When I get an idea in my head and heart, I run with it as if my life freakin’ depends on it.

At the beginning of this year, I was ready to rock 2012. I was ALL over it. I shouted crazy loud to the universe, BRING IT. I am SO ready for this shit.

‘Cept, I think I put a li’l bit too much pressure on myself, because let me tell you, five weeks in and I was beat.

This weekend, I was seriously at risk of burning out, I set myself crazy deadlines and in amongst all of that, life happens, it throws you curveballs, and you have to be flexible. I think that’s my biggest lesson of the year so far, not just because I’ve discovered the joy of yoga – love me the yoga, but because I’m seeing the benefits of not being so rigid about things, and feeling them intuitively instead.
I really rather like it.

I have a list of amazing things I’m going to create, be and do this year, but I was putting crazy-pressure on my sweet self to get them all done, like…now, but guess what? I’ve got a whole year to do it in, in fact I’ve got an entire lifetime, and if life takes me off list? Then that’s really cool as well, I get to make the rules and decide how to prioritise my energy, that’s the deal when you’re SASSY – hurrah!

The end of Jan was shitty.
Simple as that. But shit does happen. It’s how you deal with it that really matters, so after I threw a proper diva like tantrum declaring the end of the world as we know it, ate four French Fancies in a row and wallowed rather self-indulgently at my pity party for one, I asked myself what do I need right now?

A break. Time out from the to-do list. Enter beautiful beau who is taking me to Paris next week – ohh la la! Seriously, it’s the best gift anyone could ever give me – I love New York, and my heart will always be in San Fransisco, but Paris is where my magick happens – you’ll read all about it in the book – and I’m going to use our time there to fill up on that gorgeous magick that the sparkly Eiffel tower illuminates, to kiss my beau as much as actually possible, to walk the streets o’ Paris, to people watch, to peruse li’l book shops, to eat nutella filled crepes and go watch girls in frilly knickers at the Moulin Rouge – wohhhhhhoooooooo!

A social media break. I LOVE social media, but until the 13th of Feb, as of now, I’m on a holibobs from all o’ that. Apparently the world WON’T end if I step away from it, I’m testing that theory.

Go to bed early. My head is filled with a gazzillion thoughts and if I let it, it would keep me up all night with book ideas, features to pitch, ways to build my beauty-full business, but to put all those into action I need to be in my bed before 10pm – rock n’ roll? No. How I roll? Yes.

NOT being a workaholic. Instead, making stuff happen at the right time and right place – it’s a freakin’ revelation.

Shedding my skin. Not literally, although I am a HUGE fan o’ dry brushing, if you don’t do it, give it a go. No, I’m talking about getting rid of photos from my past. I LOVE photos so much, but the things I need to remember are in my heart, so I dumped them. All of them. I feel lighter and so much happier not to have past relationship reminders in this relationship – let it go, it’s awesome!

What do you need right now?

So, here in the UK, most people have gone back to work today, I on the other hand, did my ‘reasons to heart being freelance’ dance, mostly because it meant I didn’t have to go out in the storm, and Jeez Louise, it’s ragin’, but also because there was no dread in my belly, because I am so super-lucky to get up each day and do the work I love…

Last year when I moved in with the beau, he gifted me a ‘room of my own’, which, according to Virginia Wolfe, every writer-girl should have, I put in a very pretty day bed where I would daydream big plots and crazy adventures, I hung beautiful bunting, filled the space with various kitsch spiritual iconography, the beau gave me a gorgeous writing desk from his fam, and I set my laptop on it – it was quite possibly the dream room.

Except I never used it. I’d look at it, I’d peek round the door and gaze lovingly at how pretty it was, but instead of using it, I’d sit downstairs on the sofa with the laptop on my lap, because…well, I just did. Then I started dancing and my writer-girl room became a dumping room for costume material, it was as if I’d dreamed so long of having a writer-girl room of my own, that when I actually got it, I didn’t know what to do with it.

Some of the things that went through my mind were:
What if I couldn’t write words in there?
I didn’t need all that space, I’ll just write downstairs, it’s fine.
I can’t just move into the beau’s house and take over a whole room, how rude is that?

Except it was more rude of me NOT to use it. By helping me create a writer-girl room, it was the beau’s way of showing that he believed in me and what I was doing. He believed in me as an actual writer and wanted to nurture that, he understood that as a creatrix, I needed my own space, he honoured me as a business-girl and wanted to give me what I needed in order to create and grow, yet it’s taken me 9 months to actual realise, acknowledge and accept it, I’ll admit, that’s a poor show on my part, innit?!

