I, Tiffany Joy, am a creative writer whether it is narrative or poetry I enjoy writing to express myself. Using the tag ‘creative’ you’ll find all my creative writings.
Come to me o ocean breeze. Gently Dance your way under and over the midnight sea. Come take away all my stress release my anxiety. Come to me oh ocean breeze.
If you would like to read more of my poetry please take a look at my portfolio. You can also watch a few of my poetry readings.
Sub-Letter #30 is the last excerpt from To Love. All the excerpts of To Love can be found on the To Love section of my site. You can purchase the book on Amazon.
Please know that the headers are placed for blog readability and highlighting certain parts. They do not appear in the book.
It has been about 2 weeks since I wrote about online dating. It feels like it was longer. Perhaps it was longer. I didn’t mark down the exact date that I signed up. It doesn’t matter, because I stopped.
Online dating felt like work and more than I wanted to do. My brain related it to searching for a job or a house. It differed from a job or house search tough. Instead of sending a couple emails, then going to an interview that is scheduled days in advance, I found that there should be at least one message a day. Sometimes the guy attempted to schedule them on the same day. That method brought out anxiety and fear for me.
I need to prepare and free up time. I can’t change my plans easily in my mind, so can’t drop everything to meet a stranger at a coffeehouse on the same day of being asked.
The first thing I learned is obvious. Online dating is not like You Got Mail. It is not romantic or fun for me.
I am sure it is great for others. There are success stories. It is just not for me, at least not for me right now.
Also, I learned that even though I want to find you and start that part of my life, I can wait. I would rather wait with high standards than lower or change them and marry someone now.
There is no rush, I do not need you right now. What I need is the right you. I am okay with being single. This chick is awesome and a hoot to be around. I can entertain myself and make decisions on my own. Plus, my friends can give me advice and support. My point in saying all of this is that I appreciate that I am loved and I love myself. One day, you will love me and love you. I can have patience and wait for that day.
After I stopped looking for you on the dating app, I thought about how I want to describe you when I am certain you are you. How I would know you are you? In my mind, I was being interviewed. I made it into a daydream that took place after we met and everyone was aware we were in love.
I guess you don’t really need to be an interviewer in this daydream, but that is how this daydream goes. We are both successes and we are doing an interview together, where you are interviewing me. You ask how I knew you were the one for me.
I answer with, “You are the only one for me because you are not perfect, but you are perfect for me. Just like every other human, you are broken and flawed. Your broken pieces do not match mine, just like your flaws are not mine. Instead, your flaws and brokenness complement mine and my flaws and brokenness complement yours. It is like a complicated puzzle. Your flaws either challenge me or are like a puzzle piece that my flaws interlock with and strengthen us together.”
Our life together will not be a “happily ever after” type of life. Yet, we will support each other, push each other, learn from and with each other. Most important, we will journey down the path of life together. We will go through hard times on that journey, but we will also enjoy great times.
The start of our journey together excites me. I look forward to working on our wedding vows and vowing them in front of family and friends when they are done. I can’t wait to find out how your flaws interlock with mine and learn how you will help me grow.
As I write this sub-letter, you are 100% percent real to me. There is no doubt and no fear in my mind. I am enthralled because I get to meet you and love you one day. Finding out who you are overwhelms me with excitement.
Okay, enough about that for now. I don’t want to fly away, and I may with all these happy thoughts. I have another poem to share.
To Love is sold on Amazon and if you would like to read more excerpts you can go the To Love Updates section of this site. Also, I created some fun promotional videos on Youtube.
As you take risks, embrace change, and achieve your goals, reflect regularly on your journey.
Some times it’s hard to be aware of your progress and track valuable milestones. Creating goals often and assessing the goals may not be enough. It is easy to lose track of your overall progress and forget how far you’ve come in your art journey.
We all start somewhere with our creative life and we can get caught up in creating that we forget that we’re making progress. I started with art and writing as a passionate hobby. It would rub me the wrong way when someone called it a hobby, but that is what it was. My desire was for my creativity to be more. However, at the start of my journey it was only something I did in my free time.
