Another Award For Logan & Lilly!

OMGoodness who says dreams can’t come true!

Dreams can be extensive, or they can be minimal. No matter their size, if you can dream it, you can do it. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that your dreams are unreachable. You just have to work hard and go for it. The last year and almost a half have been a whirlwind for me. I went from being a mother of seven to a published author. I am still learning how to navigate this new life and all it entails. I never thought the stories I told my children when they were young would ever be out there for the world to read.

I have lost my words! I was ECSTATIC when The Adventures of Logan & Lilly and the Lost Treasure won the Readers Favorite 5-star review award. Now I am OVER THE MOON to find out that my book was selected as a Royal Dragon Fly Runner Up Winner. Who would have thought that the two characters I created based on my son Logan’s doll and their bond would blow up into something this big? Dreams do come true.

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yellow bokeh photo

OFFICIAL…The Adventures of Logan & Lilly and the Lost Treasure Trailer

I was so jealous that some authors had book trailers and thought The Adventures of Logan & Lilly needed one. I love IMovie, it allowed me to make one from scratch and had some great templates if I wanted to use one. I choose to make one using templates and one without. What do you think of my little homemade trailers? Can you tell which one was made using their templates and which was without?

Candace

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gray and brown mountain

Do you have a DREAM? Or Do you have a GOAL?

gray and brown mountain

Do you have a DREAM? Or Do you have a GOAL?

In my life, I have had many dreams that have come true or maybe fallen short. I am sure we all have felt that way at one time or another. I know sometimes we all feel that having a dream is the easy part, then life is stacked against us, and those dreams seem to be crushed like that cockroach trying to get into your house. (Shiver, YUCK!) You are not alone; I have felt that way more times than I can seem to count. Then there are those dreams that seem like they are like the highest mountain. Sure, the path up the mountain seems easy at first, then the path begins to get steeper and steeper until you are using a rope to try and climb up. I don’t know about you, but I am no mountain climber so those dreams seem to get way to hard and my brain tells me that I will never reach the top, that I ate one to many twinkies to climb that rope. This is when I give up and say to myself, If I couldn’t climb the rope in gym, then why would I want to do it now. 

One thing I have realized recently in my forties is that it is okay to have as many dreams as you want. Almost all of them are obtainable if you change your mindset. I have learned that if I take a dream, break it down into smaller pieces, the mountain that seemed to steep and the rope too hard to climb turns into a hill with some sharp rocks to pass, but they are passable. How do I do this? I have learned to change my dreams into goals. Yep, those things that your teachers in middle school talked about and said we needed to have. Don’t tell my teachers that it took me to my forties to figure this out, I don’t want to hear the I told you so. 

I sit down at my desk and choose a dream that I would like to obtain. (My latest is writing a book and getting it published) Then I break it out into smaller pieces that are way more manageable for someone with seven kids and ADHD. I set a timeframe because hey I have ADHD and procrastinate until the last minute then go full bore like I did in college before a huge paper was due. By doing this I seem to reach my attended outcome. Sometimes it takes me a little longer than what I wanted, but life has a way of doing that. I am a believer that things happen when they are attended to happen and not a minute before. 

There are those dreams that we all have that, sure you would like to do or have or be, but those are the dreams that I say are the keep trying dreams. Hey, I can dream all day that I will become a New York Times best seller and ya, someday it might happen. Those are the dreams that are not 100% up to me therefore it does not matter how much I break them down and work towards them, they will happen if and when they are meant to. Those are the dreams that stay on the back burner and become long term dreams. It doesn’t mean that I am not going to continue to work my hardest towards them, it just means that there are higher powers involved that have nothing to do with me and my desires or wants. It means that if it is meant to be it will be. I am okay with that reality. I think you must learn to be content. When we learn to be content, I think more good comes to us in our life.

If I could stress anything with this little message is that dreams are great to have, they keep us moving forward, learning, and growing as humans. Dreams are the realities of what we want for our future. Without them, we can’t grow as humas. I know there are those dreams that no matter how hard you break them out, the outcome is still going to be what it is, and we are going to fall short, or it won’t happen. It doesn’t mean you are meant to stop dreaming, it just means you dream until you can’t dream anymore, and I say that day should never come for anyone. 

Candace

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And So The Adventure Begins!

And so the adventure begins “The Adventures of Logan & Lilly and the Lost Treasures” has finally hit the market. I could not be more excited for this journey that started with a kiddo and his doll then morphed into a series of books. Our Book Birthday Bash was so much fun and the turnout was overwhelming. People from forty minutes away came to celebrate and get a signed copy of the book. I am going to be completely honest, I thought it was going to be only friends and family, but was shocked that people all-around came to support me and this long-awaited journey. It was fun to watch the children’s faces as they were able to purchase a book of their very own. It dawned on me that kids still get excited over books. I am going to just let the pictures speak for how much fun the night was. Thank you to everyone involved who made this night special. I will be doing a separate post about all the vendors we had and their information.

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SAVE THE DATE!

Logan & Lilly’s Birthday Launch Party!

Details

When: 10/19/21

Time: 5 pm – 8 pm

Where: Big Tin Cotton Gin 1572 W Ocotillo Rd, San Tan Valley, AZ 85140

JOIN Candace celebrate the launch of this amazing book. She will be at the event to sign books and if you don’t have a copy yet, you can snag a copy there. This is an event for the WHOLE FAMILY! Bounce houses, bookmarks, and coloring pages for the kids. Don’t worry about dinner. Food trucks will be onsite to sell some amazing food.

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WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!

I feel like a ball of nervous energy pinned up in a tight space waiting to break free and scream. I thought that writing my book was challenging, but I was wrong. Have you ever totally felt one way until you reach a goal only to find out that was just a small piece of the puzzle? My book is off to the printers and now I wait. Sure, I have a million and five things that need to be done, but it’s hard to get them done when you are stuck in the land of nerves, excitement, and aww. 

Today I feel totally AMAZING. It has been a dream of mine to publish one of my books and now I can say I DID IT! The process was long, challenging, and at times I thought I would never make it. I can tell you this journey has been a huge roller coaster chugging up the track. With each and every pull of the car closer to the top, your energy changes. You go through so many different emotions. I feel like I am the star in the movie “Inside Out”. Each time the car forges ahead I felt different. Sometimes all the emotions came on at the same time. (My husband and kids ran on those days.) The ride doesn’t stop when you get to the top of the track. No, you get to sit at the top for a few brief seconds before you plummet to your death. Oh, wait not death, well it feels like that when you realize, now your book, your baby is going to be in the hands of others to read. 

At that very moment just before the car screeches forward and you put your hands up to enjoy the ride there is that fear. WHAT HAPPENS IF NO ONE LIKES IT! Then the car crests over the hill and you are zipping and zooming down the track faster than you thought you could go. The fear is still in the back of my head, but right now the ride is just too exciting to stop and think of that. So today I feel AMAZING. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but hey that’s tomorrow. 

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