Beth K. Vogt's Blog, page 99

In Others’ Words: Today

” Today I shall behave as if this is the day I will be remembered.”

~Dr. Seuss, author

 

What if we focused on today, Friday, May 4, 2012?

What if, when people remembered you, the things you said and did today were the only things they would recall?

Not yesterday.

Not tomorrow.

Today.

What would you do — and not do?

What would you say — and not say?

Just for today.

In Your Words: You’ve got 24 hours. Make a memory.

 

In My Words: Celebrating Friendships & My Debut Novel

Look carefully at that photo and you’ll see I’m holding 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 stars! And while I’m committed to unhitching my wagon from the stars — not making my writing career about reviews — I will treasure those 5 stars forever.

I am blessed — yep, blessed is the absolutely best word — to be part of the My Book Therapy leadership team. And on the day my novel Wish You Were Here debuted, I was with bestselling authors Susan May Warren and Rachel Hauck and the team at a retreat in South Carolina. (Waving at Lisa, Michelle, Edie, Melissa, Alena and Reba.)

Let’s just say they know how to celebrate a debut author.

It started with Rachel finding my book at a Barnes and Noble near Charleston on April 30 –after I assured her it wouldn’t be on the shelf yet. Watching Rachel run toward me, holding my book and grinning from ear to ear. And then Reba announced it to everyone sitting in the Starbucks section that I was the author of the book. People cheered and applauded and Rachel told me to sign the book — and I did. (She told me to!)

 

The next day (May 1), the team surprised me with a postcard-themed lunch, complete with postcards from their home states and a world map (in honor of Daniel, the hero of WYWH), and those beautiful, bold 5 stars.

What do those stars signify for me?

Friendship. Loyalty. And the kind of love exemplifying the true meaning “team” — and teammates who have your back through thick and through thin.

I’m home now and looking forward to some more fun: a book launch party this Saturday! There’ll be wedding cake and some fun prizes, including a stuffed llama and a copy of Llama Llama Red Pajama, a photo shoot with Lisa Anne Photography and a set of Thomas Mangelsen nature photography cards.

 

In Your words: Had any fun celebrations lately? Who’s on your team?

 

**Had to include this last photo. It’s me and a “faux” llama because it’s actually an alpaca. But my friends saw it at the Marketplace in Charleston and said, “Quick, get a picture with the llama!” If you’ve read Wish You Were Here, you understand. **

In Others’ Words: Kindness

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.”  ~Benjamin Disraeli (1804 – 1881), British Prime Minister

One of the greatest blessings in my life?

The people in my life who believe in me.

Sometimes I am my own worst enemy, tripping myself up with doubt, slowing myself down with “should I’s?” and “shouldn’t I’s?”.

The people who come alongside me, put their arms around my shoulders and say, “You can do this,” — they make all the difference in quitting or continuing. And those people who take the time to say, “I see this ability in you” — wow! That breathes a whole new level of self-assurance into my sometimes fragile sense of self.

Needing others’ encouragement — does this mean I’m weak?

No, it means I’m human.

Do I base my self-worth on what others’ think or say about me?

No. (Well, not usually.)

But words of affirmation from family, friends, fellow writers and mentors: all of these breathe life and hope and refreshment to my soul.

In Your Words: Who in your life took the time to help you see your value?

Wish You Were Here: Burnout and Dreams Come True

I am a huge fan of burnout.

Four years ago, my writing want-to burned down to the faintest of glimmers of my former passion. What I didn’t know was that moment of “I can’t do this anymore” exhaustion would bring me to today: the launch day for my debut novel, Wish You Were Here.

In the early days of burnout, what I couldn’t do weighed me down. I avoided my office. Yes, I met my writing and editing deadlines, but I didn’t pursue new assignments. Why would I? I was never, ever, ever going to write again.

The advantage of grinding to a halt? I looked up from my keyboard and asked myself a few questions:

Why am I burned out? In the pursuit of a career, I’d said yes to everything without evaluating the consequences of the never-ending yes.
What am I going to do about it? I could continue to beat a dead horse (me) or stop, catch my breath and re-evaluate.
Do I want to keep writing? I gave myself the freedom to walk away from writing. Saying “no more” was a legitimate choice.

The answer to that last question was a no … and a yes.

And that was the beauty of burnout.

I allowed myself to say no to what I had been doing — editing and writing nonfiction — and embrace something new: writing inspirational contemporary romance.

Burnout became an unexpected bend in the road to a whole new writing adventure. Who knew? Burnout — it’s a wonderful thing.

In Your Words: How has a dream come true for you in an unexpected way?

 

I’m involved with The Debs, several other romance writers with May debuts.Dani Pettrey’s Submerged and Olivia Newport’s The Pursuit of Lucy Banning also debut today. Katie Ganshert’s Wildflowers from Winter debuts May 8th. Join us on May 15 for our Debutantes’ Story Soiree: a live, worldwide online party to celebrate our debuts and also learn more about Heart of the Bride, a nonprofit ministry devoted to meeting the needs of orphans worldwide.

 

 

In Others’ Words: Anticipation

“Never forget that anticipation is an important part of life. Work’s important, family’s important, but without excitement, you have nothing. You’re cheating yourself if you refuse to enjoy what’s coming.” ~Nicholas Sparks, Three Weeks with My Brother

 

Tomorrow all the anticipation comes to an end.

On Tuesday, May 1, my debut novel Wish You Were Here hits the shelves for real.

Yes, there will be other things to anticipate:

connecting with readers
celebrating with my family and friends at my launch party on May 5
moving on to the edits of book 2 (Catch a Falling Star)
brainstorming book 3

But this feeling of anticipation … ah, it’s one of a kind. Never to be repeated.

