Sub-letter #0 To Love Excerpt

Sub-Letter #0 (To Love Excerpt)

by tiffanyTo Love UpdatesPosted on No Comments
To Know First

As part of promoting my book To Love, I will be sharing a few excerpts for the book. These will include both the main chapters, which I call ‘sub-letters’ and the creative pieces that I mixed in.

Sub-letter #0

To Love,

Who are you?

I have written you a multitude of times and thought about you even more.
My imagination wonders if you are a doctor who will save my life. Is my love the lead singer in a band or a construction worker? Could my ideal partner be someone already around me? Will we not meet for years? Maybe you’re a successful actor I have already watched. You may be the man that sometimes visits me in dreams. Also, you may be the man across the table in this coffee shop.

There are many thrilling possibilities that may lead me to you and who you are. My mind enjoys playing with the different options and situations that may bring the one I’ll fall in love with into my life. Some of these playful notions remain in my mind as silly fantasies. Others find their way onto a piece of paper or onto a computer screen.

The imaginative thoughts that leak out as creative shouts on a two-dimensional surface either end their journey locked in a notebook or fight their way to my blog. A select few even found their way into my poetry book.

No matter where their journey ends these writings are not among their own kind. These writings are among non-romantic poetry, comedic short-stories, and venting monologues. If they live on my blog, they also compete with life updates, descriptions of my paintings, and any video that I make.

My romantic writings deserve to frolic with their own kind. I want my romantic energy flow into one place. I desire all of my romantic and loving creative pieces to be in one project.

Plus, I have letters written to you, my unknown love, among my notebooks. These letters are worth being shared.

One option is to just keep everything the same. I can technically wait to share my writings and letters with you; when we meet.

Waiting is an option, but I am unaware of when we will meet and I am not that patient. I want to share my romantic side with you, even before I meet you. You’re out there and one day you will read everything in this long love letter, so I might as well get started. Who knows? This may be what brings us together.

This book’s purpose may be to make me see you in a different light. Perhaps one that I haven’t imagined yet. Perhaps I will publish this, and we’ll meet because of this book. I could also see God using it to show you I had faith that you were real.

I don’t know the exact purpose of this long love letter. As it stands I’m not even sure what it will turn into. The real reason and the real project will remain a mystery unless I write, so I need to write.

I will not sit here and pretend to foresee the future and the purpose of this book. I won’t lie and tell you I know answers I don’t know. I will be honest with you and share what I can with you. I will also tell you my thoughts and opinions to the best of my abilities. I promise you these things here in this letter and I will promise you these things when we meet.

Now, onto the writings themselves. I will try to share my works in chronological order. I am not promising that this order will be absolutely accurate.

I want to show you how my image of you has changed and developed. It would also be nice for you to see how my idea of what is romantic has changed. However, not all my writings have dates and I’m sure I’ll find a few hidden in my notebooks after I start.

I will always be honest about what I know and my writings. Also, I’ll try to relate the writings to who I was at the time of writing. I hope that this long love letter will show you all of me.

I think I have rambled enough for the opening. I hope you understand what is going on with this long journey. If not, I guess you won’t be continuing to read. I mean unless the confusion is at least intriguing. Are you intrigued?

Want More?

You can keep up to date on general information on To Love by going to To Love’s update page and read more blog posts and excerpts by going to the blog category. I also created a video playlist of promotional information.

You can also now purchase the book on Amazon.

God Shows Up blog series

2020 Refocus Retreat

by tiffanyGod Shows UpPosted on No Comments

2019 had many rough patches, difficult changes, and surprises. That year knocked around. I’m grateful that God held on to me through the struggle. I am also thankful that he allowed me to go to the “2020 Refocus” retreat.

It seemed like every time I got on a healthy habit schedule in 2019 something would knock me off of it. With God’s help, I kept finding my way back to Him and the right path for me.

I went into 2020 with an attitude of being freer to explore what the right path for me is and simply be with God.

The first weekend of the new year I was able to do just that. I went on a 24-hour retreat called “2020 Refocus.” My friends had helped plan it and it was wonderful.

My expectations were low. Really I didn’t know what to expect, but it was amazing. God showed up multiple times for me.

