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This week I've been in New York City promoting "Confidence is Queen" so that young women all over the country know it exists, they can get one and begin to feel inspired (which is what I pray this book will do for each of you). Just like anything worthwhile, it's been very difficult. The news making headlines these days is almost all negative; what celebs are going to rehab or splitting up, the war in Iraq, gas prices and worse and worse it gets. Anything positive makes the news less and less.

After completing the book months ago, the next step was to spread the word about it so that magazines and television and radio shows will want to have me on to discuss it and raise awareness. If I don't do the press, nobody will ever know it exists.

At first, nobody seemed to care about it. TV shows didn't want me on, radio wasn't interested and I was feeling pretty bummed about it. I thought that they'd be all for spreading such a positive message. Not the case. But then one day, because we didn't give up, people came around. A bunch of radio shows said they wanted me on...then TV shows. Before I knew it, I was sitting at NBC studios talking to Kathy Lee Gifford on The Today Show in NYC, which I am so incredibly grateful for!

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The 3^rd key in my book is about health and beauty so I wanted to take the opportunity and talk about celebrities, working out and eating well because it's ALWAYS such an issue in the tabloids and what all magazines seem to care about these days. We are constantly reading about who's too skinny or too fat or "OMG, look how much Reese Whitherspoon has let herself go!"

As someone who is constantly being asked about my workout regimen and what I eat to stay in shape and what my "secret" is, I can honestly tell you that I have no secret, nada! I work my little tail off at the gym climbing 100 floors on the Stairmaster and pay my trainer to kick my ass into soarness so that I can look good at events and on tv.

I'll never forget all the work I put in to prepare for my Maxim photo shoot last summer. At the time I was still living in NYC and there were days (when, by the grace of God, I was feeling extra motivated) that I would go to the gym twice!!! I would work out with my trainer in the morning and then take Urban Rebounding at Crunch gym, which thankfully was attached to my apartment building so it was convenient)

Now, I know that normal people work, have kids, mow lawns, and can't afford a trainer to motivate them and whip them into shape. But it's important for women to understand that when you see a celebrity on the cover of a magazine looking fit and fabulous there is a lot of time and money (that most people don't have) that goes into those photos.

Here...I'll break it down for you:

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Video games...two words that women hate. Our boyfriends and husbands can spend countless hours trying to beat the Patriots in Madden Football or mowing down pedestrians while driving through the streets of Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto 4. I used to sit there in boredom watching my college boyfriend (now my husband) play one of his three video game systems. He had a Playstation 2, Xbox and, at one point, a Game Cube as well. Of course I was trying to impress him and be the cool girlfriend that supports video games since most girls complained about it.

Well, one day, the unthinkable happened; I actually started enjoying watching him play, and then started playing them myself. It became fun and while I was working for MTV in NYC, my co-host, Damien, and his girlfriend would come over to play Condemned: Criminal Origins on Xbox 360. It was so much fun! I began to appreciate how difficult it was to play these games and how hard it was to beat them. It took us days to beat Condemned.

Recently, we got Guitar Hero 3 and let me tell you...it's a blasty! We get together with my husband's younger brothers or with friends in Los Angeles and have evenings of trying to out-do each other on the "guitar".

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Susie Castillo is our guest blogger during the week of July 7th. If you have any questions for her, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some brief information about Confidence is Queen: The Four Keys to Ultimate Beauty Through Positive Thinking