As I counted down to this day, have I always enjoyed the “oh my gosh, here it comes!” feeling? Nope. At times I let anxiety taint my anticipation, turning it an ugly shade of worry laced with fear and doubt.

As Nicholas Sparks said, I cheated myself.

Has getting to this day been easy?

No.

Will tomorrow be easy?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But I can choose to forgo anticipation, to say no to the thrill of a dream come true.

Or I can admit that dreams are often stained with sweat and tears, but that those things don’t mar their beauty.

Nope. The sweat and tears? They make the anticipation of that dream come true day all the sweeter.

In Your Words: If you had a countdown clock on your table, what would it be counting down to? What’s ahead in your life that you’re excited about?

 

 

In Others’ Words: Dreaming and Doing

“It may be that those who do most, dream most.” ~Stephen Butler Leacock, (1869-1944), Canadian author

Life’s been a bit crazy lately, what with novel #1 launching May 1 and novel #2 due to my editor on May 1.

Did anyone else notice that those two things happen on the same day?

Sometimes when a friend asked me how I was doing, my reply was, “I’m living the dream.”

And I am. Really.

Before all of this … there was the dreaming of this. The “maybe I could” moments. The “what if I tried” musings. The “how would I feel” imaginings.

And all of those things –those dreams — fueled the doing that led to May 1.

Living the dream

In Your Words: What dreams are you dreaming? And what are you doing about them?

Wish You Were Here: What’s Up with the Llamas?

So, let’s talk llamas.

I know, I know. I write romance. I should be introducing you to the hero in my debut novel, Wish You Were Here.

But the llamas — Kuzko, Pacha and Banzai — have have always attracted a bit of attention along the way to publication.

The conversation usually goes like this:

Interested person: So what’s your book about?

Me: It’s about a woman who kisses her fiance’s brother five days before the wedding.

IP: Oh … wow.

Me: Exactly. So the question is: Which is the mistake? The wedding? Or the kiss?

(IP nods in agreement.)

Me: The story is set in Colorado . . . and there are also llamas in it.

Silence. 

The kind of silence that means the person doesn’t know if I’m kidding (Should I laugh? Should I not laugh?) or if I’m crazy (Should I back away s-l-o-w-l-y?) or if I’ve hired a hidden camera crew to record their reaction to the llama announcement (Really, where’s the camera?)

So why llamas?

Because of my husband, Rob. Whenever I got to the “I don’t know what to write next” point, Rob always looked at me and suggested aliens.

And I always said, “I do not write novels with aliens.”

And then one day we were driving through Estes Park and he asked “How about llamas?”

And I laughed and said, “Why not?”

People who know me well know that laughter is my favorite sound. And I believe romance must include laughter.

The llamas in Wish You Were Here?

They’re a four-legged version of comic relief.

In Your Words:  What’s your favorite romantic moment — real life or fictional — that include laughter? I’d love to hear about it.

 

In Others’ Words: You

“The better part of happiness is to wish to be what you are.” ~Desiderius Erasmus (1466? – 1536) , Catholic priest

I gotta be honest with you: I wasted a lot of time thinking the only way I could be really, truly happy was if I was somebody else.

Someone more like you, maybe.

I spent a lot of time thinking being me wasn’t good enough, all the while thinking everyone else loved themselves with the same ferocity that I, um, didn’t like being me.

There are a great variety of freedoms in life. One of my most treasured freedoms was the day I decided to be me — and like myself for who I was.

In Your Words: Who wouldn’t want to embrace “the better part of happiness”? So tell me, how are you being “what you are”?

photo by vinz/stockxchng.com

Wish You Were Here & One of My Favorite Things: Photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen

Watch this video on YouTube

During today’s two minute vlog I introduce you to one of my favorite things: the nature photography of Thomas Mangelsen.

As I say in the vlog, one of the fun things about being a novelist is including things I love in my novels. And when I wrote my debut novel, Wish You Were Here, I decided to slip one of Thomas Mangelsen’s photographs into the story. The photograph I chose (pictured below) is titled “Maroon Bells Daybreak.”

 

Photo by Thomas D. Mangelsen

Also in the vlog, you’ll also hear a bit more about the upcoming May 15th launch party with my other “Debs,” Dani Pettrey, Katie Ganshert and Olivia Newport.

In Your Words: Writers, have you ever incorporated some of your favorite things into your stories? Readers, if you had the chance, what favorite thing would you slip into a novel?

In Others’ Words: Gifts

 

“A wonderful gift may not be wrapped as you expect.” ~Jonathan Lockwood Huie, author

For the past 11 months, daily episodes of vertigo knocked my life off-kilter.

Pardon the play on words. I’ve learned to throw humor at something that made me wonder if putting my mascara on is going to cause the world to rock-n-roll.

The first episode of vertigo hit last May 24th in the middle of the during an overnight stay at The Broadmoor, a five-star hotel here in Colorado Springs. (My husband took me there to celebrate our anniversary.)

When I thought about checking out the next day and envisioned myself crawling out of a swanky hotel (standing up was i-m-p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e), what did I do? Cry or laugh?

A bit of both, actually.

Whenever my Sony Wii trainer talked smack to me when I exercised, telling me my balance was off, I gave as good as I got, yelling, “I have vertigo, you wretched avatar. Of course my balance is off!”

And I discovered there were hidden blessings to be unwrapped as I waited … and waited … and waited for the vertigo to abate.

My family loved me, even when I laid on the couch, combating dizziness, and let them cook. Or clean. Or do life without me.
My friends (and family) prayed for me nonstop and comforted me with their compassion.
God taught me that yes, waiting on Him is a gift. It develops trust. And hope. And settles where you confidence is — not in what the future holds, but in who holds the future.

In Your Words: Have you unwrapped any unexpected wonderful gifts lately?