I then took actions and plan more time around my writing and painting. The act of planning my time around my creative was the first actual step in my artistic career. It was not my last step, though. I shifted my life more and more so I could make it a business and my career. I’m still working on making it a successful business, but I have been meeting wonderful milestones.
One way I track my milestones is to write achievements in a notebook. This way when I’m unaware of my progress, I can look back at all the wonderful stuff I’ve done. Some milestones are things I can control, like publishing “To Love.” Other milestones are outside my control, like making $100 from “To Love”. It is a wonderful practice to track both what your actions and the actions of your audience.
In the recent past, I’ve also used time tracking apps to see how I’ve increased in my time spent on different projects and on my art business.
My personal journal also has notes on my artist journey. When I journal, I do reflect on how my art has changed and looking at how I feel my goals and dreams are going.
I do also have an art business notebook where I take notes on ideas, research, and plan out my business and career. I can go back and examine how my business has morphed and changed over time, which is helpful in keeping me moving forward.
All this regular reflection has kept me motivated and recharges my inspiration. I have evidence written down that I’m already making progress, so I want to keep going.
This is part of Tiff’s Tips a blog series. I have also done a goal setting video series on YouTube.
I've been in battle with the word all my life. The hard distant pews were too hard of seats for me. It meant too much then too little. I saw the rules as chains so it's funny that when my soul breathed church is where those chains were broken and I was truly set free.
If you would like to read more of my poetry please take a look at my portfolio. You can also watch a few of my poetry readings.
Let me be in the warm summer air hugged by loved ones with their children near. Let me be in the lovign garden without a single care with smiles on the faces of those I hold dear. Let us be together for now and always.
I wrote “Let Me Be” in July 2020 while I waited for my delayed summer vacation. I was missing my family and longing for our annual summer vacation, which is always a time to relax and be surrounded by love.
If you would like to read more of my poetry please take a look at my portfolio. You can also watch a few of my poetry readings.
It is important in your creative life to try different things. You should experiment with different mediums, styles, and subjects. As you explore unique aspects of art or creating, you’ll find what you enjoy and also your own style. You will learn what does and doesn’t work for you. As you try unfamiliar things, you’ll also grow in your understanding of art and as an artist.
Trying new things is also good in life. With each unknown experience, you can learn more about who you are and life. Do not shy away from what is new or foreign to you. It’ll grow you as a person and artist if you let it.
I have many experiences where I tried unfamiliar things. A lot of them had to do with jobs I had. I tried out 9-12 jobs that could become a career. Funny enough, besides the ones I have now, I would only go back to cleaning dog kennels or theater carpentry. I just didn’t fit well with the others. Trying the different jobs I realized being creative was an important aspect in my career path.
I also experimented in my writing as you can tell if you look at my older writings. I’ve done short stories, poetry, articles, and even my memoir called To Love. In doing all this exploration I learned I am a fiction writer, poet, and love sharing what I’ve learned throughout my life.
In my visual art life I have drawn, sculpted, painted, and do digital art. I have done more than just those few things, but that has been my main focuses. In doing all that I learned that it is easiest and highly fulfilling for me to do digital art, but I also love painting. There is almost a need for me to paint. That is why I sculpt and draw less. My focus is on painting and digital art.
I have noticed recently that as you experiment and try new things, certain elements will remain. I will always be me, and my art will always reflect who I am. An example is that long before I focused on hearts as a series I have put or painted hearts in most of my visual art pieces. This is most likely because I focus my art and core on spreading love, happiness, and sharing my heart. I shared this focus of my life before I even realized it or spoke it.
Learning about your core and more about yourself are the 2 primary values of trying new things.
This is part of Tiff’s Tips a blog series. I have also done a goal setting video series on YouTube.
A Romantic Monologue is the next excerpt from my new book To Love. All the excerpts of To Love can be found on the To Love section of my site. You can purchase the book on Amazon.
