Believe It Will Come – Better Days Ahead

We all know there are some days that feel like the world is crashing down on you. There are terrible days when it feels like everything you’ve ever done has been for naught. Maybe today has been one of those days for you and maybe it hasn’t. Maybe it’s been one of those days for me. Maybe it’s been a long stretch between good days for us all, even years for some of us. But on days like these, it doesn’t matter how you feel about it. It matters how you decide to think and act on what you believe.

The difference between a survivor and someone who never gets up when they’ve been knocked down is in how they perceive the future. Even if they don’t see a silver lining, or even light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, they believe that there will still be better days ahead. Even if that brighter day takes years to arrive, they still anticipate it will come. They know it will. They – I – keep the faith that something extraordinary is ahead in the future.

Heartbreak and change can alter a person’s future in an instant, but sometimes the dull ache of today is tomorrow’s triumph. Losing a dream can bring the birth of a new one; the one that can make you happier than you ever thought possible. And that new dream will make you so content that your old life, yearnings, and dreams seem paltry in comparison with the things you know now; the things you would never have seen come to fruition had you given up when things got tough.

I’m no different. I’m certainly not preaching to the choir and taking credit where it isn’t due. I’ve had many days when I thought I might not keep going. I’ve had days when the pain was so much that I thought I might not be able to bear it anymore, where painkillers did nothing to dull the physical pain. I’ve had dreams die, dreams in which tutus and Broadway suddenly seemed too far away to reach.

But during those moments, those awful times, I never saw a novelist in the mirror. I never saw a storyteller taking form. That storyteller would never have come to be if I hadn’t believed in a better day and a better future, even when I couldn’t see past my pain. WAR MACHINE would never have been written and I’d still be crying in my soup if not for the sheer will power to survive.

Don’t give up. Don’t give in either. Keep on fighting and believing. Tomorrow will be a better day. Open your eyes to the smallest of blessings and the people who make your life worth living. Cling to your faith and beliefs with all you have.

Tomorrow could be the best day of your life. But you’ll never get to see its wonders and joy if you give in now; now will you?

Love and hugs,

Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel XOX

God bless you

The World of Destiny in the Shadows – A Map

Who knew that making a map of a dystopian science fiction world would be so time consuming? Plotting Nacin, Mercaine, and MoiRai on a map was difficult, but I finally got it done for you all!

Make sure to check out Slave to War to continue where War Machine left off in the epic cliffhanger! It’s now available on Amazon here!

The Swan Princes – An Exclusive Excerpt

Hi everyone! Here’s an exclusive excerpt of the Swan Princes: A Christmas Tail –

Sometimes I truly believe that crying is the one human emotion that can express everything words can’t. Crying for joy, crying as one laughs, crying for help…Well, right now, it was none of those things that had me bawlin’.

Crying out in pain as George Pickskip slammed me in the gut, I had to wonder why he had chosen me as his target. The pain was terrible, my eight-year-old self unable to fight back against his massive size. The pure white snow around me was now rolled with dirt and splatters of my blood.

Having never bothered him at school, I didn’t know why George had followed me from the schoolyard and thrown me in the ditch, deciding to beat me into a pulp. The school bully, I suppose everyone had their turn being his punching bag. Today, it seemed, was to be my turn. No matter how I fought back, he was too strong for me to fight off.

“No one will save you now,” he crowed, pulling a huge wad of my hair out. Tearing the bow from my hair, he sneered and wrapped a hand around my throat as I tried to worm away. “I’m going to make you so ugly that no one will recognize you when you get home!”

He laughed, pulling back his fist to slam me in the face again as I cried. But then he was torn off of me.

Sitting up in shock, I saw another boy tackle him to the ground, and a much bigger one. He beat George with a ferocity that shocked me; kicking him in the gut and then hauling him up by the shirt collar.

“You don’t touch her!” the boy roared, slamming a third, furious punch into George’s jaw. Blood splattered from his lip, splitting as George fell to the ground.

George gave up struggling with a cry and curled in on himself, trying to edge away from the onslaught. The boy let him go; George running away, wailing like a girl at his defeat. My savior stared after George, spitting in the snow after him and turned back to me.

My mouth dropped open in surprise. It was Odetton DePrynce, my father’s boss’ son. Where had he come from? Had he followed me back from school? He had never paid me any attention before.

“Why did you save me?” I asked tremulously, shrinking a little and wondering if he had come to beat me up, too.

