Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a busy week of work and writing. I’ve had a breakthrough on my story. Hopefully it’ll work. Fingers crossed. But enough about that, today I’m stepping on the parenting bandwagon, and I’d like to talk about sextortion. It’s something new that’s happening to our kids. This has me deeply concerned.
First of all, what is Sextorition?
This is blackmail in real time, as seen through messages from teenage victims of “sextortion,” who have been lured into sharing intimate images, then stung – in many cases, by criminal gangs. “
This starts as an innocent friend request on social media. Then the perpetrator chats with the teen and builds his trust. Then when they hook him, they ask for a naked selfie. Once the teen complies, they tell him to send money, or they’ll share the pic with all his friends and followers.
Young teens will empty their bank accounts to prevent exposure. Some have even committed suicide because they’re so ashamed. As a parent this makes me so angry I could spit nails.
We need to educate our children about this. I’ve spoken with my boys, and I’m confident they won’t fall for this kind of extortion, but there are millions of kids out there who don’t have an angry momma bear looking out for them.
Some kids grow up in stressful households where parents can’t give them the attention they need. So, they look elsewhere to get their needs met. Some kids only have their friends and followers for validation. You see where I’m going with this, don’t you?
We need to take care of the emotional needs of our kids. So, they won’t go looking for validation from other sources. It’s tough when they’re teens, though. They’re trying to be more independent, they don’t always share their thoughts and feelings with their parents. So, we need to keep a vigilant eye on them.
Do they seem more stressed lately? Are they asking for money? Offering to do extra chores to make it? This is when we need to start asking questions. Your teen may feel you’re being intrusive, but a little discomfort is a small price to pay to keep them safe.
Thanks for reading my post. Have you had any experience with this? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve had a busy week of work and writing. It has turned cooler to my chagrin. I’m ready for summer. I’m ready for running outside, boating, and hiking. I went on my first hike last weekend, and it was amazing. The earthy smell of the woods and the sun beating down on my shoulders lifted my spirits.
Did you know you burn the same amount of calories walking as you do running? I find that interesting. If I hike four miles or run four miles, it’s the same number of calories. The benefits of both types of exercise are different, though.
For example, when I run, I burn calories, I build muscles, and my heart gets a workout. This is important because heart disease runs in my family, and this is the main reason why I run. Of course, there’s the runner’s high I get, but that’s a different benefit. It’s good for my brain, releasing those endorphins that make me feel good mentally.
Running is also a stress reliever. It helps me deal with the stress from everyday living. It helps calm me down when I have to deal with an irritable neighbor or just dealing with people in general.
Hiking is also a stress reliever. It calms me when I walk in the woods. It’s also good for me because I breathe in Phytoncides. These are microbes that boost my immune system. Hiking also burns calories. The same number as running.
So, where is all this leading? Good question. In my humble opinion, the secret to maintaining an exercise regiment is variety. Sometimes I hike and sometimes I run. Sometimes I walk on the treadmill when I can’t go outside, and sometimes I lift weights.
It’s this variety that keeps me exercising approximately five days a week. The experts say that exercising five days a week for approximately one hour is a great deterrent for a variety of health problems like cancer, obesity, and heart disease. It’s also good for your brain. Exercise releases those endorphins that make you feel good and brighten your mood.
So, get out there and get moving. You’ll be glad you did. Thanks for reading my post. What are your favorite forms of exercise? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing. I’m making headway on my story. Spring is finally here, and although it has been a cold and rainy beginning, today the sun is shining bright. But enough about that, today I’d like to talk about why we need critics.
Not everyone is going to like the story you write or the picture you paint. You can’t please everyone. We call these people critics. The ones who criticize your work after you’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears into it. We don’t like critics. They can sweep into the room and tear our joy and work to ribbons, so we’re left with nothing but shreds of our confidence.
But they are important. A critic can point out flaws in your work you didn’t see before, and now, they’re glaringly apparent. A critic can help you. They can show you how to make your work better. Make you improve your masterpiece.
Sometimes we must listen to our critics to become better. The problem is, some of our critics aren’t there to help us, they’re there to tear us down to make themselves feel important. So, how do we know when to listen to our critics?
That is the burning question, and I have the answer. I don’t always so, it’s a good time to keep reading. 😉
The only time you listen to a critic is when they give you constructive criticism. If someone’s just tearing down your work to feel better about themselves, tune them out and move on. They don’t have anything to offer you. It’s only the ones who see your brilliance behind the imperfections that will help you improve.
