Cover Reveal: THE HIDDEN CHILDREN by Reshma K. Barshikar

~ Cover Reveal ~

The Hidden Children (The Lost Grimoire #1)

by Reshma K. Barshikar

‘What price would you pay to be extraordinary? What would you do to speak to a butterfly? 

Shayamukthy cruises through life: shooting hoops, daydreaming and listening to her favourite books. Even moving from the US to India, to a new school, a new culture, hasn't really rattled her. But something isn't right anymore and it begins when 'New Girl' joins the school. 

She pulls Shui into a world of magic and wonderment, a world she has been hidden from all her life. What starts as a quest to look for a lost book, hurtles Shui into a world where people live in trees, talk to the dead and speak to butterflies. 

But like all power, magic comes at a steep price, and under all things wondrous lie demons waiting to crawl out. The more Shui learns, the more she doubts everything and everyone around her.   

Will she be able to master her powers, or will they devour her and everyone she loves? 

Releasing on 10th November

About the Author:

Travel writer and novelist Reshma K Barshikar is
an erstwhile Investment Banker who, as she tells it, ‘fell down a rabbit hole
and discovered a world outside a fluorescent cubicle.’ As a travel and features
writer, she contributes to National Geographic Traveller, Harper’s Bazaar,
Grazia, The Sunday Guardian, SilverKris, The Mint Lounge and The Hindu. Fade
Into Red, published by Random House India was her debut novel and featured in
Amazon Top 10 Bestsellers. She also holds well renowned workshops for young
adults at both BDL Museum and Kala Ghoda and is keen to build a strong Young
Adult reading and writing community to fill the desperate lack of young adult fiction
in the Indian Market. Her new Young Adult novel, The Hidden Children, will be
launching at the Vizag Junior Literary Festival. Reshma is from the ISB Class
of 2003. She calls both Mumbai and the Nilgiris home. 

Contact the Author:

Website I Facebook I Twitter I Goodreads

It's purple people, everywhere you look!

Art by Linzé

Yes, October is the month for exams, the start of our rainy season, and the blooming Jacaranda trees. Last week I talked about all the trees we saw driving around our city (shopping for a couch, not to look at trees) but this week the scenery is a little different. It rained the past two days, hard, and the result is that those purple flowers now adorn the sidewalks and roads. There is still an abundance of flowers on the trees, but the purple carpets now extend the sheer volume of purple to double of what it was last week. Gorgeous!

Speaking of exams, I handed in my last assignment on my Training and Development Management short course this past week. After three months of studying and doing homework assignments, I suddenly felt at a loss of what to do with my time! A really odd sensation for me. But after two days of procrastinating (writing projects), reading a bit, and editing a lot, I finally got stuck in on finishing a craft project and doing the drawing of a Jacaranda tree.

With my artistic self-satisfied for a bit, the coming week will be spent on doing some research for my next non-fiction book.

I emailed the journal book manuscript, Take your Journal to the Next Level, to my editor on Friday. If everything works out (still not sure on what I want to do for the cover design), it will be ready for publication in January 2019. Watch this space if you are a journal writer, or are interested in starting the practice.

Since purple is the colour of creativity (and one of my favourites), I already feel inspired to tackle this week.

May yours be purple too!

💜 Linzé

Living in the Jacaranda City

Today we went to breakfast in the Brooklyn Mall, then we we drove to a place in East Lynne (they were closed), then via Queenswood and Colbyn onto the N4 highway to a camping and outdoor store. After a bit of shopping we followed Lynnwood Road to Lynnwood Bridge Mall for a coffee stop over before heading home again. Quite a roundtrip through our beautiful city.

Lots of blooming Jacarandas - all over the city!
(pictures taken with Linzé's iPhone)

Although Pretoria is known as the Jacaranda city, it is a fact that Johannesburg has more Jacaranda trees. But in my (not so) humble opinion, our city is prettier especially in October with all the splashes of purple to brighten up the rainy day.

Speaking of purple, our mulberry tree is bursting with berries since the rain started. And I am off to gather some more fruit for the freezer to do some delicious things when I will have a little more time in December.

Until next time!

💜💜💜Linzé

I found a tree!

  Well, technically the tree has been in our garden since we moved in thirteen years ago, but it has never produced any fruit until this year.