An eyebrow went up as he looked down at me, seeming surprised by the question. His eyes narrowed, and filled with some emotion I didn’t recognize. Then he smirked. “Because I’m the only one allowed to bully you. That’s why! Now get up. We have a long walk back.”

As he picked up my bow and put it back in my hair for me, I couldn’t help but stare. Hazel eyes that swallowed my soul met mine, Odsie taking his sleeve and wiping off blood from a cut on my cheek. “You’re a mess. We need to get you home. You coming?”

But as Odsie kindly extended his hand to help me up, something happened that would change my life forever. I took his hand, wanting to never let go as his wrapped around mine. Looking up at my savior, my heart warmed in a way that it never had before.

That was the day I fell in love with Odetton DePrynce.

Hope you enjoyed this exclusive preview of the story! The Swan Princes is available now on Amazon for Kindle.

Also, make sure to sign up for my email list! Just for being a super gan, I’ll send you a free copy of STILL DEATH.

To Struggle – An Admission (An Inspirational Post)

I have a confession. Sometimes I struggle.

Struggle – a word that I simultaneously love and loathe. It implies that I am less than able to cope with a situation or a problem. It makes me feel weak even admitting it’s something I encounter. But to struggle also implies that I am still learning, which is something that I love.

I never stop learning. New knowledge is something I am constantly seeking after with a voraciousness that cannot be quenched. I devour books, seek new vocabulary words whenever I can, and watch videos all the time trying to understand as much as I can about the world.

But still, even with all the learning I do, I still find myself struggling sometimes. It’s inevitable. Even the smartest of people find themselves on the edge of a very sharp drop sometimes and without a safety net under them to catch their fall. But this admission isn’t a condemnation. It’s meant as encouragement.

A lot of people look up to me since I have a fan base watching my films and also reading my books. There seems to be a notion that just because I’m out there on the internet and in the spotlight, that I have everything together and have the perfect life. And while that’s sweet of you all to think, I’m here to tell the truth.

No one is perfect. My life certainly isn’t. There has been a hell of a lot of days when my biggest effort has been to plaster a smile on to try and cheer people up. Physical pain hasn’t held me back from being a filmmaker or an award winning author either. Right now our film studio has been ruined because of toxic mold in our house and still my partner in parody crime, Peg Heron Heidel, and I both still are trying to navigate around this huge obstacle so we can cheer people up with our comedy. Even when we both feel like we’re dying inside, we still keep going to try and lift others up.

Many times it’s a struggle to even put our productions together, but one that is worth it when we hear how we made someone’s day or made them smile.

So what is my point here? It’s okay to struggle. Everyone does with one thing or another. I pray to God every day for His guidance and without fail, I live to see another sunrise. Life wasn’t promised to be without obstacles and sometimes we don’t overcome them on our first try. But the important part is that we get up, dust ourselves off, and try again. Because without the struggle to succeed, all we can do is fail.

Anyone who spits out the phrase ‘do or do not, there is no try’ needs to get their head out of their ass. Because without trying, there will never be a chance at succeeding. Yoda obviously never met Bruce Lee who was famously quoted as saying, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Think about it. Without a first attempt at learning to fight, Bruce would never have become the legend we all know today.

For without the struggle, you will never have a chance at success or happiness. You will have given up before you even started.

May God bless you today in all your circumstances and may you triumph over whatever obstacles are in your way.

– Love, Author Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel

*Comment below and tell me about any obstacles you have overcome in your life. You may have a chance at having your story featured in a future inspirational post.

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Fight For What You Believe In – A New Challenge

There’s a lot to say about the world these days, but few people are willing to see what’s right with it. Likewise, even fewer of those who do see what’s wrong are willing to do anything to change it.

We all say things need to be changed, but no one seems to be standing up. Those who are slightly inclined to do so rely on leaders of groups – movements – political parties – to do their talking for them. And yet we wonder why we’re all in the same mess we’ve been for years, centuries, and possibly even eons?

Think of one thing you want to see change in the world today and think about the last time you actually moved to try and change it. Have you sat back and complained about the issue instead of doing something about it?

Understand me: this article is not a guilt trip.

It’s not. Truly it’s not. It’s an effort to move whoever is reading it right now to stand up for something good in the world. We see wars, we see riots, we see starvation, we see orphans, we see abuse – and very few times do we say ‘I want to see this stop.’ Instead, everyone says ‘that’s the world we live in’. But is it? Does it have to be that way?

I want you to think of someone you really admire and ask yourself, did they accept the world we live in? What change could they really have made if they instead had cast a blind eye?

