Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! I’m taking the rest of the week off. See you back here next year next week. 😊
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I came across this great list of ideas for good living, keeping busy, and to enjoy life. I think it’s a worthy list of good ideas. Every little step we take to take care of ourselves physically and mentally counts!
©DGKaye2025
Welcome to my last Sunday Book Review of the year. Today I’m reviewing a perfect book to end the year with – Emotional truths of Relationships by Balroop Singh.
Blurb:
Can we stop the flow and speed of emotions? Can we learn from their radiance, their cheerful bounce, their twists and twirls? This book unravels their depth and resilience in handling the stormy weather, which is knitted into the fabric of all our relationships.We look around and feel – ‘Nothing is perfect’… dreams get shattered, hopes are belied, aspirations delude and the opportunities elude us. The clouds have the power to conceal the sunshine and our radiance fails to ignite positive thoughts.This book will guide you how you can keep pace with embellishing your thoughts and channelize your emotions, which can be trained to veer into a positive direction.
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My 5 Star Review:
Singh takes us on a journey of beautiful reminders of the waves of various emotions we all carry and/or exude. I would say that her words are like an elixir, like a prescription for the mind.
Emotions vary depending on what we are feeling. But this author takes us through various scenarious where emotions are exuded, and she digs into what provokes and why. From jealousy to happiness, the author breaks down the cause and effect of emotions, guiding readers how to move forward with them to help create positive outcomes when dealing with emotional moments in relationships.
Singh also uses quotes and philosphies woven in along with her own words, making this book a good one to help to work with self. She talks about various relationships – from childhood to adulthood, from children to parents, teaching us how to handle our emotions to move slower and absorb to help eliminate getting emotionally charged up in situations. She calls this the ’emotional quotient’ – a better ability to get a grip on our emotions. We’ll learn how to: perceive, process, assimilate, and manage our emotions. Singh also talks about children and how they observe surroundings and how to grow them more resilient by giving them an emotionally well developed childhood.
Hurt, anger, love, hate, are just some of the many emotions humans contend with in life. And in this book, we can learn how to calm and adjust our emotions by practicing what she offers, how to be more positive in our interactions, and express ourselves more freely.
©DGKaye2025
Today I’m sharing my recap post from my Safety and Awareness series this year at Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Blog Magazine. In case you missed any, find recaps and links of each post below.
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Welcome back to my last post of the year for my Safety and Awareness series. I talked a lot about staying safe in various scenarios this year. In this post I’d like to go over the highlights of these posts to reinforce and remind you all.
If you click on the headings it will take you directly to the relevant post.
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The topics I covered this year in this beware series recap:
Staying Aware in the Public Eye
Covering pointers – to beware of distractions when out in public with distracted drivers, people attached to their phones not paying attention, reminding to beware your surroundings, petty theft warnings, message to men why not to put wallets in their back pockets, and cellphone precautionary tips in case you get stranded.
Beware Email Scams and What to Look For
In this post, I offer valuable tips on how to detect scam emails, what to look for in the URL address line, what links to NEVER click on, and how to deal with scammy emails, not just deleting, but reporting them as well.
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Travel Safety and Awareness Part 1
In Part 1, I’m offering up some great travel solutions to remain safe while traveling and while on vacation. I suggest some good tips for bags and locks for travel, as well covering the importance of having RFID covers for credit cards and passport to deter passerby scammers who can steal our credit card/passport info with a tiny device without even stealing our bags.
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The topics I cov
In Part 2 of Travel Scams to beware of, I discuss methods for staying safe at bank machines and in hotels – room safes, bank machine scammers, what to look for when using foreign bank machines, what not to wear when touring.
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Mobile and Email Digital Communication Safety
In this post I talk about how to safeguard our mobile phones and computers from unwanted privacy invasions pre-installed on our devices, and how to remove these unknowing and unauthorized permissions.
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s year in this be this post, I offer valuable tip on how to detect scam emails, what to look for in the URL address li
Skin Safety Awareness and Vitamin D
Are you getting enough Vitamin D, or perhaps too much? In this post, I explain how SPF works and just how much Vitamin D we’re getting in various seasons, and when to use supplementation, the bewares of skin cancer, and sun protection protocols.
