Below this is a list of other books

When I was younger I spent most of my time hating myself for being large; I saw no reason to care about myself. I didn't believe that anyone could ever love me for who I was and I made no effort to change how I felt about myself, I simply went along being unhappy.

One day while looking through books at a bookstore I found Breaking All the Rules by Nancy Roberts ( out of print). This actress and plus sized woman wrote about how a large woman
not only could dress and act like anyone else but they had the right to be treated with respect when they did. This book made me hopeful and I began to look for more. Unfortunately this was the 80s and there just wasn't much out there but the idea was there.
I went through a long time of hating myself and one book wasn't enough to miraculously change my life around over night but what I learned from it was a kernel of knowledge, it was like the grain of sand in an oyster. Even when I was at my worse, physically hurting myself there was this little voice that said "you don't have to do this, There are people like you who are happy and loved." Maybe it was that little thought that kept me open to possibilities.

So when after that I read Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women.. I was open to what she was saying like a flower to rain after a drought. In her book, she exposes today's unrealistic standards of female beauty as a destructive form of social control and a reaction against women's increasing status in business and politics. She showed how it behooved the marketing industry to make women hate themselves so that they would always be looking for something to make them feel better about themselves. This book made me angry, and that in turn, made me motivated. In my heart I knew this stuff but reading it, seeing it in print made me more angry then sad and anger is a weapon we can use to change things.
Now I started talking to other women pointing these things out, making it clear that we can love ourselves no matter what the media tells us, I began to actively search for material to read on the subject.

More books came along including, Nothing To Lose: A Guide to Sane Living in A Larger Body by Cheri K. Erdman., Self-Esteem Comes In All Sizes by Carol A. Johnson, and When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies: Freeing Yourself from Food and Weight Obsession by Jane Hirschmann and Carol Munter, each of these books lead to another one and gave me new ideas.

The books lead me to magazines such as Radiance, (on line look in my Links) a magazine for large women and Dimensions (now on line) a magazine for big women and the people who love them. There are also fashion magazines such as BBW which is very main stream and deals with midsized women.
I began to see more and more images of large women who loved themselves for who they are. The more I read the more I began to accept myself, to see my own worth and to realize that I was capable of being happy.

It was through Dimensions that I was introduced to the Internet. For the first time I began to realize that there could be an audience other then my professors for my writing and my art. I began to write my thoughts about size and self acceptance, about body image and about self-esteem. Putting my thoughts down helped me to realize how far I had come.

The more I wrote the easier it became, where once I had struggled over every word they now flowed out of me. The more I cared about a topic the easier it was to write. With the practice I was getting writing I began to realize that I could write on nearly any topic if I put my mind to it.

In trying to share my thoughts, I had discovered a skill I never believed that I had, I had become a writer. My goal now is to use my writing and my art to help other people learn to accept themselves for the way they are and to open doors for them the way other writers had done for me. If I can do for someone else what those writers did for me then I will be happy.

Some other books you might consider are: (Both fiction and non fiction)

Spilling Open : The Art of Becoming Yourself by Sabrina Ward Harrison

The Body Image Workbook : An 8-Step Program for Learning to Like Your Looks by
Thomas F. Cash, Ph.D.

Appearance Obsession : Learning to Love the Way You Look by Joni E. Johnston

Transforming Body Image : Love the Body You Have by Marcia Germaine Hutchinson

Love the Body You Were Born With : A Ten-Step Workbook for Women by Monica A. Dixon

Myrtle of Willendorf by Rebecca O'Connell ( fiction for young teens)

Bountiful Women: Large Women's Secrets for Living the Life They Desire by Bonnie Bernell, Carmen Renee Berry

Just the Weigh You Are : How to Be Fit and Healthy, Whatever Your Size by Steven Jonas, Linda Konner

Great Shape: The First Fitness Guide for Large Women by Pat Lyons, Debby Burgard

Real Fitness for Real Women : A Unique Workout Program for the Plus-Size Woman by Rochelle Rice, Kathy Silburger

