Hamza Balol Gets Around



When I first started writing professionally about three years ago (January 2010), it was just me and my cat, Tommy.  I didn't write for the masses and I didn't encourage a fan base.  I wrote for the pure joy of it, as a welcome release for all the words stuck in my head begging to come out.  That first year was a time for reconnecting with the writer within me...to see what I was made of...and to measure my words against what was already published.

I started gathering great books about the craft of writing and read everything I could get my hands on.  I was introduced to the blogosphere and on December 6th, 2011, I created my blog ON THE WRITE TRACK because I felt I was ready to connect with others.  I wrote inspirational posts about what writing meant to me and began to reach out to others through online groups.  One day I realized I was beginning to generate a fan base.  Every person who commented on a post would get a reply from me.  I would return the favor and began reading their blogs.  I went in search of blogs which appealed to me and expanded into the world of Facebook.  All along the way I made sure to connect and respond to every person who reached out to me.

By January 2013 I had celebrated my first year anniversary of my blog by achieving over 300 followers and over 175,000 views so far.  Last year was a huge learning curve for me.  I learned about LinkedIn, and Twitter, soon adding them to my platform.  I joined critique groups, created a FREE author promotion event as my way of giving back to the writing community which was hugely sucessful (doing it again this year), entered contests, submitted stories (and had one accepted for publication), and made great strides in strenghtening my skills as a writer.  I also dealt with a hacker who tried to destroy my life by lying to my friends (no, I never was stuck on some island resort with no way to get home) and erasing all my contact information within Yahoo and Facebook.  The person from Africa, whom I originally befriended, had nothing better to do than to interfere with my little life.  He decided to erase all my archived files of my stories and more than a year's research I had stored online.

It was hard at first to believe such a thing happened to me, but I am that way...honest, trusting, believing the best in all people until proven otherwise and even then, still giving second chances sometimes.  Fortunately the stories were saved elsewhere but my research was gone.  I can't say I wasn't upset by the turn of events but I eventually looked at it as a lesson to be a little less trusting when dealing with my online persona and my writing.

Maybe that is why when I received this note last night, warning bells started flashing in my head:

Hello Ms. Donna,

I am not sure whether or not you are the one who wrote the wonderful story "Shortcut to Peace," from the 'Angels Among Us' book of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. The story, however, touched my heart and soothed my soul in a very positive way.

Best regards,

Hamza Balol

Saudi Arabia

"Shortcut To Peace" is my first published piece and who wouldn't be thrilled to think it touched the heart of someone half way across the world?  But something just didn't feel right and despite the fact I am so used to immediately replying to comments sent to me, I did a little research on Mr. Balol first.

 

 

It appears that Hamza Balol not only gets around but can change age and gender.  Googling the name shows he is not only a very young girl who appears to be the chief executive officer of a large company but also a middle aged man.  I'm not sure what his fascination is with following these types of stories but he has posted basically the same "touching" message on a number of other blogs and Facebook pages of writers submitting to Chicken Soup and like publications.  Unfortunately others have mistaken Hamza's comments for an invitation to begin a online conversation with him and that is when the scam begins.

 

I pray none of my REAL online friends and fans are ever taken in by someone like my buddy, Hamza, and in my research I even managed to locate some other Hamza Balols who might be taking a beating to their own integrity by having their name associated with a scam artist.  My heart goes out to those other Hamzas.
 

While I would like think my words may one day inspire others and touch their hearts, today is not the day and so I will let Mr. Balol's "heartfelt" note to me float off into the vast unknown of the Internet...maybe one day HIS poor soul will get the validation it so desparately needs so he won't feel the need to unnecessarily try to validate MINE.  Don't worry, Hamza, I'm doing just fine without you...;~)

Perfecting My Juggling Act

Before January of 2011 I would have considered myself to be a fairly busy person.  I worked and trained full time at my TaeKwonDo school.  I would get there around 10 am and leave around 8 pm every night during the school year and put in about 14 hours every day during the summer.  I sometimes felt like THIS guy...trying to juggle everything on my plate and sometime not getting the results I wanted.

Then I decided that I was going to return to my writing.  My son had moved out of the house and I quickly converted his bedroom into my study before he could change his mind.  But the world of writing is very different from twenty years ago and there was much for me to learn.  And the more I learned, the more things I discovered I needed to juggle. Things like a website, and a blog site, and social sites like Linkedin and Facebook and critique groups and writers online communities and other peoples blog sites and other peoples websites...you get the idea.  Then I started to feel like THIS guy because I now find myself with the idea of trying to juggle two full time careers and determined to make both passions work for me.