White Mulberries in my garden

  I found the evidence as purple bird droppings on our driveway, but the origin of the evidence baffled me until yesterday. I found the tree. It has been years, literally since I have had the pleasure of eating mulberries. Well, eating would be an understatement. We gulped them down by the handfuls when we were kids, my brother and I, and then had to spend hours trying to get the purple washed from our hands and faces.
  This particular tree, I think, is a white mulberry but it can also be a bastardised black mulberry. I am no expert however.
  I love the smell of the tree when I stand under it. Then again the close proximity of the yesterday, today and tomorrow bush could definitely have an influence on my olfactory experience.

Mulberries

  But I do know, the fruits are lovely and sweet. I already picked several handfuls today. Some I kept for my lunchbox tomorrow, and the rest went into the freezer after a thorough rinse.
I plan to use the frozen berries to make smoothies, ice cream, and sauces for ice creams and other desserts. I can hardly wait to gather some more tomorrow, even though I can only reach about 10% of the crop because of the size of the tree.
  Oh well, the birds do seem to enjoy the delicious berries almost as much as I do.

Next time I will tell you about my new writing buddy, Jack.
Until then, take care!

💜💜 Linzé

Two months to go...

This is my year of becoming 50 years of age. In two months I will achieve that milestone, if milestone is in fact the correct word.

As I ponder this year so far, I also like to think about what I have achieved thus far. Overall, I have to say it has been a busy year. Busyness is however not an indication of any success, I am sure you agree. On that point I like to track my progress of my goals, and aside from a record, these graphs also serve as motivation for me to keep going.

Linzé's Word Count Target for 2018

This past week I also managed to finish the first draft of my book, Take Your Journal to the Next Level. I am editing it this coming week. If you are following my blog you will know that editing is an activity that I don't particularly like, but I have to say that it is much less of a chore when it comes to non-fiction books.

Tracking my exercise goals in 2018

I have also received the Adobe InDesign file of my first non-fiction book, Negotiating the Maze - from self-published writer to successful authorpreneur, from the publisher of the print book. I now have to fix a few things in the file (I still have to learn how to do that) to prepare it for ebook publication with PublishDrive. I am looking forward to have it available again in ebook format.

With my course's assignment done, I now have a day to relax before I have to tackle the coursework of Module 8. It will be a challenge since Stoic Week also starts tomorrow. Challenging times indeed, but I look forward to every moment.

Until next time! Keep one eye on your goals, but focus on the present to do what you need to do to get there.

💜 Linzé

I still hate ironing

Happy vernal/autumnal equinox day!
I remembered that I wrote a story about this a few years ago. You can read it for free on Wattpad.

This week my homework assignment prompted a few hours of thinking about my course about to start in October. Yes, it will still go ahead as planned, so book your place super quick, there are only 10 spots available.
My thoughts centred around the possibility of a second book, but I am not yet sure if it will happen.
Since it is now officially spring around here, we are hopeful that we will have rain soon. It is so dusty that the sky is not even blue anymore. The haziness of all the dust in the air reminds me of smog, and Pretoria isn't that kind of city. Until this week it would seem.
With my course, and the book, my chores have been piling up. Good thing that tomorrow is a public holiday, Heritage Day. Although most people refer to it as Braai Day, because we dig out the barbies to braai in celebration of summer. Cooking over a fire is the second most popular sport in this country (after rugby that is) and even a vegetarian like myself can enjoy food prepared this way.
And on that note, I need to see what I can find in the freezer and attempt some dent in that pile of laundry to be ironed.

Until next time, keep the good times rolling!
🙋‍♀️ Linzé

Keeping up...with me

Photo Hannah Olinger on Unsplash

How hard can it be to be an adult? Apparently harder than I sometimes tell myself. Read about that life lesson here.

Writing, studying, working, exercising, and a change of diet all together tends to keep me pretty busy. I took a leaf out of my current writing project, Take Your Journal to the Next Level, and restarted using a Bullet Journal. I have used it before, but I made a simple mistake which I now fixed: I am using a separate notebook.

In the past I used my normal journal to add the bujo activities, but it wasn't effective. Two weeks ago I dug out a blank journal out of my cupboard and have been using it with much greater success. I changed the format slightly to suit me, but that is just one of the benefits of the simple planner style-it is adaptable.

