THE Tea With Lesley

 

So I came to know Lesley from when I started a literati group. The purpose of the group was to be a place where writers could meet, collaborate and grow. I'm not sure how successful we were at it, but at worst we did get four anthologies out of it. 

When I saw that Lesley had pivoted from writer to virtual assistant, I just had to know more. It's not a very common profession in this Kenya and I figured that more people would like to know how she went about it and how she managed to penetrate this industry especially since in the remote world, they do love a virtual assistant from Malaysia or the Phillipines. 

Well, this is her story. 

We ended up going in depth on a couple of things including the how, when you want to get started - not just the steps you have to take (which are reproducable) but the mental preparation you have to go through.

All in all, I learned something new and I hope you do too. Enjoy.

Living Abroad - A Podcast

 I did a podcast episode with my friend Bengat because I've seen a lot of posts and people talking about if they could just pass that sign that says 'kwa heri Kenya' all their problems would disappear. 

The weird thing about problems is that they follow you. You don't leave your childhood trauma behind, you inability to manage money, your lack of money...those problems don't end because you left the country. 

I recently watched a movie where Vanessa Kirby was a hot hot mess. She made bad decisions and everything seemed to just get worse and worse with every decision. Finally, she left town in the end and I suppose that was supposed to indicate a 'new start' but her inability to make good decisions didn't just sprout because she got in her car and moved her body elsewhere. 

So I wanted to speak to Bengat because she's an immigrant. She left here and went there. The thing is, she was already doing well when she left and she continued to do well over there. She had a support system here and she has one there. She makes an effort to maintain that sense of community by being there for others.

I mean, she sought me out at a low moment just because we were in the same class twenty years ago. She reminded me very much of my mother. She used to be the same. I aspire to the same level of community but I fall short.

Anyway so maybe the podcast started out as a way to give an illustration that the grass is greener where you water it and not necessarily on the other side but it ended up being a lesson in nurturing relationships. 

I hope you all give it a listen.

Fat Girl Fitness with a side of Excerpt

Have you seen Fit for TV on Netflix? I didn't know y'all were such bullies or rather I've never seen fatphobia so blatant before in my life. So I'm posting this so y'all can have someone to bully who doesn't give a fuck what you think. Enjoy!

My Commissions on Ko-fi are Open

I've consolidated my work in one place. Come find me. 

I've also managed to finally pinpoint what I write about. Also available on Ko-fi. Generally everything that I write about or on, can be found if you start on my ko-fi page. It's the final girl in Annemarie consolidation olympics. There's a lot I do and it can be confusing but we're all hustling in one way or another. Keeping to just one thing just isn't practical.

So if you're having an off day and need to just lose yourself in interesting writing, be it stories or blog posts, podcast episodes, art, codas...you can find them all there. 

Let's have coffee together. Or tea.

Commissions are Open

My base of operations is now ko-fi. If you've ever wanted to ask me a question or ask for help, now you have somewhere to do that. Come see me.

NSFW Thoughts

 

https://www.tumblr.com/coincidenceiscancelled/787007953228152832/munching-and-misogyny

Consolidating and Synergising

 Every month these days, I think, 'wow, this is the worst month of the year' but when I sit back and really think about it, I been struggling for a while now. 

A combination of things are responsible. The election of the worst government ever to government is one. My body failing me is another. A drop in the quality of available clients on upwork is a huge third. 

What this combination has conspired to do to me is that my work output has steadily reduced with nothing to replace it. As I sit here, I'm definitely in a hole that I'm trying to dig myself out of.

The upside to that is that I've been meaning to build up my own 'commercial' works - that means writing stories that sell commercially to publishers such as Harlequin and other novel sites. Now I have been forced to take that more seriously and actually work on the pieces of work that I have.

That's going okay but it's hampered by the continuous screaming in the back of my head that insists I should focus more on finding money now before I can choose to complete the work in the hope of future income. I'm trying everything, trust but so far, there's been a lot of scams, a lot of interviews that didn't go anywhere and a lot of borrowing.

Its harrowing for the soul. Capitalism is harrowing for the soul.

So I decided to try consolidating and synergizing all my content in one place - and so I put everything on ko-fi - the books I'm writing, the books I've written, the podcasts, etc. Everything that I've done, and a humble request for cuppa coffee.

I don't know if it'll work. I hope it does if only because it really returns the power of earning back into my own hands. I know you see the link on this blog, that's been there a while so let's call this a relaunch.

