I always hear people complain about scams. Usually it’s on their cellphones. I solve that problem by never answering a call from someone who isn’t in my contacts. If it is a legitimate caller and they’re not in my contacts, they’ll leave a voicemail.

I get bombarded with other scams by email. I’ve published two books and I’m always getting emails from supposed publishers who want to promote my books and promise higher royalties. I get at least one of these a week. Occasionally I glance at them out of curiosity. Their command of the English language is seriously lacking. And the names of the representatives are quite comical. Somehow a name like Jose Shakespeare or Mahalia Dickens don’t exactly inspire much trust. Neither does Bill Jones or Jack Smith. And the same representative will contact me claiming to be affiliated with two or three different publishers.

And then there are the testimonies published on their websites by authors they claim to represent. Unknown authors, books that have never been published. It’s easy to create a website these days. No. It’s necessary to do your homework when choosing a publisher.

I used the same publisher for my first two books. The jury is still out on whether or not I will use them for my third book. The genre is different and I’m exploring other options for this book. In the meantime, I’m enjoying writing fiction. No need for the disclaimers used in the first two books. No need to change names of people and places. Fiction is fun!

In other news, I’m in one of the rare states in Mexico that isn’t red. The USA seems to get their warnings out a lot sooner than Canada these days. I guess Trudeau isn’t as concerned about the safety of the citizens of his country.

Happy Humpday!