Meg Cabot
The best-selling novelist who gained fame for her Princess Diaries series is meeting fans in central Iowa today.
Meg Cabot will be reading from Size 12 and Ready to Rock, the latest book in her popular line of mysteries about a former teen singing star.
Cabot says her character Heather Wells found a new livelihood as a sleuth after getting dropped by her label because she gained weight. Cabot says the storyline strikes a real chord with women readers.
“The average American woman now is a size 14 or up, that’s more than half of the nation is actually that size and yet all we see in the media when we turn on the TV or look at movies are women who are like a size 2,” Cabot says. “A lot of times, if we do see a larger lady, she loses weight before she gets a guy.”
This is the fourth book in the Heather Wells series, which includes titles like, Big Boned, Size 12 Is Not Fat and Size 14 Is Not Fat Either. Cabot says she’s writing from experience.
“Oh my gosh, I think I’ve been up to a size 18 so I’ve been all these sizes, I’ve been bigger than Heather and I’ve gone down, I’ve gone up,” Cabot says. “It’s really difficult to find cute clothes. That’s why I started wanting to write about it.” The 45-year-old Cabot is an Indiana native and says plus-sizes aren’t just in her jeans — or genes — as her father was 6-foot-5 and her brother is 6-8.
“We come from a really big family and we like to eat,” Cabot says, laughing. “I’m from the Midwest. We’re big people out here. My weight fluctuates quite a bit depending on how long I’ve been laying around writing a book and not standing up and exercising. I’ll try to work out and eat a little healthier but I’ve definitely been there.”
With 50-some books in print, Cabot has had multiple number-one New York Times best-sellers and has sold more than 16-million copies worldwide. Her 16-book series, The Princess Diaries, has been published in 38 countries and was made into two hit films by Disney.
Cabot appears at 7 P.M. at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines to read from the new book, sign copies and take questions. Learn more at: www.megcabot.com.