New Release Alert: UNRAVELLING HIS MARK : Come See Behind The Scenes!

Hello, beautiful people!

It's been a couple months since I've last been here... Life has been crazy, but I was also dealing with a not-so-easy time (more on that in next month's post, though - I'm still clawing my way out of the woods).

But there's a big spot of brightness happening at the moment, and it is the release of this new book!

What's it about? Let's just say my Corpus Agency espionage/romantic suspense series continues through here...

My Exercise Jam ... Or How To Fit Movement In Your Day While Also Having Fun!

Hello, beautiful people!

I've been stressing over what to talk to you about this month. Not that I lack topics (yes, blabbermouth that I am, LOL), but there's just so much I want to tell you and I was stumped as to what to go with.

The past 2 weeks have seen me strangely in a lull where it was school/Easter break and I had almost no editing work on the plate! So it was almost like I had 2 weeks to myself ... and we all know how that ends up. The blokes here love to go out, so of course, we're also eating out (the staff at McDonald's Cascavelle know us by name & face by now, I'm sure!); there's no alarm clock in the morning, so guess who is sleeping in like a beached whale...

And, of course, NO EXERCISE! I do yoga first thing when I get up around 7am usually, but that routine went out the window during this break. I gotta tell you, if I don't move for more than 2-3 days, my back starts acting up (I have a too-curved spine from growing up too fast and being 5-feet tall already at tables meant for 3-4 feet tall kids, plus I had a car accident some 20 years ago where a vertebrae in my spine was crushed).

So how do you fit exercise in during break time? How do you fit exercise and movement in, full stop? I'll show you my way!

I Have A Flat Chest & Not A Lot Of Money: Tips and Tricks for Fashion (Esp. Flat Fashion) On A Budget

Credit: Hannah Morgan @ Unsplash.com

Hello, beautiful people!

Sorry this post is so late this month – I was dealing with some personal issues which set back my health a little bit, and thus my focus was on ‘get back to striving again’ and that took a lot of energy and time. Not to mention that I had 2 books set to release this month (Book4 of the espionage romance Corpus Agency series, and the French translation of Book3 of The Daimsbury Chronicles series). So yeah, March kinda flew by.

Now, back on track. Let’s talk fashion, and style. Most of you know I had breast cancer in 2005 and 2010 – both times resulted in mastectomies (aka surgical removal of the breast tissue), and I opted not to have breast reconstruction done after both (frankly, I didn’t have the money, and even when I found out the government hospitals would do it for free and that my insurance would cover the costs even in a private clinic, I was so not going to go under the knife again. Nope!) Anyway, so what this means is that, since 2010, it looks like I swapped my chest with an ironing board, because I am now flatter than a pre-pubescent boy. My chest is literally skin on the bones of my ribs … and I wouldn’t have it any other way – less chance of a lump developing on that surface and me missing it under my fingers.

Which brings us to fashion. Ever seen a man in a skinny T-shirt?

Salads Make Me Fat … My Journey Into ‘Dieting’ & How That Didn’t Work For Me

Credits: Taylor Kiser @ Unsplash.com

Hello, beautiful people!

I first have to apologize because this blog post was supposed to reach you last Sunday … but I was with a huge cold last Sunday after I had overhauled my entire wardrobe using Marie Kondo’s KonMari method (I’ll tell you more on that in another post as I’m still applying those techniques to my entire house).

So, we’re back on track – fingers crossed this now lasts! You know me and plans, LOL.

You might be wondering, after reading my title, what on Earth I’m rambling about. Because everyone knows that when you want to lose weight, you opt for a salad, dressing on the side or even no dressing at all!

I thought the same, too. But I was wrong!

Let me take you back to sometime around September 2017. I had this maxi-length shirtdress that I loved to wear when going out – it had a drawstring waist that I kept pretty loose because I hate belted clothes as they just make my arse pop out too much. So, this dress wasn’t tight by any means … but one day when I was going out with my mother and I’d worn that dress, it was tight on my hips and midsection. Cue me going ‘Gaaaahhhh!’ and vowing to do everything to lose that weight (I did know how it had settled into place, though. Almost no exercise and worse, no movement in the past couple of months because I’d been at my desk almost 24/7).

