If You Could Do It Over, Would You?

Hey everybody! Hope everyone is doing okay. I can't believe May is almost over. Where is the time going? I just realized I haven't blog in almost a month. Been so busy with family. Yes it's that time. I getting ready to turn another year older dammit. I blinked and missed my twenties. In my twenties I had no worries and freedom. I love my kids, but sometimes I wished I could get that time back and do a lot of do overs before they where born. As I get older I know that time is in the past and my goal is focusing on the future with my great sons. This has truly been a weird year for me. My heart is broken. We are still losing great legends. We have lost Donna Summers, Author Monica Jackson, Junior Seau, Robin Gibb and a truly great legend for all D.C natives Chuck Brown. If you have ever been to Washington, D.C., you knew who Chuck Brown was or heard his music. Chuck Brown's gogo music put the city of D.C., on the map. Chuck Brown will be deeply missed. I don't want to take anything from those other legends who will be deeply missed also, but I was truly saddened to hear about Chuck Brown's passing. Thank you Chuck for winding it up.

Everyday I hesitate to cut on my computer with all the crazy news and deaths happening now. My eyes are opened wide right now. Life is so precious and not promised to anyone from day to day. I'm going to ride these wheels of life and ride them until they fall off. I'm going to enjoy every minute I am given on this earth and when it's time for me to go, I'm going to fly away and hopefully become an angel for everyone else still living. If everyone could just stop for a moment and give a hug to a friend or family member. Let them know you love them and make sure you don't have any regrets or do overs when you leave this earth.

I just want everyone to know I haven't been on Twitter that much, but when I'm up there I will retweet your tweets. Also I want to say thank you for everyone who is reading my blog.


P.S. I have received my first payment for selling books on allromanceebooks.com. As I said earlier, I will be donating that amount to TNNOD.org (The National Network of Organ Donors).   

Love Life
Stay Strong
Be Happy

Losing Legends

Hey everyone! I can't believe April is almost over. So far this has been the weirdest year for me. This year is going by so fast. I can barely keep up with the To-Do's of each day. I haven't had time to blog like I should, with making corrections with my books, and spending time with my family. If I want to be a great author, I have to put in as much time as possible. 

Speaking of books. I have taken The Perfect Stranger down from Amazon and Allromanceebooks until it is properly edited. My other book Deja Vu is on Amazon KDP Select. This book cannot be taken down until my 90 days are up. This sucks, but thank God I found a great editor. I want my books to be great, and want the readers to be inspired and continue to read other books I write. This whole self publishing process has been quite a learning experience for me. I never expected self publishing to be this hard. It's more work than I imagine having to do. I'm sure once I feel content with my books, I'll laugh about all the problems I've been going through with my books (Right now, not so funny. Chaotic). I had to ask my designer to change the cover of my third book (See what I mean. Chaotic). Does it get any easier self publishing books?

We are losing legends. Whitney Houston, Don Cornelius, now Dick Clark. RIP Dick Clark. I grew up on Soul Train, American Bandstand, and Solid Gold. Am I telling my age or what? When I was young, I never missed an episode of these shows. Watching these shows were the highlight of my childhood. They made my day. I enjoyed them so much. So many people are dying. It breaks my heart. I tell my family everyday how much I love them. I'm living for today, because tomorrow is not promised. I'm going to enjoy every moment with my family. I'm truly blessed to have them. I want to say thank you to everyone on Twitter who is following me. They are all so talented.

Tomorrow is not promised. Ride this life out as if it's your last day.

An Emotional Rollercoaster

What an exhausting month. March has been (excused my expression) a bitch. So much going on. So many different emotions. My kids are catching hell (This is my payback) LOL. Or maybe theirs. They're on spring break now. Someone pray for me.

Sales have been slow for March. Remember I can't donate until my profits reach $100. So starting April I'm going to be tweeting my heart out about my books. Sorry, but I have to do it. This is my passion.