It finally clicked when we were talking with friends just before Yule about creative spaces and how important they are. I was about to wax lyrical about how I’d love one as gorgeous as hers – it’s totally dreamy, with sunlight pouring through a big bay window – when I realised I already had one, custom-made for this very writer girl. So, over the yule period, between the frivolities and eating and love-stuff, I have spent some time in here, learning to love it. I’ve created a beautiful sacred space for me to work in, so no more typing/emailing/TV watching – each morning I now enter my writer-girl room, light a candle to mark the beginning o’ the day, pull a tarot card, whisper sweet nothings to my spiritual home-girls to ask for their support and guidance for the day ahead, open my laptop, look around me at the pictures, inspiring quotes and breathe a big, happy sigh, I’m a writer-girl, I have a room of my own and I love it.

I’ve often been told, ‘girl, you’re so lucky!’ Now, if by lucky you mean, the juicy good stuff just happens to appear in my lap, then no, I’m not. If however, you actually mean I dream big dreams, get focused, do the work and make them happen, then yep, I’m VERY lucky.

What looks like luck from the outside is often a deliberate combo of hard work and self-belief. No matter what field you want to excel in, Author-girl Denise Duffield-Thomas can show you how to enhance your luck in life, love and business. Which is why I freaking LOVE this book. Lucky Bitch is a cooler, hipper and much more relevant version of ‘The Secret’ for SASSY girls. Fact. It’s a totally unconventional guide for anyone who wants to embrace big, totally outrageous success and create a life you love – hurrah for that, right?!

If you’re interested in the Law o’ Attraction but not entirely sure how you can make it roll in your life, this book provides really practical steps you can take to energetically align to your goal, real life stories from ordinary Lucky Bitches just like yourself and non-wanky advice about how to feel positive every day…

I can not recommend this book enough. Denise totally walks her talk. She and her husband Mark, won this amazing competition a few years ago where they travelled the world for 6 months testing luxury honeymoons, the story as to how she made that happen, beating over 30,000 people to win, is crazy-inspiring and it’s worth buying the book for that story alone.

Go buy it now, read it over the festive season and be totally prepped to start 2012 with everything you need to create and attract awesomeness.

www.luckybitchbook.com

FREE! Denise is offering a free copy of The Lucky Bitch Secrets of Outrageous Success over at her website: www.deniseduffieldthomas.com she’s like the gift that keeps giving!

I was feeling decidedly Grinch-like about all things festive, that was ’til I spent Tuesday evening in the company of the beau and 3 deliciously lovely ladies who call themselves The Puppini Sisters! Our liaison o’ loveliness was at The Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth, and yes, there were a few hundred other people there too, but I’ve chosen to wipe them from my vision of our retro Christmas soiree.

For those who don’t know, The Puppini Sisters are Marcella, Kate and Stephanie who are a whole lot o’ 1940s close-harmony awesomeness, they play a delectable array of instruments, including accordion, violin, glockenspiel and a kazoo and most importantly, they look real pretty in glittery dresses.

These girls do Christmas fabulously. Fact.

Their vocals are impressively tight as they bob and weave along to the fast-paced jazz backing. The crowd seemed somewhat lack-luster when Marcella asked who was feeling romantic, but they won her back round with their sing-a-long vocals during Let It Snow. My particular favourites of the evening included a not-very-Christmassy-at-all rendition of Beyonce’s Crazy in Love, heavily laden with some delightful jazz scatting, a much-better-than-the-original Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas and the Hawaiian Christmas song Mele Kalikimaka which made me want to don a Santa-red bikini and drink a pina colada.

If you didn’t manage to get a long to their Christmas gig, shame, but I wholeheartedly recommend you get your hands on a copy o’ Christmas With The Puppini Sisters as it’ll be just the thing to rouse you from your post-meal food coma.

Then, on boxing day I suggest that like me, you buy their new album Hollywood and flounce around like a silver-screen starlet in fluffy marabou heels. Like me.

Meet Gypsy Starfire, my burly-girl alter-ego. She’s sassy, obv., and conjures up magick with just the twinkle of an eye.

