I had a different post prepared to share today, but I’m going to save that for another day because I don’t feel the timing is appropriate now. The article I wrote is about True Crime in my opinion, as well as a share about my own scary past.
So today’s post is just short with a question. I recently received a horrid and life-threatening comment on one of my recent posts, my writing tips post to be exact. I’m grateful that I don’t allow comments without my approval, and this one came direct to me in comments, not even spam. It was quite lengthy, threatening me, hopped over from LinkedIn, told me how he’s going to r@pe me and kill my family, he knows where I live, and if I promote anywhere, I’ll deal with his bosses. There were some choice words about what he’s going to do to me if I don’t promote with his bosses.
I was horrified at what I read. I checked in with a close friend (author) sharing what I read, and she told me she too had received the same! I’ve been mulling this over, and since there are so many cyber bullies and scammers, we never know how serious a threat can be, so I’ve decided rather than ‘just be cautious’, I would inform our Canadian RCMP cyber fraud department. And that I did to no avail after three hours on hold for the non emergency police. That was after wasting an hour online filling out my complaint on the RCMP fraud page. Except you waste your time filling out everything five times, only to find their website isn’t functioning so you can’t submit after filling out. It’s no surprise so many people die before they can get help. Yup, that’s about the speed of overwhelmed, under-funded Toronto with all of our social services and cuts – thanks to Doug Ford.
What my question is today for all of you bloggers and authors, have any of you received such a threat in your WordPress comments – or on social media, for that matter? I would like to know if this may be a group author target or if I have more to worry about.
Welcome back to my Heroic-a series of empowering women of WWII. Today I’m spotlighting one of the deadliest female snipers of WWII, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who killed 309 fascists in the Soviet Union – in the now known as Ukraine.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko was born in Bil Tserkva, Ukraine in 1916. She was a complicated human being – brave, and forever haunted by her killings. She was a history student, became a mother, a wife twice, and a sniper. Her war is now over, but her words remain.
“Gentlemen, I am twenty-five years old and have killed three hundred and nine invaders. By now, don’t you think you’ve been hiding behind my back too long?” ~ This was the beginning of Lyudmila’s speech when she was sent to America in 1941 and met President Roosevelt and First Lady, Eleanor to try and get the US to join the war on the European front.
In 1930, Lyudmila’s family moved to Kiev, (now part of Ukraine). She was a tomboy who joined a shooting club in the Soviet Union. She worked by day at Kiev arsenal and at night she studied at the university. Her spare time was spent on shooting practice. She earned many badges and ultimately became the Soviet Union’s most remarkable precision marksman – fierce and determined.
By June 1941, operation Barbarosa happened. Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Lyudmila went straight to the registry to join the war and fought to become a shooter – not a nurse or any other female roles. They tested her by handing her a rifle and told her to shoot two Nazis. Piece of cake for her. She was assigned rifle duty. The rifle weighed over four kilograms, which became like a third arm. Three weeks later she’d accumulated over one hundred sniper kills and made a hero by the Russian Red army. They nicknamed her – Lady Death.
During her first kill campaign, Lyudmila fell in love with a fellow sniper and married him. She was sent to the Crimean Peninsula to fight for eight grueling months of unrelenting hell to fight in the Battle of Sevastopol. The Soviets were outnumbered ten to one. By June 1942, the Luftansa had dropped over fifty tons of artillery on them. After the siege, only eleven survived. Lyudmila was one of them. She trained new snipers and was promoted to Lieutenant. Her new husband died in battle, and Lyudmila channeled her grief through her rifle. Her record for counter snipers were remarkable. The National WWII Museum states that she won every battle she fought. Her patience remained hidden as she stayed concealed without movement for three days during the Battle of Sevastopol.
Lyudmila’s tactical methods were diabolical. She never had to fire more than one shot, just as she never used the same hiding place twice. She was an ace at using decoys. Lyudmila suffered four wounds by 1942. Two were serious shrapnel wounds that left her in hospital in Crimea. The Soviets realized just how valuable she was and didn’t want her back in the action risking her life, but opted to use her to train other snipers. And in 1941, she was sent to Washington, D.C. to gain the support of America to join the war and help fight the fascists. Stalin wanted Western allies to join in the European front. Lyudmila was the first Soviet citizen to be seen by an American president. Roosevelt was welcoming, but it seemed American journalists were more interested in her beauty secrets than her heroism.
By the time Lyudmila spoke in Chicago, she learned how to handle the press. She toured forty-three cities with First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. After some tough ice-breaking, the two women became lifelong friends and maintained correspondence for almost two decades. In 1957, Eleanor visited Moscow. She connected with Lyudmila, all the while accutely aware they were being listened to. Eleanor commented, “There is something very charming to me about this Russian woman.” Their friendship lasted until the death of Eleanor in 1962.