I'm not going to sit back and wait for y'all to come to me though. 

I intend to be in your face about it. 

I intend to remind you daily. 

I intend to find new and all ways to get the word out. 

Because if this works, it could be a game changer for me.

I could maybe start living like Ismatu Gwendolyn - making art while supporters help me to live. Now wouldn't that be great? I wish we could all live like that. The ancient Greeks might have been onto something with that finding a sponsor shit. 

Idea!

Anyway, so come to my ko-fi. For the small small price of $3, you win access to member only stories, and other goodies. I intend to be very active on there. You will feel like you're getting your money's worth.

One small step for me and who knows, we could make it a trend. 

Some of the gems that are going to be on there include this little text conversation between Ben and Anders. Just cute little things to make you smile, or whole codas or excerpts. I'm going to enjoy myself and I want you to too.

Today It's Us, Tomorrow It's You: Maandamano Edition

 

Today It's Us, Tomorrow It's You: Maandamano Edition by Annemarie Musawale

Don't You Just Love the Smell of Teargas in the Morning?

Read on Substack

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 75 Writing Contests in May 2025 - No entry fees

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 75 Writing Contests in May 2025 - No entry fees: This May there are more than six dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes range fro...

Going Wide and Long

 The freelancer industry, like any other, has been hit by this forced recession.  So I'm experiencing a lot of ghosting among my clients, a lot of reduced workload, it's kinda exhausting.

But seeing as life goes on whether or not your clients are acting right, I've had to look inward and find new pathways to income. Short term solutions, and long term solutions are what I'm thinking about.

It's not easy, I need a master mind group if anyone is so inclined to join. Times like these is when I wish I went the trad route and got myself a husband so that I have a partner in this madness. Actually, no. What I need is a wife who can support me.

Did I just come out? I guess I did.

Anyway, one of the ways I'm thinking long term solutions is to build up my readership in the subscription space (and also to write some strictly commercial books for traditional publishers). In the short term, I'm still figuring that shit out. 

So I've been uploading my work on various sites aside from the same old same old, in the hopse of expanding my customer base. Social media is helping out with that at least. People are free with their information and also, I've gotten on a black freelancer discord which has been helpful with tips and tricks.

I just need to implement. I think that's my major weakness. I think too small. 

So I'm trying to think bigger, be more ambitious and generally take some big swings. It's not like I have another option.

How is this recession treating you?

Unprovoked

I posted all my podcast episodes on Youtube and this is the latest one where I sat down with my son and we shot the shit for an hour. Revelations were made, philosophies were aired, it was a surprise, to me too.

I would advise you to listen if you have experienced challenges to do with mental health, career or just feeling like you're disappointing your parents.

Or if you want to hear us argue about Kanye. 

Contemporary Romance on Ream

I was riffling through my WIP folder  and I realized that I have so many half finished stories. So I decided to put them on ream where I can keep writing as you're reading. So go follow, and subscribe. 

Dear, Reader,

I'm doing a fundraising for some unexpected bills that have arisen by discounting my print books for the week. This is your chance to buy one copy or all copies of my books and have them delivered to your doorstep. 

Nuria books are very good at getting your orders to you fast and they ship worldwide. 

This will probably never happen again. 

Hurry while stocks last as they say.

Beware the Ides of March Madness

Being a writer is  hard, right? We all know this. It's not the writing that's difficult - at least not for me. It's all the other shit that goes into it like publishing, marketing, getting repeat readers, all that good stuff.

I'm not good at it. It requires me to be social which ugh.

But I am good at the making of content portion. I just wish y'all could find it on your own. Since you won't...

1. Let's talk about erotica. 

    Do you know how hard it is to market that shit? Everyone reads it but nobody wants to cop to reading it. So they won't join your mailing lists or want to be advertised to. 

It's a pain in the ass I tell you. 

So I took down my erotica books (aside from the collection) and transferred the stories to Ream. You can read them there, at your leisure, just as long as you subscribe. I promise never to send you any mail or look at your names...unless you tell me you want updates.

I'm currently writing a very unhinged mafia paranormal postapocalyptic gay romance there. It's fun. I update weekly. That's in addition to all my other erotica tales which are now on there. Bonus, I will be adding a new every month. Personally I think the subscription fee is a steal. 

Go see for yourself. 

I think this will be a good home for them. 

