Beth K. Vogt's Blog, page 26

In Others’ Words: How Do You “Do You”?

The New Year is two days old.

Some of us started 2018 armed with a list of resolutions while others distilled our desire for change down to One Words like trust, kindness, release. Whatever your mode of change, the New Year is prime time for a new you … to a certain point.

In the midst of all the New Year-New Me changing and rearranging of our lives, let’s determine to be us. No matter what choices you end up making, stay true to what you value.

There’s so, so much you should be doing with your lives — and so, so many people willing to tell you what and how you should be doing it. In a very real sense, I’m one of those people, too. How ironic. But don’t abandon this blog post, okay? Because I’m not telling you to get more sleep or lose weight or eat fewer carbs or save more and spend less. All of those choices are up to you and how you want to spend the rest of 2018.

But whatever you do or don’t do — do it in your own distinctive style. Be you!

And that’s all I want to say about that.

In Your Words: I’ve missed you all and our twice-a-week conversations! Yes, it was good to take a break, but it’s good to be back. Let’s just chat today. How are you? How do you “do you” in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else?

In Others’ Words: How Do You “Do You”? https://wp.me/p63waO-2sN #quotes #perspective

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“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” https://wp.me/p63waO-2sN #quotes #RalphWaldoEmerson

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A Snow Day Giveaway!

Happy December, friends!

Yes, I’m still on my social media break for the month of December, but …

… a few weeks back (like in October), some dear author-friends and I decided to have a Snow Day Giveaway from December 4-12. I wanted to tell you all about that now so you had a chance to enter the giveaway for a chance to win the prize package worth $300. One reader will win all this:

All This Time by Melissa Tagg (Melissa and I met as wannabe-writers. I love her romances!)
Things I Never Told You   – an ARC of my upcoming May 2018 release
The Lost Castle by Kristy Cambron (I’ve read this and loved it!)
Life After by Katie Ganshert (Katie is so honest and writes from that honesty.)
A Stranger at Fellsworth by Sarah Ladd (Love her historical romances so much.)
Just Look Up by Courtney Walsh (Courtney is so fun … and her husband and she also run a children’s theater!)
Imperfect Justice by Cara Putman (Love her legal thriller series — and her mentor’s heart for other writers!)
The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay (Anyone a Jane Austen fan? Katherine and I also bond over the fact that our daughters play volleyball.)
Gift cards from: Starbucks, Williams-Sonoma, Panera Bread, ETSY, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Target, a special literary tumbler from author Katherine Reay, and holiday tea to keep you cozy on the long reading nights ahead!

 

So, have a great month — and make sure you enter the Snow Day Giveaway!

Enter the Snow Day Giveaway for a chance to win a prize package worth $300! http://wp.me/p63waO-2se #chrisfic #giveaway

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In Others’ Words: Honouring Christmas

 

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

– from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens *1812-1870), English writer

 

December starts tomorrow — and with it, so does my month-long break from social media.

Last year was the first time I took an entire month off from blogging and tweeting and Facebook-ing. And I’ll tell you this: I savored every moment of not being virtually “social.”

Yes, I love this blog.

Yes, I love connecting with my readers.

But, oh, the holidaze was so much less frantic thanks to my absence on social media.

And so, I’m bowing out for the next 31 days. I’ll see you all in 2018 and yes, I’m already looking forward to our conversations.

I wish you a joy-filled Christmas.

Oh — one more thing: Even as I step away from this blog, stay tuned for a special edition on December 4th to announce a Snow Day Giveaway. (I scheduled the post back on November 25th!) 

In Others\’ Words: Honouring Christmas http://wp.me/p63waO-2sl #quotes #Christmas

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\”I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.\” http://wp.me/p63waO-2sl #quotes #CharlesDickens

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In Others’ Words: My One Word for 2018

 



Let’s talk about choosing One Word for the coming year. 

 

2018 is just over a month away, but if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, then you know that I gave up New Year’s resolutions over a decade ago. Why? All those good intentions — the “I wills” and the “I won’ts” — faded so quickly, and I always misplaced my list of resolutions before January was over.

I believe in choosing One Word and focusing on it for 365 days. Doing so changes my perspective. My heart. My actions.