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ne, whatnks to NEVER click on, and how to deal w
In this post I cover what a VPN is, how to obtain one, and the very many benefits of having one installed on your mobile devices for privacy, both at home and for use when traveling. It prevents anyone on the internet from knowing our real IP address. And it’s so good to have for private wifi when out in public places, where hackers can easily get in our phones or laptops using unprotected public wifi.
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ith scammy emails, n
Fire Safety Protocols and Escape Plans
In this post, I’m discussing the importance of having a plan in case of fire. I am also mentioning a great fire safety tool to have in our homes – the Fire Blanket – a handy thing to have in the home or car for putting out fires instantly. They can be thrown over fires or used for wrapping ourselves in case we need to flee the flames.
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I hope you’ve found this series helpful in your everyday living and beyond. I wish you all a beautiful holiday season, and I will be back here next April with a new series to both – entertain and inform, here at Sally’s Smorgasbord of information and entertainment.
©DGKaye2025
Original Source: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Safety and Awareness Wrap-Up Pointers by D.G. Kaye | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine
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I hope you’ve found this series helpful in your everyday living and beyond. I wish you all a beautiful holiday season, and I will be back here next April with a new series to both – entertain and inform, here at Sally’s Smorgasbord of information and entertainmen
If you’re an author then you’ve all must have got Amazon’s email of late to remove DRM we’ve put on our books we’ve previously published, or come January 20th, some readers won’t be able to read our ebooks in EPUB or PDF form – no easy task! Also, not informative enough, and what Amazon really means is that it wants to give more access to sellers for our books, but sellers want DRM-free, so DRM-free they shall be. Who cares about out of control pirating access?
Apparently, there is a lot of debacle with this command. It takes away our rights to deter from pirating. Amazon says it’s a win because now any other sellers can download Amazon’s books if they’re DRM free. There’s so much debate going on in forums on the internet. All you have to do is Google Amazon’s new DRM rules.
Going on four days now since I got the email and nothing works. Of course the procedure is ridiculous because we have to republish our books completely in order to be able to make any edits. Just wait until you get to the ‘save and continue’ page where we change our option to ‘no DRM’, then save and continue and watch the gear spin for hours and days. Yes, I say days, because I’ve been attempting to republish with changes to NO AVAIL. You can’t get past that page where it tries to pull up the Kindle previewer launch, and that’s where we’re left spinning. The gear keeps spinning and all I’m left with is ‘save and continue setup’ beside each book in my dashboard.
I’ve watched videos, read forums – ad nauseum. It seems I’m not alone. And despite the many concerns raised for same issue in forums, the same instructions are given from Amazon, which DO NOT WORK.
Oh sure, read the many reasons why we get this glitch, and the best is – so many writers are trying to do this at the same time. No. I’m not buying that. I literally left the publishing page open to save and continue over night! I awoke to the same bloody gear spinning. This is bullshit nonsense. Here’s an idea Amazon – YOU REMOVE THE DRM YOURSELF!!! You change the rules on your own and treat authors like shit.
Good luck trying to call Amazon. First you fight the robots, then you wait endlessly, hoping to not get disconnected on the chance you get a human, and someone who understands English. Ya, I went through that crap too. Got past the robot guardian, finally got a human, but couldn’t understand what the hell I was talking about because if it’s not a purchase problem, they hang up on you.
Guess what? I got my best advice from ChatGPT:
Me at surrender point: “Sorry, too much work and waste of my life for days. I’m not doing anything with my books.:
GPT: “That is completely understandable. The KDP dashboard is notoriously glitchy, and spending days fighting a “spinning gear” for a simple settings change is an exhausting waste of time.
If you decide to walk away from it, here is the bottom line for your books as of December 21, 2025:
Your time is better spent writing or doing anything else. If KDP eventually stabilizes their servers, you can always check back in a few months when the “December rush” has passed.”
EVEN CHATGPT KNOWS WHAT A DRAIN THIS IS!
