Step Forward to Whatever Is Calling You
On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
Whenever I need strong doses of inspiration and motivation, I reread the following excerpt from You’ve Got This! by Margie Warrell:
Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh once wrote that it is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they’re not. So, if you are struggling with the fact that something in your world has shifted in a direction you don’t much like, consider what it is about your life right now, today, that you are not savoring fully given that it too, one day, will be gone.
To experience the richness of life, to dive deep into its waters and to avoid the perils of living only in its shallows, we must embrace its inherent impermanence, and open our hearts wide to whatever each moment holds—for all that it is and, every bit as importantly, for all that it isn’t. No thing is permanent. Every thing eventually falls away. Our children will grow up and leave home. Our parents die. Our firm bodies soften. Our vision dims.
Because life is the way that it is, it cannot stay the way it is.
Anything we cannot control is teaching us to let go. So don’t wait until the ground feels fully solid beneath you. Rather, feel grounded in yourself and step forward to whatever is calling you. Because those windows of opportunity that you see right now, they too shall one day close. And that surge of life energy beating within you, that too shall one day end. As Elisabeth Kubler-Ross wrote, “it is the denial of death that is partially responsible for people living empty, purposeless lives; for when you live as if you’ll live forever, it becomes too easy to postpone the things you know that you must do.”
Source: You’ve Got This! pp. 177-179
Virtual Book Tour: 52 Weeks of Writing
I’m happy to welcome writer and coach Mariëlle S. Smith. Today, Mariëlle shares her affirmations and latest release, 52 Weeks of Writing.
10 Affirmations to Live Your Best Creative Life
As a writing coach, I come across so many limiting beliefs about writing and being a creative person. Below, you’ll find ten affirmations that will help you live your best creative life. Most of these affirmations can also be found in my Seven Simple Spreads series, in which I combine creativity, cartomancy (the reading of cards, such as those of the tarot or oracle cards), and chakra philosophy.
1. I honour my creativity
2. It’s safe for me to create
3. I deserve the joy and pleasure of living a creative life
4. I can create whatever I want to
5. I love everything about my creative self
6. I enjoy all parts of my creative journey
7. I walk my creative path with an open heart
8. I acknowledge and celebrate all of my creative wins
9. I trust my creative purpose
10. I easily turn my creative dreams into plans
Blurb
‘A brilliant, supportive, challenging workbook, highly recommend.’ Jamie Sands
You, too, can become the writer you’ve always wanted to be!
The 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner:
• makes you plan, track, reflect on, and improve your progress and goals for an entire year long;
• invites you to dig deep through thought-provoking prompts and exercises; and
• helps you unravel the truth about why you aren’t where you want to be.
Two years after publishing the first volume of 52 Weeks of Writing, writing coach and writer Mariëlle S. Smith brings you the updated third volume. Similar in style but reflecting the tweaks made to her coaching practice during the pandemic, 52 Weeks of Writing Vol. III is even better equipped to help you get out of your own way and on to the path towards success.
Ready to start living your writing dream? Order your copy now.
Excerpt
WRITING PROMPT
Each writing prompt is optional. If, for whatever reason, it does not speak to you, let it be. Who knows? It might make more sense to do the prompt later in the process.
Most writers are introverts and dread the visibility that comes with success. This might not be you, but to some of us this fear is what stops us from finishing our work. Because what if people read it and want to talk to us about it? What if we’re forced to leave the privacy of our desks and go out into the world, into the spotlight, with nowhere to hide?
If this resonates with you, know you’re not alone. Grab your journal or open a new document on your computer and set your timer to ten minutes. Now list all the good that could come with success.
If this is a fear you recognise all too well, keep this list close once you’ve finished it.
