This is just a reminder to let you know my digital camera giveaway ends after this Sunday, January 31. I’m giving away a shiny, new, red digital camera! All you have to do to enter is buy a copy of my book, Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir between Thanksgiving 2009 and January 31, 2010. Get full details here.

Big thanks to all of you who have already entered. I truly appreciate the support!

My mother still uses a camera with film, the kind that needs to be developed. When I won a Kodak M340 EasyShare camera at the BlogHer conference this year, I gave it to her, hoping she’d learn how to use the new gadget. Four months later, I saw the camera on her bookshelf, still in the unopened box.

“Mom, have you used your new camera?”

“Uh, no, I haven’t,” she admitted. I think my mother will remain committed to film cameras until the stores stop developing her film. With her permission, I took the camera back, and tried to think of someone else to give it to. None of my friends or family are in desperate need of a camera, so I thought, “Why not do a giveaway on the blog?”

So, that’s what I’m doing! This contest is open to anyone in the United States. To enter, all you have to do is buy a new copy of Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir any time between Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009 and January 31, 2010 and forward a copy of the receipt to me. I must receive your entry by February 15, 2010. You can scan or photograph the receipt and email it to me at blog (at) pastaqueen (dot) com, or you can send a copy to my PO Box at:

Jennette Fulda

Re: Camera Contest

PO Box 2629

Indianapolis, IN 46206

Every book purchase counts as one entry. You can make as many purchases as you want. Please note, you need to buy a new copy from a bookstore or online shop, not a used copy.

You already have a copy? That’s great! Buy one for a friend! You don’t want to do that because they’ll think you’re calling them fat? That’s ok, just send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope along with your entry and I’ll send you a notecard to insert into the book letting your friend know you don’t think they’re fat.

In February, I’ll randomly choose the winner of a nice, new, shiny camera. Good luck!

So, the lovely Eva helped put everything together and you can follow the tour below. If you haven’t already bought a copy of Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir, you’ll have several chances to win one at the stops below. Thank you to all the bloggers participating!

Monday, January 19 – MizFit Online (video)

Tuesday, January 20 – Morgan Gets Thin

Wednesday, January 21 – This Mama Cooks (Guest post)

Thursday, January 22 – John is Fit (review)

Friday, January 23 – Escape from Obesity (interview)

Saturday, January 24 – Lynn’s Weigh (interview)

I want to apologize that I did not have this information for you guys sooner. If I’d known the book would be available internationally, I would have told my foreign readers to wait to buy it locally instead of paying to have it shipped overseas. You could have saved money on shipping and I would have saved my hand cramping up filling out bizarre custom forms. I want you to know that I’m genuinely sorry and hopefully the shipping costs were worth the two month head start you got on your neighbors. If it makes you feel any better, after Helen sent me pictures of her reading the book on a beach in Mexico, it occurred to me that my book has now traveled more places than I have. I wish my body could visit the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, but my words will have to suffice for now.

If you’re a techie, you might be happy to know you can also get the e-book edition of Half-Assed, for Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device. I saw one of these on a plane last month and now I wish I owned one just so I could see how my book looks on it.

The entry period for the viral video contest is now over. I will draw a winner as soon as I finish confirming entries. I’ll announce the winner on the blog when I do so. Thank you to every one who participated. As of this moment, my video has 6,566 views!

Contest! Woo-hoo! If you enjoyed the video above (and even if you didn’t) you can enter to win the Half-Assed Prize Pack in celebration of the release of my book, Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir. The prize pack includes:

• A $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com
• A signed copy of Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir
• A signed galley copy. (Galleys are early uncorrected proofs that are sent to reviewers.)
• A Burt’s Bee’s gift basket
• My favorite kitchen gadget, the apple corer and slicer
• A Spaghetti Scepter from the PastaQueen

Interested? To enter, all you have to do is:

1. Embed the video in your blog, MySpace, message board post – whatevah. The code to embed the video is here:

   <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hU8L0l85dp8&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hU8L0l85dp8&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

2. Link back to this post: http://www.pastaqueen.com/halfofme/archives/2008/06/how_to_lose_192.html
3. E-mail me a link to your entry at contest@halfassedbook.com

I’ll check your post to verify you did everything correctly and then you will be entered for the prize. The contest runs from now until 11:59pm EST on June 30, 2008. A winner will be randomly selected in July. You may enter as many times as you like, though each entry must be on a different site. Official rules are available after the jump.

Super Secret Bonus Content!

The purpose of the video is also to announce a promotional experiment I’ve been cooking up – Super Secret Bonus Content! If you bought a copy of my book, you can submit a ticket to access extra content including:

• 16-page commentary track pamphlet that provides additional insight and observations on the writing process
• Every recipe mentioned in the book
• Humorous video of what my cat does while I’m away, mentioned in one of the chapters
• And more!

