Beth K. Vogt's Blog, page 42

In Others’ Words: Do the Math

Sometimes in the midst of all the busyness, we just have to stop and do the math.

To be honest, I’m tripping up over a couple of things I haven’t gotten done … yet. Or still. I’m trying … but things just aren’t coming together like I see them in my head. It’s frustrating. At the end of the day, it’s easy to see those things sitting there. Undone. Again.

But those-things-undone don’t negate the rest of my life. I have other things to be grateful for. And I have other things I’ve accomplished — things that I’m satisfied with. Why do I let those positive things get lost in the shadow of the things I didn’t do?

It’s time to be intentional. To end the day by remembering who and what I’m thankful for. And to get past what was left undone and celebrate — yes, celebrate — what I did accomplish. I can crawl into bed and rest with a “well done” instead of a “why didn’t I?” And then I can start tomorrow empowered by gratitude, and already looking for reasons to be thankful.

In Your Words: Take a moment and do the math for yesterday. What three “gratefuls” and what three “did wells” would you write down for the day?

In Others’ Words: Do the Math #InOthersWords #lifequotes #perspective
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“Before you got to bed, write down three ‘gratefuls’ for the day and three ‘did wells’ … the…
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I’m celebrating that I’m a 2016 Christy finalist by giving away 3 copies of Crazy Little Thing Called Love! Enter by leaving a comment on my Author Facebook page.

‘m giving away 3 copies of Crazy Little Thing Called Love! http://bit.ly/1rDN314 #giveaway…
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In Others’ Words: All the Other Ages You’ve Been

Today is my birthday and I’m embracing it by playing hooky and spending the day with my husband. We’re planning on enjoying the Colorado sunshine — maybe going for a hike in Garden of the Gods.

For me, birthdays are when I stop and think about the 364 days since my last birthday and I count all the reasons I have to be thankful. Yes, I’m older. I hope I’m wiser. And I am always, always grateful to God for so many things — and even more thankful for the people in my life. That includes you. Thanks for stopping by this blog, whether you comment or not. Each blog post represents a bit of my heart.

Today’s quote? Well, it encapsulates my mindset about aging. There’s no denying my age — not that I print it out on a T-shirt and wear it, either. I’m the age that I am. And really, to be younger, what years would I give back? Would I give back any of the years of marriage? No. Would I give back any of the years my children were born or the years they were growing up? No. Would I give back any of my growing up years? No — although I wouldn’t want to go back and be a teenager again.

My age doesn’t define me … but it has influenced who I am.

In Your Words: What’s your take on birthdays? How do you celebrate them? Anybody else celebrating a birthday today?

In Others’ Words: All the Other Ages You’ve Been #InOthersWords #lifequotes #birthdays
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“The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.”…
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My enovella, You Can’t Hurry Love, released this week! I’m celebrating all week long over on my Author Facebook page with a “favorites giveaway”! Every day I’m giving away a favorite thing, as well as a copy of You Can’t Hurry Love. Come join the fun!

#Celebrate the release of @bethvogt’s enovella all week on her Facebook page! #Giveaways every day…
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In Others’ Words: The Music of Kindness

 

To think of my words as music … that gives me pause.

When I speak, what am I adding to the melody others hear? Are my words kind? Do they add a gentle beauty to the world? Or do I speak harsh words that create a discordant ugliness?

Scripture warns words can be as destructive as fire (James 3:6) and as wounding as the slashes of a sword (Proverbs 12:18). But how we speak to someone else can also be as healing as a soothing melody.

Powerful truths, yes?

Pause for just a moment and think of someone whose voice you welcome because they speak words of love and kindness — grace — to you when you most need it. Don’t you treasure their words like you savor a beautiful melody — replaying them over and over again in your mind?

In Your Words: What song are your words creating today?