I have a li’l bit of a girl crush on her, mainly because she took to the stage at the weekend in a sparkly bra and corset combo, and shook her frilly knicker-ed behind with her gorgeous Art in Motion gal-pals. Something I, as Lisa Clark would NEVER, EVER have dreamed o’ doing. When I signed up to Midnight Iris‘ burlesque classes, it was to learn to dance, to find new ways to move and accept my body and to have fun, all of which we do in big, beautiful abundance, but the idea of actually performing in front of people? That was NOT on my list of things to-do. Well, it turns out this list-loving lady is ditching the to-do lists, because going off list is so much freakin’ fun!

Ms Starfire is the super-hero version of me. She is totally confident and self-assured, rocks false eyelashes and fishnets and can move seductively in substantial sized heels. I am LOVING having a character, an alter-ego, that allows me to explore an even more sassier side to myself than I thought was possible. She is now my total go-to girl when I need to rock a presentation or feel belly nerves before delivering a workshop to over 100 girls – don’t fret, I won’t be shaking my tail feathers, don’t think some of the dudes in suits that I present to on occasions would ‘quite know what to do with themselves – but I will, in any situ of nerves, fear and scary-ness, now ask myself, What Would Starfire do?

Why?

Because I KNOW the answer, whatever the question, will be: kick some ass, g-friend!

Why don’t you do the same? You don’t have to go s’far as to actually perform on stage, although I absolutely, positively recommend it – it’s the biggest buzz I’ve EVER had! – but if you don’t feel filled-to-the-brim with star-girl confidence, think about the girl you would be if you did have that confidence – what is she like? How does she act? What would she wear? I’m guessing she’s pretty freakin’ fabulous, right?

So today, imagine that you’re her.

Give her a name.

Start being as happy/vampy/confident as she is, start walking tall, smile, think in the same way as she’d think, develop a twinkle in your eye.

What you put out there g-friends, will bounce right back at’cha. If you walk around with a gloomy face, moaning about how unfair life is – people will feel drained when they’re around you and will avoid you at all costs.

Instead, beam out fabulousness, beam out smiles, beam out compliments and pink glitter-filled thoughts – it’ll come back to you x 100. Promise!

So, since September, I’ve been shakin’ what my mumma gave me at a burlesque class.
Now, I’ve always had big, big love for all things burly – the glamour, the sparkles, the make up, the body love – but getting out there and actually doing it myself? Not so much. I’ve always left that to the likes of Dita and Immodesty.

Well, ’til now, that is.

2011 has been a year o’ pushing myself outside my comfy zone, trying the things I’ve talked about trying but never got round to – belly dancing, getting fit, burlesque, doing scary things that make me freak out a li’l bit – presenting in front of big, influential dudes and dudettes at big influential organisations, taking ownership o’ all things SASSY and starting to share it with the world, completely and utterly giving myself over to the love stuff – that beau o’ mine is a very special kind o’ man, it would be impossible NOT too – basically, it’s been pretty incredz, which is why I now find myself sewing sparkly red sequins to a bra in prep for my first official outing with my gorgeous burly-girls, The Art of Motion.

Every Monday, the girls and I rock up to class with performer, model and dance teacher o’ awesomeness, Midnight Iris and we laugh, we share, we dance, we perform and we laugh a bit more. The dancing, whilst super-fun and good for me, seems kind o’ inconsequential to the connection I feel with my fellow girls when we rehearse. It makes my heart open up big and wide and positively gush with happy stuff.

There was a time in my not-so-distant past when I didn’t entirely dig on girlkind. All my friends were boys and I liked it that way, because boys were straightforward. I knew where I was with boykind. Girls? Not even. I know that sounds kind o’ weird when my purpose for being in the world is to work with girls and women creating awesomeness on all levels, but they say you teach what you need to know about most, right? And that’s deffo true of my ‘making peace with girlkind’ journey, so much of the work I’ve been doing, specifically with teen girls, is to help them to realise the importance of supporting, not dissing the sisterhood, and while I’ve never dissed on girlkind, that’s just not how I roll, I realised that I had to start opening up and connecting with girlkind on EVERY level.

When women connect, without an alterior motive, and support and inspire and encourage each other, something pretty awesome happens. Something my new gal-pal Donna calls, Girl Magick. It’s amazing, and it’s something that boykind will NEVER understand. I feel totally blessed that over the last five years I’ve gathered a very special girl tribe, gorgeous goddesses who get me, who dig me just as I am, and we share, openly from the heart, we support, celebrate, and we nurture each other. My girl tribe are scattered across the world, yet I know that wherever we are, we’re always connected.

