Month: December 2013

Author D.G. Kaye - Conflicted Hearts

Author’s First Book

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Is there any other feeling than exhilaration when a first-time author receives her proof copies?

I received my first copies of my book on Christmas Eve. The previous week was a huge learning curve publishing my book Conflicted Hearts in ebook and paperback as well as enduring the great ice storm. While I spent lots of time learning the process it still was not without its glitches. One hair raising event for me was after using two editors and reading my book about 40 times myself, while downloading it, it went through the system seamlessly but before I hit publish a warning came up…..Amazon has found 2 spelling errors, do you wish to correct or proceed with publish? Wow, seriously? I was freaking out over this as I did not want to leave ‘unseen’ errors yet I had my book formatted by a wonderful, brilliant formatter, which meant I had no way of correcting the errors on my own. I had to send it back to the formatter. Stuart is a very busy man and had been so kind to me through the process of sending and approving and now I had to send an emergency email to him, asking if he would mind making the changes to the file so I could redownload it. With his kindness, Stuart responded and corrected my file within an hour and I hit publish. How lucky I felt that this man dropped whatever he was doing to help me get on my way quickly to publishing. There are truly some wonderful people in this industry and with a little kindness and appreciation it is not so hard to receive when you need, when you put it back out there.

Me and my books

Jerome sunset

Hidden

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CAM01179

At day’s break, when air is silent,

No sun, yet hidden in the sky.

With daily life yet to begin,

The promise of day’s gifts, hidden in fate.

Our minds, still settled in serenity,

Untouched with woe, hidden in our peace.

Today what life will bestow upon us, a mystery awaits,

Revealed at nightfall, no longer hidden.

 

©D.G. Kaye – 2013

What?

Are Self Published Authors On Par with Traditionally Published? Toronto Star

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Screen Shot 2013-12-18 at 12.54.19 PMMy response to an article written by the Toronto Star, linked below:

As a newly published Canadian author, I am so glad to hear success stories such as Georgi’s. We know how hard it is to rise to the cream of the crop with it hard work and dedication. I believe the stigma attached to self published authors is slowly fading. When self publishing became a hot commodity I think there were many out there that thought that they could write anything and hit publish. As more and more information becomes available I believe many of those types of authors are learning that there are many elements to writing and publishing, and that putting out shoddy, unedited work  becomes a public humiliation. As good self published authors who wish to keep their higher royalties and don’t wish to waste years receiving rejection letters, it doesn’t make us any less than a traditionally published author; we just need to work that much harder to acquire exposure.

D.G. Kaye ©2014

Toronto, Canada

“2013: The year of self-publishing

Call 2013 the year of the self-published book, as hundreds of thousands marched to the drummer of their own words on their own terms — and the business world scrambled to catch up and capitalize on the trend…..” Read More 

 

Friendships and Laughter

Jesus at the Door

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friendshipsThis is another episode about – My friend Mary. This story she told me last week was inspiring and in the spirit of Christmas, I thought the time of year was appropriate to share this story.

Last Sunday Mary was getting ready to go to church, as she tries to make it a weekly habit. Even on the days that Mary doesn’t feel up to going, she makes every effort.

As many of us can relate, the east coast got hit with a boatload of snow last weekend. Mary’s husband was out of town on business and when she stepped outside to get in her car, she found her driveway laden with snow, impossible to get her car out. Mary took it upon herself to begin shoveling her driveway and almost halfway through she found that she could no longer do anymore shoveling. She was exhausted from the weight of the snow, and so she decided that she had given it her best effort and conceded. She resigned herself to the fact that there would be no church that day and went to sit down and make a cup of coffee and thaw out.

As Mary was enjoying her coffee, there was a sudden knock at the door. She went to the door filled with curiosity who it could be given that she wasn’t expecting any company and the inclement weather. There stood a man looking rather tattered and disheveled. He carried in the crook of his arm a shovel. He told her he had walked from the other side of town and was offering to shovel her driveway for whatever amount of money she could spare because he desperately needed to buy some groceries. Mary’s compassion was touched and she felt sorry for the man and gave him some money and bid him God bless, also telling him she didn’t require him to shovel.