So, the next time someone leaves a hurtful review, look for constructive criticism. If there isn’t anything in the review that proves helpful, disregard it. Once you make this decision, those reviews won’t bother you.
How about you? How do you deal with critics? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing. It snowed this week. Boo. I’m ready for spring and summer. But enough about that. Today, I want to talk about a great book I finished a few weeks ago. It’s titled “In the Midnight Room.”
The cover and blurb are below.
“If McBride is trying to prove—that if you change one life, you change the world—she succeeds magnificently.”—Booklist
From the author of the acclaimed novel We Are Called to Rise comes a “jewel of a novel” (BookPage) about four vivid and complicated women in Las Vegas whose lives become connected by secrets, courage, tragedies, and small acts of kindness.
Fun-loving and rebellious, twenty-one-year-old June Stein abandons the safe world of her New Jersey childhood for edgy 1950s Las Vegas. For the next 60 years, June will dare to live boldly. She will upend conventions, risk her heart and her life, rear a child, lose a child, love more than one man, and stand up for more than one woman.
June’s story will intertwine with those of three unlikely strangers: a one-time mail order bride from the Philippines, a high school music teacher, and a young mother from Mexico working as a hotel maid. Knit together around June’s explosive secret, they forge a future that none of them foresee.
This jubilant, compassionate novel explores the unexpected ways that life connects us, changes us, and even perfects us. A powerful story of lust and of hope, of redemption and of compassion, In the Midnight Room is a smart, sagacious novel about womanhood, family bonds, and how we live in America now.
My Thoughts:
I love the characters in this story. They’re real and flawed just like we all are. There’s one aspect of this tale that broke my heart literally. That’s when June’s husband took her baby away. This story took place in an era when diversity wasn’t embraced. He did it to protect everything he’d built and to protect his wife because the baby was the result of an affair. June had an affair with a black man, and back in this era that was unacceptable.
This story shows the strength and resilience of the human spirit. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like to have your child taken away from you. June courageously picked up the pieces and went about her life, but she always looked for that baby girl.
“In the Midnight Room” is a beautifully written tale about an era that has passed. It shows how much we’ve grown as a society, but there is still much work to be done. It’s a good read and worth the time. Laura McBride has made the list as one of my new favorite authors.
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve been busy this week with work, writing, and running. I’m trying to keep in shape so when I get old, I’ll still be able to move.
But enough about that, today I’d like to talk about artificial intelligence. First, what is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines or software, as opposed to the intelligence of living beings, primarily of humans.
This new technique has all the creatives up in arms, especially writers, and understandably so. Unscrupulous people have found a way to use artificial intelligence to make money unethically. They copy an established author’s style and create books and sell them on Amazon using the author’s name and reputation to make money for themselves, not the author. It’s up to the author to somehow let their fanbase know the book is not one they’ve written. Check out Jane Friedman’s post here.
There are ways for writers to protect themselves. They can familiarize themselves with Amazon’s policies on using AI. They can also trademark their work and their brand using Amazon’s Brand Registry.
Is there a way AI can be helpful to writers?
The answer to this question is yes. AI algorithms can be used to identify target audiences, crafting successful marketing campaigns, and tracking outcomes. I believe this is where authors can use AI to their advantage. So, there are some positives to Artificial Intelligence.
Another area where AI can be used is in gaming. That’s right. I see a huge future for AI in gaming. Right now, most games have a storyline, and the storyline changes based on the choices of the characters. It takes a long time to write different story lines, but with AI, it will cut the time to develop alternate storylines dramatically.
So, I do see positive potential for Artificial Intelligence in the creative community. I just have to figure out how to use it, to track my progress only. My books will always be all me. 😉
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. How do you feel about Artificial Intelligence? Do you see it as a positive change or negative? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I had a weekend away, so I didn’t write a post today, but I saw this on Facebook, and it resonated with me, so I thought I’d share it with all of you! Have a great week and I’ll be back next week!
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. It’s been a bit busier at work this week, so writing has taken a back seat. That’s okay though because I’m at a crossroads, and I’m noodling some changes. But enough about that, today I’d like to talk about dealing with stress. First of all, what is stress?
Stress: A state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation.
Now, everyone experiences stress at some point in their lives. Maybe you’re going through a divorce or a nasty breakup. Maybe you’ve lost your job, or you’re worried about money. Maybe you’re dealing with a nasty neighbor. All of these events are stressful and cause us to react. Sometimes we react in a positive way and deal with it, and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes an event stresses out that we have no control over. In that situation, giving it to a higher power helps.