All the things I need to do are now in one place, and I can better see what I will have time for - yes, priorities. It helps to prioritise my study hours for the week, and when to work on my assignments so I can hand in early, leaving me more time to work on the book mentioned above. With better planning, I can make better progress, while studying. As it stands the first draft is now 75% complete, and I am back on schedule.
Go bujo!

If you are a journal writer stuck in a rut, or want to start a keeping journal, or just want to experiment with different styles of journal writing, then I want your input.

If you live in Pretoria, South Africa, and would like to learn more about journal writing, contact me to get your name on a mailing list for a course that will start in October.
If you are not living in my home city and still want to learn more about journal writing, you too can pop me an email to be a beta reader for Take Your Journal to the Next Level.

And since I have now committed myself to finishing the book by October, I better get back to it.

Wishing you a terrific week!
💜 Linzé

Interview with... Dan Weatherer

Linzé: This week I am privileged to have a playwright on the Broomstick and he is telling us about his upcoming book.

The Dead Stage – the period of time between completing the working draft of a stage play and placing it with an interested party.”- Dan Weatherer

Dan Weatherer, an author turned playwright, learned quickly that there are practices playwrights can implement to dramatically increase the appeal of their work.
Inside, you’ll find advice that will enable you to better tailor your work to the needs of the theatre industry, without having to compromise on style, content or subject matter. Dan discusses his early mistakes, and presents the advice of notable theatre professionals including the award-winning playwright, Deborah McAndrew, noted actor Matthew Spence, and London Horror Festival producer, Kate Danbury (along with many, many more!).

You’ll also be able to read several of Dan’s completed stage plays, which are presented in a preferred industry format, and often contain side-notes detailing the success (and failures) of said pieces.
From budgets to set design, run-time to cast size, if you ever felt the desire to write for the stage, following the advice presented in this book will help improve your chances of pairing your script with an interested party, hopefully making The Dead Stage pass almost unnoticed.

Brought to you by Crystal Lake Publishing – Tales from The Darkest Depths.

---

Dan Weatherer

Interview with the author:

What makes this non-fiction book so special?
“Placing a stage play with a theatre company is (in my experience) more difficult than placing a book with a publisher. Open theatre calls are highly competitive, seeing hundreds of entries for a call that can possibly stage only three or four pieces. Quality of work is no longer enough to guarantee consideration for performance.

The tips and advice contained in The Dead Stage allowed me to build an impressive portfolio of theatre work in a relatively short space of time. I believe it is important to share experiences if they may be able to help others achieve success.”

Tell us more about why you wanted to write this guide.

“Throughout my career, I have worked to create opportunities for others, believing it is better to be a small fish in a thriving ocean, rather than a big fish in a stagnant pond.

This book is about sharing my experiences and mistakes, in the hope that I can help others avoid the pitfalls that I fell into.

Theatre, more than any other medium, is a tough industry to break into. Every piece a playwright will write will always be in competition with work from the greatest playwrights of all time. Theatre is a business: seats need to be sold in order to keep theatres running, and so often established pieces are booked instead of the work of what many might term the ‘New Writing’. This is because they are considered safe bookings, and the theatre will, in most instances, not lose money. New writing is considered a risk. Usually, theatres set aside a budget for new writing, but this is often small and tightly contested.

But theatre needs new voices and there are theatre companies willing to give new writing a chance. This book is my way of saying that yes, it is possible to see your work performed on stage, no matter your previous experience in the theatre industry.”

If you have a passing interest in the theatre industry, either as a playwright, director, producer, actor or working behind the scenes, then this book is for you. It includes insights and advice from an array of professionals working at all levels of the industry today. Their advice helped me see my work performed on stage, now it’s their turn to help you.”

The book is due for release in October 2018. We will update you closer to the date for a pre-order link.

Thank you, Dan. We are looking forward to another excellent book from the Crystal Lake stable.
~Linzé

Coursework, writing, blogging and life

Photo by Emily Rudolph on Unsplash

I was a bit quiet this week, and not entirely of my own doing. I am doing an online course in Training and Development Management and the homework this past week was a bit more challenging and required more of my time. It is one of those things that you cannot just email the lecturer and tell him: "Sorry, I need more time because my blogs required my attention."