Purchase Links
From the start, I knew 52 Weeks of Writing would be very different from the other craft books gracing my bookshelves. Reading about the author’s creative journey in the Introduction motivated me to implement a daily journaling habit focusing exclusively on writing. Everything from the themed quotes at the beginning of each week to the thought-provoking questions to the tracking sheets bears the imprint of a seasoned author and coach. While completing the exercises, I could easily imagine Ms. Smith at my side, encouraging me to dig deep and reveal my innermost thoughts.
Highly recommended!
Author Bio and Links
Mariëlle S. Smith is a writer, writing coach, and editor. She lives in Cyprus, where she organises private writer’s retreats, is inspired 24/7, and feeds more stray cats than she can count.
Website | Facebook | Blog | Goodreads | Instagram | YouTube
Giveaway
Mariëlle S. Smith will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.
Follow Mariëlle on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.
Merry Christmas!
Maintaining Perspective
On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
In her blog post, “How to Safely Enjoy the Pandemic Holidays,” Lori Deschene shares several suggestions. Here’s her take on the importance of maintaining perspective:
As with everything in life, this is all temporary. Things won’t always be this way. These challenges, these feelings, they won’t last forever. We will eventually get through this and will be able to live more freely. Though life won’t be exactly the same for many, we will find a new normal and new reasons to smile as we adapt to life as it evolves.
It may be hard to see that now. It may seem like this earthquake of an experience will send shockwaves for years, and we’ll never find our footing again. But we are amazingly resilient as people. Odds are you’ve been through some deeply trying experiences in your life, and you’ve come out stronger, wiser, and maybe even enriched for having gone through what you’ve been through.
Trust that, you will not only get through this, you will have many more reasons to smile, and many more holidays to celebrate with the people you love. This year will one day be a crazy story in all of our rear-view mirrors, so long as we keep driving, cautiously, on this somewhat treacherous road before us.
Read the rest of her post here.
Blurb Blitz: Stop the Clock
I’m happy to welcome author Cassie Swindon. Today, Cassie shares her new release, Stop the Clock.
Blurb
Stop the Clock is the finale in the Golden Chains trilogy.
Raelyn Bell has already experienced death and loss. Her family is falling apart at the seams. Despite her fears that Zohaib will hurt the few people she has left, Raelyn is still determined to prove him guilty. But this villain’s hunger for more power threatens to rip her and Kody apart.
To save Raelyn from being captured, Kody Walsh makes a deal with the devil and is dragged across the border to the middle of a rainforest by Zohaib’s hostile force. Commanded to complete unimaginable tasks for the sake of the enemy, Kody’s stakes couldn’t be higher.
Raelyn desperately seeks for any way to rescue Kody and has to decide if she can trust her mother for help after all they have been through. Can they see this journey through without losing their lives—and each other?
Excerpt
Raelyn lit another candle. The flicker added a layer to the dancing light coming from the fireplace. Seducing Zohaib with an email of this gorgeous model might be the only way to plant a virus and access his files. Raelyn refused to let that scumbag capture or sell one more woman.
She turned too fast, sending her new Canon camera flying. The naked woman beside her reached out and grabbed the stand before the tripod toppled to the cabin’s floor.
“Woops, sorry.” Raelyn shook her head.
“It’s fine. I got it.” The model followed Raelyn’s gaze. “Why do you keep glancing at the clock?”
“No reason.” Raelyn handed over an elaborate Venetian mask.
“I need you to wear this over your face.”
The model smiled. “We’re playing dress-up?”
“The man we’re doing this for is Italian, and he likes mystery and games.”
The woman clicked her tongue and fastened the mask on, covering most of her face. “Whatever you say…” She took the sheet of paper and angled it closer to the fire. “So, this is the script? … I’m all yours, Zohaib. Where and when can we meet?” She crunched the paper into a ball. “This is crap. I have a better idea.”
“You’ve done this before?” Raelyn asked.
“Manipulated a man? Of course. You haven’t?”
“That won’t happen. I won’t let Zohaib near Raelyn.”
