Debbie Lazinsky – Book Journeys Author Interview – Jan. 26, 2017

On this episode of Book Journeys (link to interview transcription), Vice President for The Author Incubator, Jenn McRobbie, interviews Debbie Lazinsky, author of No Time to Lose: How I Lost 185 Pounds and Saved My Life.

Debbie was 54 years old and weighed over three hundred pounds when her doctor told her that, because of her morbid obesity, she wouldn’t see sixty unless she had gastric bypass surgery. Debbie was shocked by the news and didn’t want to live the lifestyle required after the surgery, and so began the process of losing her weight “the old-fashioned way.” Debbie was then the director of marketing and advertising in a large retail company, and she applied the same skills she used for her job to lose weight – commit to a deadline and a goal, focus on details, gather information and the like. It took Debbie six frustrating weeks before she lost her first pound, but after that she had her system well in hand, and the system she used enabled her to lose 185 pounds in the succeeding eighteen months.

Debbie was six months into losing weight when she lost sixty pounds, and one of her objectives, once she reached that weight, was to get the word out to other women like herself on how they could lose weight using her system. As a marketing and advertising executive, she was used to the various ways of getting the word out on a product, and that was how she eventually realized that she needed to write a book. Debbie also realized that she needed credentials to built up the credibility necessary for her to speak about her message, so she became a personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise, and then a health coach so she could teach nutrition to her clients. It was also then that she received exposure, courtesy of a feature article in People magazine in January, 2014, and it was after that when she wrote out No Time to Lose.

Debbie remarked that the key to being able to write a book was to get herself out of the way of the message that she was presenting, by taking a non-judgemental view of her experiences and lessons and presenting these in a way that a reader could relate to and be inspired by. The process in itself wasn’t easy, and Debbie admitted that she spent time trying to bribe and trick herself whenever she got writer’s block before figuring out that doing some sort of physical activity worked best for her. Debbie remarked that one should give oneself permission to take a break from writing and to expect and allow for writer’s block, as the urge to write will return.

Debbie admitted that the feedback she receives from those who have read her book please her greatly, pointing out that the experience of getting such feedback is totally different from the experience she had when she was told she would be dead in five years’ time. To those who would write a book, Debbie highly recommended Angela Lauria and the Difference Process, as the system used to write the book greatly helped her get her book out into the world.

 

Listen to the Debbie Lazinsky Interview on Book Journeys Radio

(Transcript) Debbie Lazinsky – Book Journeys Author Interview – January 26, 2017

DOWNLOAD the PDF: Book Journeys Author Interview – Debbie Lazinsky – Jan. 26, 2017

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