My burly girls are now part of that tribe. These are girls that I’d previously have been afraid of: gorgeous, talented, loud and out there girls, but by putting myself out there, with an open heart, I’ve now made new friends. No trash talking, no gossiping, just big, big love stuff. Oh, and some killer moves that we plan on bustin’ next weekend.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is nothing more magickal than when gorgeous goddess girls connect. It’s official, girlkind rock.

So, I’ve been given a gentle nudge by a few minxettes to update y’all on my weight release journey that I started earlier this year…

Now I’m nothing if not honest, so here’s the deal.

Firstly, I got complacent.

I’d released 56lb – hurrah – and thought to myself, do you know what? I can take a break now, surely? The doctor was pleased with me, I was feeling lighter and brighter in myself and I deserved some time out, right? Wrong.

Y’see, while the releasing weight bit was actually do-able, the head and heart stuff? Well that’s a whole other plate o’ food…

I might of released some weight-age, but what I hadn’t done, was change up my story. Y’see, when your story remains the same, yet you try and change up your behaviour, life falls out o’ whack. Now, as a life coach and girl who helps others to transform and grow, I felt a bit o’ a failure. Why hadn’t I realised that to shed the poundage for good, I had to change my thinking, my programmed beliefs about food and my body? Thing is I had realised, it’s just that, well…that shit’s hard work.

Now, I’m not afraid o’ hard work, not at all, in fact I thrive on it, but when it involves having to do some digging into the deep, dark shadow-y stuff that I’ve spent a substantial part o’ my life trying to keep locked away, well, that’s crazy hard. So for a few months, I ignored it, but when, like me, your weapon o’ mass-self-destruction in life has been self-sabotage, you’ll know that, unless you put down your weapons and make self-love your weapon o’ choice indefinitely, you’ll start to hear the whisper o’ seductive self-sabotage-y-ness in your ear. Now, I know ALL about self-love, I’ve written books on it, yet, it still feels like something I dabble in. I LOVE the skin I’m in, yet I still seem to struggle with feeling worthy enough to be healthy and happy in the world, which is why it’s words o’ sabatoge-y-ness were sounding a li’l something like this:
“You don’t think you can actually be a size 14, do you?”
“You might as well eat a chocolate bar, because this healthier happier you isn’t really you, is it? It’s not like it’s going to last, is it?”
“You’re from a council estate, what makes you think you can be someone who’ll be able to eat organically and nutritionally, who do you think you are?
I slowly felt myself slipping back into my old attitude of despair, thinking I had absolutely no choice but to accept defeat, give up on myself. Then, something clicked. I was standing in front of the mirror and I made a decision.
“I am not accepting this. I am no longer playing at this level now, I’m healthy and happy, and I want more of it.”
So I did ‘the work’.

In fact, I’m still doing ‘the work’ and I’m thinking that I’ll always be doing ‘the work’.

Some of my belief systems around how worthy I am o’ success and happiness are so hard-wired and need a LOT of work, but that’s okay, because I’m a girl o’ SASS – Spiritual, Authentic, Sensual & Sensational – and girls o’ SASS know how to lock and load their awesomeness to make amazing things happen. Fact.

So, I’m now locking and loading. I gained 11 of those 56lb during the self-sabotage-y wobble (I’ll be writing more about what to do when your weapon o’ mass self-esteem destruction is self-sabotage next week) and I still have 3 stone-age to release to make the doctor types happy and to substantially ease the Endrometriosis, but I’m on it. I’m eating yummy, healthy nutritious food, I’m reading lots of books about emotional eating and transforming thoughts, learning all about how to eat to balance my hormones which’ll aid healing my Endrometriosis, and swimming, belly-dancing and burlesque-ing, I am a girl o’ SASS after all!

EXCITING NEWS: Sassy Minx is soon to get a swanky new look to coincide with the launch of my brand new book series, SASSYology, to make sure you don’t miss out on all the updates, news and most importantly, freebies, go ‘like’ Sassyology over at FB and ‘follow’ me, I’m Misssassyology, on twitter!

I never usually blog about a book ’til I’ve finished it, but this one is so good, I HAVE to tell you about it now. When I put it down, the characters call me back ‘…but wait Lisa, I’ve got more words of heart thumping beauty to share with you…’ I’ve got a gazillion deadlines, yet while I try to edit, create a brand bible and re-name a product, all I can do is think about the what’s happening within those pages, what are they doing without me? I keep giving myself ten minute breaks to go hang out with them and find out more, but I don’t want it to end either.

