SUE ELLEN'S GIRL AIN'T FAT, SHE JUST WEIGHS HEAVY - Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

About Shellie: Shellie Rushing Tomlinson and her husband Phil live and farm in the Louisiana Delta. Shellie is the author of Lessons Learned on Bull Run Road, Twas the Night Before the Very First Christmas, Southern Comfort with Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, and the Penguin Group USA release, Suck Your Stomach In and Put Some Color On, voted Nonfiction Finalist of 2009 by SIBA Independent Booksellers Alliance.

Tomlinson is owner and publisher of All Things Southern and the host of the weekly radio show All Things Southern as well as a weekly video segment by the same name. Listeners also hear Shellie in her All Things Southern radio segments aired across the South. Shellie writes a weekly inspirational feature in Newsstar and a monthly print and online column for Lousiana Road Trips.

When Shellie isn't writing, speaking, taping her show, answering email or writing content for the next deadline, you can find her playing tennis with Dixie Belle, (the chocolate lab who thinks she is in charge of running Shellie's life).

About Sue Ellen’s Girl Ain’t Fat, She Just Weighs Heavy: The bestselling author of Suck Your Stomach In & Put Some Color On! returns with more helpful how-to's and keen observations from Dixie.

Guided by principles from the ancient Belle Doctrine, the host of radio and television's All Things Southern offers down-home advice on everything from health and fitness-managing thy caloric calculations without going Straight Running Crazy and surviving the Raging Inferno Syndrome (aka hot flashes)-to the Southern art of handling your man (Bubba Whispering). Whether giving business tips or debunking the Big Boned Theory, making political observations or celebrating the inevitable resurgence of big hair, Shellie is an adviser women can relate to and laugh with regardless of their age or which side of the Mason-Dixon they call home.

Link to buy the book: http://www.amazon.com/Ellens-Girl-Aint-Weighs-Heavy/dp/0425240851/ref=sprightly-20

About the Facebook Party:

To celebrate the Sue Ellen’s release, Shellie is having a Facebook Party!

Join Shellie and the gang on June 2^nd at 5:00 PM PST (6 MST, 7 CST, 8 EST) for a Southern style shin-dig! She'll be dishing on Bubba Whispering, debunking the Big Boned Theory, and how to manage going Straight Running Crazy. If you don't know what any of that is, then be sure to pick up a copy of the book (Not necessary to join the fun! Who knows - you might win a copy!) and join us at 5:00 pm on June 2nd at Shellie's Facebook page. And tell your friends - she's giving away copies of her books and some great gift certificates. 

Welcome, Shellie. What would you like for our readers to know about you personally?

I would want your readers to know that I never set out to write humor. I once dreamed of writing great important things that would change the world. However, once I started putting pen to paper people started laughing at my words and labeling me a humorist. I wanted to say, “Hey! Don’t you know I’m writing great important things that change the world?” It was surprising at first and maybe even a bit disheartening until I realized that humor was softening my readers’ hearts and opening them up to me. I’ve since learned that with that privilege comes an opening to speak more important things into their lives than sucking in their stomachs! I welcome the opportunity to share the written word with them and talk about my favorite subject of all—Jesus!  

Tell us about your family.

I’m the baby of three girls. My father is a retired father who works crop insurance. My mother, a bona-fide beauty queen and head matriarch who lays down the law the rest of us adhere to, under penalty of The Look. I’m married to my teenage sweetheart. We have two kids, two lovely kid in-laws (I suppose the four of them are grown-ups, but I don’t know how that happened), and three, going on four, grands! We are the Southern version of My Big Fat Greek Family, only louder, and maybe even closer-knit, despite the fact that I tell all of their secrets on air. You would, too, if you had the type of material they offer on a regular basis. I’m often asked how long I can keep this gig going, meaning the weekly deadlines of stories.  My response is that unless my whole circle of family and friends up and die at once, I’m good.

Have you written other nonfiction books?

Ten years ago now, after trying to get published the traditional route and tiring of filing rejection letters, I began self-publishing. I released two non-fiction books and one fiction. My illustrated children’s book ’Twas the Night before the Very First Christmas uses the recognizable cadence of Clement Clark Moore’s original to tell the story of the birth of the Christ Child. The non-fiction books are Lessons Learned on Bull Run Road, my account of growing up country at the end of a long dirt road and Southern Comfort with Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, a devotional.  It was my perseverance and the combined sales of my self-published books that helped me secure the first contract with Penguin Group.

Do you have any other books in the works right now?

Crossing genres is difficult if not impossible if you’re not one of the big names in our industry but that’s exactly what I hope to do. I plan to continue writing humor as long as folks smile at my words, but I’m also working on a children’s book series I’d like to see developed called Mary Nell the Southern Belle. I’ve written three in the series and I intend to slow down soon and do the necessary work to see her in stores. In addition, I’ve completed a novel with a message that I believe needs to be told. And lest that’s not enough voices in my head to tire whomever is reading our words, I also write Bible Studies and hope to see these published soon.  None of this will easy, but nor was it easy to get here. The journey should just build more muscle!

What kinds of hobbies and leisure activities do you enjoy?

I used to play a pretty mean game of tennis until All Things Southern turned into a run-away train. Unfortunately, I haven’t been to the courts three times in the past couple of years. These days I walk my spoiled chocolate lab for exercise and devour as many books as I can while churning out my own.

Why did you write the featured book?

 Sue Ellen’s Girl Ain’t Fat, She Just Weighs Heavy is the follow-up to Suck Your Stomach In and Put Some Color On. Frankly, I don’t think I had a choice as to whether I would write another one. My readers were close to rioting on me. I’d be willing to do the wave for my author friends who toss out a book a year. I’m a tad slower than that, but my readers bless their hearts, started on me early and kept it up often until I got Sue Ellen to the bookstores.

How did you get into writing comedy?

First off, I’ve outlawed the use of the word comedy because I think that’s such a high bar to meet and I never set out to write humor. I’ve decided that if they must, people can call me a humorist. The way I see it, a comedian has to make people laugh out loud. A humorist, on the other hand, is just required to make you smile, maybe chuckle, in a I-get-that sort of way. Yes, I know Jeff Foxworthy calls this book laugh out loud funny, but I promise I did not pay him to say that, although in the interest of full disclosure I should tell you that I did bribe him for the endorsement.

What do you want the reader to take away from the book?

While it’s true that life is hard, not everything is life or death. I hope my readers benefit from a lighter look at the things that befall us all.  I believe my writing simply holds a mirror up to people, allowing them to see themselves, their friends and families. If my words somehow helped people cherish their loved ones a bit more, peculiarities and all, I would consider it a huge success indeed.

Shellie is hosting a 

I have to tell you, Shellie, that my husband, who loves clean comedy, saw your book on the dining room table and started reading it. He comes in when I'm doing physical therapy exercises and reads parts of it to me. Where on the Internet can the readers find you?

Just about anywhere they look:

My website, http://www.allthingssouthern.com
I blog at http://shellierushingtomlinson.wordpress.com/
My facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1405351429
My twitter http://twitter.com/#!/ShellieT

Thank you, Shellie, for visiting with us today.

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