Tiffany Sunday

Author | Poet | TEDx Presenter

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Mystic, Ct. and The Writing of Book Seven

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Mystic, CT December 2021

In September, I decided not to republish Proper Grey Areas. It was my second poetry collection released in 2020. After reviewing the book and discussing the next steps with Lynne Knight, my new editor, I let the book go. Proper Grey Areas has been removed from the market. I have learned that better things will arrive when we are willing to trust our gut and let go.

So, the new thing is a new book that focuses on flash fiction and short stories. The book may include a novelette. Since August, I’ve had several epiphanies related to my writing. I also discovered a hidden interest in writing flash fiction and short stories. This leads us to Mystic, Ct.

Why Mystic, Ct. It’s more than 1600 miles away. Why does my writer’s soul seek to be there? I have no clue. I know that four years ago, starting in September, my soul longed to visit Mystic, Ct, and Cape Cod. Each year, the feeling intensified. I could not understand why. My soul’s longing to walk around the village and write was intense. So, last Christmas (2021), my son and I made the trip. When we arrived in Plymouth, MA, my soul felt at home. I wrote about the experience in my January in my post 2021 Holiday Road Trip to New England.

In September, I shifted my focus to completing my seventh book, which may include several poems from Proper Grey Areas. One Sunday afternoon, I started writing a story about a young woman who made unexpected decision to quit her job and move halfway across the country to Mystic. In the story, she closes her eyes and places her finger on a map of the U.S., and under her finger is Mystic Sea Museum. This is how she determined where she was going. The story is set in the 1990s.

At first, I thought the story would be about the character (Nicole) finding herself by channelling Thoreau (Walden and Cape Cod). Last year, while walking on the Cape Cod beaches, I felt a tiny spark of transformative energy, and thought to myself – am I willing to accept the opportunity to change course? The tall cliffs lining the beaches were intimidating as they stand tall against the mighty and unforgiving Atlantic Ocean. Gazing across the ocean, I thought of Mystic, the community, river and bridge and the area felt like a protective womb for healing and rebirth.

Instead, as I have worked on the story, it shifted with Nicole becoming part of a fishing family in Mystic, Ct. The family is healing from the unthinkable loss of losing a key family member at sea. The men are fishermen who fish for lobster and Black Sea Bass in Long Island Sound. This shift has surprised me. However, my intuition nudges me to follow the story and its characters, so I continue write and conduct research.

As a result, I’ve been making phone calls to Mystic seeking information about the area and the fishing business during the 1990s. As an author, my goal is avoid writing mistakes about the fishing industry and community. I’m reading everything I can find about the area, history, and fishing industry. As the character and story change, my research shifts as well. Nicole is discovering an interest in Maritime history which has been added to my research list.

The seventh book also has two other stories that may interlink with the Mystic Ct. story. I am continuing the dystopian story, The Girl and Librarian from Insatiable Consumption of Being, which is about a world without color, creativity, or imagination. The story is also set in Mystic, Ct., the only place that has not been changed after the Event.

For now, my writer’s soul is hyper-focused on the Mystic, Ct, and the characters as they make their way through life. The story has been in my subconscious as I feel a strong internal pull to be near the ocean. To walk, like Thoreau, along miles of open beaches with the sea challenging my thoughts.

Rarely do I ask for “Cups of Coffee,” or donation tips for my writings. My focus and passion is telling stories and writing book. However, 2022 has been an interesting year, and due to family matters, I’ve lost six months of work. Therefore, in September, I launched a crowdfunding campaign to help offset the book costs of moving to a new distributor and to support the writing of this book. Please share the link if you know anyone who loves helping indie authors.

Thank you for your continued support.

As always – stay creative and keep reading,

Tiffany

Tilton House Press Crowdfunding Campaign

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Hello Readers,

As I wrote in my previous blog posts, I’ve had to republish To Be Human – Always and Insatiable Consumption of Being.

With inflation and the shortage of book paper, the production cost of publishing has increased. Since we moved from a print-on-demand to a traditional style of publishing, each of the new titles had a print run of 100 copies.

Therefore, to assist with the change’s setup costs and support the publisher of my books, Tilton House Press – which I launched in 2018 to gain complete creative and publishing control over my books, we (my team and I) have launched a crowdfunding campaign.

As a micro business owner, I have a talented team of editors and book designers. I am proud of the work we do and our small team.

Please share our crowdfunding campaign with family and friends who love supporting book authors and small independent book publishers.

Any support is greatly appreciated! All donors receive VIP status and receive new book discounts and future swag.

As always, keep reading,

Tiffany

New Book Release – Insatiable Consumption of Being Second Edition

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Hello Readers,

I’m excited to share the release of the second edition of Insatiable Consumption of Being. As I wrote in my previous post, the decision to switch to a new distributor and book printer resulted in creating second editions of Insatiable Consumption of Being and To Be Human – Always.

Working with Lynne Knight during the edits and creation of new work for this book was amazing. I gained so much as a writer, and discovered a talent for flash fiction and short stories. The transformation that occurred during the editing process is profound.

This edition includes new poems, edits to the existing poetry, and new flash fiction stories. A few poems from the original publication were not included in the second edition. For the first time, I wrote a couple of poems about being dyslexic.

The book is available from our new distributor Itasca and will be available soon at Barnes & Noble and independent bookshops.

