Here it is – finally – the audiobook of Take a Chance on Me! Originally self-published as ‘Hawaiian Affair’ (and followed by Hawaiian Escape and Hawaiian Retreat as they are called at the moment on Amazon) this is my first finished novel, and for three years people have been asking when the Audiobook would be out. Well here it is!
I devour audiobooks, if you didn’t know already. Every week I’m listening to hours and hours of stories and non-fiction in the car, and whilst cooking and gardening and sometimes even whilst walking the dogs. I’ve listened to/read more books in the past three years than I have in the past decade, thanks to multi-tasking. So it is with great pleasure that I announce that TACOM is now on audible.
I was delighted when Lyn my publisher told me that Howes Audio had bought the rights to make the audiobook and even more delighted to chat to talented narrator Antonia Beamish who told me she loved my (ahem) steamy scenes – ‘you’re very good at writing the sex scenes, Miss Flint’ she said. Lol. That’s one of the reasons I was happier for someone else to read my books, I have to say.
This week, a full look at one of my best TiFFT’s ever – my first novel finally out on my first audiobook. If you wondered what the narrators look like, here’s a pic of lovely Antonia Beamish who was chosen to be my narrator, and to get a link to listen to a free sample! Go here.
– the double agent – the relationship between literary agents and writers – more here
– learn about writing – from accomplished author Liz Harris – FREE EVENT.
“I shall be giving two talks – one about Publishing and one about Plotting your novel – at the City of Westminster Archives Centre on Saturday 11th June 2016, from 11am- 2pm.
11am- 12pm. I’ll talk briefly about my path to publication and will discuss some of the things I know now that I wish I’d known when I started out.
1pm- 2pm. Plotting Workshop: I’ll take you through the essentials of writing a novel that has a striking beginning, a non-saggy middle and a resounding ending.
Places are free, but booking is essential. Please call City Archives at 020776415180 or email them at [email protected] to book.”
Beginners’ Guide And if you’re a complete beginner and want to self-publish, my basic guide can be found here – beginner’s tips for self-publishing – a summary of info, sites and links to help you on your way. Including my guest blog on prestigious industry website, TheCreativePenn.com, Go here to read more.
Archives Don’t forget to check out the other archives (to the left) for even more fabulous hints, tips, links and blogs.
eBooks – all available on Amazon – paperback or eBook (kindle or kindle app or kindle on PC or Mac)
paperbacks – five fiction titles all available in paperback – via Amazon – see below.
FICTION
HAWAIIAN TRILOGY (2013/4) – romantic fiction in either steamy or PG options!
Book 1 Hawaiian Escape Steamy or Hawaiian Escape PG, the prequel to Hawaiian Affair – is now available on Amazon in eBook or paperback in both PG original and steamy (just released last week!).
DIARY OF A WANNABE SHOPPING CHANNEL PRESENTER – a stand alone story – Bridget Jones meets Alan Partridge meets Eddie Murphy in ‘Holy Man’ –click here to buy Ebook on amazon, and click here to buy paperback.
SHORT STORIES
‘When Dreams Return’ (2014) – spooky romantic short story – when Chelle’s pal Sara gets her to conjure up her ideal man with a full moon magic spell, she gets more than she bargained for… also appears in Hocus Pocus anthology.
The Valentine’s Surprise (2010) is a short story proving it’s never too late to find your Sir Galahad!
And Work in Progress, a compendium in paperback of Dairy of a Wannabe plus the two short stories in one volume.
Also – for Hallowe’en – an anthology of short spooky stories by 13 authors including many new shorts and my When Dreams Return in paperback! Hocus Pocus ’14 – ebook or paperback.
Till the Fat Lady Slims 2.0 – the ‘When’ Diet – is my semi-autobiographical weight loss book – updated for 2014 to include the latest thinking about nutrition. Learn how to eat like slim people do.
You may or may not know that I am published with UK independent publisher Choc Lit, and my very first novel with them, Take a Chance on Me, became a top 50 best selling e book last year. My ambition of a lifetime was fulfilled at Christmas, when it went into bookshops including WH Smith travel, where it reached number 79 in the charts. It was such a pleasure to see my book on a proper bookshop shelf, via a proper publisher.
Well the latest news is that Lyn my lovely publisher has now sold the French rights to a company who will be doing the translation into French! That has finally made me feel like a proper author 🙂
Previously she informed me that Antonia Beamish would be narrating, for Howes. Their Wholebook Audio is huge and you will be able to get it on CD as well as download eg via audible. Antonia has an excellent voice and I was thrilled to talk to her on the phone – which according to the Crimefest panel from audible, is quite rare.