Buy Links
Amazon US | Amazon CA| Amazon UK | Amazon AU
Author Bio and Links
Instead of the boring bio info, here’s some interesting tidbits about the author:
• Tackled her father for a pair of Michael Phelps’ personal goggles
• Cried when the Cubs won the World Series
• Met husband freshman year of college- a blizzard & tequila may have been involved
• Moved cross-country by the flip of a coin
• Mutated into a zombie when daughter was born in 2013, then again 17 months later when her son was born
• Evacuated from a boat crash in the Atlantic during a whale watching tour
• Witnessed a wild horse pack galloping through the Rockies
• Cofounded a three-person Beanie Baby Club in the 90s- in a treehouse
• Snorkeled in The Great Barrier Reef
• Broke her foot when pretending to be a Baywatch lifeguard
• Stranded in a Cancun lagoon while jet skiing
• Crunched the back of a Dodge Neon against a wall while transporting a Medieval knight to a pub
• Invented a symbol language to pass notes to her best friend in high school
• Swung off a rope swing of pirate ship in Aruba
• Backpacked through Italy
• Stole plaques showing what swim records she broke
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Giveaway
Cassie Swindon will be awarding a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.
Follow Cassie on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.
Stop Hovering Ten Feet Above Your Dream
On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
Here’s a jolt of inspiration from bestselling author Bob Goff:
Next time you’re in an airplane, take notice of what happens right before you touch down. The pilot decelerates the plane—sometimes they even cut the engines after they get over the numbers at the end of the runway. When they do this, the plane is still hovering around ten or fifteen feet above the ground.
Have you ever wondered why the plane seems to float there over the runway for a while before touching down? It’s a phenomenon called “ground effect.” The wind traveling past the underside of the wing pushes against the ground and then pushes up against the wing from below. When you’re pursuing your ambitions, you can experience some ground effect too. It can keep you ten feet over your ambitions.
There’s something safe and comforting about the planning process, isn’t there? This happens to our ambitions all the time. The last step in this process is to stop all the planning already. Book the flight. Buy the ring. Host the first meeting in your living room. Whatever it is, stop hovering ten feet above your dream. You’re going to need to pitch forward a little more and get your wheels on the ground.
As you do this, don’t aim for perfection; look for proof that your ambition is taking shape in the world. Don’t think it will all go smoothly. Be ready for the jolt when you touch down. Block out all the reasons this could go wrong or why you shouldn’t try. Your ambition is worth it. All of it. It’s worth every sacrifice you’ll make to turn your idea to reality.
Source: Dream Big, pp. 200-201
Virtual Book Tour: Just A Girl in the Whirl
I’m happy to welcome actress and writer Annie Wood. Today, Annie chats about her writing process and shares her recent release, Just a Girl in the Whirl.
Interview
What process do you use? Are you more of a plotter or pantser?
I get an idea and write it down. Then I spend time thinking about the main character and what they want and what they need. I think about the setting and time period and I start thinking about what themes I want to explore. I write out a beat sheet, just one sentence blurbs that serve as my outline. Then I usually write a play or screenplay and then the novel version.
Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
There are pieces of me in almost all the characters and also family members and people I’ve met and imagined throughout my life.
Describe your writing space.
I have a small home office that I love. I recently decorated it with wood furniture and bookshelves and I painted the walls blue and orange. I have a few 1920s styled lamps and another small lamp with the word APPLAUSE on it. It’s lit up every day to encourage me.
What is your favorite quotation?
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others”
― Martha Graham
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
That I would be able to create an invisible bubble of protection around everyone I love. Self included.
Blurb
A 17 year old girl is overwhelmed with responsibilities trying to keep her messy family together. Everything spins out of control when her addict actor dad who bailed on the family three years ago leaving her with her lovable but bi-polar mom and her two little sisters, comes back into town and wants to reconnect.
Writing poems is her only escape. Just a girl in the is about family, forgiveness, and having enough courage to live your own life, your own way.