In Others’ Words: The Music of Kindness #InOthersWords #lifequotes #kindness
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“Kind words are the music of the world.” #FWFaber #quotes #kindness
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My enovella, You Can’t Hurry Love, releases today! I’m celebrating all week long over on my Author Facebook page with a “favorites giveaway”! Every day I’m giving away a favorite thing, as well as a copy of You Can’t Hurry Love. Come join the fun!

#Celebrate the release of @bethvogt’s enovella all week on her Facebook page! #Giveaways every day…
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In Others’ Words: Energizing the Blues

 

I  love the quotes that set me back on my heels and make me go, “Huh.”

That’s exactly how I reacted to what Duke Ellington said — only I smiled when I said, “Huh,” and then I told my husband he had to read the quote, too.

Let’s just all admit we pout. The question isn’t really what do we do about the pouting. It’s more: What do we do with it? Do we let our moodiness squelch our creativity — or do we find a way to use the negative emotions to energize us?

I admit to pouting that sometimes tips over to outright sulking. But the older I get, the less time I spend in a funk. I’ve learned to give myself a limited amount of time to be in a bad mood — an hour or maybe even an afternoon — and then I move on. And you know what? Usually I’m over the mood before the allotted time is up.

Maybe the next time I feel a pout coming on I’ll try the Duke Ellington method and write me some blues — or maybe the next scene in my work-in-progress.

In Your Words: How do you handle a pout? Have you ever turned a funky mood into a creativity session?

In Others’ Words: Energizing the Blues #InOthersWords #lifequotes #creativity
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“I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.” #quote #DukeEllington #creativity
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Congratulations to the 5 participants in the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt who won copies of my e-novella, You Can’t Hurry Love, that releases next week:

Rita Navarre
Karen Gervais
Julie Mangino
Ellen Gray
Loryn McCaughan

Please message me through my Author Facebook page.

In Others’ Words: Entertaining Hope

 

Are you entertaining hope?

Indulge me for a minute while I play with that word “entertain.”

Have you invited “great hopes” (plural) into your life? Anticipated the arrival of great hopes? Thrown the door wide open and embraced great hopes telling them, “I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve been waiting for you!”

Or have you told “great hopes” they’re not welcome in your life? Is there a “Great Hopes Not Welcome” sign posted by your front door? When hope comes knocking, do you keep the door shut and the lights out?

 I’ll admit there are days when I don’t treat hope well. I ignore it, while I open the door wide to doubt. Or fear. Or woe is me. To be honest, something happened yesterday that was a bit of an emotional sucker punch. I could have gotten dragged under by discouragement and lost sight of who I was and abandoned something I’d put a lot of hard work and hope in …

 … but I would have been listening to someone else’s opinion of me. Opinions come and go. Sometimes they’re favorable. Sometimes they’re not. It all depends on who’s doing the talking, right? Listen to the people who know you best.

If you’re entertaining hopes of any kind — and I pray you are — you’re inviting other people to hope and dream with you. There will always be people who just aren’t going to get it. To be honest, some people won’t like your dream at all.

So be it.

Keep dreaming. Dream bigger. Hope bigger.

In Your Words:  What great hopes are you entertaining today? When your hopes get trampled on, who helps you dust them off and keep dreaming?

In Others’ Words: Entertaining Hope #InOthersWords #lifequotes #RobertFrost
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“I always entertain great hopes.” #quotes #RobertFrost #hope
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Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #23

Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to go back and start at Stop #1 and collect the clues through all 33 stops in order so you can enter to win one of our top 3 Grand Prizes!

 

The hunt BEGINS with Stop #1 at Lisa Bergren’s site.
The hunt is BEST VIEWED using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
It is open to INTERNATIONAL entrants.
PRIZES include: 3 sets of all 32 books, $500 in Amazon gift cards, and many authors are offering additional prizes!
There is NO RUSH to complete this hunt—you have ALL WEEKEND. So take your time reading the unique posts along the way. Our hope is that you discover new authors/new books you might want to learn more about!
Submit your ENTRY for the GRAND PRIZE at Stop #33 (back on Lisa’s site) by Monday night (4/25) at midnight MST.

