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Tiffany Sunday

Best-Selling Author | Poet | TEDx Presenter

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Poetry

Something Different

June 27, 2018 By Tiffany Sunday

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.

Filed Under: Poetry

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

December 6, 2017 By Tiffany Sunday

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!

Filed Under: Dyslexia, Poetry

Are You Going Backward?

January 13, 2017 By Tiffany Sunday

Image Credits – The Peaceful Runner

Twice in 2016, I thought to myself, “Am I going backward? Was I regressing to a place I no longer wanted to be?”

Both times, I was an event participant.  Everything felt dated.  After several attendees voiced concern, the coordinator stated, “That’s the way it’s always been done, no need to change.”  Staring back at the individual, I felt like an alien.

I don’t want to go backward, especially after I’ve spent so much mental energy moving forward.  The last thing I wanted to do was to get stuck in another rut.

In all of my experiences, there has never been a time where going backward proved beneficial.

Not once.

As an impatient movie viewer, films are consumed while working on the computer with the audio playing in the background or during dinner. Last night’s working selection was Whiskey Tango Foxtrot starring Tina Fey as Kim Barker.  The movie is based on Barker’s book.

I’ve been thinking about Tina Fey’s character and the reason she became a war correspondent.  Each day she faithfully ran on a treadmill. One day, she noticed the constant motion was moving the machine backward across the carpet.  In her mind, she was regressing in life instead of gaining.

Again, I am consumed with the question “Am I moving forward or not gaining at all?”

Change surrounds us, yet for many, there is no movement, there is no internal growth, there is only redundancy.  The creation of goals reworked year after year.  There is comfort in knowing what to expect each and every minute of every day.  Being too comfortable can evolve into compliancy distorting reality masquerading as happiness.

2016 was a mixed bag as I was surprised and pleased with the growth of my business while conversely dealing with several sobering realizations.  From the new awareness, I gained wisdom enabling me to move forward once again.  I am not the same person I was six months.  My approach to problems and how I formulate decisions is different.   My worldview is constantly evolving.

When you think you are moving backward, stop and ask yourself why you feel this way and what could be the triggers? Often we ignore our inner voice.  Look beyond the usual answers and responses, what else is under the surface.  Is there a decision or something you are avoiding that needs to be addressed?

If nothing comes to mind, then think of the most outside of the box answer.  Anything? If not, let your mind noodle on why for while.  When you least expect an answer it will appear.

I believe the only way we can move forward and create a meaningful life is to avoid events and people who cause us to move backward.   Our world is full of too many amazing things to be satisfied with how it’s always been done or remaining stuck in a rut refusing to evolve.

 

Filed Under: Poetry

Creative Obsession – Never Give Up On Your Art

November 10, 2016 By Tiffany Sunday

Creative Obsession by Tiffany Sunday Two weeks ago, the creative obsession kicked in as I shifted my attention back to a fiction novel I am writing. Along with the book, I am adapting The Digital Prairie manuscript to a play.

After two books, I’ve learned when my behavior shifts the manuscript is ready to be written.  The awareness is more significant with the third book.

Almost overnight, every part of my being becomes consumed with writing.  I eat the same lunch.  I wear black and listen to the same song on YouTube not once or twice but 50 times or more.  My ability to singularly focus on one task is amazing.

I am a vehicle for something greater than myself.  My soul is determined to write and refuses to allow anything to get in its way.

Artists and entrepreneurs are made from similar DNA.  Launching a business, writing a book, and creating music is art.

All of these endeavors are part of the creative process. 

I am learning to honor and accept my quirky behaviors.  I write at late at night when my mind has the freedom to explore what is hidden beneath the surface during the day.

The creative obsession has been the focus of many studies as researchers work to determine why creatives become obsessed with their work.

From personal experience, my brain doesn’t like to focus on clothes or food because when you are in a creative flow, making decisions is annoying.  Which, I believe explains our need to eliminate non-essential decisions.  I imagine my brain, taking its arms and sweeping everything off the table that is irrelevant to the creative process.

During the creative obsession, you search for a time to create.  For many, it is either the stillness of the night, early in the morning or both.

This fall, I’ve discovered the peacefulness at 4:30 am which is unmatched by any other time during our 24 hour period. It’s when everything, all our worries and the world’s chaos, seems for a brief moment to fade into the background. The new day is beginning, it’s fresh and clean.

When I’m alone with the computer, songs playing over and over in my ear buds, I savor the time. I protect this time.

Our creativity is our humanity.

In the depths of the night, I came across an interview with Pat Benatar and her husband, Neil Giraldo, at 2016 SXSW Music session. Pat talked about the importance of protecting our art.  Our creative expression is a freedom that we should never take for granted.

I write with urgency. I write with a purpose. I write because I need to express what is in my soul.  Sleep feels unimportant until the words appear on paper.