A Silver Lining Leads to a New Beginning 

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Several years ago, a stranger offered advice as we waited for our haircuts. We were talking about life and the problems we were encountering. Then, as his name was called, he turned to me and said, “I discovered there is always a silver lining. The fun is finding it.” To this day, I can recall the memory and his advice.  

For me, 2022 has been an interesting and challenging year, both professionally and personally. So in April, I started encountering problems with my book distributor, which only compounded my stress. The company stopped paying royalties, books disappeared, and readers didn’t receive their orders. 

After weeks of researching a solution, I realized the only way to solve the problem was to change distributors and republish all my poetry collections. All reviews and work I had done would disappear. However, I knew continuing with the distributor would only make matters worse.  

The advice I received so long ago kept looping in my mind, telling me to search for the silver lining. Finally, weeks passed, and I knew I had to take a chance and change distributors. The best part of this transition was being introduced to a brilliant new editor and book designer. Little did I know, she would be my silver lining. Thinking back, I never thought I would say, “I am glad” the previous distributor created so much stress and then failed to correct the problem, but I am. Because if I had not made the change, I would not have met my new editor. 

Taking risks isn’t easy because we are unsure of the future, the unknown. Listening to the advice I received, I searched for the silver lining. I glazed across the ocean of possibilities and imagined a better path. So often, we become caught up and trapped by the drama of the problem that we miss the silver lining. 

Even as a writer, I struggle to think of the words or phrases that could describe the transformation that occurred working with my new editor – she has helped me become a better writer and is now an invaluable part of my writing process. 

I am excited about the new editions: To Be Human – Always and Insatiable Consumption of Being. The books also honor my editor’s artistic skills as a book designer. 

Both books include new content, design, and editing. In addition, new flash fiction stories were added to Insatiable Consumption of Being. 

The first editions of my poetry books have been removed from the market, and Proper Grey Areas will not be re-released as a second edition. So instead, I am writing a new book focusing on fiction and dystopian short stories. 

To Be Human – Always Second Edition is available now from Itasca and will soon be available at independent bookstores and Barnes and Noble. 

May you always find a silver lining, 

Tiffany 

Tiffany Sunday Guest: Late Night Coffee Hosted by Dyslexic Distributors

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Open Coffee is a free, informal, one-hour community gathering for individuals with dyslexia or anyone interested in the topic. The event is hosted by Dyslexic Distributors, founded by Marnix Langstraat, and based in Amsterdam.

Tiffany and Marnix will discuss her internationally recognized books: Dyslexia’s Competitive Edge and How Dyslexics Will Rule the Future. Plus, how she utilizes her creativity fueled by her dyslexic brain to write flash fiction, poetry, and short stories.

Event Details

Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at 20:00 pm CET (Central Europe Time) or 1:00 pm CST in the U.S.

Event Link:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dyslexic-disruptors_opencoffee-dyslexicthinking-dyslexia-activity-6980464050837041152-tyOq?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Visual Thinkers, Dyslexia and Neurodiversity

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Creative Commons

With the rapid acceleration of digital visual technology, video content surrounds us everywhere we go. As a result, individuals who possess visual thinking and spatial awareness skills have an advantage.

For individuals with dyslexia, visual thinking and spatial reasoning is both a skill and talent. All our thoughts and ideas appear in our minds, like movies. We can imagine an idea in 3D with a 360-degree perspective.

When we think about new ideas, we can often see the whole picture and how the idea will work. Currently, I am working on a fiction manuscript and see the book as a movie more than words on a page. My visual thinking skills enable me to see the book first, making it easier to write.

Once we have a lock on what we are creating, we back into the idea to transform thought into a tangible product. As a visual thinker, I rarely, if ever, read instructions for putting things together. Instead, I look at the IKEA box and then build it. 

The downside of being a visual thinker is conveying what we see in our mind’s eye to others. We know the forest, the trees, and everything in the forest from top to bottom. Most of the time, we can envision all the details and have a gut on how our vision will work. Transferring our mental blueprint to others is always the most challenging part of the process, which is rarely a straight line. Instead, the process consists of squiggly movement as we test and build the idea. However, often, what we envision is created. 

We Must See First

Being neurodiverse, I rely heavily on visual cues. However, when I receive too much visual information, I become overwhelmed, which is why I avoid clutter. Last month, I spoke with a group of college students, and we talked about how we had to “see it” to create it. Whatever it was, we had to see it. The group discussed dealing with research and term papers.

One of the students talked about their frustration as the professor did not provide a template or sample paper. As a result, the student had no roadmap to follow, which added to her frustration. For the past month, I have thought about our discussion and realized just how much time I spend seeking visual templates for my brain each day. If my dyslexic brain cannot see, it does not exist. Period. 

Value of Spatial Reasoning and Thinking

With all the frustrations of finding templates, I would not trade the visual thinking and spatial reasoning skills my dyslexic brain possess. From my book research for, How Dyslexics Will Rule the Future, I concluded that visual thinking might be another form of human intelligence as information can quickly be conveyed through graphical images derived from our imagination. I also spoke about visual thinking during a podcast interview with Sean Douglas following the 2018 British Dyslexia Conference.

I believe this is why Einstein felt that imagination was more powerful than knowledge because he understood the importance of visual thinking.