Beth K. Vogt's Blog, page 66

In Others’ Words: New Cliche

Yesterday was a busy day for me, as I launched my third novel, Somebody Like You. It was a mix of fun and hard work and by the time 11 o’clock rolled around — when I was working on this blog post — I wasn’t up for a serious quote. Earlier in the day, a writer-friend had brought up the topic of cliches and I wondered, “Are there any quotes on cliches?” A bit of insider information: That’s how I find quotes sometimes — I wonder if there’s a quote on a particure topic and then I google the topic and … voila! a quote! 

But I digress. (It is after 11 PM.)

I love the irony of Samual Goldwyn’s quote on cliches, and that’s the reason why I posted it. It was the end of a long day. (I know, I said that before.) A fun day. And the quote made me laugh.

And then I got to thinking about cliches. Did you know the Cliche Finder site will generate cliches for you? Yep. Just pick a word and it creates a list. I chose “dog” and came up with:

let sleeping dogs lie

let loose the dogs of war

in the doghouse

hair of the dog that bit you

go to the dogs

it’s a dog’s life

a dog in the manger

dog eat dog

dirty dog

looking like a lost dog in a meat house

if you lie down with dogs, you rise up with fleas

I wouldn’t send a dog out on a night like this

that dog won’t hunt

Where do these cliches come from? And how do you go about creating a “new” cliche?

In Your Words: Do you have a favorite cliche? Or a cliche that you avoid like the plague? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) If you were going to plug a word in the Cliche Finder site, what word would you choose? 

"Let's have some new cliches" ~Samuel Goldwyn
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What's your favorite cliche?
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Enter my Somebody Like You Win Double Rafflecopter Giveaway! Win a $100 Amazon gift card + books for you and for a friend! Plus 5 winners receive autographed copies of Somebody Like You, my newest release. Click on image to enter.

 

Enter the Somebody Like You #Rafflecopter #Giveaway: $100 #Amazon giftcard x2!
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Giveaway: Somebody Like You Releases Today!

 

Yes, I’m celebrating!

My third novel, Somebody Like You, releases today!

It’s a great time for a Rafflecopter giveaway, don’t you think? And since Somebody Like You has a theme of twins in it, I’m doing a “Win Double” Grand Prize.

One person will win $100 Amazon gift card and 3 autographed copies of my books (Wish You Were Here, Catch a Falling Star, and Somebody Like You) — and then they’ll win the same prize for a friend. The winner will send me their address and then the address of their friend at the end of the contest.
Also, 5 other people will win autographed copies of Somebody Like You. The contest starts at midnight on May 13 and ends on midnight May 31.

I know what I’m celebrating today — what about you? Are you celebrating anything today?

Enter @bethvogt's Somebody Like You Win Double #Rafflecopter #Giveaway to win $100 #Amazon gift...
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Win Double: Prizes for you & a friend in @bethvogt's Somebody Like You #Rafflecopter #Giveaway
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In Others’ Words: Not Afraid to Fail

I wish I’d learned sooner in life that it’s okay to be wrong.

Mistakes happen … and sometimes mistakes lead us right to what we’ve been looking for all along … or to something gloriously unexpected.

When we were younger, we had to learn a lot of things: how to tie our shoes, how to read a book, how to play the piano, how to fly a kite …

Life was all about learning something. And in the midst of all that learning, we made mistakes. Our shoelaces came undone. We stumbled over the simplest of words. Our fingers wouldn’t master the keys. And the kite wouldn’t fly, no matter how fast we ran.

Sometimes there were tears … but sometimes there was victory just in the trying. The satisfaction was found in the effort, not in the perfection.

The older I get, the less failure scares me. Probably because I’ve made many mistakes – and I’m still here. There have been small mistakes and big mistakes  – and so often the most profound lessons have been learned in the midst of realizing “I can’t.” At those moments I realize how much more I have to learn. I realize a little more of God’s grace. And I’ve learned how to ask, “If I can’t do this exactly right, what can I do?”