But I have a sneak preview of a new book for you on Tuesday, an interview with author and playwright Dan Weatherer where he reveals the story behind his upcoming book, The Dead Stage.

If you are an author or working on your first book, make sure you bookmark the post, because I will give you a pre-order link very soon.

Speaking of books, I have not only been studying, and the first draft of my next book, Take Your Journal to the Next Level is now at 69% complete. If you are a journal writer, and you live in Pretoria keep a lookout for the Facebook invitation to take part in a special project involving this book. But I am not going to reveal all the details yet.

Another exciting thing that is in the making is the republication of Negotiating the Maze - from self-published writer to successful authorpreneur. The ebook was withdrawn after Pronoun went under, but I have found a new publisher and hope to tell you the good news on where to find the ebook again very soon.

The paperback book is still available for South Africans if you want a signed copy.

The library indie book fair will take place again in November, and my place is secured. But more on that closer to the date.

Enough of all the exciting things going on right now. I have a book to write and more coursework coming in the week ahead.

Until next time!

Linzé

PS: I have another blog about life, wellness and life coaching. Take a look here.

Books, and all things life...of sorts

I had a run in with my garage door opener on Friday. It wasn't pretty. When I was ready to go to work, the door didn't open. Stuck, I decided to take leave for the day and do other stuff. Several hours later, I got that incredibly jittery feeling of being trapped. Not literally, but not being able to just get in the car and go somewhere, makes me feel that way.

So there I was trying to figure out how to do this. Of course, I knew what to do, but the problem was getting it done. Disengaging the motor drive was a challenge (because I refuse to get on a ladder) but I finally managed to stretch at just the right angle to reach it.

Here comes the not so pretty part. I had to lift the wooden door by hand. Given the angle and space, I had to work with, I was glad I was alone in that garage. I managed to lift it just enough so I could go outside (via Francois' garage door), stick my fingers underneath and then haul that load up.

The door is still damn heavy, but I was sure grateful for all those weights my personal trainer had me lifting these past eight months.

Door open I had now to try and get it closed again; otherwise I couldn't leave. Back to the same problem, the car was now outside, but the door now had to be closed again. But luckily the empty space was sufficient to get the door in the right position. I tried again to engage the motor drive, and thank goodness it locked the gear and closed by itself.

If any of my neighbours saw my efforts, they would probably have been laughing their butts off or popped over in a second to come and help. Since I managed, I went off to refuel the car and get a few things for home.

And the new book, Take Your Journal to the Next Level, is making good progress too. According to my project plan, the first draft is now 64% complete.

Something that makes me motivated to keep going, that's for sure.

Until next time!

💜  Linzé

PS: There are more book features coming soon!

Follow Me: A long weekend - Part 2

Friday, 10 August 2018

The fog was the consistency of milk soup this morning. I would say denser than yesterday's even.

Driving in the fog

We went to the Wheelbarrow for breakfast this morning. Amazingly enough, I remembered this place from way before. It has a lovely nursery, and the gardens give you a tropical forest feel when you walk through the gardens. They have all these nooks and crannies which are lovely, and secretive(?), to explore.

Do you know what these blue flowers are called? Please leave your answer in the comments, since I have never seen anything like it before and am curious to know.

At least the waiter knew what an Americano was. If memory serves, we still had to explain that style of coffee the last time we were here. But the breakfast was nice, and the coffee good too.

Now we are off to our next adventure, and I am grateful that the sun came out to burn away the fog. We saw too many drivers being irresponsible in the almost zero visibility conditions on the road.

It is 12h27, and we are having lunch at the Eatery in Haenertsburg.

After breakfast, we went into the forest looking for old trees. As in more 100 years old, but we didn't find them. Somewhat tricky to spot very tall trees amongst a lot of other tall trees. Maybe next time.

The entrance to the
"secret nook"
@ The Wheelbarrow

We did see lots of pine trees, masses of them. Okay, they were planted for their wood, so the truck filled with huge logs that drove past should have been my cue. And we also saw blue gum trees. They were huge. When I stood next to one looking up and up towards its crown, I felt slightly sick when I did. Motion sickness kicking in perhaps?