 

Beth here: I am excited to introduce to you author Hillary Manton Lodge. Hillary has written a delightful and foody-fun series of books with Waterbrook Multnomah culminating with this third and final book, Together at the Table. Isn’t the cover lovely? I want to sit down and be part of whatever delicious meal and fun conversation is coming next. Hillary has put together a fun blog post for us with a special recipe that’s the the perfect treat for this coming-into-summer season. I just might be breaking out my cake pans when the Scavenger Hunt party is over because my husband loves carrot cake! Gluten free for me, of course.

In Others’ Words: The Electricity of Enthusiasm

I don’t understand the allure of paddling a board out against cold, cold waves and then waiting and watching for just the right wave to (finally) appear so you can ride the wave into shore … so you can repeat the whole process again and again and again. 

But the the two surfers I watched from the Manhattan Beach pier a week ago certainly wanted to be in the ocean — did I mention the water was cold? — and they didn’t mind the waiting and the watching … and repeating the process, no matter how many waves were a bust. I would dare say they loved being out there in the water and relished being atop their boards when they finally succeeded in catching a ridable wave.

Enthusiasm — eagerness, passion, an inner fire — brought them to Manhattan Beach that day. And that enthusiasm kept them going when they were just sitting on their boards, no good waves in sight. To catch a good wave, you’ve got to put up with the not-so-good waves, right?

We all have things we’re enthusiastic about. A fire is kindled inside of us and no matter the waiting, no matter the disappointments, no matter what … we’re going to keep at it — whatever it is. For me, it’s writing — although I confess I hit a day or two this week when the “ocean” seemed all too calm and I couldn’t catch an emotional wave and ride it. For you, it might be teaching. Or crafts. Or building a plane from spare parts. Or fly fishing. Or mentoring young teens.

When enthusiasm wanes, as it did for me this week, that’s when we act enthusiastic remembering who we are, deep inside, and doing what we need to do to kindle afresh the passion that is imbedded in our hearts.

In Your Words: What electrifies your life? And how do you keep the eagerness, the inner fire flowing when circumstances or reality threaten to dampen your intensity?

In Others’ Words: The Electricity of Enthusiasm #InOthersWords #lifequotes #enthusiasm
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“Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a…
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In Others’ Words: Everybody Stay Calm!

If Los Angeles airport (LAX) was the ultimate pass-fail test of my ability to remain calm in a stressful environment … I failed.

I’d love to be able to take an impromptu poll and ask, “Have you ever been to LAX?” And by “been to,” I mean, have you ever had to go through security at LAX to get to your gate? With the hope of boarding your plane on time?

The process was sheer madness. Let’s skip the whole process of dropping our car off at the rental site — and the bus driver who ignored everyone getting on the bus while he talked to his buddy about not getting a vacation. Yeah. Skip that. I stayed fairly calm, although I did instruct my husband Rob that the driver wasn’t getting a tip — not after my husband had to rearrange the luggage that everyone else had strewn all over the bus.

Then … then we get to the airport and try to get through security. That’s when Rob and I ran into The Line That Went On Forever And Did Not Move. 

I’m watching the clock on the wall and how quickly time is passing. And I’m watching all the people in front of me and how The Line That Went on Forever And Did Not Move went up the stairs and around a corner and another corner and another corner …

… and anything resembling calm disappeared.

Here’s what I learned after the fact: Calmness is a choice … but it is also a thousand little choices about what I’m thinking and how I’m responding to circumstances I can’t control. If I looked past The Line that Went On Forever And Did Not Move and truly believed that everything would be okay — that I would be okay — no matter what, I would have remained calm as we oh … so … slowly wended our way through security.

In Your Words: What helps you maintain a calm mind and relax when you’re faced with challenges? 

In Others’ Words: Everybody Stay Calm! #InOthersWords #lifequotes #relax
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“Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. So relax.” #quotes #BryantMcGill…
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Thanks to everyone who preordered a copy of You Can’t Hurry Love, my e-novella releasing May 3, 2016. I selected a winner for the $25 Amazon gift card:

 

Did you win the $25 #Amazon gift card in @bethvogt’s #giveaway?
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In Others’ Words: Do You Hear the Laughter?