Finally my muse shows up. Where the hell has she been? The only words written this month, were for my blog. When my muse hit, I rode it out. I wrote over six hundred words for my third erotica untitled. I would've written more, if everyone left me alone. Still waiting on the cover of my second erotica Chocolate Sweets. I've been throwing out hints everyday, but I don't know if my sister is catching on. When it's done for free, I guess I have to practice patience. First I try to find my muse, now I have to practice patience. I'm being tested. Damn, what's next. I never should've asked because he answered. My mother just called. I just found out I lost a love one.

I have to say something about the Travyon Martin tragedy. It's horrible. Any parent would sympathize with this family. I don't care what race, or religion a person is, when it comes to a child being murder, this is unacceptable. Something has to be done. These killings have to stop. We are losing our future generation. I have two sons, they are Travyon Martin. My sons and I are rocking hoodies in memory of this young man.

Tomorrow is not promised. Love one another.

RIP: Mama Deb. I'll miss and embrace this love I have for you.   

Bullying, Who's the Real Bully?

Haven't been able to sleep. Their are so many things on my mind. I've just found out my oldest son is being bullied. No let me correct myself, has been bullied since school started. Wow, I didn't expect that. We are now in March, with less than three more months of school, and I am just finding this out. The reason I'm just finding out, is the offender used force on my son, and I was called to the school. I can't believe I am calling a student an offender, but that is the name they are given, when they decide to bully other people. I must admit, and I know I'm wrong, but my first instinct was to give the other child a good ole butt spanking, but that's not my child, and I wouldn't be any better than the offender, if I put my hands on him. First let me say, I don't condone bullying, because I was bullied in school. I was bullied from elementary school, up until I graduated from high school, now I have to deal with one of my sons being bullied. Most parents don't want to see their children go through the same experienced, they went through. Especially if it was a bad experience. I know first hand, what it feels like. Upset, depressed, close mouthed, when asked how school is from anybody. Trying to laugh it off with the other students, as though I'm fine with the name calling. Trying to fit in. I've dealt with all of it when I was in school, so I know what he is going through. My first concern was why didn't he say something, when I asked him everyday if he is being bullied. I don't know why I had concerns about that, call it mother's intuition, call it whatever you want, but deep down inside I knew something wasn't right with my child. I'm very involved with every aspect of my kids life. Numerous times I've sat down with my son, and watch Youtube videos of kids being bullied, and explained to my son how wrong bullying is, and what I had to go through when it was done to me. This breaks my heart just writing about it. I'm crying and remembering everything I went through, and so so sorry my son has to go through the same thing. Most parents wants to protect his/her child/children, when something like this happens, but it's tearing me up to know he has to walk in my foot steps, because some people get off on downgrading others. I've always told my kids, if they can't come to me with some of there problems, go to any family member and talk about it. "Don't hold it in," I would constantly tell them. When I sat my son down, and asked him what was the definition of bullying, I understood why he didn't say anything. He found the offender's constant name calling, an annoyance, more than he felt it was bullying. I had to explain to my son, he was being bullied, and what bullying was. Now this is one of the questions I have for my self, "Did I drop the ball, because my son did not recognize he was being bullied?" Another question, "When did it come to a point where some of our kids, are labeled as offenders, when they are only nine, ten, and eleven year old's?" When the school called me to let me know the offender had used forced on my child, I asked the school to set up a school meeting with the offenders parents. Now this is the part where I had a big problem with. The school DENIED me a meeting. I took every avenue I could think of, to meet this boy's parents, and after five days, and leaving my name and number with complete strangers, the offenders mother called me. She had no idea this was going on. The school down played it to her, when I took it very seriously. I really didn't get any remorse from her when speaking to her, and since I didn't get any remorse, I told her her apology was not acceptable. I asked her if she could tell her son to stay away from my son, and stop the name calling. I had to let this parent know, what her son was doing to my son, was bullying.  I can say we did not argue with each other. We listened to each other, said what we had to say, and that was it. My main purpose in speaking with the parents, was to find out a little bit about the child. I don't know if he's having family problems, and he's taking it out on my son. I don't know if he's going through emotional problems. The offenders mother stated how she's working and she's having problems with her boss. I don't know if he's hearing, or seeing something in his mother, and taking his mother's frustrations out on my son. I don't know. Now I need to ask another question, "Why didn't the school set up a meeting?" Never got an answer from them. I took matters into my own hands, and went online and filled out a Anti-Bullying Form on behave of my son, seeking a full investigation. Do I expect much to come of this? No. And this is sad. For me to feel this way, and I'm sure I'm not the only parent this has happened to, but to know not to expect anything to be done about this, it's sad. I feel as though I have to choose between a education for my kids, or their safety. My worries now, is the safety of my kids, when I drop them off at school. For my oldest son's school, the whole middle school, only has two security guards. When did having security at schools now become a necessity? Because when my son was assaulted, their was no security guard around. Every teacher who knows my son, complemented me on how smart, and well mannered my son is, and that's good and all, but what happens if my son is seriously injured. I send my son to school to learn, and I'm more fearful each day he's there. I make sure my cell phone is charged, and keep it by my side every second. Wondering. Hoping everything is okay.
There are so many questions, I need help with.
When will it stop?
Why my child? Why any child, has to go through this?
Did I make the right choice, by reaching out to the offenders parents?
Why do I have to choose between an education for my son, or his safety?
Do every school have an Anti-Bullying Program for those who are being bullied?
How do we as parents help those who don't have someone to talk to about this?
There are too many questions.
To all the parents out there, please please be involved in your child's life. It's so important. You might help save your child's life, and another life.