Before I tell you the One Word I selected for 2018, here’s a quick recap of my One Words for the past 12 years.

 

2006: gratitude – I kept a gratitude journal and found my “glass-half-empty” attitude revolutionized.
2007: simplify – A severe illness turned this word into survival. I embraced simpler things in ways I never imagined.
2008: content – as in “be content with such things as you have” (Hebrews 13:5) I bought a lot less that year!
2009 & 2010: forgiveness – I had a lot to learn and unlearn about forgiveness.
2011: hope – I clung to this word when life hurt or when my heart ached for others who were hurting. I asked myself, “Are you going to abandon hope?” My answer: No.
2012: trust – During a year of change, I faced doubting versus trusting — and chose to trust.
2013: confidence – I’m so much stronger emotionally after keeping my heart and mind set on “not throwing away my confidence.” (Hebrews 10:35-36)
2014: think – I anchored my thinking to truth more and more, rather than letting my thoughts go wandering around in doubts and lies.
2015: collaborate – “to work jointly on an activity, especially to produce or create something.” I focused on collaborating with God in my writing life.
2016: prosper – to act wisely, as in “And David was acting wisely (prospering) in all his ways for the LORD was with him.” 1 Samuel 18 14. This word stayed with me as I confronted a lot of major (and minor) decisions.
2017: inheritance – Psalm 16:5-6 talks about having a “delightful inheritance.” To be honest, I wasn’t as intentional about my One Word as I’ve been in the past. Life was just one challenge after another. But God continued to show me the word again and again in small ways … and I’ve been encouraged that there’s more to this life than the here and now.

 

My One Word for 2018 is kindness. Why? There’s been a lot of divisiveness in the world this past year and we need more kindness.The verse I’m anchoring this One Word to is “Be kind to one another …” (Ephesians 4:32a). I also found a fun, multicolored visual on Etsy that says, “Throw kindness around like confetti.”

 

  In Your Words: I’d love to know if you’ve selected One Word for 2018 — and what it is. Or if you prefer to do resolutions, tell me why!

 

In Others\’ Words: My One Word for 2018 http://wp.me/p63waO-2sr #One Word #kindness

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\”Be kind to one another …\” Ephesians 4:32a NASB http://wp.me/p63waO-2sr #OneWord #kindness

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In Others’ Words: More Gratitude

 

May you find many reasons to be thankful today.

May you take the opportunity to tell others you are thankful for them.

And I also hope that you hear others express their gratitude for you.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. 

And if this day is woven through with some sadness for you, as can happen during the holidays, know that you are in my prayers.

In Others\’ Words: More Gratitude http://wp.me/p63waO-2s7 #gratitude #quotes

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\”The more we express thanks, the more #gratitude we feel. The more gratitude we feel, the more we express thanks …\” http://wp.me/p63waO-2s #thanksgiving

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In Others’ Words: Love or Understanding

If I’m reading George Orwell’s words correctly, he seemed to believe that love and understanding are exclusive of one another. 

And yet, I find that the people who love me the best are also the very ones who take the time to understand me … the real me. Or is it that the ones who understand me the best are  the very ones who love me the most faithfully?

See how the two — love and understanding — are intertwined?

When you love someone you want to know them. Even more than that, you want to understand them: their history that made them who they are today, as well as their hopes and dreams for tomorrow. You want to speak comfort into their wounds and replace lies with truth.

It’s only as you commit the time and effort to understanding someone that you can truly love them. And in the process, you’ll come to understand yourself better, too.

In Your Words: So what do you think, friends? Do we choose between love and understanding? Or are love and understanding intertwined? What’s your perspective?

In Others\’ Words: Love or Understanding http://wp.me/p63waO-2s0 #quotes #love

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\”Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.\” http://wp.me/p63waO-2s0 #quote #GeorgeOrwell

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In Others’ Words: When Intelligence has Fun

As a writer, I sometimes focus on the work of it all. Writing the story synopsis. Developing the characters. Putting the fast draft down on the page, scene by scene. And then rewrite. Rewrite. Rewrite.

Somewhere along the way from synopsis to rewrite-rewrite-rewrite, I forget that, at the beginning, I fell in love with the story and the characters. I stop having fun and get enmeshed in the work. 