Finally a look ahead. My next book will be the sister’s story. There is a prequel called Hawaiian Escape on Amazon which takes you into the past before Take a
Chance on Me happened. So my current Work in Progress is set just afterwards, and is based on, but NOT IDENTICAL TO, my sequel, previously published as Hawaiian Retreat.
eBooks – all available on Amazon – paperback or eBook (kindle or kindle app or kindle on PC or Mac)
paperbacks – five fiction titles all available in paperback – via Amazon – see below.
FICTION
HAWAIIAN TRILOGY (2013/4) – romantic fiction in either steamy or PG options!
Book 1 Hawaiian Escape Steamy or Hawaiian Escape PG, the prequel to Hawaiian Affair – is now available on Amazon in eBook or paperback in both PG original and steamy (just released last week!).
DIARY OF A WANNABE SHOPPING CHANNEL PRESENTER – a stand alone story – Bridget Jones meets Alan Partridge meets Eddie Murphy in ‘Holy Man’ –click here to buy Ebook on amazon, and click here to buy paperback.
SHORT STORIES
‘When Dreams Return’ (2014) – spooky romantic short story – when Chelle’s pal Sara gets her to conjure up her ideal man with a full moon magic spell, she gets more than she bargained for… also appears in Hocus Pocus anthology.
The Valentine’s Surprise (2010) is a short story proving it’s never too late to find your Sir Galahad!
And Work in Progress, a compendium in paperback of Dairy of a Wannabe plus the two short stories in one volume.
Also – for Hallowe’en – an anthology of short spooky stories by 13 authors including many new shorts and my When Dreams Return in paperback! Hocus Pocus ’14 – ebook or paperback.
Till the Fat Lady Slims 2.0 – the ‘When’ Diet – is my semi-autobiographical weight loss book – updated for 2014 to include the latest thinking about nutrition. Learn how to eat like slim people do.
As I write in my book Till the Fat Lady Slims 2.0 – The ‘When’ Diet, it’s vital to wean yourself off sugar.
Sugar is listed as being linked with all manner of health issues, and crucially it prevents you trusting the signals of your body. It will say ‘give me sugar’ instead of ‘now I want protein/ green veg/ fish’ and will keep you being controlled by the sugar demon in your veins.
These links are here for you to keep dipping into, whenever you feel the need. Now, maybe? If you’re reading this for the first time, watch this summary of the
One of the latest and one of the best is from RTE, featuring Professor Robert Lustig and also Damon Gameau from ‘That Sugar Film” – is on this link – especially if you buy ‘low fat’ food but can’t understand why your weight loss has plateaued. click here to watch SUGAR CRASH and it’s mentioned in a Back to you blog here.
I began my sugar free journey by slowly giving up sugar in coffee and tea, eg a quarter of a teaspoon less each week over four weeks, giving up ‘treats’ which now seemed like insidious tricks to keep me trapped and to keep my insulin levels too high to shed fat. The next four weeks I then cut down on any sugar as an added ingredient. Within that time I lost a stone.
Hope this all helps. It’s hard, especially at first, but not impossible.
How to tell that you definitely need to cut back –
– You find yourself reaching for a dessert or sugary sweet treat regularly through the day
– You feel you ‘have’ to end each meal with sugar
– You tell yourself you ‘can’t’ give up sugar in coffee – ‘can’t’ means you need to
– You KNOW you are not hungry but your thoughts go to sugar and you find yourself restless till you get some.
– You have energy peaks then feel exhausted and rely on sweets etc as a pick-me-up.
– You indulge at Xmas and still in early January you crave sugar again regularly
– You can’t stop once you’ve started. It’s still not enough. It’s never enough.
You’re not ‘bad.’ It’s ok, you know, once you’ve read the below you’ll begin to understand why it’s not simply about willpower. You’re in the grip of an addiction, caused by ever more sugar in our food.
It’s been happening since the early 1900’s, and consumption exploded after WWII rationing ended. In 1982 a big mistake happened. A massive error in how they read the studies back then meant that instead of demonising sugar AND fat, it was just fat. It should have been ‘eat low sugar and eat low fat’ in order to cut health problems and encourage weight loss. Instead, sugar escaped through the net. Food giants strove to make lower fat foods taste more palatable so piled in the sugar. Worse, a fruit sugar, fructose, began being used in a pure form. High Fructose Corn Syrup was cheap and helped keep down sugar prices. More than that it was even sweeter than ordinary table sugar, (which is half glucose and half fructose.) This is bad, because pure fructose should not be consumed without the ‘antidote,’ the fibre in the rest of the fruit. It does bad things in the only place it can be metabolised, the liver. Glucose on the other hand, can be used up in every part of the body, but we don’t need added sugar/glucose, because our body can make it from all normal foods including vegetables and complex carbs.