However, sometimes we need to use other stress relievers to help us calm down. So, below is a list of stress relievers that I like to use, you’ll find them helpful to you.
Exercise
I’m a runner. I try to run at least three or four times a week. It helps me deal with the stress from my job and writing. Running or any form of exercise for that matter, releases endorphins in the brain which are the “feel good” neurotransmitters in the brain. The more you exercise, the better you feel. It also has many health benefits as well. Some examples include weight control and cardiovascular health, to name a few.
I love hiking in the woods or along the beach. Because it’s exercise, hiking also releases endorphins in the brain, but did you know hiking in the woods has an extra benefit? That’s right, the trees and foliage release phytoncides which have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal qualities that help plants fight disease. We breathe these in, and they kill tumors and virus infected cells in our bodies. So not only is hiking good for you mentally, but it’s also good for you physically as well.
Reading is another stress reliever. Did you know reading for just fifteen minutes a day reduces your stress level by sixty-eight percent? Reading is an excellent source of relief when you can’t get outside or to the gym to exercise.
Another great way to deal with stress is to reach out to your tribe. If you don’t have one, start cultivating one. It’s so important to have someone you can talk with, who can bring you down off the ledge. Someone who can help you keep things in perspective when you’re reacting emotionally to a situation.
Sometimes the way to deal with a problem is to focus on someone else’s. That’s right helping someone else solve their problem, or volunteering to help people who are less fortunate than you can help put things in perspective, and sometimes the solution to your problem presents itself when you’re not looking.
So, there you have it, some stress relieving tips that will help you stay the course. How about you? Do you have any tips you’d like to share? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve been busy with work and writing this week. Both are going well, but enough about that. Today, I want to talk about the inside generation.
We have become the inside generation without even realizing it. We do everything inside. We eat, sleep, and exercise inside. The problem with that is that our indoor air becomes unhealthy, even toxic, which creates health issues for us.
We then try to remedy this by filling our indoor air with chemicals and by bringing in artificial sunlamps. We’re trying to recreate the outdoors indoors when all we need to do is go outside. Breathe in the fresh air and bask in the sunshine, absorbing that Vitamin D.
Remember, everything we need to heal ourselves can be found outside. There are herbs and plants in nature that heal many ailments. The sun gives us Vitamin D to help with the absorption of calcium for our bones, along with helping regulate our moods.
Did you know walking is one of the factors in longevity? Dan Buettner author of ‘The Blue Zones’ found that people who lived to one hundred years old walked every day. They would walk to town which might be three miles away and back every day. His studies found that people who lived long lives weren’t marathon runners or professional athletes. They were people who walked and moved every day.
I find this interesting. It just goes to show you all you need to do is get outside and walk. We need to open our doors and windows and let the fresh air in. Kind of hard to do in the winter, but we can bundle up and get outside and replace the air we’ve been breathing inside.
Did you know walking through the woods is good for you? It helps you both mentally and physically. The Japanese call this ‘forest bathing’ and prescribe it as a medical treatment for ailments like depression. It improves sleep quality, mood, ability to focus, and stress levels.
So, there you have it. We need to get outside and move our bodies and get out into the woods. What are some of your favorite activities that you like to do outside? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve had a busy week at work and writing. So, it’s all good. We’ve had unseasonably warm weather this month, and I’m enjoying it by getting outside as much as possible.
But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about the pressures on our young people as they navigate their way to college and a career. I remember when I enrolled in college all the anxiety I felt, and there was excitement, too.
When I look back on my college years, I remember the anxiety and the stress vividly. There were days when I didn’t want to be there, and days when I didn’t think I could take one more minute. As I look back, I realize this was self-induced. I put pressure on myself.
I see the anxiety in my boys as they start navigating college classes, and I remember a friend of mine who’s son struggled with school, and he ended up fatally shooting himself. So, I’m listening to my kids when they talk about school.
My oldest wanted to take online classes because he’s nervous about driving to campus in all the traffic. My hubby thinks it’ll be good for him to drive to school and take some “in the classroom classes.” It would be good for him socially as well as build his confidence in his driving ability and his ability to navigate the world around him. I agree with my hubby, however, we listened to our son and allowed him to take classes online for another semester.
The reason we did is because it took a lot of courage for my son to admit he was nervous. I appreciate the fact he told me, and I think it’s so important to listen to our kids when they tell us they’re nervous about something. I was also impressed with his problem-solving abilities by offering the alternative of taking online classes.
