Discussion of the day

Today we venture into the world of books and movies. When you take from aspects of a movie or book and it inspires you, that's when you know it was good. One of my favorite past times is to watch movies or cuddle up with a book. If you ever drop by my house on any given weekend past three in the afternoon, you will find me doing one of the two. (Saturday is my day off from the world most weeks.)

As you watch a movie or read a book, if it's good, you start to fall in love with characters and you also hate others. It's what drives you to want to finish the book or movie. That being said, movies have a way to draw you in because you can visually go to that world. With a book, your mind starts making them appear how you "see" them and that world. It's a fun place to be either way. Often the real world is a little chaotic and you want to take a break from all the outside noise.

Not too long ago, we watched a movie called Fury. It stars Brad Pitt and many others. The movie takes you back in time to World War Two when the American's fought the Germans. It's not a movie for the faint of heart, I'm not going to lie. It's a great movie and helps you see WAR from a different perspective. When I watch movies like this it always makes me be thankful for the life I have and thankful for the men and women who fight every day for me to live this life I live. I often can't imagine what it's like in a WAR type situation and honestly I don't know if I would have the courage they portray.

The reason I bring up the subject of the war type movies is that while I'm writing this final book in the Charming Series, I need input and a massive amount of research. I can picture things happening in my mind, but often it helps to be able to visually see it to describe something better. There is many movies on the subject of war and sometimes a little romance is even thrown in there. We can all take from aspects of life and put them into books. That's how it works. We use our lives as a platform and then we take from different avenues in our lives and apply them to our work. Often when writing I find that it can be a great way to release all of my inner demons and yet also bring a world I would want to live in.

Today, I just wanted to take a moment to thank all the people who are involved in movies, writing books that we love, and helping us get lost for a while from reality. Thank you!
If you haven't seen the movie Fury and you're looking for something to make you cry and yet find a passion for others, then this is the WAR movie for you!

Peace, Love and All that Jazz- Dee

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

Back in the groove

After taking so much time off from blogging it's time to get back to it. When you have to write a book, social media, and try to run a household it can be time consuming. I let the blogging fall to the wayside. That probably wasn't a smart idea, but none the less it was something I had to give up for a while.

That being said, I'm starting this new year off with a great mentality and wanting to move forward. This blog is where I discuss every thing. Literally. Not just about the books, but life in general. Today we shall talk about one of my favorite subjects. Music. (Didn't shock ya, did I? Haha.)
When I write I listen to music, when I sit at my desk, I listen to music, when I do anything.. I listen to music. That's a lot of listening to music. In our house, we listen to music constantly. It's something that runs in our blood you could say. From the time I was a young child, I sang in front of people. (That doesn't happen now, but I will burst out into random song for no reason. That's always fun with the kids.They don't think so, but it makes me happy.) Then I did choir for many years... So music is just something I do you could say. On this blog, I've promoted many bands, many Indie bands, and music that people don't know very well. It's something I have prided myself in, due to the fact, that I'm an indie author.

While that all being said, it's hard sometimes to find a song that goes along with the books. The playlists take a lot of time to make too. I'm always looking for songs to describe what's happening in each chapter whether happy or sad or often angry with a splash of dark. The last book in the Charming Series is going to be one that I have avoided writing, but now look forward to.
When my ideas became a reality (to publish a book) honestly, I never thought how the books would end. Somewhere inside of me I just knew that it would. Today, I go back into what I call "writing mode." This means, I try to tune the world out, and focus. (That's easier said than done if you want the truth.)

There's a band that I fell in love with some time back... They've been mentioned here before, but they have a new EP out that worked so well for the start of the book, that I asked if I could use it. (They said Yes, and I was like a kid in a candy store. Haha.)

This song is the lyric video, and hopefully it gives some insight into how maybe the book will start. It's time to close the chapter (I like puns, what can I say? LOL) on the Charming Series. Here we go! One last ride and it's going to be hell, but some way, some how, it's going to come to an end...

Without further ado, I give you the first song on the playlist of the final book in the Charming Series.