Starting in the liver, a third of all calories we eat as fructose are converted straight back into fat, no matter what exercise we do, no matter what deficit we create in calories and no matter how high our metabolism. (from ‘Sugar the Bitter Truth’ university lecture, see below.) Scary, right? Fructose by-passes the usual appetite-satisfying signals in the body (leptin, grehlin) and leaves us unsatiated. Fructose in the brain acts like cocaine – rats eating both were seven times more attracted to the sugar than to the cocaine. So don’t be a rat.
DON’T BE A RAT.
Simple carbohydrates (white bread, rice, potatoes, crisps, chips) are also bad but for a different reason – they keep insulin high which prevents the body going into fat burning mode.
There’s a ton of info below. DO please dip into it and make yourself aware of what’s controlling you. Get free of it, drink enough water so you’re not dehydrated, and use my Till the Fat Lady Slims 2.0 (TTFLS) book to help break free from food prison.
The habits of a lifetime can be changed, and it starts right here. it’s as easy as watching the videos below.
if you have kids around you with bad bad teeth who drink juice, get their parents to watch this. If you have overweight people around you who ‘can’t give up sugar’ get them to watch this. If you think it’s normal to have sweet stuff after every meal, watch this. If you still think low fat is the way to go, watch this. If you drink hot drinks with ever more sugar, watch this.
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PSYCHOLOGY OF TEMPTATION
Till the Fat Lady Slims 2.0 – the ‘When’ diet This is my semi-autobiographical weight loss book – if all else fails, and you still need to reach for the biscuit tin, this is how to stop it becoming a binge. FREEDOM EATING means sugar is not treasure – therefore resisting is easier.
The Chimp Paradox – it’s a chimp, that part of your brain linked to being a cave man, but there are ways of dealing with it even if you currently think it can’t be controlled. Understand how to deal with it and how it can help stop self-destructive habits. Fascinating book about human behaviour.
Gut: by Giulia Enders – another amazing resource. Examines how our microbiota in our gut is the beginning of many health issues. Genius new science. eg we have ‘chubby’ bacteria and how too much sugar affects our whole digestive system which affects our whole body, and our brain. Did you know we even have different bacteria if we are depressed?
Fat burning simplified Nutrition guru Marlene Watson Tara (.com) has a hard hitting but simple to understand article about why eating simple sugars means insulin is released and having insulin in your body means the cells CANNOT shed fat. Fat Burning Simplified is here – it helped me stop reaching for sugary ‘treats’ – they’re not treats, they’re an insulin switch.
Addicted Oreos are legal crack – so says this website – go here to see the effects of sugar on the brain and why they can be as addictive as cocaine. Isn’t it best to get off it?
Trapped If the idea of being controlled by others makes your blood boil, just look at this astonishing article about how food makers deliberately targeted the overweight consumers to make them sugar addicted and buy more. Are you one of their minions? Have they got you addicted? Read this to understand why the answer is to cut down on sugar, then rebel.
yet more research – improve kids’ health in ten days – here’s an October 2015 New York Times report on the latest findings from Professor Lustig and team on what happened to obese kids’ health in little over a week of cutting right back on added sugars – it’s amazing reading.
If you’re like me, watching these iconic videos will make you WANT to stop eating the chronic poison that mucks up your metabolism and keeps you trapped –
– Sugar the Bitter Truth –
1. the original YouTube sensation An hour and a half of a university lecture in 2004 by Professor Robert Lustig the anti-sugar campaigner who is changing the world one click at a time. I watched this FOUR times before I reduced it so much that I ate no sugar at all for a whole month, and lost a stone. So worth while. If getting the info affects your mindset at the moment of decision, then watch them over and over. And keep watching more till you find it easier to leave the dangerous white stuff alone. Sugar the Bitter Truth on youtube is here. 90 mins long – I watched it 4 times – full of science.
3.(nb if you want a summary, here’s the 2011 New York Times article explaining it in more or less layman’s terms, if you don’t have 90 mins or the science is too confusing. read ‘is sugar toxic, sweet and vicious’ here.
4. The updated video lecture will help decry the nay sayers – see Prof lustig rip apart the studies ‘proving’ it’s not sugar – watch the first fifteen mins or so here in ‘Prof Robert Lustig – sugar; the newest, bitterest truth.’ it’s BRILLIANT.
