sizes aren’t consistent from one designer to another—what is a 10 in some stores is a 14 in others. Clothing stylists tell us that vanity sizes are rampant and you can not really discern your true size from any one pair of pants. Manufacturers think they have us pegged, ladies. With self-confidence and body image wound so tightly together, girls and women may be less likely to purchase clothing in a larger size than they think they should be. After all, up to 80% of young women believe that they are overweight and feel “fat” even when they are of average weight. Although we may know it is exactly the same size whether it says 6, 10, or 16 in all these different stores, the number on our clothing can really do a number on us psychologically. We hold these sizes up like score cards on how we are doing in mastering Beauty 101. Can we let someone else determine our self worth just by sowing a size into the seat of our pants?

2. Go to stores that fit the person, don’t try to fit the person into the store: Believe it or not, there are more plus-size women and girls than there are stores in the world. Manufacturers are starting to put out plus-size clothing lines that are trendy and exciting so that plus size women and girls can wear stylish clothing just like the straight size girls. It can be frustrating for anyone to go to a store where it seems unlikely that the clothes will fit correctly. As a short person of 5’3”, I know that venturing into certain stores would leave me stepping on about 6 inches of fabric—so why bother? Go to the stores that cater to the body of the person you are trying to fit—even if the driving distance is a little bit further than “just down the street.” It will be worth it.

3. Talk about health at any size: No size on its own necessarily means healthy. Someone can be a size 6 and feed their body junk food all the time, and someone else can be a size 16 and nourish their body with the best quality organic foods. If you are exercising your body and making good food choices, you can probably earn a clean bill of health from the doctor. Truly, some bodies do not have the ability to be as small as a 4 or a 6 no matter how little eaten or how much exercise done. I was speaking to one of my favorite plus-size models the other night who told me that at her very lowest weight (in high school) she was a size 8. She finally realized during her junior year that her body could never be smaller than that and in fact, if she was being honest with herself, she had presently looked like a rail. She was barely eating - “dieting” - and when she did eat, she felt horribly guilty about it. This is not health, is it? She knows now that her body is much healthier and comfortable at a size 12—so that is where she is today. When is your body—or your daughter’s body—at its healthiest size?

4. Dress the body you have beautifully: Over and over again I hear the same things from the plus size women in the modeling industry who I coach or interview each week. “Buy clothes that make you feel beautiful,” “Wear clothes that make you look beautiful,” “Be stylish and appear well put together.” Picture two plus-size girls on the first day of school. The first is dressed to the nines—with trendy pants and a gorgeous colorful top that shows off her curves in a very flattering and understated way. Her hair is styled, her make-up is subtle but becoming, and she knows she looks good. The second has thrown on the first thing she saw at the end of the bed—the pants are two sizes too big and the drab black top is even bigger than that. She has a hat on her head and she could care less what she looks like or how she is perceived. The first girl attracts exactly what she puts out—confident girls of all sizes who know that they deserve to treat themselves well. A fabulous “feedback” loop occurs which means that (1) She puts out a vibe that says that she is confident and feels good about her looks, (2) People read her as confident and looking good, (3) She receives nonverbal feedback from others that lets her know people believe she is confident and looks good, (4) Her confidence is reinforced, (5) Again, she puts out the vibe that she is confident and feels good about her looks. What do you think the second girl’s feedback loop looks like?

If all else fails, cut out those pesky little tags in the back of your pants or have someone else do it for you. We don’t want to put such high stakes into a ½ cent piece of cotton with a number on it. We are worth a lot more than that, aren’t we?

Additional Resources:

• Children’s Clothing Directory
• Young and Trendy Plus-Size Clothing Directory
• Elegant Plus Editor’s Pick Back-to-School Fashions for Plus-Sizes 12-34w
• Plus-Size Fashion and Style Books and Magazines
• Recommended Books on Self-Esteem and Body Image

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Dr. Robyn Silverman is a success coach and body image expert who can help you to achieve your goals at any age. For more information, go to http://www.DrRobynSilverman.com.  Share your thoughts about this column below - she’d love to hear what you think!

Popularity: 14% [?]