Excerpt
In the past 747 days I’ve made 747th breakfasts for my family. I barely have to think about what I’m doing anymore the eggs just poach themselves. Doing the same thing, day in and day out, gives my life the feeling of being stuck in slo-mo. In fact, I’m moving so freakin’ slowly I may as well be standing still. It’s like I managed to step into a vat of cement while everyone around me is coasting along on one of those people movers they have at the airports. Also, my particular vat of cement happens to be on a carousel, going around and around and around. So, sure, there’s movement, only I’m not getting anywhere.
“Damn it.” I bend down to pick up yet another broken glass. My bad. As usual. When my mind wanders, it takes my coordination with it.
“Lauren. Don’t say damn.” my kid sis reprimands.
“You’re right, Sara. Sorry. Finish your scrambled eggs, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Ouch.” I cut my pinkie on a sliver of broken glass.
“We’re out of Band-Aids,” Matty informs. “You should get more.”
“Gee, thanks, sis. Don’t bother getting up.”
“I won’t,” she tells me as she continues scarfing down the food I made her.
Yep, this is my brood. Not on purpose, though. I mean, I didn’t plan this brood or birth this brood, it just sort of turned out that they’re now, mostly mine.
My eighteenth birthday is in 99.3105497 days away and then I’ll be free.
Author Bio and Links
Annie Wood is an Israeli-American, Hollywood native, and a lifelong actress and writer. The web series she created, wrote and stars in, Karma’s a Bitch, was Best of the Web on Virgin America (anniewood.com/Karma)
Wood was part of the NBC DIVERSITY SHOWCASE with her comedic scene, That’s How They Get You. She’s written 100s of scenes for actors that have been used by Emmy Award-winning TV director, Mary Lou Belli in her UCLA course and casting director, Jeremey Gordon in workshops all around town.
As an author, she has three books out: Dandy Day, Just a Theory: a quantum love adventure and her first YA novel, Just a Girl in the Whirl (Speaking Volumes Publishing)
Annie’s also an Internationally exhibited mixed-media artist, a produced playwright, and was the third female solo dating game show host in the history of television with the nationally syndicated show, BZZZ! that she also co-produced. (Which just re-ran in 2020 on BUZZRTV!)
Annie writes and creates art daily.
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Art | Shop | Email
She also runs the Twitter account for the Women of the Writers Guild West. Follow us here —> @WoWGAW
She is part of the Middle Eastern Committee at WGA, a Dramatist Guild Member and an Authors Guild Member.
Get the book!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Soul Touching Work Of Art!
“This book made me tear up multiple times, as I felt a real connection with the characters and their struggles. I recommend it for all ages.”
Giveaway
Annie Wood will be awarding a $40 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.
Follow Annie on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here
Release Day – 40 Life Changing Events
I’m thrilled to announce the release of 40 Life Changing Events. My essay, “Honoring My Inner Sloth,” was selected as one of the stories for this anthology.
Blurb
In our constantly evolving world…
…where the unforeseen lies in wait.
Surprises abound.
In this latest anthology, 25 writers share events that have changed their lives. Some stories are tragic, others full of joy, but they all encapsulate the tenacity, resilience, and self-belief of the human spirit.
During these challenging times, with the world in turmoil, it is stimulating to learn from other people’s experiences.
What will you take away from these exceptional recollections that span the generations?
This fascinating compilation will encourage you to pause and reflect, with tales that offer much needed motivation and inspiration.
Get it now.
Excerpt (Honoring My Inner Sloth)
For too many years, I subscribed to the busy bee myth: Complete all given tasks and start on tomorrow’s To-Do List. That was my modus operandi for the first fifty years of my life. Or, more precisely, the first forty-nine years, seven months, and seven days.
All that changed with a diagnosis that came out of nowhere: Inflammatory Breast Cancer, Stage IIIB. To be truthful, my body had tried to communicate with me many years before the diagnosis. Persistent colds and bouts of bronchitis. Slow-healing bruises. Bone-crushing fatigue. Determined to soldier on without taking advantage of sick days or lazy weekends, I chose to ignore those whispers. But I knew all about them from the Oprah shows.