It’s springtime in the Rockies here in Colorado. 

That means we are enjoying flowers blooming … and we’re also still dealing with cold weather. Wind. Snow. Ice. That sort of thing.

After living here for almost 18 years, I’ve gotten used to it. After all, my daughter, Amy, played girls spring soccer in both middle school and high school — and more of her games were canceled because of snow and ice storms than anything else. The first season I was shocked. After that, I laughed and got used to watching Amy playing soccer while sitting in my car with the heater running.

I love the thought that flowers are the way the earth laughs. Each different type of flower represents all the different types of laughter. A field of flowers? It’s a chorus of laughter that refreshes your spirit. 

In Your Words: What’s your favorite flower? What makes you laugh? What’s springtime like in your corner of the world?

In Others’ Words: Do You Hear the Laughter? #InOthersWords #lifequotes #laughter
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“Earth laughs in flowers.” #RalphWaldoEmerson #quotes #spring
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I’m excited! In one month, my next e-novella, You Can’t Hurry Love, releases. If you receive my newsletter you got a first look at this lovely new cover — isn’t it romantic and fun? To celebrate, let’s have a bit more fun shall we? Pre-order the novella for only 99 cents by next Friday, April 15. Then leave a comment on my Author Facebook page with your order confirmation number and I’ll enter you to win a $25 Amazon gift card! Purchase here: http://amzn.to/1RZ2BBY.

Preorder $.99 #romance e-novella You Can’t Hurry love by @bethvogt. Then enter to win a $25 #Amazon…
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You can sign up for my newsletter here and find out about future book releases, contests, and giveaways!

In Others’ Words: Bits of Yourself and Beauty Marks

It’s funny how a person (me) who used to aim for perfection (ha!) now finds beauty in less-than-perfect things.

That photograph of the brick wall that I used for today’s quote? I took it while I was on a tour of the Seattle Underground last month. Interesting story, that. The tour consists of walking the main streets and first-floor storefronts of old downtown Seattle. I took photos of darkened doorways, crumbling arches, abandoned beds — yes, really! — and old school desks.

All of it old … worn … fragile with age … and to my photographer’s eye, all of it beautiful.

All I could think was how people used to walk these brick streets. Someone sat at that desk. Someone slept in that bed. People lived here. There were stories all around me.

When I focused on the brick wall, I knew I’d use it for a blog post. It was old. Cracked. Marred. And one day it would be perfect for a quote.

Today.

You may think of yourself as imperfect. You may be that person who puts their hands up when the camera is pointed at them and says, “Don’t take my picture!” Maybe you’re thinking, “I’m not ready.” Or maybe you’re thinking, “I’m not pretty.”

But beauty isn’t about perfection. And you, my friend, can leave beauty marks on this world when you free yourself to leave bits of yourself — yes, you! — on the world. Imperfectly, beautiful you.

In Your Words: What imperfectly beautiful things do you love?

In Others’ Words: Bits of Yourself and Beauty Marks #InOthersWords #lifequotes #beauty
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” … the only way to ever leave beauty marks on the world is with bits of yourself.” #quotes…
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I’m excited! In one month, my next e-novella, You Can’t Hurry Love, releases. If you receive my newsletter you got a first look at this lovely new cover — isn’t it romantic and fun? To celebrate, let’s have a bit more fun shall we? Pre-order the novella for only 99 cents by next Friday, April 15. Then leave a comment on my Author Facebook page with your order confirmation number and I’ll enter you to win a $25 Amazon gift card! Purchase here: http://amzn.to/1RZ2BBY.

Preorder $.99 #romance e-novella You Can’t Hurry love by @bethvogt. Then enter to win a $25 #Amazon…
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You can sign up for my newsletter here and find out about future book releases, contests, and giveaways!