I discovered this book o’ wonder on Saturday on my first trip to Totnes. Have you ever been? It’s now my most favourite of places, I adored it. On arrival, the beau and I passed a man giving gong showers outside this most deliciously cute esoteric book store – if I had needed a reason to fall in love with the place ( I didn’t, I was instantly smitten) then this was most deffo it. This book was waiting for me on the shelf as soon as I walked in, and I felt an insta-heart tug. I’m not the only one that gets these over books, am I?

Just so you know I am a Rumi obsessive, and hold his poems personally responsible for my love of all things…well, love. This book, The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak shares the story of Rumi sewn together exquisitely with the contemporary storyline of Ella who has truly forgotten what it is to love and to be loved. The book, that’s been translated from Turkish, gives real insight into Rumi, his friendship with Shams, the mystical magic of Sufism and the most beautiful, beautiful rules o’ life and love. Sigh.

It’s clever, it’s beautifully written – lyrical almost – and it makes my heart sigh the biggest sigh of happiness. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to go finish reading it, erm…I mean work.

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak – buy your copy here – you won’t regret it, it’s like a beautifully woven tapestry of words and love and wonder. Sigh.

” A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.”
- Gandhi

A while back, I went through one o’ those dark stages where I said ‘no’ to everything; going out, seeing people, basically I was saying no to life. And well that? That pretty much sucked. So then, after reading Danny Wallace’s book Yes Man, I decided to say yes, but then that? Well that can get you in ALL kinds o’ trouble.

When I was a kid, there was this campaign called ‘Just Say No’ on a teev programme called Grange Hill. It was all about saying ‘no’ to drugs and there was some really bad chazza song too performed by the cast. Still, that’s not altogether important right now. What is important, is this whole saying ‘no’ business. Not necessarily to drugs, although personally, I reckon that’s pretty wise, but hey, that’s your call, what I mean is not saying ‘yes’ when what you really mean is ‘no’. That kinda ‘no’. The kinda ‘no’ you say and then stick to.

That’s the important bit, y’see. Sticking to it. It’s much harder than you think, but like that wise dude in the sandals, Gandhi, said above, if it comes from a place o’ total conviction, it’s way more powerful than any ‘yes’ we think we have to say to please people or because we think it’s what people want to hear.

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, in the past I’ve had a tendency to say ‘yes’ to everything and then burn out trying to please everyone except myself in the process, so today, I’ve drawn up a list. Yep, course I have, I have some serious Virgo tendencies under this Scorpio exterior, and as of today, I am saying a big, fat ‘no’ to:

Procrastination on my book writing: I’ve written 10 books o’ my own, 10 books as a writer-for-hire yet I still procrastinate when it comes to writing books – working on my own writing sends me into heart-thumping, sweat inducing guilt palpitations – no more. I say a big fat no to book-writing procrastination.

Compromising who I am to fit the ideals of others: even now, and even knowing everything I know, I still have moments where I worry what other people think of me. Not lots, but some. Next time I get one o’ those moments, I’m just going to say no. No to compromising my YOU-niqueness – in work, in stylin’, in life.

Working for free: In the past I’ve done lots of work for free, sometimes to get experience in a certain area, other times as a favour for a friend, but I’m drawing a line under that now. I’m not saying that payment has to come in monetary form (although that’s always rather splendid) but there absolutely, positively HAS to be an energy exchange. I totes say no to working for free. Wowzers – that actually feels kinda big and scary to say. Parp.

Treating my body like crap: Since May, I’ve been on a journey o’ health. I’ve released over 4 stone on my journey s’far, read endless books, blogs, listened to podcasts and I’ve really been educating myself about how to be nice to my sweet sweet self no matter what the number on the scales say, but no matter what I know, it still doesn’t stop me from chowing down on food that just doesn’t roll with me. Everyone says, ‘a little bit of what you like does you good’ but I don’t do moderation, and still find myself capable of consuming obscene amounts of chocolate in one sitting. So I’m simply going to say no to any action that treats my body like crap. There, I’ve said it. You listening universe? you’d better be, because I’m TOTES going to need your help with this one!

Fear & self-doubt: I am shouting the biggest, baddest N to the O of all at these two shady mofos.

What do you need to say no to? Care to share?