We need to listen to our kids when they tell us about a situation that makes them nervous or uncomfortable. They’re communicating their needs, and we as parents need to honor those needs even if we did things differently when we went to school.
Times are different now. There’s so much more pressure on our young people with social media, and the competitive nature of the world. That’s why suicide is the second largest cause of death in our young people today. The first is overdose and alcohol poisoning. Do you see a trend here?
I certainly do. Kids are self-medicating either to deal with stress or abuse. They’re trying to stop the suffering. I believe that’s what suicide is, an attempt to stop the suffering. Those kids don’t want to die, they just want to stop the pain.
So, we as parents need to make sure we’re listening to our kids when they tell us they need help or are in pain. We need to watch for signs of stress when they don’t communicate. I read a book a few years ago, and I feel it’s still relevant today. The cover and blurb are below.
From two leading child and adolescent mental health experts comes a guide for the parents of every college and college-bound student who want to know what’s normal mental health and behavior, what’s not, and how to intervene before it’s too late.
“The title says it all…Chock full of practical tools, resources and the wisdom that comes with years of experience, The Stressed Years of their Lives is destined to become a well-thumbed handbook to help families cope with this modern age of anxiety.” —Brigid Schulte, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author of Overwhelmed and director of the Better Life Lab at New America
All parenting is in preparation for letting go. However, the paradox of parenting is that the more we learn about late adolescent development and risk, the more frightened we become for our children, and the more we want to stay involved in their lives. This becomes particularly necessary, and also particularly challenging, in mid- to late adolescence, the years just before and after students head off to college. These years coincide with the emergence of many mood disorders and other mental health issues.
When family psychologist Dr. B. Janet Hibbs’s own son came home from college mired in a dangerous depressive spiral, she turned to Dr. Anthony Rostain. Dr. Rostain has a secret superpower: he understands the arcane rules governing privacy and parental involvement in students’ mental health care on college campuses, the same rules that sometimes hold parents back from getting good care for their kids. Now, these two doctors have combined their expertise to corral the crucial emotional skills and lessons that every parent and student can learn for a successful launch from home to college.
This is a great book for helping a parent deal with their teen’s mental health. It’s an amazing guide in helping a parent pinpoint unhealthy behavior and how to handle it. How about you? Do you have any pointers on dealing with the stressful years of college? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing. Both are going well. I also finished reading a book that a colleague recommended to me, and I must say, I loved it. I haven’t read a book like this before, and it amazed me, so I thought I would share it with all of you.
The book is titled, “We are Called to Rise,” and it’s a suspenseful story bringing three unrelated characters together. It’s the story of heartbreak and redemption. How one action can change the course of your life. I read this book in two days. It was that good. Below are the cover and blurb.
“Your heart will break…then soar” (Redbook) when, far from the neon lights of the Vegas strip, three lives collide in a split-second mistake and a child’s fate hangs in the balance.
Avis thought her marriage had hit a temporary rut. But with a single confession in the middle of the night, her carefully constructed life comes undone. After escaping a tumultuous childhood and raising a son, she now faces a future without the security of the home and family she has spent decades building.
Luis only wants to make the grandmother who raised him proud. As a soldier, he was on his way to being the man she taught him to be until he woke up in Walter Reed Hospital with vague and troubling memories of how he got there. Now he must find a new way to live a life of honor.
Every day, young Bashkim looks forward to the quiet order of school and the kind instruction of his third grade teacher. His family relocated to Las Vegas after fleeing political persecution in their homeland. Now their ice cream truck provides just enough extra income to keep them afloat. With his family under constant stress, Bashkim opens his heart to his pen pal, a US soldier.
When these lives come together in a single, shocking moment, each character is called upon to rise. “You’ll be thinking about these characters long after you finish this haunting, heart-wrenching, and hopeful book” (Houston Chronicle).
My Thoughts:
This book spoke to me on many levels. It’s a mother’s story. It’s the story of one mother confronting the darkness in her son, and what she has to do to face it. It’s the story of another mother who failed her daughter, and because of that failure she raises her grandson. It’s the story of another mother who tolerates both physical and emotional abuse to protect her children, and last but not least, it’s the story of redemption. It shows us that even broken people can come together and do the right thing. That broken people can still love with all their hearts.
I highly recommend this story. I related to all the characters on some level, and it’s not very often that happens. It was hard for me to put it down.
How about you? Have you read any great books you’d recommend? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