– Toxic Sugar – ABC news report – great for beginners – 18 mins long –click here
– Is sugar Toxic (the Sixty Minute show) – 14 mins long – click here AND THE FOUR MINUTE SUMMARY HERE
– Prof Lustig video – by me! And taking it back to basics – combining exercise with the whole ‘avoid too much sugar if you want to lose weight’ theme, which we return to over and over again (!), here’s an eleven minute segment from a talk I went to by anti-sugar crusader, Prof Robert Lustig – this section is about the all-important hormones which influence our eating – incl insulin, and the other hormones that signal satiety in the body and how sugar disrupts it all. Click here to watch.
– Dr Eric Berg’s Youtube Channel – including this 14 min clip – the second half is most riveting – layman’s terms about toxicity- click here
– the RTE documentary featuring so many current experts, Professor Robert Lustig and also Damon Gameau from That Sugar film – watch Sugar Crash here. A good one to watch with the kids.
– how OVERCONSUMPTION OF SUGAR CAN HAVE ADDICTIVE EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN – a bit of science for you in a TED Ed vid – go here – only 5 mins long
– Aprl 2016 – the famous That Sugar Film currently on Youtube (or buy it if it’s been deleted) shows definitively it’s not about the calories. Click here.
– FED UP film – click here – scary – another amazing movie made by health campaigner with some truly scary politics leading to appalling kids’ health.
BOOKS
There’s a long list inside part two of TTFLs 2.0. In addition sign up for the newsletters listed and visit the scientific study sites like FABresearch.org, all listed in the book. Or on google or amazon etc.
ALTERNATIVES
Davina MacCall had a complete pull out in You Magazine at the beginning of January 2015 about giving up sugar and how you can cook differently to accommodate cutting down the white stuff. Lots of knowledge, and suggestions, and for some, that’s all they need. Well done Davina! More here about ‘Five Weeks to Sugar Free’.
Sarah Wilson’s classic ‘I Quit Sugar’ of course, in its various incarnations, if you like following a strict plan.
And Christianne Wolff’s book via QVC ‘Body Rescue Plan’ for a healthy eating diet. And so many more.
September 2015 – Jamie Oliver’s Sugar Rush on Channel 4, and a whole page on his website about why it’s vital to cut back – well done Jamie! go here.
And more.
This page is regularly updated. Please come back for more.
EXERCISE – maybe an endorphine rush or a tighter tum helps keep you wanting to persevere. Easy quick exercise in a few minutes every day. The Bodyblade is brilliant – here’s the ‘Beach video super6 workout’ Bruce and I did in LA to show how quick and enjoyable exercise can be.
Also – search for Urban rebounder, Leg Master, Lesley Sansone Walking DVD’s and if you have room the Pilates reformer. Or just dance.
ONLINE SUPPORT ON FACEBOOK
And don’t forget to come join us on the various related support groups –
How funny is this! It turns out that the ‘Ode to Fifty Shades of Grey’ attributed to great British poet Pam Ayres earlier this year, and doing the rounds again on Facebook and Twitter again now, isn’t her work at all! Rather it’s apparently from the pen of one John Summers. But it’s so ‘Pam-esque’ that the doyenne of the ditty had to take to Twitter to declare ‘I DID NOT write this poem… It is nothing to do with me.’
Here’s one that IS to do with her – inspired by her recent Jam Making sessions –
Great boiling pan of home-made jam
Shop stuff can’t hold a candle
It’s such a treat; it smells so sweet
And sticks you to the handle!
Hehe! Well done @pamAyres – you are now duly followed.
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ps for those who missed it, here’s the poem in full – inspired by the novel, in the style of the master of Odes!
‘An Ode to Fifty Shades of Grey’
The missus bought a Paperback down Shepton, Saturday, I had a look in her bag; …T’was “Fifty Shades of Grey”.
Well I just left her to it, …At ten I went to bed. An hour later she appeared; The sight filled me with dread…
In her left hand she held a rope; And in her right a whip! She threw them down on the floor, And then began to strip.
Well fifty years or so ago; I might have had a peek; But Mabel hasn’t weathered well; She’s eighty four next week.
Watching Mabel bump and grind; Could not have been much grimmer. Things then went from bad to worse; She toppled off her Zimmer!
She struggled up upon her feet; A couple minutes later; She put her teeth back in and said… I must dominate her!!
Now if you knew our Mabel, You’d see just why I spluttered, I’d spent two months in traction For the last complaint I’d muttered.
She stood there nude, naked like; Bent forward just a bit …. I thought oh well, what the hell, and stood on her left tit!
Mabel screamed, her teeth shot out; My god what had I done!? She moaned and groaned then shouted out: “Step on the other one!”
Well readers, I can’t tell no more; About what occurred that day. Suffice to say my jet black hair, Turned fifty shades of Grey.