In 1943 Lyudmila was awarded the Gold Star Hero award of the Soviet Union. She also received The Order of Lenin, and a commemorative stamp was made in her name. American song writer, Woodie Guthrie wrote a song for her. She also received many gifts from the U.S. From 1945 to 1953 she completed her university studies at Kiev and became a historian for the Soviet Navy headquarters, while suffering exacerbating PTSD for the rest of her life.
On October 10th, 1974, at the age of fifty-eight, Lyudmila Pavlichenko died of a stroke. The weight of war always leaves a high price tag on human life.
Watch the full story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko below in this half hour video.
Welcome back to my best picks of the month of my curated tips for writers. In this edition, Beem Weeks is at the Story Empire with a wonderful tutorial on Creating Vivid Settings for our books. And Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware is sharing the latest author scams going on coming into our emails through fake AI publishers now inviting us to author festivals and conference events, Anne R. Allen on Book Publicity Scammers, Hugh Roberts shares a new tutorial on how to use Ping Backs, Alliance Independent Authors shares best and worst social media sites for authors.
Beem Weeks at the Story Empire – Creating Vivid Settings
Welcome back to my latest post in my – As We Age series. In this article, I’m going to speak about methods for taking care of our brains to help in keeping them sharp and active.
This post is in no way speaking of dementia, Alzheimer’s or any other brain related disease, but focused on plain old aging and how to stay on top of our brain health.
Let’s begin with the little memory slips we acquire as we age.
I remember reading something long ago about associating something to someone to help remember people’s names we’ve briefly been introduced to. I admit to being the worst at that sometimes. I know I have a bad habit of forgetting someone’s name I was formerly introduced to because if I’ve sized up the person and had no interest in what they had to say, for me it’s out of sight out of mind. But sometimes it also happens that if I met someone and we chimed, and I meet them again, their name may still be stuck on the tip of my tongue, yet I know the face. If I can’t recall their name, I have no issues telling them politely, “I’m sorry I know we’ve met, but for the life of me, I can’t remember your name.” Plain old honesty works.
How to associate a name with a person you’ve briefly met: You can make up a rhyme for that person or add a name to their name in your head associated with something or someone who relates to their name. If you can remember a person by face only, try making up a rhyme in your head with something they do or enjoy. – Mike the bike (if you met biking), Carrie the shoes girl.
Another good idea to help remember where we put something down, is to make a mental and conscious note the moment we set something down. This is why it’s best to have a place for our items we use regularly. For example, every time I go out, my keys are on the credenza in my front hall. After putting on coat and shoes, I grab them and go, never having to look for my keys, because I always set them down first as soon as I come home – in the same place! Conscious effort, familiarity.
It’s also not difficult to misplace our glasses and/or phones. I do this stupidity at least a few times a week where I unconsciously put down my phone wherever I may have ended a phone call. Thank goodness for my landline because I use it to call my cell phone to listen for the ring. As far as glasses go, they can be left anywhere – often I’ll find them somewhere under the covers in my bed after passing out reading. Other times, I have to search a bit – thankfully while wearing another pair of glasses!
Another peeve of mine is my ability to forget what I was saying midway through a conversation. I find this happens when people interrupt what I’m saying – and the rest gets lost. Oh yes, it does come back eventually, but often too late to finish what I was saying. My friends have a habit of interjecting with questions while I’m telling them something. To help alleviate this blank moment of word stuck I preface a conversation or story with – “Okay, let me tell you the details and please don’t interrupt until I’m finished because YOU KNOW I will lose my train of thought.” It works mostly, but human curiosity sometimes can’t wait to interject.
Okay, so let’s get to the part about what we can do to sharpen our brains and keep smart.
It’s important that we challenge ourselves with doing things that we enjoy to keep the engines running smooth. Keeping sharp in our later years requires a good combination of various activities – Cognitive challenges, activities to keep us mobile, and another important component – social interaction. Mind and body go hand-in-hand when it comes to keeping brains sharp. Under that umbrella also comes proper nutrition and supplementation. If the body isn’t fed well, it affects both, our minds and bodies, causing brain fog and low energy. Keeping busy is the name of the game . . .
Please hop over to Sally’s blog to read the conclusion and my tips for keeping busy.
Welcome to today’s post about empowering heroines of World War II. Today I’m going to share a bit about the heroics of one tiny, petite young woman of age twenty-four who didn’t even look twenty – Andree de Jongh – Code Names – Dedee and Postman.