Details on how to apply are here. I know when I hear about an interesting book my first reaction is usually, “That sounds cool. I’ll go get that….from the library.” Because I’m cheap. And looking at the number of requests for my book at the local library, I’m not the only thrifty person in town. While I’m honored and grateful that so many people have given up hours of their lives to read the words I’ve written, I’d prefer it if they bought a copy instead of borrowed one. So I asked myself, what would make me buy a book instead of request it from the library? I would need some sort of extra incentive. Thus, the Super Secret Bonus Content was born. We’ll see how it goes. I reserve the right to redact the bonus content offer at anytime (if I determine it’s not worth the hassle), so get your entries in now.

Half-Assed Viral Video Giveaway

Ground Rules

1. You may enter the contest by embedding the video on your site, linking back to this post, and sending a link to your entry to contest@halfassedbook.com
2. You may enter as many times as you like as long as your entries appear on different web sites. (You can’t post 10 times on your own blog.)
3. Be respectful of other people’s web spaces. Don’t get spammy! It’s rude.
4. Contest is open to anyone on the planet.
5. A winner will be drawn randomly from the verified entries. I decide who is verified. My decision is final. No arguments.
6. I will not sell, trade, or barter your email address to anyone, even for Ho Ho’s.
7. I will not print your name or address without your permission.

Thank you to the following sites for listing my sweepstakes:

Online-Sweepstakes

“So, you appeared on national television this morning without any anxiety, but it was traveling from the airport to the hotel that stressed you out?” my aunt asked incredulously.

“Um, yeah,” I replied. “I really hate traveling.”

Bizarrely enough, it’s true. I didn’t feel stressed at all during my 3 minute and 43 second stint on The Today Show for the same reason I didn’t feel stressed about running a half-marathon. I’d trained hard, I came prepared, and I knew I could do it. Raaarrr! Even before the book came out, I took every opportunity to do interviews so I could practice talking to people about my experiences. I’ve done so many now that you’d have to ask me a truly bizarre question to throw me.

The airports, though, still freak me out.

My hotel was about a block away from NBC studies in Rockefeller Center and I got there at 8:00pm. I was glad the taxi dropped me off because the hotel entrance is so discreet that I would never have seen it next to the Johnny Utah’s, which according to Lori has a mechanical bull. (Don’t ask her how she knows that.) The room was small, but very nice. They even folded the toilet paper in a triangle. Fancy!

My aunt met me and spent the night so she could be my official photographer the next day. I had to wake up at 6:00am to shower, blow dry my hair and wear my normal makeup as instructed. Of course, I never wear makeup, so I just put on some foundation and concealer and tried not to burn my scalp with the hair dryer. An official NBC page met me in the lobby at 7:30 to walk me to the show. And yes, with his red-hair and fresh-face he did look a lot like Kenneth, the NBC page from 30 Rock

We walked past the windows of The Today Show studio and then inside and downstairs to the makeup and hair room where Joel and Nameless-Hair-Guy made me pretty. This took at least 15 minutes because cute does not come easy.

As I was escorted across the hall to the green room, we passed a big LCD monitor that showed a live feed of host Jenna Wolf getting spritzed and primped two minutes before show time. Then I sat on a black couch underneath framed photos of all the hosts and examined their spread.

For some reason the basket of peaches and apples was exiled far away from the scrumptious mini-muffins and bagels. (See them over my shoulder?) In all fairness, there was also a plate of melon slices on the main table, so they weren’t forcing baked goods down my throat. I did that myself. (Vacation calories don’t count!) According to the listings, Susan Sarandon was scheduled to appear, but I don’t think she did. Scared of being overshadowed, eh, Susan?

Next the producer came in and went over the segment with me. We’d done a pre-interview on the phone a week before where I chatted for 20 minutes about my experiences. I’d also scanned some new photos for the graphics department to show on the screen while I talked. She went over the script and the questions they were going to ask me, which was another reason I wasn’t stressed. After she left I kept going through my answers in my head. I knew I wanted to get four points across:

1) Mention my blog

2) Mention my book

3) Mention my half-marathon

4) Wish my mom a happy mother’s day

I figured if I accomplished those four things without falling off my stool, the interview would be a success.

Soon they were walking me over to the set where we snuck behind a big wooden wall and then quietly weaved through camera equipment. I sat down on one of two stools set on either side of a huge TV monitor that were directly opposite of the couch Lester and Jenna were hosting the show from. They were broadcasting live and if I dared to clear my throat or let out a big fart it would have been heard in millions of households across America. There was a live feed of a reporter covering tornado damage in Oklahoma right behind me and it felt like he was standing over my shoulder even though he was hundreds of miles away.

To the left and ahead of me, a lady stood at a podium and did a short report about…a pelican? I can’t really remember. I just remember watching her and thinking that she was overacting and laying it on thick. Yet, I bet when you watched it on TV it came across as really energetic and animated. TV is weird like that.