So how do I do it?  Keyword...time management.  I want to squeeze as much writing time out of each day as I can so I get up at 6 or 7 am each morning and juggle my writing...whether picture book or fantasy novel or blog post and then I spend the next ten hours focussing on my martial arts.  When I get home,  I spend the next 3 hours reading and responding to emails, catching up on other blogs or websites or online writing groups before tumbling into bed around midnight.  Saturdays I run errands and Sunday I focus on editing, doing critiques, researching submission avenues, and reading articles or books to further my writer skills.  Oh yeah, I also take time out on Sunday evening to watch Once Upon A Time...the only TV I indulge in during the week.

Juggling my time and my life may seem crazy to other people but I feel energized with my life in a way I haven't been before.  I didn't mention the volunteering I do on the side or my charity organizations or school programs I also participate in because I fill those in when I have the extra time...lol...

I can look back on this past year and wonder how did I ever manage to juggle all those obligations of my time or I can just sit back and reflect on how satisfied I am with my writing life and my martial arts life right now.  I'm privileged to be able to share my excitement with others through this wonderful writing community and give back to all the lovely people who have enriched my life this past year.  Now I'm looking more like THIS lady and thinking if I could just learn to toss in some chocolate with those clocks I'd be doing just fine!

Blogger Beware!

Someone asked me on Facebook to write a post about my experience with having my Yahoo and Facebook accounts hacked into a couple of weeks back.  They knew what "hacking" was, but didn't know exactly how one finds out that they HAVE been hacked, what to do about it and maybe how to prevent it in the first place.

Well, to make a long story short...my boss sent me an email letting me know my computer had been hacked into because someone, posing as me, was sending messages to my friends saying that I was stuck in the Philippines and needed money to get back home.  I got on my computer, only to discover that the hacker was online the same time I was and was IMing my friends as I tried to tell them I'm fine...don't send money!

I eventually found out that my hacker was working out of Nigeria and yahoo had sent me a message to my alternate email address to warn me but it was too late.

I tried to change my password to my yahoo account but alas, it wasn't soon enough because by then the hacker had set up some type of virus through my yahoo account to delete ALL of my yahoo contact info, ALL of my archive files which destroyed more than a year's worth of research concerning my writing, and set up my tkd2lady email address as a SPAM address so I started getting spam emails FROM MYSELF trying to get me to go into the pornography business.  Since I had to send THAT email to "spam",  ANY email I get addressed to tkd2lady hits the spam bucket and I have to constantly fish out the valid emails out of there and a lot of emails don't even GET to me now...;0(...

As this little sign reminds us...don't let scams con you into opening that door to allow heartless lowlifes access to your life.  It's scheming (I was SO afraid some of my friend, family, or business acquaintances would honestly think I was in trouble and lose money in the process), it's crafty ( I was AMAZED how the hacker copied my writing and online speaking style to try to con my friends), it's aggressive (I have spent weeks on trying to mop up after getting hit and I'm STILL cleaning up), and it's malicious (I am still feeling overwhelmed at all I STILL have to do to try and salvage things after being hit.)  I'm not an extremely computer savy person and simply can't figure out all the things I feel I should be doing to protect myself in the future.

Could I have done something to prevent it?  I don't think so except for maybe having to change my passwords on EVERYTHING each month but I simply don't have time to do that.  I am careful about who gets my personal information and I never open suspicious looking emails, and I always decline when people I don't know want to "be my friend" if my research of their request determines they aren't a legitimate person.  If anyone out there knows of other things I should have done or should be doing, I'd LOVE to hear it!

THAT being said, I'm still the type of person who tries to see the bright side of everything and even with being hacked and having soooo much taken from me, there are still some things to keep me smiling...

1.  It never prevented me from completing the A to Z Challenge.

2.  All my stories were stored in other areas so I never actually lost ANY of them.

3.  I still managed to write, revise, submit, and receive a wonderful rating on one of my picture book stories during this time.

4.  I only had one person "unfriend" me on Facebook and I can fully understand and respect their decision.  It was a newer friendship and either they didn't know ME well enough to know I would NEVER ask for money from someone like that or they feared the hacker/virus spreading to their corner of the world and decided to set aside the friendship instead of running the risk.  I get that...I can't say I might not have thought the same thing if it were me...