When Mary told me this story she said that many others may have closed the door or perhaps thought the stranger was scamming for money but she felt compassion for him and he wasn’t asking for something for nothing in return. She also told me that these kinds of offerings don’t usually happen in her neighborhood. Mary was really puzzled by this visitor. After he left, Mary sat back down in her kitchen and felt bad that she didn’t give him more.  As the day wore on, the stranger’s visit played on Mary’s conscience. Earlier, Mary had felt guilty that she couldn’t make it to church; but later she began to feel if she had gone to church, the stranger may not have received anything from anyone else. Mary then quoted a psalm from the bible to me and as I am not a very religious person, I can’t quite recall it verbatim. But her words were to do with Jesus who went in disguise to strangers seeking kindness and watching to see who were the givers and who would deny him. It was Mary’s revelation that she was snowed in so she would be home for the knock on the door to pay a kindness.

Mary said to me, “Deb, I think Jesus came to my door and I am so glad I was there to fulfill his request.

God bless you Mary.

DGKaye©2014

The Great Christmas Ice Storm inToronto

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Weighted trees with ice, causing havock to all the power lines:

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It is now 3pm EST and this is the first sign of power since yesterday’s 10 minute gift. We have been stranded with no power since Saturday night. It’s been very cold in our homes and I am grateful that I had tins of salmon and tuna in my cupboard along with cereal for sustenance. I am posting this article I wrote yesterday while I still have power at the moment. Below you will also find a link to the newscast regarding the carnage of this storm.

God Bless you all and wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and happiness and health in the coming year!

http://www.cp24.com/video?clipId=68596&binId=1.1127680&playlistPageNum=1

They had been calling for it all week! After getting a wallop of snow last weekend here in Toronto and weather-wise being a very frosty week, there were warnings that we were in for a weekend of freezing rain. I hadn’t really paid it any heed; after all, this is Toronto, and it’s winter. So undoubtedly we would be getting our share of precipitation.

Saturday was an icy day, freezing rain, slick roads and frankly, not the best day for last minute Christmas shoppers. I was quite happy to be home writing in my flannel p.j.’s with the fireplace on. I decided not to work on Saturday night and snuggle up under a blanket on the couch and watch It’s a Wonderful Life. That was working out nicely until the power went out.  Although the power did manage to come back on intermittently through the evening, by midnight the lights were flickering non-stop so I took it as a sign to head up to bed and read on my kindle.

When I woke this morning, there was no power. What? No computer? No Sunday Football? NO COFFEE? I NEED MY COFFEE! I turned on my cell phone to check my email and found that I was unable to send any.:) Our son-in-law who lives blocks away called on my cell to update us as to what was going on in the outside world. Truthfully, I hadn’t even looked outside at that point because it was winter so what did I expect to find different? Our son-in-law offered to come over and help chop off the layers of ice on our walk and driveway. He said he had been to Tim Horton’s to get his family coffee and breakfast already and just after he got his order they had to close down. Previously he had gone to the gas station to fill up his car and scathed that as well. There was a huge line up there and shortly after his visit, all the pumps were closed down. He had heard on the car radio that many transformers were blown in the city from the rain freezing on the wires. They are saying we may not have power until Christmas!  A quarter of a million homes without heat and power and I am one of them.

I WANT COFFEE! I decided to brave the ice and the cold and I went out in the knee-deep snow filled backyard so I could turn on the bbq to boil some water. Layered up with boots, coat, gloves and scarf, I found myself having to stomp very hard with my every step to break the ice layers that had formed atop the snow. When I approached the bbq which my husband had so meticulously wrapped with it’s cover, laden with bricks atop so the winter would not blow it away, I began chiseling about 4 inches of ice which had formed on top of and around the full-length cover. It was as stiff as a brick wall. I kicked it continuously to shatter the ice and continued chiseling for about ten more minutes. THAT COVER WASN’T COMING OFF UNTIL NEXT SPRING!