Then they went to commercial and Lester walked over and introduced himself with a very firm, politician’s handshake. He checked to make sure he was saying my name right and I told him I was going to try to say hi to my mom. A stage hand tried to steal my fat pants hanging off the back of my stool. No, not without my fat pants! He’d mistaken them for a sweater and put them back on the stool. I can’t remember what else I talked to Lester about if anything because I was distracted by the cameras swinging 180 degrees around to focus on us. The producer had told me to just look at Lester. Otherwise I might get distracted by the teleprompter and the monitors and got a deer-in-the-headlights look when the interview started. So I just focused on Lester’s face as they counted down from 10 and then OH MY GOD we were on national television.

Lester Holt was talking about one woman’s struggle with weight and, holy crap, that one woman was me. I just kept looking at his pretty face, curious about what was being displayed on the monitor but too fearful to look anywhere else. He asked me most of the questions that had been in the script, but in a slightly different order. I dodged and weaved with it, dancing along with him leading. Then suddenly he asked me what I thought of weight loss surgery and, hey now, no one had told me we were going there! I rolled with it though and even worked in a happy mother’s day at the end. He seemed genuinely amused that I couldn’t say “half-assed” on TV and then the interview was over. It was good-bye Lester and I was walking off the set.

It all went amazingly well. For the past month I have been slightly worried about whether people who meet me at book events will think I’m still fat. I think I look fabulous, but I’m not the skinniest chick in the room either. I don’t really care about what other people think of my body under normal circumstances, but I also don’t want to be known as the fat girl who’s promoting a weight-loss memoir. When I watched The Today Show two weeks ago and saw that my full body would be visible on a stool, I did a little freak out dance. Where was the carefully cropped head shot? I’ve always thought I look my fattest sitting down. When I was morbidly obese, I once saw my reflection in the window as I was sitting in my office chair and freaked out like a groundhog who’d just seen his morbidly obese shadow. Thankfully, when I reviewed the tape of my appearance, I looked great in my lavender shirt and the gray pants from Goodwill that my mom hemmed the afternoon before. I sat up straight, I got my four points across (or three and a half since I couldn’t say “half-assed”), and I didn’t fall off the stool. Mission accomplished.

I also have a newfound respect for TV people. It’s amazing all the time and preparation that went into that short little segment. I’m awed by the amount of energy and pizzazz you need to host a show and the ability required to dodge and weave and go with the flow. My segment got moved from the 36 minute mark to the 42 minute mark and I’m sure they were rearranging other things. Right after we were done, I left the building and walked by Lester and Jenna doing a shot outside in the crowd. They were always running around and changing things up, but looking totally calm and collected as they were doing it, like it had all been planned for weeks.

Then I went out to brunch at Sarabeth’s with family and friends and ordered the Fat and Fluffy French Toast. That’s right. I promoted my weight loss book and then I ate a dish with the word “fat” in the title. And it was delicious. Mmmmm.

For the rest of the day, whenever I looked in a mirror I was shocked at my reflection. “I have a face!” I told my aunt Lori. I have never looked cuter in tourist photos than I do in my New York pics. When I got home and read my e-mail someone said they liked how I’d answered a certain question and I thought, “Did we talk about that?” I honestly couldn’t remember. Yet, all together it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

We’re kicking it off today with the woman who helped get this whole book thing rolling, Kalyn Denny of Kalyn’s Kitchen. Here is a schedule of the rest of my stops, which I will update with direct links to the posts as they go live. It should be lots of fun, so I hope everyone will check it out!

Monday, May 5: Kalyn’s Kitchen

Tuesday, May 6: CalorieLab (interview)

Wednesday, May 7: Life of L

Thursday, May 8: Big Fat Deal

Friday, May 9: Cranky Fitness

Monday, May 12: DietGirl

Tuesday, May 13: Diet Blog (guest post)

Wednesday, May 14: Elastic Waist (interview)

Thursday, May 15: Livin’ La Vida Low Carb (podcast)

Friday, May 16: Back in Skinny Jeans (podcast)

Monday, May 19: Manic Mommy (book giveaway!)

Tuesday, May 20: CalorieLab (review)

Wednesday, May 21: Elastic Waist (guest on video show The Daily Special)

Thursday, May 22: The Skinny at the Florida Sun-Sentinel

Friday, May 23: Roni’s Weight Watchen Page

Monday, May 26: The Diet Naked Blog formerly “The Amazing Shrinking Mom” (book giveaway!)

I also wanted to thank the following blogs for posting reviews before I got my act together to schedule the blog tour.

April 10 – In My Heels

April 24 – Morgan Gets Thin

April 26 – Yet Another Weight Watcher’s Blog

And if you’ve posted a review, interview, revealing photos of me and want to be listed in this post, e-mail me and I’ll include a link. Except if you posted revealing photos, in which case I’ll send you a cease and desist letter.