by Alvin Ramirez May 6, 2014
Angela Lauria interviewed another interesting author in her Book Journeys episode, in the person of Michele the Trainer, who wrote the Success Journal of the 100 Ways to Lose 100 Pounds series. She got the idea for writing the Quick Start to Losing 100 Pounds from her own weight loss journey as a kid when her parents would drag her to weight loss meetings. She would eat popular weight loss food at that time, which she did not like at all, and it was deprivation for her. As she was a type A person who wanted to get things done quickly, she thought of coming up with a book for busy people with recipes that are easy and quick to make, not heavy but attainable, healthy and delicious as well. Her aim in writing the books comes from her deep concern for the obesity epidemic in the country where people just go to drive-throughs and buy fast food. She wanted people to be able to prepare food on a basic level. She also envisioned a cookbook with pages that could withstand spills on the kitchen counter–ones that could be easily wiped off. Michele also has a weight loss program where she helps her clients discuss their diet. She gives suggestions on what food to eat and they would suggest something else to her and talk about it. At first, she thought about writing a physical fitness book but she has not identified with it as it would not cater to her clients’ needs. Rather, she had this urge of making a series of cookbooks because the retail diets seemed to have failed and people are still gaining pounds.
Michele admits that the process of publishing and putting the book together wasn’t easy for her. But she believes that her background as a project manager was the only way that she got the book done, aside from having a backburner team behind her which included an editor and a graphics designer. Being very good at identifying strengths among people, it was easy for Michele to find the right people for her book. And for her it’s important to delegate things that may be easier for others to do, and have a team that you can communicate with and trust and hand off responsibilities to, as this will result to producing more.
Asked about her expectations when she set out on her book journey, Michele says that her goal was never to become a bestseller, and she was not big on trophies and titles. She just wanted to write for a specific audience and be able to have a book that she can hand in to people and make them realize that it’s not hard to lose weight. They just have to know that they’re not alone and that there are easy things to introduce in one’s daily life that are possible.
Michele’s advice for those who feel they want to write a book is to reach out to somebody with credibility and who’s been through the process of writing a book so that they can find the help they need to really get it done.
Listen to the Michele the Trainer interview on BlogTalkRadio
DOWNLOAD Book-Journeys-Author-Interview-Michele-the-Trainer-May-1-2014
Watch out for Angela’s interview with another exciting author.