Big Big Love: A Sourcebook on Sex for People of Size and Those Who Love Them by Hanne Blank

Zaftig: Well Rounded Erotica by Hanne Blank

Learning Curves by Michele Weston, Michael Sheldon

Carrying a Little Extra: A Guide to Healthy Pregnancy for the Plus-Size Woman by Paula Bernstein

Don't Weight by Kelly Bliss (health)

FAT!SO? by Marilyn Wann

Well Rounded by Catherine Lippincott

An Abundant Woman by Elizabeth Neff Walker

200 Ways to Love the Body You Have by Marcia Germaine Hutchinson

Sexy at Any Size by Katie Arons, Jacqueline Shannon

Tipping the Scales of Justice by Sondra Solovay

Worth Your Weight: What You Can Do About a Weight Problem by Barbara Altman Bruno

Life Is Not a Dress Size by Rita Farro

Plus Style by Suzan Nanfeldt

Appearance Obsession: Learning to Love the Way You Look by Joni E. Johnston

The Mass Market Woman: Defining Yourself as a Person in a World That Defines You By Your Appearance by Linda, M.D. McBryde

Body Outlaws: Young Women Write About Body Image and Identity by Ophira Edut (Editor), Rebecca Walker

Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write About Their Search for Self by Sara Shandler

Real Gorgeous: The Truth About Body and Beauty by Kaz Cooke

The Invisible Woman: Confronting Weight Prejudice in America by W. Charisse Goodman

Women En Large: Images of Fat Nudes by Laurie Toby Edison, Debbie Notkin

Overcoming Fear of Fat by Laura S. Brown (Editor), Esther D. Rothblum (Editor)

You Are Not What You Weigh: Escaping the Lie and Living the Truth by Lisa Bevere

The True Measure of a Woman: You Are More Than What You See by Lisa Bevere

Body Wars: Making Peace with Women's Bodies by Margo Maine, Ph.D.

Just the Weigh You Are : How to Be Fit and Healthy, Whatever Your Size by Linda Konner (Author), Steven Jonas (Author)

Delta Style: Eve Wasn't a Size 6 and Neither Am I by Delta Burke, Alexis Lipsitz

Fat: Exploding the Myths by Lisa Colles, Andrew Prentice

Self-Esteem Comes in All Sizes 2 Ed: How to Be Happy and Healthy At Your Natural Weight by Carol A. Johnsone

Size Wise by Judy Sullivan

Nothing to Lose: A Guide to Sane Living in a Larger Body by Cheri K. Erdman

The Forbidden Body: Why Being Fat Is Not a Sin by Shelley Bovey

Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West by Peter N. Stearns

Size-Positive Style: Clothing for the Plus and Supersize Woman by Linda S. Kanzinger

When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies: Freeing Yourself from Food and Weight Obsession by Jane R. Hirschmann, Carol H. Munter

Real Women Don't Diet!: One Man's Praise of Large Women and His Outrage at the Society That Rejects Them by Ken Mayer

Zaftig by Edward St. Paige,

'One Size Fits All': And Other Fables by Liz Curtis Higgs

Such A Pretty Face: Tales of Power and Abundance by Lee Martindale (Editor)

An Abundant Woman by Elizabeth Neff Walker (fiction)

FICTION... mystery:

Larger Than Death by Lynne Murray

Too Big to Miss: An Odelia Grey Mystery by Sue Ann Jaffarian

FICTION... Romance

Good in Bed: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner

Great Love by Rida Allen

SEWING

Fast Fit: Easy Pattern Alterations for Every Figure by Sandra Betzina

Fit for Real People: Sew Great Clothes Using Any Pattern by Pati Palmer

Sewing for Plus Sizes: Design, Fit, and Construction for Ample Apparel by Barbara Deckert

Patterns from Finished Clothes: Re-Creating the Clothes You Love by Tracy Doyle

if you find more send them to me.........