Tiffany Sunday

Best-Selling Author | Poet | TEDx Presenter

Blog

Calling Your Spirit Back

By

Two weeks ago, as I was completing Proper Grey Areas, I felt something was missing for the editors. I was frustrated that I didn’t feel whole as a writer, poet, and author. The burden of doing what others thought I should be doing weighted heavy. Each morning during my runs, I mentally wrestled with the problem.

Each morning, I searched for answers in the highlighted passages in two of my favorite books, Sacred Contracts, and the Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss. 

Reaching into the dark corner of my soul, I was blocked by my ego, which served as a gatekeeper, as I, once again encountered fear.  I kept thinking about what would I have done differently in the past if fear had not been part of the equation.  Fear of what others think, fear of the results, fear of not receiving approval, or fear of success of fully using my creativity. 

As the weeks passed, my soul, heart, and mind joined together on the same path as my intuition continued to push me. I reached a point where I could no longer accept negative inherited family habits and beliefs.  At a crossroads, I had to make a choice. I could continue to allow fear to hold me captive or call my spirit back.

As Myss writes in Anatomy of the Spirit, “What drains your spirit drains your body. What fuels your spirit fuels your body. The power that fuels our bodies, our minds, and our hearts does not originate in our DNA. Rather, it has roots in Divinity itself.”

Working to call my spirit back, my intuition and soul were screaming – write books that fully utilize creativity. My creativity, the core of my soul, needed to be set free, released from my imagined fear.  My intuition whispered let go, write what you want to write. With the suddenness of a Texas blue northern my creative energy return.

With a recharged creative battery, I join the National Novel Writing Month contest this month with the goal of writing a holiday fun romance book.  My soul wore a party hat for a couple of days while I prepared to write a Christmas novel I want to write.

Last week, I read 12 Days of Christmas, by Debbie Macomber, in preparation of writing a holiday novel. The book’s main character, Julia Padden blogs about her kindness experiment. I liked Macomber’s idea of blogging about the process. Along with writing a holiday / Christmas novel, I will be writing about the book, the food cooked by the characters and other holiday goodies.

In September, I hired a new website company and we’re working to add a newsletter signup form. In January, I am launching a monthly newsletter.

For now, use the email info at dillon 5 dot com to sign up for my newsletter and book updates.

With gratitude,

Tiffany

Spotify Playlists for Books, Writing, and Creative Inspiration from Tiffany Sunday

By

Today, I created six playlists on Spotify playlists for readers, fellow writers, creative inspiration, and one for fun – a driving playlist. My best thinking occurs when I am driving or taking road trips.

For the books, I created one for Dyslexia’s Competitive Edge and one for the upcoming holiday novel I am writing for National Novel Writing Month.

Music has always been part of my life. I can remember when I was around 5 years old, singing and dancing to the radio. Most days, at least one if not two “radios” is playing in the house for 16 hours or more.

Occasionally, when life becomes too stressful or I am editing a book, I turn off the music, otherwise, music is playing softly in the background.

I binge-listen to songs while I am writing, my soul will lock on a melody or rhythm. For several songs, the play times exceeded 500 times. I believe part of my brain and soul’s insatiable hunger for the song is related to my dyslexia. My brain is hunting for something.

The music becomes part of my writing, songs influence the poetry and fictional characters. Last year, I created several musicians in my book, as their songs the fibers that built Insatiable Consumption of Being. The playlists will be fluid as I edit the songs from time to time.

Enjoy!

Fall is a Writer’s Best Friend

By

Today is a perfect day for writing, chilly temperatures, drizzle with a cloudy sky.

Watching the leaves gently fall to the ground, the peacefulness of my surroundings turbocharges my creativity. From October to January, I find myself wishing for more time, more hours in the day to savory everything fall has to offer.

Every year, I long to bottle how I feel on perfect fall days when I am out running through our neighborhood. I seek to capture the calmness and the aroma of my neighbors’ fireplaces. My soul feels alive as I quietly move through the neighborhood.

Since I started writing full time three years ago, I always enjoyed fall, now as a writer, I long for these months to write, think, stretch my creativity, to dream. If Fall was well, I would drink it dry. If Fall was a mountain, I would climb and then write about the experience.

Each day, my soul screams more, more, unplug, discover, create, and then repeat the next day. Embrace and honor the gift and beauty of the season provides by picking up a pen and sharing the feeling and encouraging others to do the same.

National Poetry Day 2020

By

In 2019, I transitioned my writing career to poetry and contemporary nonfiction. This past month, I have resumed writing song lyrics.

My mother, who was an Honors AP English teacher, taught from the heart. She believed in the authors and poets that she assigned her students. She encouraged her students to think and explore. One of her favorite movies was Dead Poets Society which seems appropriate.

In the movie, Robin Williams says in a scene, “we read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. The human race is filled with passion. Poetry, beauty, romance, and love is what we stay alive for.”

For many individuals, poetry is viewed as something you had to read in high school or college English class. During these classes, often students were instructed to break apart the poem measure it against some mathematical program to determine its value.

Passion, beauty, and love should never be measured with an app, digital program, or calculator. Poetry is our lighthouse to guide our way, to give perspective, to give us a home, and most importantly reassure us we’re not alone.

For National Poetry Day – I encourage you to purchase a poetry book and support the art of words.

National Coffee Day Poem

By

For National Coffee Day, I wrote a couple of poems for fun and to honor our beloved cup of caffeine.

I must have coffee in the mornings, therefore, I make coffee at home. Now, that the weather is cooler, I crave the specialty coffees of pumpkin and cinnamon spice.

Coffee is more than a choice or habit.

Coffee is sipping a fresh brew,

while enjoying a brief mental escape to places unknown.

Coffee adds a special touch on crisp cold mornings.

Coffee infuses a little something extra in our day to day grind,

reminding us to take time,

to visit with friends in a café or bookshop,

to sit quietly on a porch step before the day’s chaos begins.

Coffee awakened our minds,

releasing our creativity.

Coffee is more than a drink, it’s the fuel of an artist’s soul.

2020 Copyright Dillon 5 LLC / Tiffany Sunday. All Rights Reserved.