Why are my characters so skinny & I'm so fat

Damn if every last one of my characters in True Age http://amzn.to/1KhNyEL isn't slim, trim and ... well, not all that fit. OK, they have the benefit of genetic intervention and True Age Tabs that keep them young and more or less beautiful for 300 years.
But they're not so fit, because the quality of the food is pretty meh. After all , when there are 300 billion people to feed, you gotta cut corners.
But those who don't take advantage of the technology are skinny, too. Damn but starvation and a subsistence life-style will do that.
Meanwhile, I pack on the pounds, pound on the keyboard and try to muster the discipline to shed (lets start with) 30 pounds. Actually, I do plan to get serious about this big, fat situation - even if it means sacrificing some writing time to exercise.

True Age View: Plastic surgery, sure I'll have some of that

What is up with plastic surgery denial?
Every time you turn on the tube, a plastic fantastic celeb is crowing about how exercise and a healthy diet is keeping his or her face free from wrinkles.
OK, sure, Michelle, Suzanne, Tom, Dave, Christie etc. you are all blessed with wicked awesome genes. (I have noticed men don't quite get the scrutiny women do when it comes to this topic unless their surgeries go terribly awry. No one asks Matt Damon, have you had work done.)
Anyway - we're not buying these denials (Heidi Montag and Jane Fonda, you can stop reading now & thank you for your honesty) and here's a better option. GO all in.
Just say "I've had it all done" and sweep your hand from top to bottom and grin. "I've had every inch, hoisted, sutured, plumped, polished and perfected - so there."
Disarm them with truth-overkill.
Repeat as necessary when your obnoxious interrogator tries to get specific -- was it your face, your hips, your hairline, your butt-o-logical area?
Yup, it was all of that and you know, you could use a little tune up yourself, I know I guy that'll tuck that tummy right through your belly button and no one will ever know. 
So why this rant about PS?
In my novel True Age, this barbaric practice is a thing of the past. Genetics! That's where it's at. Turning off the aging gene. Shutting down disease. Every person on the planet gets to live 300 good years with aging shut down at 50. Not today's 50  -- but a more youthful, vibrant, sexier 50 than we're used to.
Now not everyone chooses this lifestyle -- actually the people who go "au natural" are called Choosers and they age the regular old way, just like us. But in True Age, they are seen as outcasts, rebels, heretics. Dying at age 90 or so is seen as disgraceful, a betrayal of both science and the human race.
But don't worry, Extenders -- the ultra-long-lived -- get their comeuppance and it's not pretty.
Check it out!

Easy link to True Age

Here's your easy link to True Age.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VGGVTU2

Three provocative questions for writers

I'd love to hear your thoughts on any or all of these questions that sometimes erupt in my head and grind me to a stop. I'll post my answers later.
1. Do you think your earlier writing, your raw, unpolished stuff is in some ways better than your later work? What I'm getting at, is we learn the conventions, see there's a formula for success and we adapt our creative leanings in that direction.
2. How do you measure your success, do you set specific goals (money, following, copies sold) or do you throw it all up there and see what sticks?
3. Has your writing life interfered with or enhanced your relationships to others (like spouse, friends etc, not your writers' group!)

No kidding

True Age goes live today, April 1, 2015.
An April Fools Day launch - good strategy, bad strategy? Who knows.  Here's the link for all my friends, family and fans new and old: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VGGVTU2.
Thanks for checking out this tale of genetic engineering, longevity and a world population struggling to cope with the new reality: 300 years of life.

All those strange words in True Age

Several True Age readers said I'd just better put together a glossary of terms if I knew what was good for me. I pondered this for a couple of seconds, as it meant more work, but then thought what the hell, it can't hurt. So for those who can't quite glean the meaning from the story, here ya go.

Glossary

Boose – short for caboose, basically a city bus

Choosers – People who choose not to take life-extension. They live a lifespan similar to the one we have now, about 80 years.