Consider this your call to action. I can even apply a shiny, plastic, and socially acceptable hashtag to it if you need it. Helping others should not be an instagrammed moment or something that you want to go viral. That’s vanity talking. I’m asking you to stand up because it’s the right thing to do. Can you do that? Can you?

#thinkaboutit

– Xo Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel

Introducing Book Loves – Social Media For Book Lovers

Introducing Book Loves, a new social media community for book lovers!

Our mission is connect fellow book lovers from around the globe. All readers, authors, book bloggers, series cosplayers, bibliophiles, and more are welcome. All that’s required is a love of books!

We’re doing a beta-launch of the site now, so this is your invitation to test it out before we go global! Check out the site here: https://bookloves.mn.co/landing

I’m proud to be at the head of this venture and hope you’ll join me!

– Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel

A New Teaser From War Machine

War Machine: Destiny in the Shadows

A Science Fiction Adventure Novel by Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel

Only eight days left until War Machine is out! Here’s the new excerpt I promised you all with a touch of romance…


“…His eyes shone down at me as I breathed unsteadily, trying to drag air in to my rapidly shrinking lungs. I battled with my desire to run and the desire to surrender to him entirely. I could feel my heart wildly thumping in my chest and I could have sworn it skipped a beat or two. I hoped he couldn’t feel all this through the bulletproof polymer.

“You can say ‘no’,” he whispered, sounding as though he wished I wouldn’t.
I opened my mouth to protest but the words died in my throat. Maybe they came out as a whimper; I don’t know. I wasn’t paying much attention to my reaction now as much as I was his rapidly descending lips. My eyes drifted closed and I could feel his breath on my face.
It was a shock to me that I wanted his contact so badly. He was right. I did like him. I did like the way his arm was holding my body and his hand gently twisted up into my hair. I so badly wanted to know what it felt like to be loved. My lips trembled with anticipation and want. But the contact I suddenly longed for never came…”


xx Author Maggie Lynn

Is Your TV Evil? – A Faith Based Look

Sanctification and purification begins with your mind. Whatever you allow your eyes to see, your ears to hear, and your mouth to speak, are what you become. My advice? Guard them. If you don’t believe in violence, then don’t watch it on TV or play violent video games. The same applies to listening to music filled with profanity, drug references, and promiscuity. Most people don’t even realize what they are being subjected to. Main stream entertainment content is filled with subliminal advertising for just about anything you can think of, including pharmaceuticals!
 
I am not suggesting that you turn off everything in entirety. No. I am just asking you to think of what it is fostering. If you are depressed and cannot figure out why, try to look at what is influencing you. Your TV constantly advertises every ailment they can prescribe a drug for and flaunts violence not because it is the news, but because it generates money for the channels and their advertisers! Mind you, this includes our politicians, too. They do advertise after all!
 
Take a break. Be with yourself and with God. Get outside, read a book, and metaphorically smell the roses. The roses haven’t shot anyone today. They won’t convince you that you have some new horrible and probably falsified disease. And they certainly aren’t xenophobic, racist, or accusing you of being a misogynist!
 
Reach out to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ for comfort and clarity. He listens. He heals us. He teaches us not to hate and to take care of our minds, bodies and souls. He wants us to be well and He loves us.
 
Can you claim the same for your TV?
 
– Peace be with you, Maggie Lynn

For This I Pray – We Have The Power To Cast Out Demons

In Jesus‘s name I pray… For all the souls feeling the devil pressing into their lives, I ask for relief… For all the sick and the weary, I ask for healing of their hearts and bodies… For all the lost and hopeless, I ask that you boost their faith up onto your shoulders… For all the nations across the land accepting and playing host to evil, I ask that the people there become wise and cast Satan out…
hopeWhile we may feel helpless, we cannot forget that the Lord our God has granted us dominion over many of the things we do nothing about. Man was given the power to cast out demons and in doing so, all the evil they bring about in our lands, souls and bodies. We must have faith and allow God to work through us.
Cast all of your eyes to the Lord. Call upon him. He will answer. Let him cleanse your mind of negativity and sin. Let him heal you and through you, heal others.
Amen.
– Maggie Lynn

The World In Free Fall – Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel

Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel

A World In Free Fall

The World In Free Fall
A poem 
“Cheek to cheek, sigh to sigh,
the world goes by, eye to eye.
Social media, we connect,
past behind, no retrospect.
C.E.R.N. abide, the world in fall,
control or swim, we or all.”
– Maggie Lynn Heron-Heidel
copyright 2016