D.G. Kaye's Blog, page 184

Wordless Wednesday

 

A view from my driveway as I returned from vacation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back from Vacay

 

Hello! I don’t usually like to broadcast to the internet that I am on vacation, but some of you may have noticed that my posts have been sparse. Yes, I went on a glorious two and a half week vacation to Florida for three days and then on a two-week Caribbean cruise. I had originally planned a whole routine of how I would sneak in some work while on vacation and put up a few posts a week and perhaps get some writing done but that proved difficult as the social activities abounded and I had such computer problems with my website while on the ship.

I bought an (expensive) internet package and as though that weren’t enough, the lag in between getting pages up was eating up my minutes hungrily. I managed to eventually get my emails up every morning ( in slo-mo) and get onto twitter and for the first four days I did manage to get here into my website. One day I could no longer log in to my site, a box came up that it was a malware site and I look like a robot and the ship’s internet provider wouldn’t let me access it. I went crazy. I spent time in the internet room with a tech, complained to guest relations but their internet provider, apparently a military provider based in the United Kingdom, deemed my site not safe. I then had to resort to days when we were at port and lug my laptop to a cruise terminal to try and pick up free wifi, but two ports proved to be bogus wifi. It seemed that hundreds of people were seated on the floors in these terminals, trying to connect to the outside world thus hogging up too much wifi and again I couldn’t connect. Although I did manage one more post as my determination was fueled to not be forgotten and managed to connect for five dollars in the terminal in Saint Lucia. I once again lugged my laptop and purse and shopping bag, trudging through the extreme heat in search of some wifi. That was my last post as the remainder of days were at sea and I was S.O.L. in accessing my site.

Some of you may have noticed that I did still respond to any comments though because I did manage to find a way to get up my notifications by logging into to some of your blogs (thank you), I just couldn’t open my main page. I complained a lot to the front desk, to the point where they credited my account and gave me back tons of minutes for wasting my valuable time and paid minutes trying to log in. It seems that no matter where I am, I have these website woes. I was convinced that “Murphy” had sent some distant relative to accompany me on vacation so I wouldn’t forget him. I had visions of my readers wondering where I was and if I just abandoned my blog without notice. I think in future I may just post something like my friend Carol when she went on holiday. She put up a picture of a palm tree and wrote “Taking a Break”. That just seems so much simpler.

Another lovely blog award

Thank you Stefan for the lovely ‘Cracking Chrispmouse Bloggywog Award. Just as I thanked you on your page I will post here that I am breaking protocol for these lovely awards and would just like to say that I shall display it here on this page for any of my lovely readers to help themselves to (copy and paste), as I believe we all have something to say and share and therefore, we are all deserving. Thank you so much my friend Maxima!

Author’s Work is Never Done

As we continue to get in our daily writing there is a myriad of other things we have to contend with in life as well as look after our social platforms.

Some of us are content to write, while many keep switching their hats daily. It’s not enough to just write if we wish the world to share out labours of love. Time is of the essence. How many of us wish that we could add just a few more hours in a day?

If our goal is to achieve exposure to our words, it is an going work in progress to keep up with our social media and marketing strategies. With the growing status of acceptability to Indie authors and the ever-growing number of books being published, it is up to us to be diligent in keeping status up to date in our strive to attain exposure. I liken it to cleaning our homes. You know that urgency that falls upon us when things are a bit unkempt and suddenly company is coming and we go on a mad dash to do a quick emergency cleaning job? But, if we did a bit each day to upkeep and maintain our home we wouldn’t have to be in such a mad rush to do everything all at once.

In our quest for exposure, we secretly wish in the back of our minds that perhaps a set of eyes from a publishing house may glance our pages. If that is the case, we can demonstrate our works on our websites and we must keep up with our followers and keep building and cherish our readers for having interest in our work. It isn’t just about accumulating followers and likes. It’s about giving good information and giving back of yourself for those who spend their own precious time reading and commenting on our works. If the content we put out doesn’t have any value or resonance, people can leave as fast as they came.

Remember to write generously, send out good posts or write about things which people can relate to or comment on. Pay it forward and who knows, maybe a certain set of eyes may someday fall upon you.

Have You Ever Had Your Ebooks Autographed?

I came across this site today, Authorgraph. It’s a cool site where authors can sign up with their books to enable us to sign an autograph for readers who would like to have a signed book in ebook form. As many avid readers would love to have their favourite authors autograph their books, circumstances don’t always allow for such a convenience.  Unless the reader obtained a paperback copy at a book signing where they could actually meet the author or somehow have one sent to them, there was a void left where readers could share in this experience with the purchase of an ebook, until Authorgraph became available.

This is a free service to authors and readers alike whereby the author signs up to this service by providing their book’s ASIN number and their email address, that’s it! How simple? The author is then added to the directory of available books that are enabled to have a signature attached to them. Readers can check this list to see if the book they have is on the list and send a request through Authorgraph who in turn informs the author that there is a request for a signature for their book. Authors have the option of typing in a chosen script or signing their name with their mouse and adding in anything else they choose to write to the reader. Now, the autograph cannot be inserted directly into the ebook but the reader can store it with their ebooks in a collection and still have a personalized message written for them from their favourite authors. How cool is this? Oh, and of course I signed up!

 

The Passing

 

Rampant and elusive,

It grows abundant and becomes conclusive.

Something we cannot touch, yet is all around us,

An element which documents our existence.

It envelops us with its boundaries and deadlines,

For sufferers it’s cruel, for the fortunate it is kind.

For many there is never enough to be had,

For the eager, its pace may be considered a lag.

Some count it down for great moments they wait for,

While others cling desperately, in last breaths, begging for more.

Where does it go? So often repeated,

From life through death, it is constantly depleted.