I’ve spent time with a lot of talented writers and they are some of the smartest people I know.  Many of them pursued college and post-graduate degrees and attend writers conferences — or teach at them. They’re voracious readers and researchers. We challenge each other to up our game with every book we write. But one of the best things we do for one another is remind each other to have fun.  

Being a creative — someone who spends a lot of time with imaginary characters — doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned my intelligence. No. I’m just allowing my intelligence to play. Sometimes I just need to remind myself of that truth. Yes, there’s work to this writing gig — but there’s fun, too.

In Your Words: How do you see intelligence and creativity balancing one another out?

In Others\’ Words: When Intelligence has Fun http://wp.me/p63waO-2rT #quotes #imagination

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\”Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun.\” http://wp.me/p63waO-2rT #quotes #creativity

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In Others’ Words: Living in Others’ Opinions

Do you believe in yourself?

Or do you believe in what other say about you? Do you, as author L. M. Montgomery says, “live in other people’s opinions”?

The thing about others’ opinions? You can get caught in a vortex of competing judgements, conflicting assessments, erroneous presumptions. And then who gets to decide which point of view about you is correct? And how do you decide which opinion to live up to?

So then the question comes back to whether you believe in yourself … and, if you do, what do you believe about yourself? What is the basis of you beliefs?

Opinions come and go. They can be verbal sticks and stones that batter our self esteem or little gold stars that stick for awhile but ultimately fall off, leaving us looking for another word of affirmation. At some point, what we believe in ourselves has to be enough to hold us steady, no matter what others say about us.

In Others’ Words: What do you believe about yourself — what truth holds you steady, no matter the opinions of others? 

In Others\’ Words: Living in Others\’ Opinions http://wp.me/p63waO-2rN #quotes #perspective

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\” … there\’s no sense trying to live in other people\’s opinions …\” http://wp.me/p63waO-2rN #quote #LMMontgomery

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In Others’ Words: How Stories Conquer Fear

So … the robot.

I came upon him while walking with my husband and youngest daughter during a a foggy day in Carlsbad, California last summer. Some ingenious artist painted him on the side of a building.

And yes, this painting told a story. You can come upon stories in the most unlikely places. We expect them within the covers of a book. But stories also appear in a conversation between two acquaintances who become friends. Stories are written down in journals that are found years later, when the ink is faded and the author is a distant memory. Stories are shared in kitchens and around campfires and during walks in the rain and yes, even via text and and Facebook posts and Snapchat and Instagram.

We love story … the connection it creates between people. And by telling our story — our true, unfabricated story — we become braver. And by doing so, our hearts become bigger. We are able to love others more when we accept our stories for what they are — and when we accept others’ stories, too. But, you know what else? We are also able to love ourselves more when we embrace our story. Not the cleaned-up edited version, but the “this is who I was, this is who I am, and this is who I want to be” version.

In Your Words: How has story made you more courageous? How has story helped you love more?

In Others\’ Words: How Stories Conquer Fear http://wp.me/p63waO-2rH #quotes #story

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\”Stories can conquer fear, you know. They make the heart bigger.\” http://wp.me/p63waO-2rH #quote #BenOkri

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In Others’ Words: The Sacredness of Tears

There was a time in my life when I would not allow myself to cry. 

Month after month, I refused to cry, swallowing the tears burning the back of my throat. The truth is, I had a lot to cry about. Repeated loss. Ongoing loneliness. And times of dark, dark doubt.

My faith wavered. I ached to the very core of my being and my soul seemed shattered. The one time I let my guard down and allowed tears to fill my eyes, someone walked in on me and … I stopped. And then I didn’t cry for 18 months.

My thoughts went like this: Why cry? What good does it do?  

Tears are necessary. Tears truly are the messengers of our grief. Our regret. Our love. Our doubt. And in their expression — in the release of tears — our burden is lifted, eased … if only for a few moments. And yes, tears are sacred because they can reveal what is hidden in our hearts — the emotions we can’t put into words .

In Your Words: When have you experienced the sacredness of tears — the ability of tears to express what your words could not?

In Others\’ Words: The Sacredness of Tears http://wp.me/p63waO-2rx #quotes #emotions

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\”There is a sacredness in tears…. \” http://wp.me/p63waO-2rx #quotes #WashingtonIrving

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