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Poetry

A Runner’s Daily Meditation – How Planners Are Mostly Ineffective

September 28, 2016 By Tiffany Sunday

What Matters Most Must Never Be At the Mercy of What Matters Least.
Goethe

Blog Photos 017As an avid runner, I’m run six days a week in my neighborhood. Today’s run was a treat, a beautiful fall morning, cool and crisp with a slight dampness from the dew. My pace was faster as my body adapted to the chilly temperature. Fall is my favorite time of the year to run.

My mind is most creative during my runs and I am always thinking about something.  My mind settles into a quiet meditation on the longer runs as I have sorted through my thoughts by the third mile.

This morning, I was thinking about Work Simply by Carson Tate, a book I picked up at the library two weeks ago.  At first, I read through a couple of pages and put the book down.

I thought, “just another how to be productive” book.  I always give books a second chance, and while waiting for my son at band practice, I opened the book again and started reading. I realized Tate’s book was different.

In the book, she talks about how we’ve been trained to use planners and the amount of time we can waste managing our to-do lists. Her words started working their way through my mind as I thought about what she was saying.

During the run, I kept thinking about how much time we waste inputting data in our planners, especially scheduling every tiny detail of our life down to five minutes to meditate, five minutes to walk around our cube, five minutes to plan a strategy for clients.

Back when we were transitioning from the farm to the factory, managers were taught that workers could not be allowed to think for themselves.  We, the workers, must be told what to do every minute of the work day. This mentality has lead to our modern day busyness, must stay busy, must stay busy…

We are obsessed with busywork in American.

It is our badge of honor, the Holy Grail of cubeville or Starbuck’s.  We write in our emails and text messages – “I’m slammed!, My bandwidth is tapped!, and I’m swamped!” We work diligently to complete our planner checklist.  We compare notes on how many emails are in our inbox as if it is a ranking in our importance. More emails = higher pay?

Our ego and self-worth are wrapped up in our busyness. Being busy is not the same as being productive. There is a difference.  I think about the productive individuals who lived hundreds of years ago.  They did not have any cool tech tools to help them and they produced an enormous amount of work.

Dozens of thoughts filled my mind as I connected the dots and I thought “what if, we didn’t assign time to projects? Before you freak out, I know what you’re thinking, “How could we bill clients? and “How would we know if we’re profitable or not?”

What I am suggesting is that we work on the projects instead of spending so much time writing down every detail into our planners. What if we spent time focusing on the project and what needs to be done? No fancy rules just focus our time on what is important.

Since reading Tate’s book, I’ve stopped scheduling ridge time slots for client work; I am referring to work completed outside the client’s office. I am more relaxed and can focus on what I need complete instead of feeling guilty for ignoring my planner.

We’ve been brainwashed to believe the only way we can be productive is to create highly detailed strict; factory styled schedule to dictate our day.

We think there is no other way to work.  I question every part of how I plan my day.  I have two whiteboards in the office. One board, I write my weekly schedule. The second whiteboard is where I list critical action items such as add Google Analytics to the new website, schedule my car for service, and so forth.  You get the idea.

I have greater confidence in my ability to get work done.  This past week, I have started writing in the mornings immediately following my runs.  I know without a doubt this is the most creative time of the day. I have written more in three days in less time.

 Our brains are not binary, we need time to think.  We cannot turn our thinking on and off like a light bulb.

I believe our planners are obsolete as we are not factory workers anymore.  Our world and how we work is undergoing a significant transformation.  We’re knowledge workers and innovation and growth are not derived from breaking our day into tiny slots of time. Innovation comes from our creativity and having time think and solve difficult problems.

To-do lists have a place when organizing specific tasks and projects, these lists are not meant to be carried with us each day, depleting our mental energy along the way.

Nor will our productivity increase by using more planners, more scheduling apps, or creating more busy work, these are all leftovers from the Industrial Revolution Era.

I’ll leave you with a thought – a person can be organized without writing and scheduling every detail into a planner.

Filed Under: Poetry

The Beach House (Working Title)

August 23, 2016 By Tiffany Sunday

The Beach House

The story is evolving and the original working title, the Beach House is now obsolete.

Sarah and Ryan are the two main characters in the story.   Sarah is a single mother and Ryan is her son.  The story is set in New York City and in a small coastal community.  Ryan inherits a sailboat from their elderly neighbor, Thomas.

After going through a divorce, Sarah begins to think about her life and questions many of the beliefs she thought were true.  As she works to rebuild their life, they are faced with challenges and an unexpected tragedy.

Sarah gains strength from her experiences and her new independence. When her family discredits her efforts, she makes a decision that shocks everyone including herself.  Through the heartache, Sarah refuses to give up and learns to trust again.

When Sarah least expects to find romance, she meets two men.  As these two relationships develop, Sarah is torn between what her heart feels and what her mind is telling her.  Whom will she choose? The man who represents her past or a new friend who could change her life?

To read more, register for my monthly newsletters. 

Filed Under: Book Updates, Poetry

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Tiffany is writing her third poetry collection. She is accepting speaking engagements and literary appearances. Please use the Contact Form to schedule your event.

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