5.  I still have all my FABULOUS friends, both in the blogosphere and within the writing community and who could ask for anything more?

Sunshine On My Shoulder

Didn't you just love it when Sunshine On My Shoulder use to play on the radio?  John Denver certainly knew his way around a song and so many of those songs left you feeling so good inside.  Just like some blogs out there.

This is the second time I have been nominated for the wonderful Sunshine Blog Award.  This time my new writer friend, Bethany Telles ( http://perchedinatree.blogspot.com ) has passed this award on to me.  As part of the award, I am supposed to answer the following 9 questions so here goes...

Favorite Color...deep purple.  Maybe in a past life I was royalty wearing the purple?  Or maybe I was just the chambermaid cleaning those robes?

Favorite Animal...my kitty, Tommy, who has been my companion for more than twelve years and is lying by my side as I type this.

Favorite Number...anything that includes a bunch of zeroes after it.  Just kidding...I'm actually one of those people that HAVE to have things balanced whenever possible so any even number would be great!

Favorite Drink...I actually have three...cold milk poured over a tall glass of ice, hot cocoa, or hot tea depending on my mood and the weather.

Facebook or Twitter...I don't tweet, so I would have to say Facebook by a landslide.  I probably SHOULD start tweeting but I honestly don't have the time right now to learn how...

Your Passion...who DOESN'T know that I have two passions...TaeKwonDo and writing?  I've trained for over 11 years in martial arts but have been writing for over 40 years...

Giving or Receiving Presents...absolutely, without a doubt...GIVING presents!  I spend a tremendous amount of time getting to know the people I care about so that my presents are as thoughtful as I can make them because it shows how I feel about those people.

Favorite Day...Sunday...it's about the only day I have any more to relax a little as well as try to catch up on my writing. 

Favorite Flower...I don't really have a favorite flower, but my favorite scent is Yankee Candle's Sun and Sand tarts or votive candles!

Now I must pass along this lovely blog award to other deserving bloggers.  The six people I award the Sunshine Blog Award to are:

1.  Renee LaTulippe ( http://www.nowaterriver.com )

2.  Gypsy Thornton ( http://www.fairytalenewsblog.blogspot.com )

3.  Ed DeCaria ( http://www.thinkkidthink.com )

4.  Laura Barnes ( http://www.laurabwriter.blogspot.com )

5.  Kristen Lamb ( http://www.warriorwriters.wordpress.com )

6.  Doreen Mcgettigan ( http://www.doreenmcgettigan.com)

Please take the time to check these wonderful writers and authors out and then go outside and play in the sun!

Calling Inspector Gadget

Have you ever watched the Inspector Gadget cartoon as a child?  I was always amazed at the arsenal of research and other spying gadgets he had to help him catch the bad guys.  But he always seemed to have a hard time figuring out how to efficiently use all those things.  Just when he needed a particular thingamajig to pop out from under his hat, something always seemed to go wrong and Inspector Gadget would deal with an unknown tool that he didn't quite know what to do with.

That's what I feel like sometimes.  I know I'm in the 21st century where everyone has five or six different electronic gadgets dangling from ears or fingertips, but I still stumble over trying to keep up with everything that's out there.  Thank goodness for my techno savy son or I wouldn't be able to access the internet on my new iPhone.  I'm pretty good with making my way around the Mac laptop he gave me a few years ago when he decided to trade it in for a newer model, but I never did get the hang of the iPod gift that is now collecting dust in a drawer somewhere.

He also gave me a Kindle when he wanted to step up to an iPad.  Unfortunately, the iPad idea never really materialized for him, and now I have a Kindle for the past two years that I have opened maybe once.  I think I would rather enjoy this particular gadget...that is if I could ever find the time to figure out actually how it works and then I'm afraid my REAL books would get jealous to find my nose buried in a VIRTUAL one.

Writers these days have so many ways to stay in touch with their audience.  In addition to all the electronic "toys" to make them available to the world, they also have Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and a ton of other social media avenues to connect with those readers out in cyberspace.  I think Inspector Gadget's head would explode if he had to keep up with all that is out there today.

Who knew things would be so challenging in today's world of electronic gadgets?  The only problem I see is that I never aspired to be a super hero.  I just wanted to write a book...