Before coming back inside, I turned around to have a look at the extent of the ice formulation in my garden.  I couldn’t believe my once bare leafed trees after autumn’s departure now weighted down by icicle branches. The pictures below should give you an indication as to the conditions just by seeing how the branches had sustained the falling rain and being frozen instantly in mid air.

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So I have resolved myself to no coffee and a bowl of cereal and I am declaring this a writing day.  I am grateful that I had gotten the flashlights and candles ready last night as well as charged my laptop’s back-up battery. I cannot connect to the outside world on the computer but I have a lot of publications stored I can read and catch up on and right now I am topping up the charge to my cell phone on it as well.

2pm – The lights came on for a brief interlude. I thought the media was over-hyping the outage and within 20 minutes my exhilaration was short-lived. I am writing now at 7pm by candlelight. Instead of my lovely seabass dinner, I shall be dining on a can of salmon and some crackers. As I wrote the afternoon away, I waited and waited to go take a shower and blow dry my hair, but I finally succumbed to a candle lit shower as the dark was fast approaching. In the excitement of my big power reprieve at 2pm I had stuck in a load of laundry, which still remains soaking in suds 20 minutes into the cycle, hours ago. I am currently typing this as a word document so it’s ready to transfer onto my blog at the next sign of power.

Perhaps the media got it right – no power until Christmas? One quarter of a million people here without power! They are calling for the temps to drop to minus 18 on Tuesday. I sparingly went on my cell phone to get a news update on the situation and was disheartened to learn there is no news, no resolve as of yet. They are calling this the worst ice storm to ever hit Toronto.

Today, now it is 3pm EST I am posting this as I just got power! A Christmas blessing after having to leave my home this morning in search of warmth and coffee and a car charger, I am happy to be here back to my cyber world. We often take things for granted because they are always there, but let us be aware of the tender mercies we receive every day and please pray for the 200,000 others who are without heat and electricity at this special time of year. Many won’t have power until the weekend.

Besides the many stranded travelers who are trying to get to their loved ones for Christmas and the many last minute shoppers who are out of luck until this passes, the question remains….Will anyone be getting a nice cooked turkey dinner for Christmas?

Happy Holidays to you all!

That Part Where

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thatpart

http://thatpartwhere.com/conflicted-hearts-by-d-g-kaye/

 

I have written about a wonderful site for authors to promote their books before called ThatPartWhere. This site is a great advertising tool and relatively inexpensive. For ten dollars they will post a full page ad for one day on their site as well as on Facebook and it will be tweeted throughout the day. Also once the ad day has passed your ad will remain on their site indefinitely in their catalogue for anyone to peruse. You submit a scene or a chapter from your book and a description of the scene and they look after the rest!

If you click the above link, you will see what an ad can look like by having a look at my ad.

thatpart

Conflicted Hearts, D.G. Kaye

My First Book Review!

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Conflicted Hearts Cover MEDIUM revised

My book Conflicted Hearts has been live now for 2 days! I am so excited to share a 5 Star Review that was posted today. Wow I thought, someone already had bought and read it! I know I have a long way to go in this business, but it has certainly been one busy year.

As I am still working hard on my marketing and social platform, I am gratefully back to dedicating more time back to my second book (the title is a secret). I’d like to share with you now my first review below:

Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great find! Dec 19 2013

By Karen B

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Yesterday I happened to come across this book and I am so glad that I did. It made me laugh, it made me sad, it made me angry but most of all, it made me cheer for D.G. Kaye! She writes with candor and insight, passion and heart. It is an easy comfortable read, much like having a conversation and I couldnt put the book down until the conversation was over. You can feel the little girl’s worry and confusion, the teenager’s guilt and angst, the sadness and the searching of the young woman and finally the strength of the adult. Ms. Kaye writes about the effects her mother’s actions has had on her entire life and the decisions she has made but she is never mean spirited about it and it makes you love her more.