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One other pointer I learned from the numerous boring videos I watched, the clue to know if your book has been accepted as no DRM, in the sidebar, under ‘product details’ on our Amazon book page, we will see a line stating: ‘Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited’. If you don’t see it after struggling to to get DRM off, DRM is not off. And stop bothering trying.
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If any of you have had better luck, good on you. I raise my hands in surrender and have given up. Oh well, I guess all the pirates in the world won’t have easier access to some of my books.
What about you authors? Have you got the email? Did you attempt to DRM-free your books?
©DGKaye2025
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing a heartfelt short story – The Last Father-Daughter Dance, by Lisa Wingate.
Blurb:
For a father and daughter, it’s a journey through the four seasons in a poignant short story about memories and everlasting love by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Wingate.
Olympic silver medalist Kalista Brooks has built a successful life in California, complete with a thriving sports technology company and a handsome fiancé. But when her father’s heart condition takes a critical turn, she rushes home to Atlanta. There, her father makes a surprising request: to relive favorite memories from all four seasons in just one month at their old farmhouse in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
With help from the community and her long-lost sidekick Calvin Calhoon, Kalista creates a tapestry of cherished moments—dogwoods in bloom, homemade blackberry jam, autumn bonfires, and a magical winter evening that will live forever in her heart. But as father and daughter share these precious weeks together, Kalista discovers that time has a way of revealing what matters most. In the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains where she grew up, she learns that sometimes the sweetest seasons of life come when we least expect them.
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My 4 Star Review:
A touching story about a busy Olympian, Kalista who takes the time out of her chaotic life in California to visit her dad who has been slated for some time, waiting for a heart transplant in Atlanta. As the waiting continues, Kalista’s dad requests that he would enjoy doing some living while waiting to die. All he wants to do is go back to their old farmhouse in the Blue Ridge Mountains and experience the seasons once more, in current springtime.
During their venture to the farmhouse and while there, Kalista runs into the clan of friends she grew up with – mainly, Cal, who turns out to be a great help to make her father’s dreams come true once more. They bring summer with blackberry jam, autumn hay rides, and Christmas all to the mountains within one month. During this time, Kalista and her dad reminisce about happy times, as well as her dad giving her some strong advice about doing what makes her happy, not to please others – when it comes to her longtime fiance, Patrick. The relationship between father and daughter is poignant and moving.
No spoilers about the end but suffice it to say, it surely brought tears to my eyes. A beautiful well-rounded story and great characters. I just wish the epilogue would have been better fleshed out with a tighter conclusion.
©DGKaye2025
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Welcome to my December Writer’s Tips. In this edition, Hugh Roberts is sharing the latest Publishing Scams and how to make it Snow on our Blogs, Anne R. Allen is sharing the newest Book Marketing Scams, Deborah Jay continues on with her tutorial on Self-Publishing using Draft 2 Digital.
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Hugh Roberts warns us about the Newest Scams going on with Publishing
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Anne R. Allen gives us the scoop on the latest Book Publishing Scams
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Deborah Jay’s latest tutorial on Publishing with Draft 2 Digital
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Hugh Roberts gives us a Tutorial on How to Make it Snow on our Blogs
©DGKaye2025
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing D.L. Finn’s latest holiday release – Miracles and Ghosts Past: A Christmas Collection – book 2. Denise’s short stories book has some wonderful heartfelt stories of the season, and always a magical touch of the paranormal woven in – mostly angels.
Get This Book on Amazon
Blurb:
Miracles saturate the sweet-scented Christmas season—a reminder we aren’t alone.
