BOOKS
Dads, Kiss Your Sons
Terrified to Become a Dad? So Was I.
​
Fear is often our first response when we discover we are going to be fathers. We talk to just about everyone we know or search for quick answers to give us some sense of confidence to see our way through the unknown ahead. But what if you didn't have a dad? What if you didn't have role models to follow? What if the whole idea of being a dad is so completely foreign to you that quantum mechanics seems easier to master? That's my story along with becoming everything to my son that I never had growing up.
​
As a teacher and coach in higher education, Mark Craven has researched numerous behavioral studies as well as the biology of neurological systems pointing to insights for new and expectant dads to adhere in Dad's, Kiss Your Sons, bringing a whole new level of significance to being a dad.
The current generation of dads has made fatherhood a part of their self-identity. They are seeking resources and feeling that there aren't enough content-related resources available to them.
​
Dad's, Kiss Your Sons is the book every dad needs.
Blog Book Vol. 2
It was a broken heart that pushed me. It was a crumbled dream that lay at my feet and tears falling from my eyes that left me with one thought and two options--The one thought being, everything hurts. The two options--Let it break you or let it build you. So, with nothing I simply chose to climb the steps.
Blog Book Vol. 1
I noticed something this last week... "Hey, how's your day? 'Great! It's Friday!’" That response was sprinkled in the conversation with almost every person that I talked to. They were pumped just because it was Friday. What Friday means to most people is that it's the beginning of two days of freedom from their prison sentence. Their self-inflicted prison sentence. This book was written with a new perspective on things we all already know. It is the result of blogging 106 days in a row, even on Christmas, to both show myself and the reader that we can be consistent in going after our goals and above all, achieve our goals. It is the result of an inner journey I went on that I shared with all who were willing to read. Hopefully the words written within will ignite within you, the reader, hope and belief that you can do those things you don’t think you can do.
Karyeator
There is something called The Five Immaculacies. They are Love, Courage, Humility, Mercy, and Grace. When they are brought together, they hold the very strength of God. It is up to Symin to gather the people that hold within them these immaculacies and ensure that they fight in the Final War on the right side. Silas Snare, however, will do everything he can to ensure that these people choose the wrong side... His side. Hope for all existence rests within the victory of Emperor Abyon's army against the immeasurably evil forces of Silas Snare. The first two recruits that Symin is tasked with retrieving are Aryn and Sara. Two college students that are in love and have no idea just how important that their love actually is. They have no idea that they're entire world is about to turn completely upside down. They have no idea that this love is something more than a mutual crush between a couple of struggling Biology students. They have no idea that the outcome of this war that will end all good or end all evil lie completely within their hands.
Be A Hero To Your Heart
When I gazed into my heart, I realized that what was in there was incredible. I mean, to be doing writing full-time as my career? That’s incredible. If you look up the definition of “incredible” it is defined as “difficult to believe; extraordinary”, even “impossible to believe.” It makes sense then, to look within, find what is incredible and meet that dream with incredible action to obtain it. In order to have what is extraordinary, we must do what is extraordinary. Less than two months ago I quit my job in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, sold everything I owned, packed my car with clothes (and books), and drove across the country to Los Angeles, California. I looked into my heart and realized how extraordinary the things were that I had found and I knew, and still know, that in order to achieve those things, it would take the same type of action. Action that is extraordinary.
Choice and Triumph
From the start, we all have a choice. It’s a simple one, really. Will you fight or will you die. Fight does not mean what you think it means, and die does not mean what you think it means. Choosing the fight means to choose your heart. To let your heart win you over. Choosing the fight also means to win over your fears, your indifference, and, in most cases, your better judgment. This choice may leave you cold, it may leave you alone, and it may lead you to die. “But I thought you said there was a choice between fighting and dying?” Yes, but I also said that they do not mean the same things. If choosing to fight might lead you to die, why not just choose to die right at the start? The answer is simple: I would rather feel my death, to know it was not for nothing. Choosing to die means choosing to ignore your heart until it finally grows silent. If every beat you feel inside of your chest pushes you towards more, towards better, towards best and you allow it to guide your footsteps, heeding its entice, you will know life. Even if it leads you to die.