Getting published is no easy task. For every book accepted by a major house, another 98 submitted manuscripts generally go unpublished. As much as we writers love our topics and our books, they are, when it comes right down to it, commodities to be bought by companies who feel they can make a decent profit from whatever pieces they choose. One of the most important selling points in non-fiction is topic. When I was looking for a publisher for Size Wise in 1993, size acceptance was not considered to be a hot topic. Diets were.

I approached over 50 publishers with query letters. The majority of editors who bothered to respond at all sent poorly Xeroxed form letters saying "Thanks, but no thanks." Some didn't even bother with a letter or even a note, just scrawled "Not for us" across the bottom of my query. This type of rejection is typical and because of it writers must develop pretty thick skin. I filed my rejections away and tried to ignore them.

During this period I happened to see a television interview with Anne Rice, extremely popular author of novels like Interview With The Vampire and Tale of the Body Thief. She talked of receiving so many rejections for Interview that she was beginning to consider publishing it herself and walking the streets selling copies from a paper bag. I kept that in mind as my own rejections began to fill a folder in my file cabinet. If my favorite writer had had to deal with rejections and eventually found the right publisher, so would I. And who knows, maybe Anne and I would end up sharing a street corner, hawking our books together. Size acceptance; children of the night. Not all that far apart.

What fascinated me most during this stage were the phone calls and letters I received from various editors and publishers telling me what a wonderful book Size Wise was going to be. Many told of their own experiences with being fat or talked of an aunt, cousin, parent, sibling, best friend, or coworker who had problems because of their size. Some asked to be notified when the book was available so they could purchase a copy. They just didn't feel it was "right" for their company. There were several offers to publish Size Wise - after a doctor was hired to add a weight loss diet. I rejected them.

One day an editor at a well-known New York publishing house phoned to discuss purchasing my manuscript. As we talked, he mentioned his plan to hire a doctor to put together a diet that could be included in the book. I asked if he had read the book. Did he understand the message was size-acceptance? "Of course," he replied. "And I agree 100% with what the book says. But the day you can sell a book to overweight people about improving their lives without including a weight-loss plan is the day pigs will fly."

Needless to say, we didn't make a deal. It was just a few days later when an editor from Avon called. She wanted the book and had no intention of adding a diet. I knew I had found the right publisher.

A couple of weeks after Size Wise began appearing in bookstores I was at a local garden center and spotted several whirligigs . . . flying cows, frogs, fish, and, would you believe it, pigs. I brought two home, wrapped one in pretty lavender tissue paper and put it into a box with a copy of Size Wise. I mailed it to the "when pigs fly" editor with a short note: "Guess what! They not only fly, but they are beautiful when they do."

Maybe diet books will always outsell size-acceptance. We humans are an insecure lot and we want to be loved, admired, and accepted. But sometimes . . . well, the seemingly improbable happens.

So here's the deal. Maybe the conventional world doesn't see things your way. Maybe what you want isn't conventional. Maybe you're right and they're wrong. Don't let anyone set your limits.

My own flying pig hangs in my balcony garden. Whenever I look up from my desk, there it is, twirling happily in the breeze. It always makes me smile.