G20 weekend in Toronto

Normally I don’t write about political issues, but I’m going to make an exception today because of what happened in Toronto these last few days. For me it was, even though unfortunate- expected, not wanted- but expected. Hope against hope, I, like a lot of residents of Toronto were crossing our fingers that we would skip the violence. But, when one follows the trends of other cities hosting the G20 summit, it is quite a “normal” part of the protests.

I feel very uncomfortable and upset that something like that would happen in Toronto. We generally have a peaceful city and as the media is quick to say, this is the first time that something like that has happened in Toronto. This, of course is a record we Torontonians are proud of and it is a shame that a bunch of people whose only agenda is destruction and violence should be the ones to break that record!

As a writer for children’s books, I’m always concerned about the impact of “adult issues” has on our kids and how they see these situations. It is an unfortunate circumstance that some of our kids were exposed to the dramatic situations this weekend.

I overheard a child ask his father: “Why are there were so many police here? Why do they have guns? Are cars that were on fire were part of a movie?” The poor father had a very hard time trying to explain the situation to his son.

Shocked by what the little boy had said and I started to wonder how the children saw what actually happened here this weekend. I was able to ask some children what they thought about the violence that they had witnessed.

There were circumstances under which these children were exposed. They live close to the area or were in an area that was deemed safe until the riots unexpectedly took a turn for the worst –literally. The children ranged from ages 8-12 and this is what they had to say:

“The people who hurt other people are not nice- they have to go to jail” Michael aged 8.

“Do those people want to hurt us?” – Allison 8 years old.

“Are the people going to come to my house?” Tyler – 10 years old.

“Some people have to shout and be angry because they want something they don’t have”

Jody – aged 12

How do you answer these questions? How do you quell the fear that is underlying those questions? Do we tell our children that the world at times is not safe? Do we protect the children and make sure that they live their lives with rose-coloured glasses firmly planted on their noses? Do we tell them what this is all about? Is it appropriate? What is appropriate?

When I brought up these questions to a few parents I realized that they were struggling with those questions and it became quite a discussion.

There are parents who feel that their children should see what happens in the world today.

“Because they need to know” was the answer.

Other parents want to protect their children from scenes like this.

“Because they don’t need to know, yet” was the other answer.

So the question is:

Is there a right or wrong answer for this issue and for that matter for other world issues? When do we expose our children to these issues?

Struggling to find the correct way to answer those questions, I think we can all work together to raise our kids in a way that they become responsible, level headed adults, who are not afraid to stand up for what they believe in, but who also respect other people’s opinions, lives and livelihoods.

Busy life- Full speed ahead -Part 2

In the past few months my career as a writer has grown in leaps and bounds! I've been busy, busy, busy!!

Last time I told you about "Freddy's French Fries Fiasco" The book is now published I've had some great reviews and a lot of interest.

My third book has been illustrated and we are now preparing the layout of the book. I am looking for a new publisher - I hope I find one soon.
"The Big Blue Bed Monster" is for younger children. I'll keep you posted on the development.

My web-site is ready! Very exciting! Go check it out. www.didilemay.com

The best decision I have ever made in my writing career is to work with an Author Assistant!

She has helped me with my web-site. She has helped me with the social media exposure. She has developed a media kit for both my books. Through her, I have gotten a few internet radio interviews and blog exposures.

We are now working on more exposure. My author assistant is a gem! If you are serious about being a writer, you need to find your author assistant!


In the past few months, my other job has also kept me busy. About a year ago, as some of you know, there was a fire in the building we manage. It took one full year to renovate and in April of this year we were able to move back. The building is beautiful. Of course part of my job was to re-populate the building - all 47 units. Quite a job.

I am now also the proud mama of a 6 month old Golden Doodle- Rosie. She has taken up a lot of my time with training and walking. It is truly like having a baby. The work and the joy!

Here's a picture of Rosie

Busy Life- full speed ahead

Hello everyone,
I'm back!