Be good, and kind to one another.

What are our outlets for writers block?

I'm back. lol  I've been so busy. You would not believe what I go through on a day to day basis. The reason I don't blog much is because a known writer said, "If you want to be a great writer, stay off twitter and facebook, and write the best stories you can." I think this is very good advice. Like I said before, I'm not much of a blogger, but not being on twitter has been hard. I enjoy interacting with the people I follow. They are so supportive. I appreciate every mention, and retweet they give me. Thank you.

I'm ready to put up my third book, Chocolate Sweets, but I have to wait for the book cover. I'm so impatient. Come on already (I hope my sister does not see this. She's my book designer). I am still donating my profits to TNNOD.org, but I can't donate unless my profits reach a hundred dollars on Amazon, so if you don't have any of my books, go out and buy (Please). I will only do this for my first payment. (I'm a single mother, barely making ends meet. Don't judge me)

I've been dealing with writer's block on how to finish my fourth book, the sequel to The Perfect Stranger. Excuse my language, but writer's block sucks ass. How do you deal with it? When does it go away? My mind is on so many things. Will my books already posted sell? Should I tweet about it, or let people find it on their own? I'm so worried about those books, that self doubt has set in, and I don't know how to write about what I'm so passionate about anymore, and those are other stories, I want to tell. Should I have waited to post my books. I come down so hard on myself. We are our own worst critic. I know I should let it go, but I can't forget my mistakes. There's that fear it will happen again. Depression is starting to set in. Ugh!

T.V. Time-I'm now watching the Voice. The talent is amazing. Wondering which team is going to come out strong. I like this better than American Idol. People watch AI for JLo. She gets enough attention already, I am not trying to give her anymore than she already has (And no I'm not hating). I don't watch a lot of reality t.v., but I love competition.

I just want to say, how sorry I am for all those states dealing with tornadoes. My prayers are with them. It just blows me away, how we hear and see what the tornadoes did to the people, but not to many news media's are telling you, how you can get involved to help out. These people live in the same country, as most of us, and I don't see any relief helping. Let's help out our neighbors:  https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=773036675&df_id=4993&4993.donation=form1&gclid=CJaF4Zy01q4CFQdN4AodJyGllQ

If we were in their position, we would be looking for help.

I would like to say thank you to Rohit Singh Jain. I look forward to reading your blog.

Be good to one another. Tomorrow's not promised.

Peace


 

The National Network of Organ Donors

What's up everyone! This hasn't been a great week, but it's been a better week then last week. It's Friday, thank God. For some reason this week went by slowly to me. I just realize, this is my third blog this week (So much for someone who hates to blog, huh).

Okay, this is the last time I will speak about this. I've been deliberating over my mishap with my books, and I've decided to donate the money made for those books. Anyone who bought the unrevised version, money will be donated to the TNNOD.org (The National Network of Organ Donors). Anyone who knows me, know this is the kind of person I am. No one said anything, or complained about wasting their hard earned money on the unrevised versions. This is something I wanted to do. I have been a organ donor since I was 18, and I would recommend to anyone to be one. Life is so precious. I probably won't see any monetary profits until April, but when or if  I receive anything, I will donate, and hope to post the receipt online for everyone to see.