Making Plans : The Case For and … Against?

Hello beautiful people!

It feels so good to be back here and able to talk to you again. I know, it’s been a while … but even the best laid plans can go haywire.

Which brings me to what I’m talking about today – making plans.

I am the queen of To-Do lists! There’s that virtual Post-It note on my computer desktop screen listing everything I have to do today/this week/in order.
There’s the actual Post-It note stuck to the screen edge … which never seems to remain stuck, so it drifts off and I can lose that part.
There’s the open square paper note block on the table between my keyboard and screen—everything and nothing on, in no particular order.
There’s my diary/planner to the side—month ‘jobs’, week jobs, day jobs clearly listed. There’s the whiteboard on the wall of the hallway to the kitchen—grocery list, to-do list, important dates.
Oh, let’s not forget the calendar on the phone, with reminders, and the online Google calendar and the like.
Ahem, Type A, much? Sadly, yes.

But my point being – I make plans, yes, but they don’t always pan out.

Advice to a newbie writer #amwriting #writing

Hello beautiful people

So it looks like I can pop here once every month - can we please go for that? If I have more worthy content, I will definitely post.

But yeah - a few days ago on a Goodreads group I'm in, someone asked what advice we'd give a newbie author. I wrote a few lines...and then this issue kept working at me throughout the week and it wouldn't let up, so I thought why not put this together in a post and put it out here. I hope some, if not all, of it can be of some help to a writer out there. Maybe a newbie will find it useful; maybe an established author can find a nugget of truth somewhere in there... Either way, here goes!

Living (& writing) with #BreastCancer...& why I haven't published anything yet this year #Sorry

Hello beautiful people!

I hope you're all doing well. I'm okay, just battling the stupendously cold weather that slammed down on Mauritius this week.

Anywho, by now, you all prolly know I have been diagnosed with cancer. Twice. It's been 5 years since the second diagnosis. I don't really talk about it (it's boring, and there are way more informative and funnier blogs from cancer survivors out there) but I think the time might have come to speak out a little more about what it is to live once you've been diagnosed with cancer.

Back In (the) Black #BadPuns

Hey beautiful people!

Did you, like me, just hear the opening music of the AC/DC track based on the title of this post? I sure did. I mean, epic or what? Such a silence-breaker, that one. And it was a play on me being back to blogging (no longer in the red...so basically in the black...?) Yeah, bad pun, right? Hence the hashtag...which has gotten drilled into me by my almost-13-yr-old Internet savvy kiddo. Actually, according to him, everything I say is a bad pun, so, I tend to hear "hashtag-bad-pun" a looooot when he's home with me. Which he has been - 2 full weeks of April break. We can't call it Easter break this year as Easter came and went before the first school trimester was out, so there you have it.

Coconut Quick-Mix Yellow Cake with Marshmallow Frosting - All #Homemade! NO #Chemicals!

Hey peeps!

So I know I've built a reputation as an undomestic goddess....but I've been working to remedy that 'flaw' and so have gotten quite proficient in the kitchen, especially the baking area. If we're friends on FB, you'll often see pics of my baking during the weekend on my wall.

And a couple weeks ago, I made this cake and a lot of people asked me for the recipe. Rather than blowing their eardrums off with my rambling, I decided it would be best to post the recipe with all its tips and tidbits here so everyone could have access to it. And also, I love to share whatever I have acquired as knowledge, so here goes. 

From Couch Potato To Exercise Freak: My #Fitness Journey Amid #Cancer Struggles

Origin: Rebel Dieticians.us

Hey beautiful people!

Post didn't manage to come in on Wednesday; I hope you won't mind that I moved the day a little as it seems Fridays are/will be a bit less mad in the big scheme of things.