Wow! What a few busy months I’ve had. My teaching job took over for a while. Interacting with my Brazilian students and showing them around Toronto, I certainly had my cardio-work out. We usually were walking and traveling the TTC from about 1 pm to six or seven pm, 6 days a week. I showed them, the CN Tower, ROM, Casa Loma, AGO, China Town to name a few places. And, of course we went shopping. Hunting for bargains- a great pastime

It was fun to show them around town, sharing interesting stories and other tid-bits about our great city. Now that they are back in Brazil, I’m back to my usual routine.

I have been very busy with the development of my next book “Freddy’s French Fries Fiasco which will be published by end of April, beginning of May.

Of course tax season is also upon us, so preparing for my tax guys kept me hopping as well.

Now I’m working on a new web-site and preparing my media visibility. Writing, editing and preparing my third book is now scheduled. My next book, “The Friendly Big Blue Bed Monster is a book for younger children aged 3-5 years old. I will introduce The Big Blue Bed Monster soon.

The anticipation of getting “Freddy’s French Fries Fiasco” published is very exciting. I had a few parents and children read it this is what they had to say.

This is what two moms had to say about “Freddy's French Fries Fiasco”:

Freddy’s French Fries Fiasco has it all!! It is filled with great lessons from eating healthy, getting exercise, working hard towards your goals to the benefits of great friends who are there to support and help you when you need it most. It contains loads of adventure and keeps you riveted to the very end. A great book for any parent to share with their children.
P. Neill
A Mom

Freddy and his three friends are very cute role-models. They have shown my two children the value of friendship, supporting each other. Freddy and his friends have given my kids an incentive to eat properly. Don’t get me wrong, we still eat French fries, but now my children have set their own menu during the week and they voluntarily decided to cut back on the french fries. “Freddy’s French Fries Fiasco” has a fun approach to eating well. Thanks DiDi, for such a fun and helpful tool.
A mom of two fantastic children



I'd like to invite you to join my page for Freddy's French Fries Fiasco at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toronto-ON/Freddys-French-Fries-Fiasco/192410934833

There you will also see -in their original writing what a few children had to say about Freddy's French Fries Fiasco

Hope to see you there.

Dreams do come true!!

Last weekend, December 19th and 20th was very exciting for me. I had my first live radio interview- on the Dutch station http://www.dutchtouchradio.com CJMR1320AM. It was quite a challenge. Even though I do speak Dutch, I've gotten a bit rusty over the years. Nonetheless, it was fun and marked the next milestone in my writing career.

On Sunday, December 20th, I was at The McNally-Robinson Booksellers where I had a book-signing, for my book "A Winter Solstice Celebration". The staff in the children's book department were wonderful and helped me every way they could.

Doing a book-signing event is a dream come true for me. As a young girl, whenever I thought of being a professional writer, I had a vision of me sitting at a table signing my books. Through the years, my vision just thrilled me. You can imagine how I felt when it really came true! Another exciting milestone in my journey of professional writing. My first book-signing was a huge success, thanks to all the interesting and friendly people -young and old- I met. Thank you all for your support and I hope you stay in touch so I can share my progress as a writer.

A Milestone on the Road to Professional Writer

In the past few weeks, my journey towards becoming a professional writer has exhilarated. Some very exciting events are starting to shape up for me.

One of them is that on December 20th at 11:30 am to 12:30 pm I will be signing my book, " Winter Solstice Celebration" at McNally- Robinsons at Don Mills and Lawrence. You are all invited and I hope to see you there!
To get more information check out this link
http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-9270/Kids-Event:-DiDi-LeMay

Another exciting event is that I’ve been invited for a live radio interview on the Dutch radio.
Yes, I did say, Dutch! I’ll be speaking in Dutch! For those who did not know, I speak Dutch, as I lived in The Netherlands for 12 years. There, I founded a children’s theatre group. I wrote and produced the plays and the children were the actors. We preformed for seniors and other children as well as on special occasions in the small village I lived in at the time.

For all of you who do speak and understand Dutch, you can follow me on CJMR1320AM - http://www.dutchtouchradio.com.
For my English speaking fans, a translation will be done asap and will be posted on my blog and my web-site!

