Category : Author of the Month

Author of the Month

Tellwell author Deborah Kane shares her inspiration behind writing the Fifth Dragon series

deborah-kane-headshotWhat started as a creative outlet after long days of high-pressure financial work for the government soon morphed into the beginning of the Fifth Dragon series.

Deborah Kane never intended to embark on writing a fantasy series, nor did she expect the ideas to translate to three books, or more. Kane wrote the first book, Fifth Dragon – Cumulos Capers, to revive the humorous aspects of fantasy.

“Most of what’s out there is really dark,” she said. “This is just light humour with some magic.”

There was no plan in mind, no concerns of pleasing anybody and no restrictions. “This one just kind of came out of nowhere,” she said.  “I wrote it just for fun, the writing just came and came, and then I realized ‘Oh my gosh, these are books.’”

By the time she started writing the second book, Kane got more serious about the project. “Only as I went along, I realized, ‘Okay, I need a direction,’” she explained.

First, she set herself a schedule, writing in five hour increments, mostly over weekends. Though Kane stressed the importance of being passionate about the subject matter, she also recognized the value of sticking to time goals.

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Author of the Month Tellwell Books

How parents can help protect their children from online predators

Many children are accessing the Internet using mobile devices and computers, and parents often don’t know what sites they’re visiting or with whom their kids are interacting.

The way we parent our children has to evolve along with technology, says author Charlene Doak-Gebauer. That means including digital supervision and guidance as part of traditional parenting.

“The Internet and digital devices are light years ahead of parenting, and it’s time parents caught up,” she said.

Doak-Gebauer explains her theory of digital supervision in her book Digital Sexual Victims: True Cases (published by Tellwell). She wrote the book to protect children and families from becoming victims of child pornography after her niece was targeted by neighbours when she was only four-years-old.

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Author of the Month

How Tellwell author Jeana Deal achieved financial independence in a few years

jeana-dealIn three years, Jeana Deal went from working as an administrator at a post-secondary institution to quitting her job to trade stocks full-time, making enough money to live off her investments and even holding a semi-retirement party.

“I needed something a bit more spectacular, a bit more exciting, and something that gave me the freedom I was looking for in terms of making my own decisions instead of being bound by a budget,” she said.

Instead of working a 9 to 5 job, Deal sets her own schedule, balancing investing with book marketing and developing content for her website. She has the freedom to decide how much she wants to work and when, but to get to that point took a lot of education and dedication.

Deal and her spouse dreamt of opening a bar together and in 2007, they began taking business and accounting courses.  But they didn’t have enough capital to start a business so they added on investing courses and workshops.

The defining moment came at a conference when they stumbled upon a live trading show and watched the speaker make a $1,000 right before their eyes. They forgot about the bar, and decided to focus their efforts on learning everything they could about the world of stocks.

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Author of the Month

Sharyl Rains – November Author of the Month

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Alberta-based author Sharyl Rains said response to her newly published book, The Holy Tudors: Inheritance, has been much more than she anticipated, even overwhelming at times.

“With all the signings and appearances I’ve done, I’ve had a great turnout for pretty much all the events I’ve held for the book,” said Rains.

She is in the middle of her five-month Canadian book tour, holding events in libraries and book stores.

“People’s feedback has been really great. I love answering questions, interacting with people and talking about my characters.”The Holy Tudors

Her efforts are paying off. Rains is impressed with how well the book is selling and sees a spike in sales after each event.

The Holy Tudors: Inheritance is a historical fiction novel set in the 1500s. It follows three boys of the Tudor Dynasty – Prince Arthur, Duke Henry Fitzroy and King Edward VI. Rains found a fascinating connection between all three. They died at very young ages and that’s when she began to craft a story around that idea.

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