In Your Words: When has a mistake helped you be more creative? How has a mistake led you to someting better?

Are you prepared to make a mistake? 
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The benefits of mistakes 
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In Others’ Words: Whatcha’ Thinking?

As a writer, I embrace the power of ideas.

I know how a story idea can be the merest “what if?” nudgng me to think, to turn the question over … and for weeks, it’s nothing more than a maybe … a perhaps … a possibility.

And then, the story comes to life. Imaginary people are talking all at once, demanding that I pay attention to them, their stories intersecting with one another, demanding to be told, to be put down on paper.

There is power in story.

Think of the times you’ve opened the cover of a book, read the words “Chapter One” … and lost yourself in between the pages — the real world fading away until you reach “The End” — if that’s not power, I don’t know what else to call it.

I’ve had the oh-so-intense pleasure of sitting with other writers, tossing ideas back and forth, watching the glint of “maybe” light up their eyes. It’s magical. Absolutely magical. Why? Because we believe that anything … anything can come true.

Ah, the power of an idea whose time has come …

So tell me, what are you thinking about?

In Your Words: When has the power of an idea overtaken you? What are you thinking about, mulling over? Has the time come for that idea? What’s holding you back?

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Whatcha’ Thinking? The Power of Ideas Click to Tweet

In Others’ Words: To Go A Long Way … or Not

 

“One may go a long way after one is tired.”

Yes, that’s true.

Or … one may choose to stop and rest. One may choose to say, “I’ve gone far enough for today.”

The question is: How do you decide when to persevere … to “go a long way” after you’re tired? And how do you decide when to call it a day and start over in the morning?

In Your Words: So … how are you? Rested? Or are you going a long way after declaring you’re tired? What’s keeping you going?

 

One may go a long way after one is tired.

 

Perseverance: The Choice is Ours

In Others’ Words: Begin Somewhere

There are times I find a quote … like it … and then am surprised by who said it.

Today is one of those times.

“Begin somewhere; you cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.” Isn’t that such sage advice? And then I googled Liz Smith and discovered she’s a gossip columnist, known as “The Grand Dame of Dish.”Just because you steep yourself in celebrity news, that doesn’t mean you don’t learn a few life truths along the way.

But back to today’s quote.

Sometimes I like to start the week with a kick-in-the-pants kind of quote … and that’s what Liz Smith delivers. It’s Monday – Do something.  Some weeks I look at all I want to do — forget about all I should be doing — and I stall out. I spend the days doing a whole lot of nothing that looks like something. But come the weekend I’m not any closer to my dream coming true. I’m not any closer to being my honest, genuine self.

So if you’re here, today, wondering where you begin, pick up the closest pen or pencil and put a big X on your calendar, as in X marks the spot. Begin here. Do something that reflects who you are and who you want to be.

In Your Words: So, what one thing could you do today to “begin somewhere”? If you’ve already begun building your reputation, what are you doing? 

X Marks the Spot: Begin Here to Build Your #Reputation
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The Importance of #Beginning
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In Others’ Words: Learn Anything Lately?

I remember my last day of college. I didn’t skip across campus, but oh, I wanted to! I didn’t have to take another class ever again … unless I wanted to. And back back then, I was convinced I would never want to take another college class ever again.

I haven’t gone back to college, but I’ve taken a variety of classes, mentorships, attended conferences and retreats. All voluntarily … all because I wanted to learn something. Taking a class, signing up for a mentorship, attending a conference or retreat was the best way to find out what I needed to know. Afterward, I was often dead-tired physically and mentally … but my mind was pinging with all the new information, all the possibilities.

I’m not the same person I was when I walked across that college campus — and it isn’t all about what I’ve learned in workshops. Sometimes the more significant truths have been learned in the still hours in the middle of the night, when it’s just me, my journal, and my open Bible. Sometimes the “Aha!” moments have happened in the midst of conversetion with trusted family or friends.