Now, I LOVE chicklit, but have been really disappointed this year, because with the exception o’ Belinda Jones’ new title, California Dreamers, there has been zilcho originality, well…’til now that is. Fat Girls & Fairy Cakes has rocked my book reading mind. This debut novel from author-girl, and my brand-new inspir-o-girl, Sue Watson, is freakin’ fabulous. Reading it is like indulging in a full fat, calorie laden cupcake without any guilt. I could not love a book more. Fact.

Come meet Sue. She’s a little bit freakin’ fabulous too. In fact, strike that, she’s a whole lot o’ fabulous with triple frosting and sprinkles on top.

Describe author-girl Sue Watson in 5 words…
feisty, curvy, sassy, cake-obsessed (ok, two words) and sooooo-girly!

Being a fat girl who loves fairy cakes, the title of your book alone was enough to make me want to read it, but this book is SO good, tell us how it went from an idea in your head to actual real life pretty-covered book?
Well, the ‘fat’ bit is definitely moi – I am a yo-yo dieter who has done every freakin’ diet in the world, from Weight Watchers to The Grapefruit Diet to the Sassy Soup Diet – all day every day. I’m sooooo bored of seeing slim, gorgeous women as heroines. I mean if you’re slim and gorgeous with loads o’ money – there’s no conflict, so what’s the story? Nada!

Having struggled with weight and cake/chocolate/anything remotely edible, all my life I wanted to write about someone like me – wanted something real on the page. I don’t want to read about some half-witted heroine angsting over being a ‘fat’ size 12 shock horror! (babe, I DREAM of being a size 12… in fact I DREAM of being size 16, when I’m not DREAMING of cake!) My passion for sweet, luscious, butter-creamed sponge buns filling my rosebud mouth with heaven was also a great inspiration.

Anyway – I baked and I wrote so I thought – hang on, let’s combine the two. And just when you think it’s all over and you get to the end of the book – there are Stella’s recipes, so you can relive every fabulous moment in your kitchen… I love them all but for sheer sass you won’t get better than Chocolate Chilli Fairy Cha Chas – from ‘The Strictly Come Dancing Collection.’ Yummy!

You used to work in TV land, ohhh the glamour, yet you gave it all up to be an author-girl. Has it been worth it?
I was an UBER Telly Tart and as the producer of Points of View I used to shamelessly rent a hotel room by the hour every week with Sir Terry Wogan (I don’t get into bed for anything less than a ‘Sir’). We rented the hotel room to film the programme, but once the camera, crew, lights and glamorous assistants were in situ there wasn’t room to swing a fluffy cat. Consequently, little me and my big plate of fresh home-made shortbread needed somewhere to sit so I could play at being a BBC producer/director. One day Sir Tezzer as I like to call him – suggested I lie down and direct proceedings from the four poster. Well, I don’t need to be asked into bed twice, so I lay across that silken coverlet like a rampant Botticelli gal! Fingering the coverlet coquettishly I ‘produced’ that man hard until he couldn’t be ‘produced’ any more. He would stagger from the room, exhausted and panting for mercy, but I was a produceratrix and demanded he return for retakes again… and again! But other than Thursday afternoons in bed with Sir Terry, there’s little I miss about the hurly burly of telly. These days I don’t finger coverlets or dominate Knights of the realm – I just stroke my digits across my gorge flamingo-pink laptop.

You shared a little bit about your publication journey recently on another blogginz, as a fellow author-girl, it was incredible to read someone actually telling it like it is, despite the rejections and setbacks what rocks about being an author?
After such a rollercoaster ride to getting published, I have to tell you girlfriend, there is nothing quite like holding that baby in well-manicured hands… as good as a real baby in fact! I LOVE that I can now call myself an author ‘officially’ and keep getting cupcakes and cards in the post, and lovely messages from lovely people like you, saying utterly gorge things. What also rocks as a writer is being able to mince around in silk kimono and fluffy pink mules every morning nibbling on grapes and champagne truffles while everyone else is rushing around getting ready for school and work. I LOVE that I can caress my laptop whenever I’m inspired yet abandon it to rush out for latte-lunch-emergencies when the gals call. But best of all, is the high I get by escaping daily into a world of pure, global, literary sass that in real life would be impossible (and probably involve Class A drugs and a jail sentence.)