Let's keep the Houston (Whitney Houston) family in our prayers. Tonight and tomorrow is going to be the hardest time for them. Saying goodbye is never easy.

Enjoy life as if it's your last day. Love each other.

APOLOGY

In my previous blog I forgot to say, "SORRY," to everyone who bought one of my books (Deja Vu & The Perfect Stranger). I have now revised the books and they are back on Amazon and allromanceebooks.com. I am deeply sorry for this mistake.

The Best Book Is An Edit Book

Hi everyone. I'm finally feeling much better than last week. Last week was a terrible week for me. I had been dealing with a cold which turned into the flu. This sucks being sick and my kids don't care in the least. My nightstand looks like a Target cold/flu aisle.

I'm in the process of taking down my books from Amazon and editing my work. I must admit my whole goal focused from editing my books to seeing my books published on Amazon. Wrong move. I have no idea when my goals changed but I can tell you this. I reviewed my work on Amazon Previewer (which I should've done when I first posted my books but didn't) and was horrified. Not by the story because I believe in these stories but by my use of punctuation (Yes I'm calling myself out). I'm totally shocked no one has written a bad review about this. I must admit no one is perfect. But as I read my books, I cringed and curse myself out. I'm smarter than this. Do not worry I am in the process right now of cleaning up my books better. For anyone out there who is deciding to publish your own books, if you can afford an editor I would suggest you do. Worth the money and saves you time. If you cannot afford an editor my only advice is to edit, edit, edit the best you can. Editing is so important. I believe in my work so I'm taking the time to go over each story. I refuse to put up another book until it's up to good standards. It bothers me for people to pay for something not up to great standards. I have no one to blame for this except myself. What I hope to accomplish with writing is growth. So I'm saying goodbye. No time to keep blogging I have another book to clean up.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO EVERYONE TOMORROW!

I would like to say how deeply sorry I am to Whitney Houston's family. Such a tragedy. Let's keep that family in our prayers. So many of us are leaving too soon. Let's love and take care of one another. Stop worrying about tomorrow and enjoy today. Tomorrow's not promised.

I'm Published Now

Hey everyone! I've been fighting a terrible head cold since Friday. Ugh! Head cold or not, I refuse to let it stop me from publishing my books. I have two books up on Amazon: The Perfect Stranger, and Deja Vu. I'm waiting for the cover of Chocolate Sweets so I can publish that one on Amazon also. Chocolate Sweets will not be in KDP Select on Amazon, as Deja Vu is currently. I also have The Perfect Stranger on http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html
I'm currently working on my fourth book, which has no title yet. This book is about Beatrice and Christopher's story, which is part of the The Perfect Stranger series.


Okay so I've published my books on Amazon. The first step was done, but I totally chickened out when it came to tweeting about, how readers could buy my books. I don't know what happened to me, nerves I guess. But with the urging of a good friend on twitter (He knows who he is!) I tweeted to my 43 followers, and asked they retweet to their followers about buying my two books. I must admit without him I would still be sitting here, debating about what to do. Thank you KG!

I have to let everyone know, I'm not a big blogger. After writing for most of the day, I'm mentally exhausted, and forget to blog like I should. Sorry. I'll try to do better about this problem.

Be good and take care of one another.

Making 2012 Your Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! So excited about a new year. I'm ready to post my books to Amazon. I've bought a book, on formatting. Posting my books is the biggest decision of my life, but I'm ready. It's do or die time. Time to kick 2012 in gear and handle my business. I know I can do this, but can see some of my family members not so supportive. There is no faith in their eyes, but I WILL NOT let them dictate, what I can or cannot do. I'm making this a year, where no one can upset me, from making my dreams come true. Let's make this a year, where we're all striving for our dreams to come true. No matter what our dreams may be. I'm claiming 2012 my year!

My followers are fantastic. Please check out my twitter account, and help me support them, by going to Amazon, and buying their books.