Docteur – A doctor. French medical research was instrumental in making extended life available to the masses and so this is a nod to those contributions.

Extenders – People who participate in life-extension. 

Fellowship Dome – The state holds regularly scheduled euthanasia for those who have run out of time. This takes place in regional arenas designed for mass extinction and disposal.

Gleap – A global leap or re-location to another area of the world, designed by the state as one of the remedies to help relieve boredom.

GROD – Government Rule on Dispatch. Basically, the police.

HoWee – A taboo form of music that originated with Choosers. It’s unique sound comes from bones.

I Don't Cares – A group – some might say a cult – of rebels who will do anything necessary to combat the new world order.

LIV – Life Intensive Venture. LIV represents the comprehensive plan for humanity – life extension, the government oversight of this, and all the societal mechanisms intended to make it work. Pronounced as it would be in this sentence: I hope I live a long time.

MEOMB – My Eyes on My Business. A warning issued by the GROD to those who observe police actions to ignore what they’ve seen. Also, a self-warning to not interfere in government business.

ReNew – Marriage vows are renewable in several different increments: 10, 25 and so on up to Ultra-vows that are until death do you part.

ReVive – An option to reanimate individuals who have died prematurely, generally used for children or other relatively young people who have died from an accident.

ReFRESH – A way to analyze scientific date. Also used as a psychological torture method.  

Syllable-century system – At the start of each 100 years, a person adds a syllable to his\her name and this signifies what century s\he is in. The first syllable is selected by the parents, after that the individual can choose. For instance: Li at birth, Lilu at 100, Liluna at 200.

The Change – an opportunity to change one’s gender.

The Innovation – The start of an era of extended lifespans through genetic engineering.

The Virtue – A virtual reality program, used primarily for sexual fantasies. Issued to married couples to give them a safe outlet for sexual exploration.

Tabs – True Age Bromide. Tabs support extended life with a combination of ingredients that nourish, calm and fine-tune individual genetic preferences. 

UG – United Government monetary unit. Money.

UNI – a device that provides communication and media access in all forms.

Five Questions for True Age author Liv Byron

Q. Do you seriously think people will be able to live to 300 years of age someday?

A. Yes, without a doubt. Science is nearly there already. This book is more science illustrated through fiction, rather than science fiction of the outlandish idea genre. The bigger question, in my mind is, not if the human lifespan will be expanded but how will we manage all that extra time.

Q. So how do people, with these extra-long lives, cope in your story?

A. In True Age, we find people struggling with the two extra centuries they’ve been given. For one thing, there are not enough resources to adequately support them. On the up side, people are given the tools to ensure that they live relatively healthy, youthful lives for the duration – it’s not as if they are aging as we do now. 

Q. The book talks about the Great Horror of Boredom, what’s that about?

A. Right, it is definitely the biggest challenge for the characters – to find meaning in life. Especially as most people have make-work jobs and assigned housing. There are not a lot of choices.

However, the government of LIV (the Life Intensive Venture) offers solutions, however. For instance, one can change one’s sex in the second century. Married couples take renewable vows. There’s a virtual reality sex machine which provides an opportunity for experimentation. There’s also a relocation service that helps you move to another area of the globe.

Q.  Not everyone in the story lives three centuries, why is that?

A. There’s an opposition group that works to restore dignity to life, asking people to look at quality versus quantity of years. These people, called Choosers, have chosen not to become “extenders”,  those who participate in life extension technology.

Choosers believe the old ways are best. Many of them grow their own food and strive to live as close to nature as possible in a world manipulated by technology.

Q.  So are you, ultimately, saying it’s a bad thing to live 300 years?

A. Not at all. The point is to look at how individuals and societies can successfully support lifespans that even now are so much longer than they were 100 years ago. How do we make later years valuable and meaningful, how to we provide for aging populations and make room for the new generations coming in? How do we preserve the earth’s resources and population growth as people live longer and longer lives?