Nobody comes with a rule book

As I mentioned yesterday, I talk about everything on this blog. Not just books or music, but everything in between. Today, I'm going to discuss being a parent. That's right, the subject of being a Mom.

Nobody ever says the good, the bad, and the ugly of parenthood. I think people who don't have children often see other kids and think "Awe, aren't they cute?" This is the phrase that's said about a hundred times when the children are young. As the child gets older, everyone then says.. "They are just growing up too fast!" These have to be the two most common phrases said to every mother every where. What you don't see is all the in-between. That child you just told was so cute, might have just stopped screaming in the store because the mother finally gave in for the child to hold that toy the kid was screaming about, or the "growing up so fast" comment comes from when the mother finally gets the child to actually look at the camera and after the fifth shot, she gives up and finally just picks one to share.

There's probably over a thousand self-help books out there on raising a child, anywhere from what to expect when you're expecting to what to except their first year. Then after that you can find books on behavior issues, growing, you name it books, they are out there. Nobody can tell you how to raise your child though, this comes from what I would like to call trial and error. That's right, you try and you have an error so you keep trying other things. As the children grow older you find yourself thinking, how did we get here, and hey, they are still alive, so that's a bonus in the win column.

Every day there is going to be a struggle some harder than others. This can range from an argument over telling your child to please get their shoes on for over thirty minutes as they refuse to look for them, or from a complete meltdown because they can't get their hair just right. Being a parent is literally the hardest and best job I've ever had. Even with all the arguments, the hugs make up for that every single day. There is times where I think, "Oh my god, I didn't even know what I'm doing?" To days where I feel I have it all going on. But the point of all this is, it's life. I am a firm believer in fate and that our lives are often a journey and we make it what we want. This is the life I have chosen. My children will grow up one day and I know that I will look back and think... How did this happen? I also look forward to the day where my children are adults and I can see how they are making their way through this journey we call life.

My children and my past as a child is what drove me to write the books I write. There was a way for me to tell them my story as a kid who grew up and became their mother, but also show them that you can do anything in this life. Hopefully, I'm raising my daughters to see that sometimes from the bad can be good, and we can turn every day into a a new beginning. We have to find the balance of the good and evil within us. It may always be a battle, but I believe the good will always win. You may be struggling as a parent, and believe me, I go through that on a weekly basis, and you may even be wondering, "Am I doing this right?" and the answer is... Who knows? You just have to raise your children how you see fit and hope they turn out to be someone that they can love. That's what life is about... Loving and living life... Loving Life. On this day, I write this message because I do struggle from day to day on questioning my parenting skills... and all I know is that I'm just trying to raise them the best I can. That's all I can do. That's honestly the only thing anyone can do.

So remember this... Your story is what you make it. Will you be the one who rises to the top or let the world destroy the good in you?

-Dee King

It's that time again..

It's that time where we start really looking forward to the weekend. What will be doing? What do we have going on? Will we be able to relax? Many questions come on Thursdays. We try and get everything together, and we try to make plans. Sometimes, we have a lot to get done on the weekend, and others we just chill.

This weekend I am spending it in my home town. This is not something I look forward to always, but I do like the idea of going home this time. A road trip is just what I need right now. A break before I have to publish two books, and a break where I need to refresh. The last time I was there, I wasn't even writing my first book. This time I am now an author, and in the process of publishing two more books. That seems odd when it was only a couple of years ago.

It's funny how time flies, and how life happens. We may not know then what our future holds, but we can always look forward to it. The last time I was there, I was scared. I was nervous. I hadn't been home in so long that I didn't know what to expect. I had left without looking back many years ago, and going back there was like a time warp for me. I never wanted to stay in that town forever. I use to feel sorry for the people who never left there. They never got to see the world, or hell out of the state. I didn't want that for my life then. When we went back it was crazy how much had changed, yet not much at all. I drove around to all the old places I use to hang. My house I grew up in, the schools I went too, and even some bad memory places. Walking into places that I had known as a teenager seemed so different as an adult. No longer so big, so small, just places. I wanted to walk through the home I had grown up in, but that wasn't going to happen. My parents no longer lived there.. I wanted to see my bedroom, the closet where all my writings and drawings had hung. I wanted to lay on my old bed, and try to remember the good times. That wasn't going to happen either.

