Carolyn Mandache

I have been absent from my blog for quite some time now...apologies. The reason being, that like so many of us, life got in the way. As you may or may not know, I also have a business I run with my husband as well as the slightly challenging task of raising 3 teens and a 10 year old....there's the possibility of a Christmas cat too! I thought I'd post an update on my writing and what I've found helpful recently. My debut novel is in editing stage which is exciting and also terrifying as I'm sure many other authors can identify with. The book is very personal to me which can be difficult, as I've put my heart and soul into it and of course not every reader will like it. As a notorious glass half empty type of person, any tips on how to cope with potential negative feedback? As members of the Indie Authors World group that I'm a part of will realize, it's taken me quite some time to finish my book and find the motivation to keep going when life is so busy....

As an author I understand the importance of social media, and am fairly confident with the weird and wonderful world of Twitter now. Recently I've started a second Twitter account based on a character from the book I'm currently writing (who MAY be loosely based on a certain Mr. Mandache). The experience has been fun, and at times a little surreal... For example, @RomanianScot , my Twitter alias, received tweets from two Scots living in Romania. I was delighted to virtually meet likeminded people with joint interests in Scotland and Romania, however, when I found one of them typing in Romanian, assuming I really was a Romanian Scot, it was definitely a bit weird. I wondered how to react? Keep up the pretense by replying in Romanian and hoping my poor grammar and spelling would not give away my secret, whilst sneakily making use of Google translate? Or be honest and possibly chase them away because they would think I was a bit strange, using a kind of personal false advertisi...

Mandache clan An important, and quite scary development has happened in the Mandache household this month. We now have 3 tweens at home (2 ten year olds and an 11 year old). Thankfully, I still have little A. at home to balance out all the moodiness. I've been remembering the Cbeebies show "The Tweenies" for some reason. I wonder why they called it that, when the characters were all pre-schoolers? I can make a few comparisons between the colourful characters in that show and my own clan at home :) L1. would be Bella, the bossy one who can be a bit of a know-it-all, L2. would be Fizz, the girly one always playing with her hair, A1. would be Milo, the winder-upper, and A2. would be Jake, the youngest one who gets frustrated if he can't keep up with the older ones. I know they like to think they are no longer little kids, but they can often argue like toddlers the way their Tweenie twins do! Of course I will never tell them my comparisons which make me smile, they wo...

I have been overjoyed by a recent development in the Mandache household....I now have an assistant toilet roll changer! Maybe it doesn't sound like such a big deal, but having spent years being singularly responsible for such a simple, yet vital task, it really is fantastic to have a helper in the form of my youngest son. However, upon praising my little assistant last night for changing the loo roll WITHOUT BEING ASKED, I was taken aback by his older brother's reaction. Acting pretty girly, he teased "oh Alex, you can be a maid when you're older." It's not the first time big brother has implied that chores around the house are for females, and I'm more determined than ever to change his attitudes. Maybe at some point you, like I, have received the emergency toilet roll text request from your spouse. My wish is to put an end to that madness for future generations....teach them to get off their butts (literally),and get it themselves! Of course it is...

Swimming....so relaxing, peaceful, almost therapeutic. That is, unless the person swimming is your child and you are there as loyal spectator. I am very proud that my son has reached level 9 of his swimming lessons, enjoy watching him become stronger and more confident in the water. I don't however, enjoy being on the spectators balcony at 8 o'clock on a Sunday morning! At first I had thought the class was 8 in the evening, it didn't even cross my mind that my beloved Sunday morning lie-ins would soon be a distant memory. (I use the term "lie in" very loosely, as anyone with young children knows, 8am is probably as good as it gets)However, the letter confirming my son's place clearly said AM not PM. We are not in April yet, so clearly it wasn't some cruel joke that I would now be up and dressed even EARLIER than the daily school run. This weekend was our first attempt at making it to the pool so early. Luckily my sister slept over the night befo...

I heard recently to my dismay, that the world will soon be facing a chocolate shortage. As  a self-confessed chocoholic I decided to do some research... I found a video on Time.com which was useful in explaining why cocoa farmers are struggling to keep up with demand. Ghana and the Ivory Coast produce around 70% of the world's cocoa. Drought and a fungal disease which has killed off 30-40% of the cocoa trees have dramatically reduced the crops, and ebola has meant migrant workers have not been allowed to cross borders and help harvest the cocoa beans. The video can be found here: http://time.com/3591915/ebola-fungus-chocolate/ I also came across an interesting, and very thought provoking article describing cocoa farmers from the Ivory Coast tasting chocolate for the first time. I watched the video in disbelief that these hard working farmers had never actually tasted chocolate, or seemed to really know up until that point, what actually happened to the cocoa beans that provid...