2. New Podcast Episode

As you can see from the links on the side of this blog, there's a new podcast episode about suicide. You should listen to it if only to see whether you relate or not. I think you will. I surprised myself by doing so. It gets rather philosophical in places so I hope you bear with us. 

3. New Harlequin

I told you about the romance that I'm writing didn't I? The man is Palestinian and I'm a bit worried that Harlequin will reject it on that premise alone. I know we all like to pretend that Palestinians are the villains. We'll see how it goes.

It's nice to be writing something new again. Marcus Devereux has kind of stalled as I try to get over my intimidation of my own writing. 

That girl who wrote the first ten chapters was on a roll. 

She was cooking. 

She ate down.
I don't know if I can match her level of badassery. You're supposed to look back on your writing and cringe (at least according to so-called writers on twitter) but me I look back on my writing and I'm like whoa girl! slow down.

Self belief has never been my problem.

Anyway I got work to do. I have provided you with news, so click on link, click follow, enjoy the content.

In The Shadow of the Styx

I haven't done much advertising of this promo on smashwords and today is the last day. I'm a hot mess, sue me. Anyway, In the Shadow of the Styx is 50% off for a few more hours. This story is about death. But really it's about life, because death is not the end. It's a great book if I do say so myself. So, if you're late to the promo, message me and I'll send you the discount code. Because I want you to read this awesome body of work.

Do feel free to leave your review as well.

The 'Writing A Book' Diaries: Nuance, Let's Talk About It

The 'Writing A Book' Diaries: Nuance, Let's Talk About It: So I was sitting on the loo, releasing the hostages and watching John Mayer's Instagram show, named Current Mood. John Mayer was one of...

The Struggle. Is Real. Newsletter Edition

 I'm sure I don't have to tell you what a charley foxtrot social media is becoming. Just this week the Americans were removed and then returned to tiktok. All the social media influencers are talking about having your own newsletter so that you don't lose followers if you lose your account.

Very good advice I guess...if your aim is just to talk at people.

For me, social media is a way to connect, to argue, to know what's going on out there...I'm not really that good at selling my shit using these apps - as you might have noticed.

However, I'm trying to take my authorpreneurship more seriously lately and so I'm attempting, once again, to have a subscriber list and put out a newsletter. Thee irony is that I did have a subscriber list, and this blog, was my newsletter. But madmimi shut down and Go Daddy has ridiculous hosting prices and so I was left in limbo, alone and abandoned, having to begin again.

So yesterday, I found substack - I mean I knew of it in an abstract sort of way, but yesterday I realized that it might be the way to build up my subscriber base. I know that I had a few regular readers of this blog. I don't know if you ever look for me now that each blog post doesn't land in your inbox but if you do...you can subscribe to my substack and have my posts delivered to your inbox once again.

Yay?

I hope so.

I'm neglecting my paid work to write this and inform you so I hope someone's listening. As an author what is your answer to the perpetual need to be in people's faces and remind them of your existence?

This year I'm not about 'achieving goals' though. I'm about living and enjoying so my blog posts will not be in linkedinese. I might rant and rave a bit, as I am wont to do. 

But.

I can promise that it'll be interesting. Maybe even fun. Come join me.

Erase and Rewind

 

Chapter One: Awkward Menses

 

Her period was getting embarrassing. This was her third week bleeding, and the flow didn’t seem to be abating even a little bit. If anything, it was getting worse. She was seeing double and she couldn’t quite walk in a straight line. She couldn’t tell anyone though; her father would run screaming from the room if she tried to talk menstruation with him and her brother might drive her to the hospital in a panic. This was one of those awkward times, when she wished her mother had asked her to come along, when she walked out on all of them seven years ago. Well, she hadn’t so Rosemary would just have to handle this the best way she could. She excused herself from class to go see the nurse, hoping she’d be able to get there considering her vision was blurry. 

 This was a good time to have a best friend she could call on. Unfortunately, her best friend was also her panicky brother. So, she was back to square one. She walked slowly arm trailing against the wall to the nurse’s office. Nurse Sylvester was always very concerned; her eyes went squinty and she’d lean forward to listen intently when someone was confiding their problems to her. It was as if she was trying to compensate for all the neglectful parents who abandoned their kids to her care. Rosemary didn’t buy it though. She knew for a fact that it was nurse Sylvester who’d spread the rumor that Angie Lemon had gonorrhea. 

To listen to the rest of the story, click here