All the off-road driving brought some beautiful scenery too, and real motion sickness for me. That was rather yuck. I told Francois to stop so I could get out and interact with the ground on my own feet. While I sipped a little water, he turned the car around, and by then I felt marginally better.

Spotting the time, we went food hunting in some other parts of the forest area. A wedding venue looked promising, but they only provided the venue for day visitors for picnics and such, so no food in sight.

The "secret nook" @ The Wheelbarrow

Then we went back to the access road to the organic cheese farm we saw on the way in. Missing the turn-off, we went down the access road for busses. Which was funny. To accommodate a bus the road didn't have sharp turns and was a bit longer, but we reasoned that it was going to get us there. It did, right behind the butt of a big bus. My first thought, how on earth? Francois' reply: he is going to get out using the same struggle to get in.

The funny part? The bus access road ran past the homes of the staff working on the farm. There were these small steel rods planted across the road (Francois almost didn't see them in time) with string spun between them. It was a holding pin, if you want, to keep the pigs and a shed full of piglets from running all over I suppose. One of the men saw us, removed a pin for us to cross, and then he chased the pigs. The adults walked off by themselves, but the babies probably thought it was a game and came running towards the car. The man chased them again and boy can they run! If was funny to see those short legs move those round little bodies out of our way.

Amazing blue flowers
@ The Wheelbarrow

Then we got to the parking space and the bus mentioned above. Off to the bathroom it was for me while Francois walked around to spot a picture or two.

Side note: I have been to facilities on this trip that will give most people nightmares. And that is all I am going to say on that subject.

The cheese farm was a short visit. Their food offering looked uninteresting, and their set up not really geared for casual visitors. So we decided to go back to Haenertsburg. And here we are at the Eatery.

The food was delicious, and I liked the interior of the place too. The staff was lovely and knowledgeable about the food on the menu (dairy allergies can make for an exciting test of the waitress' knowledge).

We are now back at the cottage taking stock of the morning's excursions and thinking about what we are going to do after we finish our coffee.

17h19 settled in to wait for our dinner (pizza on both counts) to be served.

After we finished our coffee, we went damming. First off the Ebenezer Dam. To get there, we had to drive on what is known as Blue Gum Lane. It is not the official name of the road (gravel again, but not as bad as this morning's) because of the giant blue gum trees that line it on both sides. I collected a few blue gum leaves from the ground and took a few more pictures. I don't know if you have ever been close to such big trees, not only tall mind you, but they do give one a sense of timelessness. I also felt in awe that such living entities exist and are not cut down when the pine forest is harvested. The people of this country are not known for their environmental awareness, so seeing these beautiful big trees, almost made me cry.

Yes, we have all those national parks, but their existence is no longer because people feel the need for preservation of our fauna and flora, it is money that ensures their survival. These trees, however, have no monetary value, and yet there they stand. Doesn't say a lot about the new South Africa, does it?

Francois taking a photograph of Magoebaskloof Dam

Our next stop, down the mountain, was the Magoebaskloof Dam. Neither of us had been there, and it is a sight for sure. Especially with all those trees on the opposite shore. The water was mirror calm, and I am sure Francois' photographs (I will steal one with his permission) will tell the story. The angle of the sun made mobile phone pictures challenging, that is why I want one of is.

Back up the mountain, the sun is about to leave us for the day, and we are awaiting our pizzas with hungry anticipation.

Tomorrow morning we take the road back home to Pretoria. One the one hand the break was nice, but I like being home too. Since it is a long weekend, there is still a weekend ahead for doing things like drawing and shopping for supplies for next week. I have laundry to do, and the rest of the house to clean. Long weekends also go by faster than we want them to, don't they?

So this has been a short Follow Me, but I trust that you enjoyed my stories and our pictures documenting yet another beautiful part of my country, South Africa.

Until next time!

💜 Linzé

Follow Me: A long weekend - Part 1

Women's Day - 9 August 2018

Francois holding the gate for
me at the cemetery

We are in Haenertsburg in the Limpopo province today. Since it is a public holiday here (Women's Day) we both took leave for Friday and turned it into a long weekend. So here we are in one of the most beautiful parts of my country. It is high above sea level, so fog and rain are common occurrences, even at this time of year.

We didn't come with a plan: do this or go there, it was purely a matter of getting away and taking a break. But even without an itinerary, we did quite a bit today. Most of it involved food, but we had to eat after all.