Stella, your heroine reminds me a li’l bit o’ Bridget Jones but with a bit more sass, how did you go about creating her and does she have a splash o’ you in her? If you say yes, I really want us to become BFFs because I freakin’ love her…
There is definitely a good old splash of me in Stella. I LOVED spending time with her cos it was like finding my girly soulmate, my twin sister. I miss that feisty old slapper and HAVE to get back with her soon. So Stella she was easy to write because I felt it all for her, and with her, I laughed and I cried, all from my kitchen table, my digits fingering those pink keys, the tears dripping onto the Flamingo mousepad (You HAVE to see my flamingo mousepad – all the way from Frisco).

I was also inspired by all the fabulous friends I have in my life. And at the risk of sending you into orgasmic orbit – Al EXISTS too! Oh yes, that salty sea dog who plunges into all kinds of blue waters and flounces up and down the cocktail lane of his municipal pool is alive and well and living in London. Of course the real Al is delicious and funny, he also goes ‘gay’ swimming – but he’s quite thoughtful and not at all as hilariously tactless as the fictitious Al.

Do you have a writing process? Typical writing day? Care to share?
Yes I do have a typical writing day. I wake, drink Blue Mountain coffee, sashay around my penthouse apartment in silk robes and fluffy mules before breakfasting on Moet and All Bran. This takes me up to 12 noon where, along with daytime telly I abandon my silk robes and slip into something more comfortable. If it’s not a dieting day, I will drink milky latte and eat 2 chunky kit-kats followed by a large iced bun… if it’s a dieting day I will have two chunky kit-kats and only half an iced bun… my metabolism is ferocious and I may faint if I don’t eat enough chocolate and buns! By 2pm, after a little Tweet and a large packet of Chicken and Thyme crisps washed down with chocolate milkshake and a nibble of fairy cake, I lean seductively across my laptop and produce several magical sentences. After this physical excursion I am usually exhausted and need to lie down with a large bag of revels and a face pack. By 3pm I am covered in baby oil and tin foil and enjoying a light afternoon snack. Once my skin is soft as a baby’s I fall into a bath filled with perfumed oils, slip into something sassy and a new toyboy collects me to take me for a very large and satisfying dinner. A bit samey I know – but that’s this writing life for ya.

What’s your life motto?
Ooh am I allowed two? Well I’m going put two in and see what happens.

1.Never give up….

2. Never trust a woman who doesn’t like cake…

stick with these baby doll and you won’t go far wrong in life.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve ever learned?
That buttercream should only be put on cake…

What’s next in the world of Miss Sue – author-girl o’ awesomeness? More Stella? New books?
Well I’m currently LOVING writing book two – ‘The Terrible Truth About Tanya Travis.’ Tanya’s a Jeremy Kyle-style talk show host and she has thee most fabulous agent who makes Al (from fat Girls and Fairy Cakes) look BORING! Tanya also has a dark secret …. Oooh can’t say any more… I’m not too good with secrets – hope I don’t let the cat out o the bag before anyone reads it! As for Stella – you can’t keep a good woman down and of course she’ll be back … and you know what? I think she’s gonna go just a little teensy bit Hollywood … blingy blue pools, handsome hunks and HUGE helpings of US pancakes with lashings of maple syrup (I will need to research that bit INTENSIVELY!)

Quick fire round: What’s your favourite:
Make up brand: Chanel darling… is there any other?
Movie: ‘Now Voyager’ starring Bette ‘Original Sassy Minx’ Davis “Why ask for the moon when we already have the stars…?” Pure unadulterated class!
Book: Shameless I know – but how could I ever love anything but ‘Fat Girls and fairy Cakes?’ It’s like asking me to choose another child over my own … what a dark, twisted question!
Place to hang: My kitchen, when there’s a big ole batch of fairy cakes all warm and puffed up filling the kitchen with warm sweet scent and just waitin’ for me to ravish them from every angle.
City: New York City – so many bakeries so little time…
Tune on your ipod: Anything by thee ultimate Goddess of Sassville – Rhianna … so GOOD at bein’ bad. But then that old Matriarch of sass Barbra Streisand can still give it some for a veteran minx.
Way to spend a Sunday: Baking a large Victoria sponge, stuffing that baby with thick fresh cream, fruity loopy jam … and eating it whole…. all freakin day!

What does the term SASSY mean to you?!
Feisty, yet feminine … and NOT to be messed with.

Just in case anyone fancies a nibble of Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes you can have it on kindle or paperback from Amazon

And you must go ‘like’ her on Facebook too!