In Your Words: What’s the last thing you learned? And how did you learn it: in a classroom? A conference? A conversation? 

 

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Mark Twain & the importance of learning  Click to Tweet

 

 

 

In Others’ Words: Can You or Can’t You?

I cannot sew.

It’s not for lack of trying. I took my first sewing class when I was in high school. After sewing the zipper into a pair of pants backwards not once but twice, I left it that way. Yeah, getting into those “I made them myself” pants was quite an undertaking.

I took two more classes before I abandoned my sewing aspirations. I took the last class with my mother-in-law. Why, I don’t know. I do remember that I drove to class one night and ran a red light — but that’s another story.

I gave away my Singer sewing machine when I was thirty. You know what? I never regretted that decision. I had tried — and failed multiple times — to learn to sew. I knew that I couldn’t sew, would never learn to sew, and most important of all, didn’t want to learn to sew.

The best thing(s) about giving my sewing machine away? My friend who could sew and who needed a sewing machine got one for free. And me? I no longer felt guilty every time I saw that blasted thing gathering dust in the corner of my bedroom.

But even more than that, I was free to spend time doing the things I could do — and learning to do things I really, really wanted to do. Because honestly, I didn’t want to learn to sew. I just thought I should learn to sew. I’d save money making my own clothes and curtains and Christmas gifts, right? Guilt is a powerful motivator — and we waste an awful lot of time doing things we think we should do — and some things we can’t do — because we’re giving into guilt.

In Your Words: What can’t you do? Let’s go ahead and own up to it today — and be okay with it. How have you embraced what you cannot do and the freedom to do what you can? 

The Power of What You Cannot Do  Click to Tweet

How Saying “I Cannot” Makes You Free Click to Tweet

 

 

In Others’ Words: Defining Defeat

My perspective on defeat has changed a lot as I’ve gotten older.

I think there was a time, early on in my life, when I didn’t think much about defeat — when I was brave. And then somehow, someway fear crept in and told me all the reasons I had to be afraid … all the reasons I couldn’t be brave.

And I believed fear.

And defeat? Well, as odd as it seems to say this, defeat won so many of the battles I faced. So many of my defeats were final. And by that I mean, every single defeat, every loss, passed final judgement on me.

Again.

And then, something changed. Me, I guess. And my view of God.

I allowed God’s lavish grace to destroy the weight of all the defeats I still carried — the couldn’ts and shouldn’ts and didn’ts.

I breathed the fresh air of God’s love. Inhaled it like an intoxicating perfume that revived my strangled soul. God loved me — defeats, failures, mistakes — all of me.

Mistakes were no longer final — not when I stood in the wide open spaces of God’s grace. (Romans 5 The Message) Being wrong, being declared a loser or being flat-out ignored by someone no longer held the same power over me — not in the light of God’s declaration that I am His and I am Redeemed.

In Your Words: What response do you have when you see or hear the word defeat? How do you handle defeat? 

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Defeat Does Not Define You   Click to Tweet

 

 

 

In Others’ Words: Pleasant Truth

Well, here we are again, wrapping up another week. Friday, sliding into the weekend … and then gearing up for Monday and all that next week holds.

I don’t know how your week went — how many successes you’re celebrating right now, how many disappointments you’re trying to shrug off. Or pray through.

But here’s one thing I do know: no matter how you’re feeling today — no matter how you’re feeling about the week — you’re you. Dr. Seuss says that’s “pleasant.”

God says you’re worth loving with an everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3)
God says you have a purpose. (Psalm 138:8)
God says he knows you. (Psalm 139:1)
God says you’re chosen. (1 Peter 2:9)

That’s the truth … and it should rest pleasant in your heart.

In Your Words: How did your week go? I’d love to know. Which one of those truths encourages you today? 

You are You — and God says you are worth loving. Click to Tweet

A Few Truths about You Click to Tweet