Andree de Jongh was born in WWI, Schaerbeek, Belgium. De Jongh was studying to become a nurse. In 1940 she moved to Brussels and joined the Red Cross voluntarily and got involved with rescuing and hiding allied airmen. In total,776 stranded allied airmen were rescued through her creation of the ‘Comet Line’. This was the route she traveled over twenty-four times, 800 kilometres each way back and forth, to guide stranded allied airmen out of Brussels, taking them through the Pyrenees to Bilboa Spain’s British consulate. When De Jongh made her first journey through to Spain, the British almost didn’t believe this tiny woman led the allies to them, they were convinced it was a German plot! Interesting the route went to Spain, considering Spain pretended to be neutral in the war but kept a covert allegiance to Germany and Italy.
De Jongh’s team were also referred to as the ‘DDD’s’ because their surnames all began with the letter ‘D’, hence, the code name Dedee. De Jongh was known as a real firecracker. In fact, her father named her ‘little cyclone’ when she was just a little girl.
These missions took place because every soldier was crucially needed to fight the Nazis, so if uninjured, the soldiers were sent back to war. The first mission was the only one that wasn’t 100% foolproof. The soldiers were led safely to Spain, but not taken directly to the consulate, which caused several airmen re-arrested when caught trying to get to Bilboa. From 1941 through 1943, De Jongh had made twenty-four trips back and forth. British MI6 and MI9 got involved with the program and sponsored it.
There were 3000 volunteers for these missions, 70% being women. At the end of the war approximately 290 of those volunteers were captured and/or killed. The Comet Line route wasn’t an easy one. It began in Brussels to Paris by train, cross the Sommes at Corbie, Paris to Bordeaux to Bayonnne or St. Jean de Luz by overnight express. Bayonne to Urrugnu by bike or foot to the Pyrenees – an eight hour trek overnight of twenty-five kilometres climbing six hundred-foot mountains, in all weather. The dangers were weather, terrain – and worse, the traitors and betrayers.
De Jongh was caught and interrogated and the Germans refused to believe such a pretty and tiny young woman could possibly be capable of such journeys, so instead of killing her, they sent her to a concentration camp in January 1943, first to Ravensbruck, then to Mauthausen, and there she remained until Liberation Day. When the war ended, she was freed by the allies, weight under eighty pounds and dying from Tuberculosis. But she didn’t die!
After the war, De Jongh was invited to receive the George Medal at Buckingham Palace, in 1946. She also received numerous other medals from many allied countries who fought the war, such as the Medal of Freedom, the French Legion d’honneur, the Belgian Croix de Guerre, and a few more. In 1985, the king of Belgium made her a Countess. De Jongh completed her nursing degree then moved to Africa to help the leper communities. She died in Brussels at the age of ninety on October 13th, 2007.
Below is a video with more details how this incredulous woman became a heroine of WWII.
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m sharing my review for Jackie Lambert’s latest release on her Beastly stories (The Beast is a vehicle) and the final take-off from Britain to Albania and beyond!
Get This Book on Amazon
Blurb:
The Comic Memoir of a Questionable Road Trip
“Don’t go there,” they said – but Jackie and Mark did. In their 16-tonne truck, The Beast – with four dogs. .
Looking beyond the headlines – and drawn by curiosity – they set course for a misunderstood country on the fringes of Europe.
Their slow, dog-filled adventure winds through France and Italy, where they seek out quiet roads, wild camps, and experiences you won’t find in guidebooks.
But the journey didn’t quite go to plan.
When they finally cross into Albania, a frightening incident forces them to confront the realities that come with choosing an unconventional life – particularly when others depend on you.
Rich in history and populated with unforgettable characters, this is not a glossy van-life fantasy. It’s a wry, honest, and witty memoir about choosing curiosity over fear – even when it comes at a price.
If you’ve ever wondered what lies beyond the well-trodden routes – and whether it’s worth the risk – this journey is for you.
Perfect for readers who enjoy: van life • overland expeditions • The Balkans • dog-friendly travel • slow adventure • funny, heartfelt travel memoirs.
Book 1 of Never Mind the Balkans– the hit new series from bestselling author Jacqueline Lambert.
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My 5 Star Review:
This is the third book I read in this informational and humorous telling memoir of the life journey of the author and her husband and their giant task of building their ‘beast’ and finally traveling in it after the Covid and Brexit debacles – and other interruptions. We’re heading to Albania via history, roads and stories through France and Italy.