RUN WITH IT- As always if you love the song or like the band please give them a like or share or a follow.
Thank you for letting me talk all my nonsense.
Have a great one!

Peace, Love, and All that Jazz- Dee King

With these words...

As an indie author you learn a lot along the way of your journey. What works, what doesn't, what others think and like, the list is forever long. I've learned quite a bit as my journey continues into the book world, but even though I have learned, I still fail at times. No one is ever going to be perfect, that's clearly an understatement for me, but I keep pushing forward.

The new Charming Selene hit the world like a storm. It was shocking and exciting to see how many people fell in love with this book. (I can't thank everyone enough for taking the time out to buy it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!) As an author there's parts of me in the books that come close to drawing from my own personal experiences and a thick line between what is real and what is fake. With the Charming Series, it's taking from my life and put into a world of make believe. For each character you write, you do an entire back story of them. That story may never get told, but none the less you know who they are and where they came from. That's the part I love. Giving a life to someone who may or may not play a big role is always exciting for me. That doesn't mean that I don't love each character, it just means that each one has a role and serves a purpose for a time.

While writing Selene's point of view (re-doing the first book) it was an awkward place for me. I had moved on from her and had wrote the second book from Sebastian's point of view, and going back to her, was more difficult than I had thought it would be. Selene is many parts of myself. From the sarcastic girl, to the nervous girl, to the girl who doesn't care about anything... These are all parts of my life and my soul. Sometimes when writing you go to a place you haven't had to go to, to let out parts of you through words... That's just what happens when I write. People say that you can't be "all these things" but in reality, aren't we? We are all complicated, interesting, and deep down loving people who just want to make a difference in our world. Not the whole world, but in our own worlds. We want to be ourselves, we want to be heard, and we want to be loved. It depends on who you are and where you're at in your life as to what and who the character becomes. That's the fun part.

As I begin to write the last part of the Charming Series, I find myself at odds. How does it end? What happens to the characters I have made in this story, and above all else, does it end with a happily ever after? Life isn't always a fairy tale, so do you go based off of that or do you go based off what you would want to happen in your life? It becomes a battle of where do you see yourself or better yet where do you see your character in the future. I guess as I write this final book, we will see how it plays out... But I am so excited to see where it leads.
This is a new YEAR and a NEW positive ME has emerged. It's time to let the past be the past and look forward. I hope all of you will join me on this journey...

Peace, Love, and all that Jazz- Dee King

It's DONE!

Finally for the first time I feel that the Charming Series is on the right track. The first book, Charming Selene has been revised and basically re-written. Some where along the way as I read the book and began editing this horrible thing I found myself reliving the past. This series in a form is my real life that I just added in other worlds and made a not so believable story into one that could be. I never wanted to write my real past because that seemed too sad at times. These books were my way of fighting back when I couldn't and my way of fighting for the truth to be told. My truth. Characters were changed and added to not be so much like my life, but enough that the truth was in there. Everyone writes from some where within themselves. This series is that for me.

When you start writing a book, you never know how that is going to go... You have an idea of how you want it to start or possibly end, but it's that middle section that you start wondering if what you're doing is even making sense. As I read what I had wrote the first time, it was pretty awful. This isn't me being hard on myself, it was bad. Words that didn't make sense were in there, and it was wrote like a play not a novel. By the time I wrote the second book in the series, I knew that I didn't want it to be like that again, so when re-writing Charming Selene, I took the time to make it more like the second book. This time I was going to write a book that I would want to read.... Hopefully I accomplished that.

Since it's holiday time I wanted to give back some how. I decided to make all three of my books free at one point during this month. It's just something I wanted to do. I know people enjoy reading and I wanted to hopefully help them in finding a story that would put them into another world for a little while. Sometimes escaping reality is the only place we can find our reality. That probably didn't make much sense and maybe I'm just talking to myself... But in the end I want to find a world that isn't always so cold and hateful,  world where love does conquer all....

Hopefully you will check out the new version of Charming Selene. It's been a rough ride, but it's done, finally. Thank you for always taking the time to read my little blog here. It's much appreciated.