So it was my birthday last week, and when I turned 32 a year ago, I took a long, good look at myself and my lifestyle and I knew something had to give. The thirties were creeping up on me (slow metabolism, finding carbs to be almost toxic to my waistline, sugar making me balloon up, loss of energy, listlessness) and this was all not helped by the fact that I also take Tamoxifen, the estrogen blocker hormone therapy that is a fixture of post-estrogen-receptive cancer diagnosis. It was my fourth year on the drug, and though I'd been originally told on 2010 when I came down with breast cancer for the second time that I would need to take the drug for 5 years, in the meantime, the consensus had changed that the drug should now be taken for 10 years (!!!), to be switched after those 10 years with another drug that caters to post-menopausal women. But in my case, I had come down with this cancer at the age of 27, so 10 years onwards would make me only 37, not at all even close to 'real' menopause and certainly not post-menopausal...

Falling Off The Wagon...and getting back on again #MyMeaCulpa

Life passing you by...

Hey beautiful people

First, I have to apologize for being both MIA and AWOL from here for quite a while. Life happened, blah blah blah (or is it bleh bleh bleh like Dracula in Hotel Transylvania? I digress...) So yes, I do have that excuse...but that's exactly what it is - an excuse.

Have you ever fallen off the wagon? I clearly have, and case in point, blogging. Where did I lose myself, where did I fall, and where did I land?

Nightmare in #Mauritius: the dark side of Casela Nature Park #tourist #attraction #avoid #placetovisit

Hey, ye all!

You guys know me as that girl who's always talking about her beautiful island - heck, I even use Mauritius as the setting for a good many of my novels. Yes, I do wax lyrical about my motherland...but I haven't got my head up my you-know-what so I don't recognise when there's awful stuff going on to tarnish that good image my country upholds.

Noble Romance Publishing closes...& I get 2 series/3 books back!

A few days ago, Noble Romance Publishing authors received an email stating the house was closing, and that rights for all stories by every author will be reverting to them automatically; books to be removed from sales outlet between now and October, tops. Authors who wished for an official Return of Rights letter simply had to request one, and it would be delivered.

Link Thursday: Raising A Girl - 16 Things You Wish You'd Known

Hey peeps!

Sorry for yesterday - Blogger would not let me in! I had this post lined up about letting your readers down; guess I'll have to post it another Wednesday now.
And if it's not one thing, it's the other. Today, Twitter won't let me in, giving me it's huge whale picture instead. Growing tired of seeing that one!

Kitchen Klutz' Recipes: Chicken Fajita Salad

Sorry, my camera doesn't have great resolution
But this is what the salad looks like :)

Hey beautiful people!

For a long time, I didn't know how to cook. Yes, I could whip up something so the blokes wouldn't starve, but I didn't know how to go about cooking and making dishes, etc. That's how I used to term myself an undomestic goddess, especially in the kitchen.

At the PopCultureDivas today: An Indo-Muslim wedding in Mauritius!

Hey peeps!

Little update on my dad (since a lot of you asked - thank you!) - he's been discharged from the hospital and is coming home this afternoon. His surgery was a success, and recovery looks like a walk in the park, according to his doctor. :)

Progress Friday: A New Contract!

Hey peeps!

Can you believe it's already Friday??? And lol, I spent this morning online...but ended up getting nothing done. How is that possible? True though that there is always something shiny on the Net, and it's so easy to get waylaid. That's why I prefer to have the wifi off when I'm writing or have work to do. Less temptation towards time perdition.

Link Thursday: 20 Britishisms Making Their Way Into American Culture

Hey beautiful people!

It's Thursday, which means... I'll be posting up a cross link from an article I read online, stuff that I believe might interest you.

If the shoe fits...

My latest shoe splurge!

Hey peeps!

Was debating what to post today... Usually on Wednesdays, you'll find me blogging twice a month at The Pop Culture Divas. However, today is not mine to put something up, so I don't have a PCD link to share with you.

Playlist Mania: My Fangirl Crushing on Olly Murs

Hey peeps!

Told you I'd be back with more madness from my corner of the world. Yes, yes - run for cover! Do it already! Now! Or else....