After the semi-breakfast disaster - the first place we stopped was so crowded, and the queues so long, we decided to drive on and go somewhere else. I had a protein bar, and Francois got himself a small pie from the shop, to tie us over. Fifty kilometres later we had to wait a long time for our food to be delivered, and had to ask four times for cutlery (twice asked the same waitress) but we eventually got real food into our starving bodies. The coffee wasn't too bad though.

When we finally reached the region of Magoebaskloof, the fog hit us. In places it was so dense it was difficult to see the trees right next to the road. When we arrived in Haenertsburg, we set off to the cemetery. Trust me, I was just as surprised since neither of us has any relatives buried there.

Fog in the Haenertsburg cemetery
(photograph by Linzé)

But, Francois had been there before (with a few photography friends), so he knew what we were going to find - you guessed it - breathtaking scenery. The gravestones are overgrown with mosses, and some of them are quite old. Add the trees, shrubs, and green grass, and incredible photographs happened. Add to that the skills of a great photographer (nope, I wasn't referring to myself) and you have a few winners on your camera.

A signalling device? (photograph by Linzé)

When we got back into the village, we parked on the main street and explored a few of the quaint little shops we found there. I also spent some time in the local museum where local volunteers documented and maintain the local history of the village. The museum is open to the public but unmanned, so there wasn't anyone around that I could ask about the curious object. 

The unknown device's label (photograph by Linzé)

The label is so worn that I could only speculate that it is something used for navigation or signalling perhaps. If you know more, please let me know since I find old technology intriguing.

After the obligatory browse through the books and antiques shop, we sat down to enjoy coffee and cake for lunch. Something we can only get away with (from our consciences that is) during holidays.

The books and antiques shop
(photograph by Linzé)

We then went to book into our cottage, unpacked and relaxed for a bit, before heading out to explore the surrounding pine forest on foot. I collected a leaf, some pine needles and took pictures of the wild azaleas growing in abundance around here. They were extraordinarily beautiful with all the raindrops decorating their petals. With nature playing her part, there was no way that even pictures taken with my iPhone weren't going to turn out nice.

Later we drove around and took some photographs at the Ebenezer Dam. The fog was still as dense, if not more, than what we saw when we arrived. On our way back we stopped for a lovely dinner and coffee at Lekwar and decided that we will go back there for breakfast too before we go home.

Now I am typing this post in front of a cosy fire in our cottage. Internet access is limited, so I might only post this once we are back at home. Note to self: check the spelling of Haenertsburg, there is something odd going on in the way different signs and the internet spells the name of the village.

Off to get some coffee to enjoy with my cosy fire. Then I will read my book for a bit, then go snuggle in bed with Francois who has been asleep already for the past half an hour.

Until tomorrow!

💜 Linzé

Book Feature: IRRESISTIBLE by Stella Eromonsere-Ajanaku

AVAILABLE NOW!

“I crave her...” - Jayden

“I can’t get him out of my head…” - Tiana

In between looking after his son during the day and living a double life at night, Jayden Donovan shuts out everything else. He does not welcome strays or strangers into his mansion in Buckhead, Uptown Atlanta. So, when he sneaks home and finds a woman with full curves, sun-kissed lips and long dark hair asleep on his sofa, all hell breaks loose. Who is she and what does she want?

Doctor Tiana Seegars ends up where she is not wanted–in an affluent neighbourhood far from home. Waking up to find the intense gaze of a sexy, rough-around-the-edges, tattooed man roaming over her body sends her pulse racing. Though Jayden gets her body hot, he wants her out of his home fast.

Yet his search for answers leads to a growing irresistible passion. Will Jayden and Tiana find what they both need?

~ From the author of “Shocking Affair”: A Sweet & Steamy Romance ~

Purchase Links (includes Paperbacks)

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2O5Hvs3

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FQ7TZ43/

Okada Books: http://okadabooks.com/book/about/irresistible_passion/19507

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/880384

Paperback: https://amzn.to/2JNmhfl

EXCERPT

Inhaling fast, Jayden’s nostrils flared and he swallowed. The tiny knots from earlier strengthened into larger bumps in his stomach.