One couldn’t even imagine all that’s entailed in building, living in, and traveling in the 24.5 ton converted to 16 ton, once, Green NATO truck – now, the Beast, but Lambert changes all that by taking us with her, her hub, four pawsome pups and the Beast on their trip to Albania, and the many stops along the way with some crazy adventures that had me laughing out loud many times. The journey from Britain, through France, and Italy, enroute to Albania, is full of fun and bizarre stories that keep us entertained. The Lamberts get plenty of looks and questions when their big Beast rolls into town, and that’s half the fun – that is, when they aren’t stuck in the mud somewhere, or even told to turn the Beast around on a ferry to Albania!
The book is action-packed with humor, mini history and geography lessons along the way through the towns and cities they pass through, as well as the town legends, and folklore. We’ll learn about the cultures and delicious cuisine from delicious descriptions along the way as they travel at a max of 45mph, holding up traffic when U-turns are necessary, getting stuck in narrow roadways – and mud, and anything else that can delay these two that you won’t think of until you read this book.
This is definitely not your glossy van life story, and most definitely, not your average roadtrip! But it’s a great adventure, and the most interesting are the people they meet along the way – or remeet. We’ll learn of some places we may never heard of, mishap adventures from bad advice, best places to buy SIM cards and find ATMs. And despite all the departure delays, vet stops, and mechanical issues, the Beast makes it to Albania!
I was going to post something else today, but when I came across this article and video clip I felt it something that needs to be shared to spread awareness for travelers.
Today’s post is about a new scam going on at airports here in Canada, Toronto airport specifically, and no doubts at any airport globally. I’m sure you’ve heard of drug mules. Ya, it seems that’s the old fashioned way drug dealers get their goods across borders – using humans to transport drugs. But hey, why risk one’s life using that old method when you can be a criminal working as a baggage handler?
Yes, say goodbye to human drug mules and just snatch someone else’s tag off their luggage and if the drugs make it through, the suitcase is picked up at baggage carousel and walked out with a suitcase full of drugs. OR. The bag gets caught through screening and YOU are the one who gets arrested.
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Here’s how it works:
The criminal baggage handler tears off the destination luggage tag from anyone’s bag and sticks it on the bag full of drugs. Those airport luggage tags are fully coded in the barcodes with all our personal information. Then they either leave our bag with no tag at all, or, they stick a ‘rush’ tag on it as lost luggage.This works like a charm for them! So, if the drug bag gets pulled off the belt, it is us who gets arrested.
So far, this scam crime has happened to SEVENTEEN Canadians – and all occurences began at my own Toronto Lester B. Pearson airport. Some of those innocent Canadians are sitting in jails in various parts of the world. The luckier ones were detained in Canada as bags were caught before takeoff.
In the video below, Avery Haines, one of our better Canadian journalists, does a report on what is happening, on our Saturday night crime show – W5, how it happens, consequences, and what we can do to try and protect ourselves when checking bags at the airport. I’d say any airport because scams are like viruses, they spread like fire once the criminals catch on. Fortunately, our Canadian RCMP is quite aware of this new crime because of the Canadians who were wrongly arrested in Canada. One Canadian couple were released from detention after a few hours because of a brainstorm idea. They pulled up the feed from their Ring camera at home and showed authorities the footage of them leaving for the airport with THEIR BAGS. This is now what helps to protect our innocence. Other Canadians stranded in foreign country jails are being worked with authorities and our RCMP, but much tougher to get some out of jails.
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All our personal info is embedded in these tags
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Here is a great Recommendation:
When you place your bag on the airport scale when checking in, take a picture of the bag, the bag tagged, AND, what the weight scale shows. The drug suitcase with YOUR stolen tag attached won’t exactly match the same weight displayed. These three things will have the proof which is our bag and which is not. It’s a sad state of affairs when we have more to worry about when flying, not knowing if our bag will be the next chosen by criminals, putting us in detention – and possibly, jail. It’s imperative we stay ahead of the criminals!
It doesnt take much to pay off a baggage handler to pull off a tag and stick it on another. It’s noted that there is a crime ring attached to this new crime, these people are not working alone. The sad world we live in thrives on corruption because everyone else is doing it. Everyone seems to have an angle, a new way to steal from others so they don’t have to exert themselves in life. Crime and greed are everywhere now so please do your diligence my fellow travelers.
W5 Investigation exposes how drugs are smuggled through Canadian airports
Welcome back to my May editition of curated Writer’s Tips. In this edition, Nicholas Rossis is at the Story Empire updating us on Keywords for our books, Joy York is at the Story Empire with a tutorial on marketing for our targeted audience, Deborah Jay updates us on changes using Draft 2 Digital – a new fee, Deborah Jay is also at the Story Empire offering good advice on how to optimize our Amazon book pages, and Kindlepreneur has put out a post explaining just how Substack works.
DGKayewriter.com 