The first session had a lot of good information in it. As I took notes I realized I needed to trust and obey God more and more. That had to be a major focus this year and every day within the year.

God can do such powerful things when we fully depend on Him and trust Him fully.

Another powerful fact that I learned was in my quiet time. I woke early and journaled by myself. Through journaling, I realized that I’ve been focused on earthly things.

Yes, I love God and I am following Him. However, my vision is only for this life and this world. I need to move my focus to eternity and God’s will.

Hearing From God

In the main prayer time, I also heard from God, which if you aren’t familiar with prayer I’m sure sounds weird. “To Love “will be done this year. It’ll be with God and God’s power that I succeed.

With that statement, I’ve changed my focus. When I got home from the retreat I started to work on getting a Kickstarter project up and going. I have also scheduled more time in order to work on “To Love.”

Iron On Iron Activity

The last time I saw God show up, during the retreat, was with an activity called, “Iron On Iron.” It is where 2 people encourage and strengthen the 3rd person, then the roles are rotated until all 3 people are strengthened.

I sat down with my preassigned group and judged them. From their appearances, I thought it was going to be a weird and awkward time. What could we have in common? I figured I’d go first and get it over with.

Well, all 3 of us are artists. True our lives are different, but that allowed us to see things differently and help. It was a great activity. By the end, I really felt connected to them.

I was vulnerable with them. In return, they accepted where I am and who I am. Through them, I felt God’s love and guidance.

It was a truly beautiful weekend and an apt names retreat. I did refocus on God at the beginning of 2020.

Want More?

For more blog posts in this series, you can visit my God Shows Up page. I also have a YouTube series that goes hand in hand with this written series

Rivers and Ocean Breeze

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Rivers and Ocean Breeze was originally a song that I edited into a poem. It is a romantic rhyming poem that blends elements of nature and fantasy.

I'm holding you tight
in my own mind,
knowing one day
you will be mine. 

Let the rivers and roads
lead you home.
I've lassoed the moon 
and it waits for you.

Let the ocean breeze
call you close to me.
We'll live in a sweet melody
and I'll share my love with you.

Let your calling dreams
guide you near to me.
Near or far,
no matter where you are,
please be guided to me.

I'm holding you tight
in my own mind,
knowing one day
you will be mine.
Want More?

If you would like to read more of my poetry please take a look at my portfolio or watch a few of my poetry readings.

To Love The Poem excerpt from book

To Love: The Poem (An Excerpt)

by tiffanyPoetry, To Love UpdatesPosted on No Comments

As part of promoting my book To Love, I will be sharing a few excerpts for the book. These will include both the main chapters, which I call ‘sub-letters’ and the creative pieces that I mixed in. This first excerpt is the opening of the book. It is “To Love: The Poem”

 What does it mean to love?
 How does it look to love?
 Do you know the way to love?
 Could you point me down a path to love?
 

 
 I hope to love.
 I look at what it means to love.
 I dream of finding my way to love
 I search for answers to love.
 I do long to love,
 so I write to love.
Want More?

You can keep up to date on general information on To Love by going to To Love’s update page and read more blog posts and excerpts by going to the blog category. I also created a video playlist of promotional information.

You can also now purchase the book on Amazon.

Tiff’s Tips: Decide If You Are A Hobbyist or Artist

by tiffanyTiff's TipsPosted on No Comments
Hobbyist or Artist

In my mind creative people can fall into 2 camps; the hobbyist and the artist.

The Hobbyist

The Hobbyist is creative for the joy and pleasure of being creative. Their idea of success is just having time to be creative and enjoying it.

Being creative to them is either relaxing or simply a fun time. They do not need anything else out of their art or creativity. The hobbyist is someone who will have another job and is simply being creative because it is their hobby.

It is a simple and pure reason to create art of any type.

The Artist

The Artist is a person who wants a career focused around being creative. Art is more than a hobby to them. It is a passion that they can’t get enough of.

Yes, they enjoy creating and art most likely started as a hobby for them too. It has since grown and changed into something they want to do more of.

Where I fall

I fall into the artist camp. I started as a hobbyist. For most of my life I wrote because it was just something I enjoyed doing. I started to draw and doodle, because it was fun.

