This year has been a blur of medical appointments, horrible procedures, surgeries, and recoveries. But in the midst of misery I was also able to accomplish some cool stuff! I’d like to say thank you to everyone for their support this year – whether it was for my products and projects or my cancer experience.

Cancer update: I had the unilateral mastectomy in May. It really wasn’t that painful for me, and I was up the next day no painkillers needed. Then I went through a process of getting the expander in the one breast filled, over a 3-4 week period. In September I had my reconstruction surgery, and that was pretty easy, aside from the lipo they had to do to find fat in order to rebuild the one side. As my plastic surgeon said, “you’re very narrow”, and he would have a hard time finding any fat on me. Now I am waiting to see how things settle, and if they don’t look the way I want them to, the plastic surgeon will do a revision in 2025.

Projects: The third book in The Adventures of Shelly Beach series, A Mangrove Mystery, was published! It is available everywhere books are sold. If you happen to be in a brick and mortar store, you can just ask them to order it if they don’t have it on the shelves.

My latest album Mommy’s Gone Mad – Life Goes On is streaming everywhere. If you haven’t checked out Amuse for releasing music tracks – you must. It’s easy to use and they have great support – and you keep 100% of your royalties!

I now have two subscription options on my website. The Shelly Beach Portal is for kids to learn about ocean creatures and meet the magical characters from The Adventures of Shelly Beach. For a very affordable price, you will get access to downloadable files, coloring sheets, infographics, videos, animations, and you can even learn how to make some of Mira’s potions!

The second subscription has yet to be formally announced – The Cooking in the CIA Portal. As some of you may remember, I had built my own app for Apple years ago. It was very successful, and I had a lot of fun with it, but then the Apple App Store decided to delete it off of their store. They had a very arbitrary reason, and I tried to appeal it, to no avail. But, it gave me a great idea! Why not build a portal on my website, a paid subscription, where people could access all of the recipes from my app – with even more recipes from around the globe added? I have even added health tips and downloadable meal plans. After all, the doctors are very shocked that my cancer was there for so long, and I attribute that to my diet and use of spices. In their words, “Keep doing what you’re doing”.

I continue to work with a wide variety of writing clients, from authors, musicians, wildlife filmmakers, foreign affairs consultants, to haunted houses, my writing business, False Buddha LLC, has been very busy these past couple of years. And thanks to the international PR expertise of Kerrin Black, there are more in the pipeline, to include an Epstein Island survivor, so stay tuned! I’ve also added administrative services to what I offer through False Buddha.

I continue to work with OpsLens also. We have a wide variety of subjects that we cover, it’s not just politics!

I only did one radio/TV type appearance this year – it was on Good Morning Islamorada. You can listen to the show here: Good Morning Islamorada with State Attorney Dennis Ward.

I’ve been working with Voices for Florida Keys Children for a little over a year now. The mission of Voices is to provide financial assistance and/or other support for medical, social, educational, advocacy, normalcy, and other personal needs or requests for abused, abandoned, and neglected children in Monroe County, Florida. We work with the Florida Guardian ad Litem Office which provides quality legal representation for the best interests of abused, neglected, and abandoned children, while assisting the child in expressing their needs and wishes.

Another upcoming event: I’ll be doing a book signing hosted by Florida Bay Forever and they will thereafter have my Shelly Beach series of books for sale at their eco-center gift shop! Florida Bay Forever is a Florida Keys grassroots not-for-profit dedicated to protecting and preserving Florida Bay through education and advocacy. They work to increase awareness of the issues that threaten the Florida Bay with Florida Keys residents, visitors, and policymakers, and I think their mission aligns with the message in The Adventures of Shelly Beach series.

I am also a referral agent for the WasteShark, TenderShark, and MegaShark, working with RanMarine. If you or anyone you know would be interested in learning more or getting one, please contact me.

And, last but not least, when you are doing your Christmas shopping this year, please remember that I have books for every type of reader on your list, from children to adults. I also have the BurpMitt product, which is available on Amazon. I have discount codes for both MyPillow and Verve Spray Vitamins – both companies have Made in the USA products that I use and love. Use code shelly at mypillow.com for 50% off your order! Also, code shelly will get you 30% off of your Verve Vitamin Spray order.