Happy Monday Everyone -I know I’ve been off blog for a while. I have been spending the last few weeks getting my manuscript ready for publishing and it’s getting closer. I’m very excited to start the fun an detailed work of making this book real.

I also have been thinking about my next book. I spend an incredible weekend with best selling author Ann Hood and met some really talented, and nice aspiring writers. We met at the secluded Whispering Pines Lodge in West Greenwich, Rhode Island.

Such a beautiful venue and such great conversation and ideas. Everyone was comfortable collaborating, sharing and suppotring each other.I’m happy to say that my next book will be a YA novel where I try to tackle the topic of childhood obesity and its impact on our children and their families. I am petrified, but also very excited.

Tonight I’m watching The Biggest Loser for the very first time. The show is tacking childhood obesity this season. Some very interesting and mind-blowing statistics that were covered according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention:

17% of kids 2-19 years old are obese.

 60% of children aged 5-10 have at least one heart risk factor.

 Sugar sweetened drinks are the biggest source of added sugar in children’s diets today.

 Over the past three decades the childhood obesity rate in the US has tripled.

75% of parents of obese children think their child is normal or even under wieight.

Pretty staggering.

Enjoy the rest of your week, and I’ll back on Wednesday night with a new post.

Related articles

• Lack of sleep linked to childhood obesity (time4sleep.co.uk)
• Childhood obesity linked to more immediate health problems than previously thought (eurekalert.org)
• Nursing Student Fights Childhood Obesity by Changing Conversations in the Clinic (prweb.com)
• Great News for the US: Evidence of Trending Down in Childhood Obesity (mcntalk.com)
• The Skinny on Obesity (bodychange.net)
• Family Matters: Parents should serve up a healthy lifestyle (cantonrep.com)
• Childhood Obesity…..Why Are We Really Ignoring This? (urbanmommies.net)