The issue I started to face was that I wanted to write more and do more with my visual art too. I never feel like I have enough time to do everything I want to do with my creative career.

I started to make life changes to help me make more time for my creativity. First it was small things, like making sure I had Saturdays to be creative and setting goals for my creativity. Then the changes became bigger, like leaving my office job and the commute, so that I had more time and less mental drain.

Another change I made in order to fall more into the artist camp was that I simply started to refer to my creativity as my art business and my creative career. I switched my brain into realizing and accepting this is the path I’m on.

Whether you chose to be a hobbyist or artist both are valid and can be successful. Just like life your art and creativity is yours. Only you can decide how much time, effort, and emotions you put into.

If you are hobbyist that does not mean you are less passionate about your creativity. It simply means you have decided to keep it as a hobby instead of a career.

This is part of Tiff’s Tips a blog series. I have also done a goal setting video series on YouTube.

God Shows Up blog series

My First Trip To Africa

by tiffanyGod Shows UpPosted on No Comments

In 2016 I had a grand adventure with God. I went on my first over seas mission trip. It was to South Africa. It was a big and scary trip for me, but I was excited. I had dreamed about taking a trip to Africa for awhile. Now I was able to take my first trip to Africa.

I learned and grew a lot even before I left the country.

The first thing came months before the actual trip. Did you know it takes a lot to plan for a mission trip? We had meetings and homework in order to plan the lessons and activities. This was on top of planning and organizing the basics of travel. Yes, we had a wonderful leader who did a lot, but we were responsible to get the needed shots, our own packing, work related stuff, and fundraising for the trip’s expenses.

Automobile Issues with God’s help

Once everything was planned I thought things would be easy sailing for me. However, a week before the trip my car broke down in rush hour traffic on a curvy mountain highway. I had just enough momentum to get over a lane and pull over on the tiny shoulder.

God showed up by sending the highway partol tow truck out pretty quickly. He was able to tow it to a turn off, so that I would be safe.

The next issue was finding a tow truck who would bring me all the way back to my home area and to the mechanic I regularly saw. After a few calls and what felt like a long wait a truck finally came to tow my car to my mechanic.

I had to leave it outside their building over night on the street. God showed up that night, because there was no damage to my car. On another visit to my mechanic I did hear about a stranger’s car getting looted.

The car was fixed within a day or two. I had it before I left for my big trip. Yes, in the end everything worked out. However, the whole situation was stressful. It caused stress and anxiety. It was not a fun experience, but God was present in it.

My first trip to South Africa also had many God moments. Each time God showed up could fill up another blog post, which I do plan on writing.

Want More?

For more blog posts in this series you can visit my God Shows Up page. I also have a YouTube series that goes hand in hand with this written series.

Tiff’s Tips: Define Success for yourself

by tiffanyTiff's TipsPosted on No Comments
Success is Defined

Success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. It is the attainment of popularity or profit. Success is based on achievements and accomplishments. What you aim for and strive to accomplish will be unique to who you are.

You need to define what a successful life looks like to you. Who do you want to be? How do you want your life and art to look? What accomplishments and achievements mean most to you?

No one can define success for your life, except for you. A successful life for me will look very different than your successful life. We are all unique with different passions, personalities, and life styles.

Let Me Share My Definition

In my life success is defined as living a life I’m proud of, where I am allowed to be fully me. This definition will allow me to grow, but also allow contentment as I grow.

I live a successful life by keeping a journal for self-exploration, so that I can keep in touch with who I am at my core.

One reason why I pray and read the Bible daily is so that I can learn more about my spirit/ soul and grow closer to God who made.

Living a successful life for me also means being creative often and sharing my creativity with others.

Notice, I have defined a successful life with things that I can control. I can decide to journal or not. I can focus on building healthy habits or I can ignore those habits. It is up to me.

I learned through goal setting and striving to be a better version of my self that the focus has to be with you. You cannot focus on the achievements, but that what you do to get to the achievements.

This means that it if you want to get to point B, don’t focus on point B. Focus on walking to point B and the steps. You’ll get there, but if you focus on the end goal and achievement it becomes easier and easier to see that you’re not at point B. This is especially true if point B is far far away.