There was a part of me that really wanted to run away when I was a teenager, and I did just that. I ran away. I ran to another home, and a year and half later I was back in that same damn town.. then a month later I left, and I never returned till two years ago. People say that it couldn't have been that bad? They are right. It wasn't that bad.. but back then, I just wanted to be free. I wanted to be myself, I wanted to be who I wanted to be without people remembering who I had been. I wanted to run away and make a life outside of those walls I felt that were crushing me. I did do that. At eighteen I left, and at nineteen I left again..

I married very young, had children, and made my own life. I made my own world. Only the past is always going to be somewhere in your memory. You can run, but it's when you face your past that you can move on. Going there doesn't make me sad or happy. It just completes my circle of my life. Seeing the ones I love, is what makes me want to go back. It's also what keeps me here. It's easy to be someone across the internet. It's easy to say nice things, pretend you care, but it's not easy when your face to face. Memories flood over me, good and bad. I try to keep the tears at bay, but they often escape when I don't want them to. I don't want the pity, because I did everything to myself. I chose the life I live now. I love my life.

As an adult we look back and see all the mistakes we made. All the I'm sorry's we should have said. All the It was my FAULT, all the.. I love you's never spoken. I should have been a better person then, I should have seen that I was loved, but I didn't. I had to learn that on my own in time. I have learned who loves me, who cares, and whom I love. This time I go to my hometown knowing that I faced my past, I moved on, and I learned that I am better for it. Everyone has a past, and it's what we do with our memories to who we become. We could all live in the sad, no one loved me, or the happy I was so popular days, but what does that say about you. Don't live in the past, live in the now. And the now is where I live. Whatever comes from memory lane, is always worth the trip, it teaches me that I am okay. I was always okay, and I will always be a better person for the life I have lived........

There will be blood...

I thought today I would share a new teaser with you all from my new book, Enchanted Legacy, due out in the Spring. Speaking of Spring it reminds me of how warm it is then. Today, with temperatures plummeting into the negatives, it's Spring I am dreaming of. Stay warm out there folks, and if you happen to live somewhere where it's nice and warm. You are lucky. 

Now, back to the teaser photo, I have shared. This book is going to be different than what people are expecting from me. This is a dark, fantasy, novel. 

My first stand alone novel, as it is. I wanted to write a book that reminded me of one my favorite love stories, yet a tragic love story. Romeo and Juliet. 

This is my take on that concept. 

No one will ever compare to Shakespeare and they shouldn't try. That's why I wrote this. I wanted something different, I wanted something that you could sink your teeth into, so to speak. 

I wanted to write true feelings on how sometimes the world isn't always on our side, and we have to make our own paths. 

We have to make our lives for the better. 

Not letting others bring us down, pull us down, and overall, learn who we want to be. I often find myself wondering why everything goes wrong at once, or why when everything seems right, something goes wrong. 

How do we overcome the shit that gets thrown at us. Everyone has a story. Everyone has the ability to fight for what they want, what they believe and fight to be accepted for who you are. This book also has a character in it, I became very fond of. 

As I started writing this story I wanted this character. He had to be in a book. It may not be what people want, and I may take quite a bit of slack for writing a character like this, but I didn't care. 

I hope that when Spring does arrive you will fall in love with this book as much as I have. You may even recognize yourself in this one. Fight for what you want, don't let others try to sway you into being something your not. BE YOU! Believe in yourself, and the power to be awesome just the way you are. See you on the dark side, my friends.. 

Dee King