Be free to love what you love!

Today I'm over at Sandra Sookoo's blog talking about one of my most beloved places on earth!!! Come check it out!!

At what point do you let go?

Parenthood is a never-ending cycle of not knowing what the absolute right choice is. Ever. Or maybe that's just me. But I struggle almost daily with what the right choices are. Some are easier than others, but some decisions are really hard. And at what point do you have to just step back and let them make their own decisions?

I feel I was very fortunate as a kid. My parents trusted me and trusted I was making the right choices. And I think it was pretty early on...like my senior year of high school when I was only 17. I had goals, I went after them, and they never told me I was doing something stupid. I graduated, went to college, got engaged, graduated, got a job in my field, got married, bought a house. Never once did they say "that's a stupid decision." Even now, as a 35 year-old adult with my own children, they never tell me what to do or that my decisions are wrong. Never once when my kids were babies did they try to tell me how I should take care of them, or how I should parent them.

I hope they know just how thankful I am for the way they've trusted me.

'Cause I see other parents who are parenting their 19-year old child like they are 5 years old. And me and my husband are the bad guys because we believe a 19-year-old "man" should be able to make his own decisions in regards to his education and career.

Doesn't there come a time when you really need to step back and hope the child you raised is smart enough to make the right decisions? And if they do make a mistake, as adults, they need to learn how to be responsible for that mistake and learn and grow and understand what it means to be a mature responsible adult.

I try real hard not to judge other parents....everyone has their own ways. But to me, this just seems like a way to hinder a child/adult's way of learning how to be an adult. And hindering a child's growth and development just seems wrong.

Face your fears!

I so wanted to do this post as a vlog...but I have no make up on, and no real desire to go do it right about now. I am all snug in my electric blanket! :)

So anyway, yeah...a VLOG! I've wanted to do one for some time, but there was always that fear of the video camera thing. I've never been good talking to a camera. I've only had to do it a few times in my life, and it was always a monotoned mess. I'm sure it looked completely hilarious...but so not the goal.

But then a month ago I signed up to do Pitch Live....which was a pitching event hosted by Brenda Drake. (If you don't know who she is, go to her page NOW! She is so so awesome!!) So she organized this event where you had to record your elevator pitch in 2 minutes or less...post it on youtube and your blog, and the judges picked their favs to move on the the agent round. Yeah...pretty damn nerve-wracking. Only 49 people signed up, and only 38 actually posted videos.

And I was one of them!

So many times after I signed up I thought of chickening out. But I told myself- "This might be your big chance! Don't let it slip away because of fear!"

I did it. I made my corny little video and posted it for the world to see. And it was pretty damn liberating. I faced a fear and did a pretty darn good job. I even made it to the agent round! That was the end for me, no requests, but I took away something almost as good. I conquered a fear. And now I feel like I can do it again...do it better....do other things that are similar.

My advice today is to face your fears...no matter what they are...and just do it. Life is far too short to live in fear.

Platform...how important is it?

Today I am over at Sandra Sookoo's blog talking about platform. Please stop by and tell me what you think about it!

Life is not easy.

I didn't think that was something that needed to be said. But apparently it does. I get very frustrated with people who think life is all rainbows and sunshine and they will get everything they want without having to work for it.

I wasn't born with any kind of silver spoon. My dad worked real hard to give us what we had. We had everything we needed though, and I look back fondly on my childhood. My parents taught me by example that life is not easy and you need to work hard. And even then, hard work won't always give you fancy things. I try to teach my kids that too, though sometimes I do think they are too spoiled. Financially, we are in a better place than my family was growing up...which I attribute to the hard work my husband and I do. (Not that we work harder than my parents did, my husband was just lucky to get into a career that pays better than my dad's did.) It's not a matter of wanting to give my kids more than I had. We want to enjoy our life and do fun things as a family...and sometimes fun things cost money. We like to go on vacations since we can afford them. It's something we rarely did when I was growing up. And sometimes I do wish my family could have made some of the great memories we have with our kids.

Money aside, it takes a lot of work to make a marriage work, parenthood, owning a home. None of it can be done successfully without a lot of hard work. And a lot of times, it's not fun. The complete opposite. It's complete hell. But the benefits outweigh the hell. I see so many marriages fail and people complain about how hard it is to raise kids. I never entered into either thinking it would be easy. I had prepared myself from the beginning. Some days it feels much harder than I ever anticipated, but it's all worth it.

Tweets of the week!!

Here's this week's installment!! Enjoy!!

@jentoinfinity: You're sleeping with the wrong people. RT @INDIEAUTHORHULK WHY IS IT SO HARD TO GET A LITERARY AGENT, BUT SO EASY TO GET CHLAMYDIA?

@MattBryantDFW: The problem with the bat-signal is it lets everybody in freakin' Gotham know he's coming.  It should be a subtle iPhone app.

@RickyGervais: Following someone on Twitter & then complaining about what they tweet about is like stalking someone & complaining that they walk too fast.

@AdvicetoWriters: Writers get paid for what other people get scolded for: daydreaming. We’re supposed to wander. RICHARD WALTER

@RuthiKnox: I just need to say, for the record, because I'm really feeling it today: God, I love being a romance writer.

@thejessbess: I've been calling 1-900-MIX-ALOT, but no answer. So I'm not quite sure how else to kick these nasty thoughts.

@BuffaloGrlProbs: I've been doing a lot of bikram yoga...except room temperature and no stretching and in my bed watching TV. #workoutplan #buffalogirl

@RubenAgency: Don't be too serious as a writer. Or anything. If you're not having fun, you're probably doing it wrong.

WINNER!!!!

Huge thanks to everyone who stopped by the Girly Blog Hop!! Such a fun event!!

And now for my winner!!!! I used Random.org to choose a winner and the lucky gal is: Cassandra!!! Congrats!!!!