Tiffany Sunday

Best-Selling Author | Poet | TEDx Presenter

Poetry

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.

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.

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. 

Making Every Word Count

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Tiffany Sunday 2017

With the abundance of digital communication, we can write millions of words a day. In my day job, I average around 30,000 words a week.

In our firehouse style of content generation should we curate to make sure every word counts? To look upon each word, to determine if it has real meaning in the sentence or has the word been delegated as a space holder.

I am challenging myself, to think about the words I select at work and in my personal novels and books. Each word should count and not be digitally typed as if we had millions of them to spare. I believe the human brain only gives attention to the words that matter.

Something Different

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Most of what I write publicly is work-related, yet my passion as a writer is creative, crafting stories and imagines from words. Since junior high, I have been writing song lyrics, poems, and short stories.  Hundreds of lyrics created, some kept the rest tossed.

After How Dyslexics Will Rule the Future is published, I will take a break from writing business books to focus on completing my first novel and publishing a children book series I’ve created.

Here are two poems I wrote.  Salt was written at a restaurant while Brandon met with his tutor.  The second poem was written listening to the remix of Blondie’s Heart of Glass by Philip Glass.

Listening to music, driving, and running are my favorite sources of inspiration, I can listen to a song and ideas for novels, lyrics and screenplays easily flow through my thoughts.

Salt
Calories never counted
Focus is food
To escape while thinking nothing, watching the nightly news
Row after row of generic tables filled with people
Sitting in silence while consuming less than nothing paying more than they should
Emptiness fills the space, accepting how life will be
Hope provides energy, doubt drains leaving a void
He cleans without ever knowing the native language
Earns just enough to send home, a place he hasn’t seen years
Memories fade, people grow old
Workers stare at the clock thinking of where they want to be
Dreaming of a better life
Knowing in the end they’ll be sitting in the rows eating food with too many empty calories.

© Copyright 2011-2018 Dillon 5 LLC and Tiffany Sunday. All Rights Reserved.

Unexpected Event 
Stillness
No motion
She sits quietly at the train station
Waiting
Trains speed past to their destination
Hot wind from the motion blows her hair
Waiting
Until he returns
She sits alone on the bench
Staring at the track
Ignoring passengers
Never seeing the janitor
She waits
Thinking he’ll return
With each tick of the clock,
Life goes by in a blur of mix memories
She attempts to bury,
To erase,
The pain she carries inside

© Copyright 2011-2018 Dillon 5 LLC and Tiffany Sunday. All Rights Reserved.

Why A Book Must Be On Everyone’s Holiday Gift List

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In case you are wondering, this is not a blog post listing the top ten business books to read for the holidays.  Nope, this post is different. It’s about the importance of stories and reading.

As an author, I am always asking people what books they like to read.  With two new books slated for publication in 2018, I need to know my market.

I can peg a person’s response to their facial expression.  It’s that frustrated look, “Why would I read a book now, I’m out of school.”  Or “Oh, she’s going to recommend another boring business book. Ugh.” Insert eye rolling emoji.

The majority of the responses all include, “I don’t have time to read because…” We spend hundreds of hours each week reading blog posts, text messages, FB posts etc.  Ironically, we read blog posts about which books successful people are reading.

The book list is unimportant.

What matters most is that these leaders schedule time to read.

The thought leaders, we admire, read a wide range of books including novels, history, biographies and business leadership.  All books contain stories even non-fiction which highlights case studies. We remember stories, we relate to stories, and use stories to help us navigate our jobs, personal relationships, challenges, and events in our lives.

Without these stories, we have a limited mental library to retrieve examples for guidance. Since the beginning of mankind, we’ve used stories to build communities, pass down information, and form bonds needed for survival.

Today is no different.  We need stories; we need this foundation.  Purchasing a book for yourself and everyone on your holiday list is important.

Reading is the gateway to society. If a child does not read by the age of seven, they are at risk of missing the gateway.  Once the opportunity passes, it is extremely difficult to gain access.

The ability read (insert assistive technology if needed to help with reading) is the second most important skill humans’ must possess.  The ability to communicate is first.

As you build your holiday shopping list, take the time to visit your local bookstore or Amazon.  Think about the stories you crave to read.  What problem are you mentally seeking to solve? Go to the library; walk through the quiet aisles glancing at the titles. What book catches your eye?

Better yet, go to the children’s section look at the stories.  Last month, I discovered while walking through Barnes and Noble – What Do You Do With An Idea by Kobi Yamada.  I absolutely love the book and believe everyone should read it.

Books, regardless how you read them are important, they provide us with a rich depth of stories that we use daily to solve problems.  Even non-fiction has a place because we gain knowledge and a different perspective.

Included in this post are images of the current books I am reading.  I will be stopping by Half Price Books and Barnes & Noble to purchase gifts.

Remember – reading by the fireplace is a great way to unplug and enjoy the holidays!