Tiffany Sunday

Best-Selling Author | Poet | TEDx Presenter

Blog

Running and Writing Streak

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Sunday, May 3, 2020, I started a running and writing streak, inspired by Runner’s Magazine. For the next 41 days, I will run at least a mile. I added the challenge of writing an equal amount of words for every step I take on my daily runs.

Since Sunday, I’ve written more than 5,000 towards my books that I am currently drafting, 1300 Miles to Barstow, California and Never Again, She Said.

Creating the streak creates a mental challenge and something different to do while we all social distance. When I started the streak, I had an idea to design themes for each day, Monday motivation, Tuesday Tall Tales, Wednesday Wisdom, and so forth.

With day three of the streak, I think its best I focus on the manuscripts instead of something else fancy I need to do. Writing is solitary work, and when we were ordered to shelter in place, I had visions of completing not one but maybe three or four books. What was I thinking!

COVID-19 has offered a temporary muse for poems and short story ideas, while I consider marketing ideas from home. I’ve started missing the oddest of things, like my favorite “nice” clothes that I wear going to places like book stores, museums, and restaurants. I rarely wear earrings because the jewelry gets caught in my mask. It’s the small things most of all that I miss. The every day boring tasks or errands that felt like a drain, now seem so precious.

Buy Me a Coffee

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For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been testing the support/fan based platform, Buy Me a Coffee.

Today, I created a membership program to share observations, poems, and short stories that may be included in my upcoming book, 1300 Miles to Barstow California, or maybe written for the members.

I am thinking of different ways to reach readers and share my art instead of generic blog posts. I believe today, more than ever, we need to think of ideas for human interaction online.

First day of the writing streak

Along with the Buy Me a Cup Membership, I started a writing and running streak today.

I ran 9546 steps, my challenge is to write an equal number of words towards completing 1300 Miles to Barstow California.

I thought that when we were told to stay home, I would be able to complete one or two books. Instead, I have discovered that time moves more strangely when you are confined to a specific space. I am determined to fully utilize this time to write and to stop complaining that I never have time to write!

Are We Crazy Yet

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Here is a poem I wrote the second evening after we were instructed to shelter in place. I wonder at times, when there is no sound outside, no planes or cars, I normally hear at night while I am reading. Are we going crazy waiting for this pandemic to pass?

Are We Crazy Yet? © Tiffany Sunday 2020

Are we crazy yet?
Staring at these four walls.
Are we crazy yet?
Never knowing when it will end.
Are we crazy yet?
Thinking the same thoughts in our heads.
Are we crazy yet?
Wondering when life will ever be normal again.
Are we crazy yet?
Spending our days watching Netflix’s.
Knowing April will be longer than March,
Which lasted a century.
Are we crazy yet?
Running out of things to do, say, and clean.
Are we crazy yet? 
With the unsettling knowledge that we have 30 or 60 more days of indoor, 
Insanity!

© Tiffany Sunday 2020 All Rights Reserved.

Not Normal

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With Dallas county stay-at-home order, I have set a goal to complete the manuscript for 1300 Miles to Barstow by April 3, 2020.

My son and I have slipped into our summer schedule while he waits for school to resume online. Today is the first full day of sun and clear skies after eleven consecutive days of rain. I long to be outside…yet work demands that I stay inside these four walls.

Below is a working draft of the introduction for the book. I am in the process of revising the purpose of the book. Digesting the past couple of weeks has made me painfully aware that I still place writing behind less important activities.

Yesterday, I promised myself, that never again will I place writing last on my to-do list or I will get to it list. After multiple nights of dreams in which I tell people – I want to write! The message is clear. I write first.

1300 Miles to Barstow – Tentative Intro Draft – Subject to Change – 2020 Copyright

Six months ago, when I started writing this book my thoughts and focus were more on travel and our recent road trip to California.  Now, our world and economy dangle in a delicate balance.

Normal disappeared, vaporized. 

With a stay at home order, time is plentiful freeing my otherwise packed schedule with open hours to write.  2020 started with an attitude to never be forgotten or mistaken for any previous year or future years.  Within the first 86 days, 2020 turned our world upside down and inside out. So far 2020 has tripped through every part of our lives from canceled proms and graduations, concerts and movie releases. These cancelations are the tip of the destruction.   

Our days feel like living in a human size snow globe without the pretty wintery display. We can look out of the globe, but we can’t go anywhere.  I am thankful for the trip we took last August which was the inspiration for this book.

Now, writing is a luxury. Each night, I savior these quiet evenings, tucked in my office away from the rest of the world while my son plays video games.  As my iTunes playlist circulates tunes of encouragement I mentally regroup.  Staring at my computer, I recall stressful events in January and February. These events are nonexistent in my mind. Our daily activities are singular in action to stay six feet away from other humans.

Next Book Project – 1300 Miles to Barstow

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This past week, I started working on my next book project. The tentative title is 1300 Miles to Barstow I posted information about the book last year after completing a 3000-mile road trip to California.

I have spent time working on Never Again, She Said. The novel is complex and like other fiction writers, creating characters with meaning and depth takes time and energy.

Two weeks ago, I had my first poetry reading and book signing event at Barnes & Noble SMU book store. Embracing the poetry side of my writing is liberating and exciting. I am working on a second poetry book as well.

Books are like children, the stories and meanings take time to mature and grow. I recently completed reading, Writing Wild by Tina Welling, and can already feel the life-changing impact she will have on my writing. If I had read Welling’s book years ago, her story and message would have been interpreted differently.

Since the publication of Insatiable Consumption of Being, I now the freedom to write what has been bottled up all these years. An opportunity to let my creativity flow which is important for everyone.

Author Tiffany Sunday, Signing Books at Barnes & Noble SMU, February 13, 2020

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Thursday, February 13, 2020, 6:00 PM

Barnes & Noble SMU 3060 Mockingbird Ln, Dallas, TX 75205

Poet Tiffany Sunday will discuss her work and latest book, Insatiable Consumption of Being: A Collection of Poems, Writings and Micro Stories.

The event is free with book sales and signing to follow.

Her latest book, Insatiable Consumption of Being marks her transition from business writing to poetry and contemporary fiction.

Tiffany started writing poetry in third grade and was first published in high school. She writes about nature, human creativity, self-reliance, and relationships.