A groan shipped out of his mouth.
“Please Lord, tell me the woman isn’t cooking in my kitchen.”
Christian had a separate apartment, so his housekeeper knew better than to cook inside his home.
Hastening down the stairs, Jayden charged into his kitchen, stopping short when he saw Tiana bending over in her short dark-blue skirt. She was reaching over to grab the roll of paper napkins on the floor.
The skirt stretched over her round backside and curvy hips like second-skin. His eyes trekked the long length of her legs up to her thighs. Curvy and attention-grabbing were two words that stuck in his mind.
Jayden swallowed at high speed.
Many women had attractive legs, so what? He had never dated a woman with full curves and he had no intention to change his preference. Sharpening his tongue to scare her out of his life, he cut her with his get-lost glower.
“Hello, what are you doing in my kitchen?”
The woman gasped, placing her fingers devoid of nail polish on her cleavage. Her eyes, wide and a dark-brown hue shot arrows at him as if he had intruded on her space.
“Lord, you scared me. Don’t you make any sound when you walk?”
Licking his lips, he averted his gaze from her boobs flashing at him. The pair looked like funbags. Her full lips, free of lipstick fell apart giving him a peek at her white teeth and pink gums.
Rendered almost speechless by her accusation and lovely voice, Jayden sputtered.
“I beg your pardon! You scared the hell out of me when I found you asleep on my sofa. This is my house and I can move around the way I want, don’t you think?”

About Stella

I'm Stella Eromonsere-Ajanaku, author of several toe-curling & heart-fluttering Flirty & Feisty Romance Novels.
I love and enjoy writing Interracial/Multicultural/BWWM & African American Romance as well as Historical & Paranormal Romance Stories. My heroes are super-sexy men with big hearts and the heroines are strong, flirty and feisty. All my stories are page turners, a breath of fresh air, dotted with unexpected twists and are set in fascinating Africa, enticing Europe and enchanting America. You will laugh, cry, get a thrill and a message when you read my books and each novel makes the perfect gift for your family, friends and colleagues. There are now 23 published books so far.
On a personal level, I'm a romantic freak, mother of two vivacious teenagers, married to my gorgeous husband, my hero and best friend and we live in London, UK. Swimming on my back like a star-fish is one of my skills.
Please write or connect with me on social media. I love hearing from you.

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On Camp, my next book, the business, and a book that scared me...

July is Camp NaNoWriMo month, and instead of writing fiction, I decided to tackle my next non-fiction book, Take your Journal to the Next Level. It is the working title for now, but I am already partial to keeping it as the final title of the book. But writing non-fiction is not an easy thing to do for a writing challenge focused on word count, so I needed a backup story for the days where the book wasn't progressing according to schedule.

My word count target per month

It was hard since I didn't have a story I was working on, only editing. Until I got a writing prompt from a writing website I subscribe to and bam! my problem was solved. A murder mystery with a serial killer on the lose. Not sure I am ready for this story, but we will see how it develops after I finish the book and the editing of my fifth novel.

My business as a life coach for creatives will launch soon. Although the company has been going since 2015, I needed to do a few things before it was ready for full-scale activities. Watch this space! Oh, yeah, this blog is not for business, so if you are an indie author or artist, the website for the company is listed under my About page. No need to clutter this blog with that.

While July was primarily spent writing, I also finished a book that I started about a month earlier. Reading relaxes me, but it also provides insight and knowledge, both of which I constantly feel the need to attain. The book is Selfie by Will Storr. I bought the book on impulse thinking it was about our modern predilection for taking pictures of ourselves. Aside from the cover that blinded me each time I picked it up (it is intentional I think, since it is highly reflective, almost a mirror), the book is an investigative piece about of self-obsession. The author did a tremendous job to find out where it all began, where we are now and how this almost narcissistic trend is affecting us, our society and culture and how this vicious circle is feeding on itself. Scary stuff, but a book well worth the time.

One criticism I do have is the layout of the book. It is not easy to read since it was written in six parts, with no chapters. A book of this nature and well over 300 pages, is not a one-sitting kind of read, so it was a challenge to me.

So life is back on the regular daily writing target, with the other things that I have to do. I will post more updates about my current non-fiction project on Medium and the website. If you keep a journal or plan to start, or just want to see what exciting things I dug up in my research, those are the places where I bare all.

Until next time!

💜 Linzé