About two weeks ago, I hired a Social Media Consultant/Author Assistant, This was the best thing I could have done! I’ve been exploding onto the Internet at a large number of social network web-sites. Check me out on facebook, linkedin, goodreads, librarything and in the near future on Youtube, to name a few. We continue to develop more and more Internet Publicity.
If you feel that you need someone like that check out her web-site at www.theyppublishing.com

As you can see, all the events are shaping up to be another milestone on the road to becoming a professional writer!

Becoming a professional writer

It has been a few weeks now that my book
"A Winter Solstice Celebration" is in the book store.

McNallys -Robinson, in Toronto, to be exact. It is a very exciting event; one I hope will continue to develop momentum.

The day I delivered my books to McNallys was a very special and exhilarating one. I was giddy with anticipation of things to come. I had accomplished another step in my journey of being a professional writer. Excited, I took the rest of the day to wander around the city. I celebrated by treating myself. I had special lunch and while I sat in the restaurant, I remembered another unique day. The day I decided to become a writer.

When people ask me: "How long have you been writing?" I stare at them, and then mutter something incoherent like, "As long as I remember". This is true.

I remembered I wrote a story when I was in the 5th grade. I wrote about a girl, who in the middle of the night, woke up because she heard a noise. She could see the time was 3 am on her alarm clock. The curtains were not closed and the beam of the streetlight fell in such a way that it highlighted the face of the clock. The teacher did not believe I could have written in such detail................. I got an F.

There were other details in my story which the teacher didn't believe and therefore she failed me.

She thought I had copied it from somewhere. But, I was not insulted or even angry. I was happy. Happy that my story was so good and that day I decided I was going to write. Be a writer! And writing I did. I wrote about my adventures, I wrote about fictional characters and I wrote about other peoples adventures. I got inspired by life itself. Then, I would just pile into a folder with the hopes and dreams of -one day- becoming a professional writer.

Another distinctive day was the day that I decided to become a professional writer. It was a calm day. Nothing exciting or unusual had happened. I was shopping in my favourite store... the book store, when I stopped and looked around. All these books, all these writers. Suddenly, a thought started to percolate from deep inside of me.

"Hey, you write! You can have your name on a book cover! You can have your own book perched on a bookshelf in the book store. Why don't you get serious with your writing? Let people read what you have to say!"

For weeks on end, this thought kept popping up in my head. I tried to ignore it, but like a bad song you can't get rid of, it kept bubbling up into my thoughts. Very distracting!

So one day, I decided to pull out one of my manuscripts and update it. I rewrote, edited and honed it. That was the day it all began.

It was the best thing I could ever have done! Look what it has brought me! Look where I'm going!

The journey of getting "there" is a thrill. Who knows what the future holds.

Word On The Street and other exciting things

It has been a week, a very busy week since I show-cased my book at the book fair The Word on the Street in Toronto.

At WOTS I launched a new blog to promote my next book:
"Freddy's French Fries Fiasco" The book will be published in April 2010.

For Children and their parents I set up a new blog where I've posted the excerpt. This way they can follow along. Every 2 weeks I'll post another chapter.... up to Chapter 5.

It was a very successful day with a lot of attention , interaction with the children and a few sales. I made a lot of new friends and slowly but surely my "fan-club" is growing which is very exciting.

This past week I've been working hard on my biggest promotional season - Christmas. I've been sending out and handing out promotional materials everyday. This of course will continue. I'm working on book readings and other interactive activities for the children.

In November, I will be show-casing my book at the Miami International Book Fair. Wish me luck - or Break a ......pencil??!!

I have also started to write a few chapters of Minou de la Rue's adventures. I'm keeping you in suspense until the editing has been completed. I can tell you she is enjoying her adventures and her new friends.

Harley, my cat, has also been prodding me to write his blog for him. He dictates and I type on the computer. He tells me it is a bit difficult to type with his paws. They don't fit on the keys and he constantly makes typos. This frustrates him because he is a very intelligent cat and wants to make a good impression. This is his blog: harleysadventures,blogspot.com

We'll keep you updated on our progress.