Focus on your habits and what you can control and you’ll get to your successful life.

This is part of Tiff’s Tips a blog series. I have also done a goal setting video series on YouTube.

Poetry visual image for poem

The Road (A Poem)

by tiffanyPoetryPosted on No Comments
The road is long.
The path is hard,
and I keep thinking
I haven't gone far yet.

Maybe I'm good,
but need to be great.
Perhaps I'm struggling in vain
and being an artist is not my fate.

I could run.
I could hide,
but then there'd be
a deadly gnawing inside.

So I'll stay my course
and walk my path.
Perhaps one day I'll look back,
see my struggles, and laugh.

I do have more poetry in the poetry section of my site and poetry readings on YouTube.

God Shows Up blog series

God Showed Up While I Was Moving

by tiffanyGod Shows UpPosted on No Comments

Sometimes it’s clear when God shows up. He does something huge that is undeniably Him. You hear these types of stories from time to time. Stories about miraculous healing or people being saved from certain death. Most of the time He whispers. The ordinary or simple encounters are easy to miss or dismiss as coincidence, luck, or chance. When you don’t, when you see God’s hand in the ordinary, you realize how extraordinary He is.

God has never helped me smuggle Bibles into Chine or given me superhuman strength to save a child who was crushed under a car. However, He has given me a part-time job almost as soon as I decided to follow Him.

More recently He took away my living situation in order to give me a cheaper one and help me realize the status quo of my life wasn’t working.

One way I know God Showed up in the moving transition was that within a week I found a cheaper room for rent.

I was about to leave a party and the only guests that were still there typically don’t hang out with my main friend group. They rent out a home and hold me that they may have an extra room. I set up a time with another tenant to look at the space and it was perfect for me.

The reasons I know it was God

There are 2 reasons I know this was God. The first is because it typically takes months to find a new place to rent where I live. Plus most of the time you have to be flexible with your budget and pay more than I actually could. It’s really unheard of to pay my rent.

The home I moved into is great and is in a wonderful neighborhood. In addition has beautiful waking paths around it that I can walk.

I could easily mistake this for luck or coincidence, but I know God’s hand when He shows up. This is Him taking care of me. I am confident that God showed up while I was moving.

Want to read more?

For more blog posts in this series you can visit my God Shows Up page. I also have a YouTube series that goes hand in hand with this written series.

To Love Updates logo

Kickstarter for To Love

by tiffanyTo Love UpdatesPosted on No Comments

I have been working on my book “To Love” for over 3 years. My book is in the end stages of being ready to be published, which is very exciting for me. I am realizing I need to fully focus so that the world can get a chance to read it. That is why I decided to create a Kickstarter for “To Love.“

What is Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform that allows creative folk an opportunity to raise funds to get their projects produced. There are many different projects being funded with Kickstarter.

How it works is that first a creative person launches a project on the site and sets up rewards. Some rewards are pre-ordering the finished product, while other rewards are special bundles, especially for the Kickstarter bundles.

Once the project is live friends, family, fans, and other people can find the project and back it. You can either back it without a reward or you can pick from the reward tier that best suits you. Then as a backer, you pledge that amount.

Once enough people pledge enough money the project gets funded, then all those who pledged will get charged. That is when the creative person will get to work putting together the reward packages and finishing the project.

If the project doesn’t get fully funded no one is charged and the creative person can’t produce the product. In my case, I would have to slow down on finishing editing, pause on the visual artwork, and not do as much promotional work right now. Without the Kickstarter project for “To Love” succeeding I won’t be able to as much as I need to do in order for it to be a success.

What is “To Love?”

“To Love” is my memoir about my views and relationship with love and how it has changed over my life. It is formatted as a long love letter to my future husband. “To Love” also has my creative writings mixed in as examples of my views towards love.

It is truly an outpouring of love that I hope to one day give to my future husband, whoever he may be. And what does the world need more of in today’s society than the outpouring of love and joy? I hope each person who reads this book will feel connected to it or me and feel the love I have for all.

Here is a YouTube Playlist telling you a little more about “To Love”