It is a book that makes you think, reflect, understand and most of all it is a book that shows you that with the right attitude and beliefs you can forgive and move forward. I loved it!Screen Shot 2013-12-18 at 12.54.19 PM

writing tips

#ISBN Numbers in #Canada

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WRITING

A little note on my blip with retrieving my ISBN numbers as I was getting ready to format my book, Conflicted Hearts.

It was Sunday. Sunday November 10, to be exact. Why do I remember this exactly? Because I was in the final stages of putting everything together for my book to be formatted, and of course that included plugging in the ISBN numbers on the copyright page.

I had already received my block of numbers from Government of Canada months before in preparation for my book. All I had to do was sign in to the government site and pull them out and fill in the required information pertaining to my book for it’s use. But I couldn’t get in! It wouldn’t accept my password and I was freaking out. That meant I couldn’t even call them until Wednesday! Monday was a holiday, Tuesday I had doctor appointments all day. It was frustrating looking at my beloved book numbers but unable to have them. I also needed to speak with the Library of Archives department because the rules were a bit misleading as to how I was supposed to send them a copy of my book after publication.

When I  was finally able to call, I reached a nice lady named Rachel. I explained the difficulty I was having obtaining my numbers and she was a great help with the process. In fact, we chatted a bit about my book and then I proceeded to ask her about my quandary on the LAC issue. She then told me that was a different department and she would connect me.

When I finally was able to call, I received an automated message asking to leave my name and phone number for someone to get back to me. Really?, I thought, as though I was calling some little business with an answering machine, not the government. I waited hours, no call back. I called back again, left another message, still no call back. I called back my ‘new friend’ Rachel and asked why nobody is calling back and she proceeded to inform me that they are minimally staffed and there was only ONE person in each department! I told her I just wanted to know the protocol for what I was legally to do with them to submit my book. I wasn’t sure how many formats they required or which formats. She then said, ‘Let me see what I can do for you, I will email them.’

A few minutes later a lovely lady named Patricia called me. I told her my concerns and she was lovely and guided me through the process and apologized for delays.  Here is what I learned:

Library of Archives and ISBN offices are in Montreal, Quebec.

Gratefully, the site navigation is about to be reconstructed for easier and updated navigation.

If you are formatting in both Mobi and Epub, only a copy of the Epub is required for them to have a copy in the archives. Patricia was kind enough to send me a direct link to forward this after I am published. She was also kind enough to give me her email address if I encountered more problems.

If you are publishing in POD, no printed copy is required to be sent in (that was one of the tricky grey areas on the website). Because POD is printed as ordered it is not necessary to submit a printed copy.

There is also an indication on the website that when submitting in ebook format, only so many megabites can be submitted at a time (grueling). I was informed that this has been changed, although it is not yet stated. I will be finding this little surprise out shortly after I publish and I will be sure to follow up here if I encounter said glitches.

I’d also like to say, I am grateful that for Canadian authors, our ISBN numbers are FREE!

Here is the email I received after our conversation, with the link attached to submit your ebook for archiving, after publication. I hope this helps some of my fellow Canadian authors.

Hello Deborah:

Thank you for contacting us today.

Here is the link to the site where you can upload your e-book.  As part of the process, you will register to receive a login and password, then you can upload you book.

 

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/electroniccollection/003008-220-e.html

Even though your file may be slightly larger than 200 MB try it anyway.  I would also recommend that you “zip” the file to compress it.

Well, I don’t believe my file is THAT big but they have certainly added some MB’s! So now that I have published (yay) I must download a copy for LAC within a week of publishing. Good luck to all you future authors. 🙂

If you run into any difficulties or need further information,  I’m happy to help.

Best Regards,

 

DGKaye©2013