To this day, I get goosebumps when I recall those words of wisdom from television’s favorite teacher: “If you don’t pay attention to the whispers, it gets louder and louder. It’s like getting thumped inside the head like my grandmother used to do…You don’t pay attention to that, it’s like getting a brick upside your head. You don’t pay attention to that; the whole brick wall falls down.”
While I was in the thick of it with family and workplace stress, I didn’t realize—or chose not to realize—that those whispers were about to break a sound barrier.
Buy Links
Book Blast: Mafiosa Princess
I’m happy to welcome multi-published author Liza Malloy. Today, Liza shares her new release, Mafiosa Princess.
Blurb
Two men love her. But only one truly knows her.
College Junior Giada Conti wants nothing more than to pursue a normal life fueled by her own choices. Unfortunately, she doesn’t realize her father’s business isn’t completely lawful, or how that fact will completely dictate her future.
Pre-law student Adrian Patras is certain Giada is the perfect woman for him, until he meets her family and grasps the extent of his girlfriend’s naivete.
As Adrian finds himself unwillingly pulled into the family business, Giada grows frustrated with his insinuations about her father. Meanwhile, Giada’s ex, the notorious Luca Marino, pops back into her life with his own criminal agenda that includes winning her back.
Mafiosa Princess is the captivating first book in the steamy mafia romance series that you won’t want to put down.
Excerpt
I shielded my eyes from the sun peeking in above my calypso blue sunglasses and gazed over at Luca. He was pacing back and forth ten or so yards away, clutching his phone tightly by his ear.
I tried to view him the way the other girls must. It wasn’t hard to see the appeal. He was indisputably good-looking, the quintessential Italian man. Lean muscle comprised his tall frame, long black eyelashes framed his rich chocolate eyes, and his dark brownish-black hair was soft and just long enough to run my fingers through. He carried himself with confidence, and everything about him oozed wealth and power.
I thought about what Luca said, how he’d admitted that losing me was a mistake. Had he actually meant that, or was he just trying to cheer me up? I wasn’t oblivious to the way he flirted with me, or the way he unapologetically checked me out whenever he wanted. But that didn’t necessarily signal anything except for a deep-seated sense of entitlement on his part.
Years ago, I was more susceptible to Luca’s charms. Even at sixteen, he radiated control and dominance. The attention he bestowed on me in high school instantly ratcheted up my popularity and made me more sought after by all of the guys, but thanks to Luca’s smooth lines and ceaseless flattering, I had eyes only for him.
During the time we’d been a couple, my self-esteem had been at an all-time high. If the coveted Luca Marino loved me, I had to be beautiful, smart, and funny. He wouldn’t have wasted his attentions on someone unworthy. Besides, he could’ve had any girl at our school. Yet, he chose me.
Now, years later, my heart still fluttered at the possibility that Luca still wanted me. It was flattering, and it was precisely the ego-boost I needed after watching Adrian leave me for Chicago. But could it be more than that?
Author Bio and Links
Liza Malloy writes contemporary romance, women’s fiction, new adult romance, and fantasy. She’s a sucker for alpha males, bad boys, dimples, and muscles, and she can’t resist a man in uniform. Liza loves creating worlds where her heroine discovers her own strength and finds her Happily Ever After. When Liza isn’t reading or writing torrid love stories, she’s a practicing attorney. Her other passions include gummy bears, jelly beans, and the occasional marathon. She lives in the Midwest with her four daughters and her own Prince Charming. Her books are available in both paperback and ebook, and can be found on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, and more!
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Goodreads | Amazon |
Buy Link
Join her email list for access to exclusive bonus content at http://bit.ly/34FrD71
Giveaway
Liza Malloy will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.
Follow Liza on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.
Joanne Guidoccio 