Time.

 

The News – Why I Sometimes Don’t Watch It

Is it ever good? Do we usually hear good things when watching the news? Do we ever turn it on and hear….Newflash – taxes are going down! Or….Thanks for coming, but all is right with the world so we have nothing to report!

No, it’s called News but it’s never usually good news being reported. I prefer to live with the old adage….’No news is good news’, so therefore I try not to watch it too often. I seem to go through phases, either I run to turn on the TV at 6pm or I will go for a few weeks and not listen to any news. Not because I’m not interested on the goings on in the world, but mostly because I have a tendency to dwell on things and it’s just easier for me to ignore downer news for as long as I can before I have to realize that the pertinent things I’ve missed are taking effect. I get pissed off at government issues and as I am a very empathetic person,  when I hear or see sad things that happen to people, it makes me very sad.

Sometimes my husband will ask me if I saw such and such on the news and I’ll say, I don’t want to know, then we get into a debate. He reiterates how important it is to stay abreast of things and I argue back that I don’t want that crap in my head right now. If I can’t change anything and have to bite it, I sometimes choose not wanting to know.

They say, you shouldn’t watch the news before going to bed. I wholeheartedly agree and have long ago given up that ritual. After all, I have enough to worry about that keeps me up at night without having to worry how I am going to fix the world.

Just my thoughts here.  Anyone else have an opinion?

Nobody Read Me Fairytales

It is almost ironic that I am a writer and author. My childhood didn’t consist of books or fairytales.

Since I was a little girl I loved to write little sayings and make cards for people I loved; in a child-like, Hallmark sort of way. I was always full of compassion. Growing up in a broken home, I felt a need to connect with others. Anyone who would pay me any attention was someone I cherished.

A few teachers along the way had taken me into their hearts and did extra special things for me. Once I had a kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Wagner, who invited me to spend an afternoon at her home on a Sunday. I suppose it was arranged between her and one of my parents, I didn’t know at the time how it was arranged and I never questioned it, but as I grew older I began to wonder what would even spur a kindergarten teacher to even want to spend a Sunday with one of her students?

My favourite teacher though, was Miss Jacobs in grade two, who later became Mrs. Hood. I never questioned why she had taken such a shining to me either but I idolized her and I remember making her so many cards with my crayons, always putting a shining sun on every one of them. I’d like to think she saw some kind of an artistic talent in me and perhaps she was aware of my fears and nervousness. Perhaps she knew the instability I resided in. I never forgot her kindness.

I loved school and I loved reading and being read fascinating stories by my teachers. It never really dawned on me until I got a bit older and moved out on my own that there were never any books in my home, save for the odd trashy novel by my mother’s nightstand. Oh, but I loved to write. I made my little cards for everyone to convey my affection for them. Valentine’s day was the most exciting day of the year for me because I got to make so many cards and gave them freely to all my classmates. It was so thrilling for me to receive some back as well.

From making cards to journaling on scraps of paper, which I kept hidden from everyone, it became my secret time where I could pen my thoughts and not have to be afraid I would get in trouble for speaking my opinions. The funny thing I remember about my paternal grandmother who never gave me any love or encouragement growing up is rather odd because for all of the emotional distance, she used to tell me I should be a journalist when I grew up. Perhaps someone was paying attention? Certainly there must have been something she saw in me to repeat it several times to me throughout my childhood. Heck, I didn’t even know what a journalist was at seven years old.

In school I loved reading and when I moved away from home I became a voracious reader. I continued to journal and used writing as a way to speak up for how I was feeling, even though I never sent any of my writing to anyone, whomever it may have been written to. Writing my feelings had given me a vehicle to unload a burden from myself. I may have missed a lot in childhood as I spent much of it worrying about the ongoing status of my parent’s relationship and the discord I lived with, but eventually I found my way and many times it was writing which kept me sane. I haven’t stopped writing since.

Paperbacks and Canadian Authors

 

While I was anxiously awaiting for the delivery of my newly published book Conflicted Hearts, my brother asked me for a copy about a week ago and I told him I didn’t even have one yet for myself, other than a proof copy. I spend most days with the exception of one or two days a week at the most, at home working on my new books that I am writing. Of course, the one day of the week I went out yesterday to take my husband to the doctor’s office and to buy a new laptop, my books had come while I was out. Or let me rephrase that, the postman had come to my door with them but didn’t leave them behind. I was puzzled at this as I pulled the tag off my front door with the notification to go to my local post office and pick them up. It didn’t dawn on me until this morning why the books weren’t left on my porch and as I went to recheck the notice, I turned it over and discovered there was a customs tax I was required to pay for $15.00.

I found it a bit exorbitant that as a Canadian author having my book published in the United States, that the cost of each book for an author to purchase for herself becomes quite costly for us with all the add ons. Yes, we get a slightly discounted price for buying our own books but that is only the beginning. The shipping to Canada charges are monsterous and then let us not forget those charges are all in U.S. dollars and then are converted to Canadian dollars worth less, on our Visa cards also with an added surcharge, courtesy of Visa and then Canada customs gets their grubs on us deciding that we should have to pay yet another charge to allow our items into Canada.

So in essence, my $53.00 order became $110.00! I’m just saying, that is pretty steep. Is it any wonder why many Indie authors don’t opt to get involved with paperbacks when self-publishing? Where is the justice?

I just thought I’d use my space here to vent. All feedback is welcome!

You Know You’re a Writer When… | Kristen Lamb’s Blog

 

I just wanted to share this great, entertaining post from Kristen Lamb’s Blog. A fun read on the many aspects of …You know you’re a writer when.

Just one of the many funnies we hear as writers.

 

You Know You’re a Writer When… | Kristen Lamb’s Blog.