Miracles & Ghosts Past: A Christmas Collection brings eight stories from past holidays. Rita buys train tickets for her and Morris’s 30th anniversary in the novelette, “The Christmas Train Mystery.”She’s convinced this trip will bring her and Morris closer—if he can find the time. A murder mystery excursion will change Rita’s life in more ways than one, but will she go with her workaholic husband or by herself? In the first short story, “Christmas Rescue,” Opal trusts the wrong man and loses her mother in the same year, leaving her feeling lost. On a mission to get candles for the dinner table, she makes an unexpected find. “Is There a Santa?” goes back to the 1920s, where a widower is desperate to hold on to his farm and children. He doesn’t want charity, just a bit of luck or a miracle. In the final stories, you’ll meet an eleven-year-old who’s home alone, a family living in the aftermath of war, a girl who gets some shocking news, a widow with a warning from beyond, and a woman trapped on an elevator with Santa. Hope underlies these stories; it endures even in the direst of circumstances. Whether help comes from a ghost, Santa, or an angel, miracles are just within reach.
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My 5 Star Review:
D.L. Finn has put out another Christmas selection of short stories, sure to keep us engaged with a hint of mystery in her seasonal stories with messages about life, family, good deeds, hope, and the occasional ghost of the past visiting. All these stories are sure to touch on our heart strings, with some also bringing a tender tear to my eyes. Finn’s stories all encompass some kind of hardship or incident, enlightened with sparks of hope threaded through. There are eight stories in this, perfect-for-the-season-book, and I’ll share a few here that stood out for me:
In the first story, The Christmas Train Mystery, poor Rita gets a rude awakening about her marriage and makes some drastic decisions about carrying on with a loveless marriage. As she embarks on her long awaited mystery train tour, Rita learns a lot more about her cunning husband and his diabolical plan for her. But she also gets a heads up from her dead aunt, who turns out to be her guardian angel.
In Christmas Rescue, a heartwarming story about Opal preparing for Christmas Eve, Opal realizes she needs a last minute dash to the grocery story – in a snowstorm, but as the universe makes things happen for reasons, Opal discovers a stranded Chocolate Lab who needs rescuing.
She’s Home Alone, young Debbie is getting ready for Christmas as she awaits her mom to arrive home from work. There’s a terrible winter storm going on and someone may be lurking outside with ill intentions. Debbie’s mom taught her well how to deal with suspicious strangers, and when the police eventually show up, it’s like the miracle of Christmas takes place in Debbie’s home and life.
Another engaging story was Elevator Santa. Imagine meeting someone in the elevator that gets stuck. That’s Mindy’s story, as she was stuck in that elevator with Santa! But Mindy didn’t know it was really Santa, but wanted to believe it was as he helped keep her fear and anxiety at bay. Mindy couldn’t decide if he was a working Santa or quite possibly – really Santa. And that’s what makes this heartfelt story so magical. Santa reminded Mindy of all the goodness in her life, and the happiness that was coming for her. After Mindy is rescued and questions herself about whether or not what took place with Santa was real or not, she realizes angels come in various forms.
I thorughly enjoyed this book and savored every story. If you’re looking to read something seasonal that leaves you with a warm and heartfelt tingle, this book is for you.
©DGKaye2025
I was thinking about how many short story books I read, and what’s the attraction?
I enjoy reading short stories as much as any other books. I typically read one so I can have a review ready for my Sunday book reviews, in-between longer reads. I enjoy variety, so reading shorter books is perfect for me. But don’t misconstrue, for me, a short story has to be well written with the same elements a good novel should have, only condensed – a good plot or storyline, believable characters and a well sewn up ending. If a writer can grab a reader and take their interest through story with a good beginning, middle and a satisifying end, well wrapped up in conclusion, short stories can be great reads. All books have a place.
But I will add, that no matter the genre of the book, there are certain criteria I look for in stories I prefer to read. For me, stories that involve the human condition are what typically grab me. We can find those elements in books, no matter the genre. Stories of incidence, stories which touch on human emotions and capabilities, and especially true stories and mystical spiritualistic stories, and stories which offer lessons, are what I gravitate to. My favorite stories are character driven. I enjoy getting into the character’s psyches, trying to guess their actions and reactions as relates to their character. I also enjoy short stories because they are bite-sized. You can read a story and put down the book and start a new story when picked up again. Just remember, despite them being short stories, the book should have a theme that umbrellas the stories.
I think short story books have taken off exponentially in the last few years.
Do you enjoy reading short story books? And what are your reasons for reading them?
©DGKaye2025
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