[A lone female in a flowing floor-length dress with a dark pattern, stands center stage on an empty black stage with a solo pale amber spot light. She starts with her eyes closed.]
| Let my mind be clear of thoughts of you. Quiet my heart from the daydreams your appearance creates. |
[Her eyes open. She looks into the audience.]
| How do I make reality out of these girlish fantasies? You are further than a world away; living among the nobility of this age, while I toil with only my dreams as an escape. Truly the dreams are but mere lies, that my heart tells my mind. Perfection such as yours cannot honestly exist. You must wear a gentleman’s mask as a ploy for the ladies of your kingdom. Yes, the bright, warm person on display must hide a rotted center. I am sure that the loving smile and open heart is an act to create loyal subjects. How would a charming prince, such as the one portrayed, survive in this cold hard land? The noble are as wicked as the corrupt rulers, that allow the wealthy to step on the poor? Understanding how a heart can stay intact and open, while among the pressures of aristocracy is beyond my mind. Perhaps a day will come when fate will bid us a meeting, then my aloof admiration will yield to knowledge of your inner workings and reveal a beautiful mind. If fate is so kind, then my girlish fantasies will release into reality. Until that day comes, I will assure myself that you have perfected your art and the public is seeing a seduction act. |
[FADE TO BLACK]
To Love is sold on Amazon and if you would like to read more excerpts you can go the To Love Updates section of this site. I also created some fun promotional videos on Youtube.
I’ll wait is a poem I wrote in 2014 and a throwback video. It performed well on my site, so I did a poetry reading recording of it for YouTube. It then did pretty well on YouTube and is one of my throwback posts.
My throwback posts are my attempt to highlight some of my older work to display my growth, while making sure the work is properly promoted.
I will wait for inspiration to come for thoughts like a word bubble to appear above my head. I will wait until my mind is ready and my brain turns on like a computer boting up. I will wait until my body tells me it is time to write and then when patience is no longer needed and inspiration comes I will write. I will write watever my mind tells me to write. My mind whispers to my fingers and what is scribbled in the thought bubble above my head. When I know what to write I will ready my body unleash my mind and write but until then I will wait.
If you would like to read more of my poetry please take a look at my portfolio. You can also watch a few of my poetry readings.
I remind myself Breathe. Close your eyes if you must but breathe. One, Two, Three. Inhale the exhale. Your heart doesn't need to beat so loud. Breathe. There is no real danger, nothing to truly fear, so breathe. Breathe in with the peace that surrounds you out with the anxiety that built. Breathe in with the love we share out with the bottled up fear. Breathe sometimes I need to remind myself to breathe.
If you would like to read more of my poetry please take a look at my portfolio. You can also watch a few of my poetry readings.
You can learn a lot from every chapter of life if you keep an open mind and look for learning opportunities. There are lessons you can learn from a single’s life. There are always lessons. Once you’re comfortable being single, you’ll be able to learn a lot. Among the things I’ve learned while being single, there are two important lessons that stick out in my mind.
The first lesson is that doing things alone is okay. You won’t spontaneously combust if you go to a restaurant alone. The sky won’t fall if you go to the movies alone. It is a valid choice to be out in public doing things you want to do with no one else. You can go to the beach without other people or go on hikes with just yourself. The more you are alone, the more you’ll realize how nice it is.
The second lesson is that it is important to take care of yourself. When you are single, you don’t have another person to go on dates with or to pamper you. There isn’t someone making you feel special or talking to you about your issues. The wonderful news is that you can and should do that all by yourself. You can pamper yourself and do most normal date night ideas alone. Self care is important in any chapter of your life. When you are single, it is easier to find time to make self care a part of your life and routine. You can build habits of self care and see that you can do nice things for yourself.
It is liberating to become self-sufficient. It frees you from a lot of things you may assume you need to do or think you can’t do, because you are single. There are no rules against going out by yourself or taking care of yourself how you see fit. If you do, you may even find you are marvelous company.
This blog series stems from my book “To Love,” which has a whole YouTube Playlist devoted to it. I will also be posting more in this series on the Love Nerd page of this site.