Recovery-how long does it take?

In the beginning...I unpacked in the first hotel room getting ready to compete for Mrs. International. Little did I know how much energy it would take to get through the week!

We had early mornings and some late nights. Lots of rehearsing a dance number and meeting new people. We had personal appearances, interviews and a constant sense of stretching. I had a wonderful week in Chicago even though, no, I didn't win.


Behind the scenes: my feet hurt like crazy! Living on someone else's schedule is hard. I had to switch rooms mid-week when my hubby came. Learning new things outside of my experience kept me in constant fascination but also in constant awareness. That in itself draws on energy supplies.

Back at home, I thought it would take a day or two to reacclimatize to my regular schedule. Oh was I wrong!

Although playing with my grandson brought my head and heart right back to reality and how much my family means to me! His smile is so sunny, his joy chasing my exercise ball and just hugging him infuses me with energy.

Today, almost a week later, I'm feeling a bit more back to normal. I started thinking about why it took almost as long to recover as it did to compete. It was the lack of private recovery time. I'm a huge people-person. But one thing I do back at home is take private time to recharge. So home is a very quiet, peaceful place.

Ah, the energy. One week of constant, non-stop "up" energy. It's totally me, no problem, to visit and enjoy all the people I love meeting. The normal daily life allows time away, time to think, time to sleep! But it also allows down time away from people. No matter how much we love others, we still need our time to refuel and refresh. One week of solid drawing on those reserves depletes them completely. Not because it isn't fun or exciting, but because anytime you deal in non-stop people-it takes a different kind of mental energy.

When you are feeling drained, I'd like to suggest getting away by yourself and refilling your energy reserves with quiet, private time.

Angie
PS Please come visit www.MyGemofWisdom.com and see the jewelry that helps support the Sanctuary of Hope orphan homes in Kenya.

Battle Your Inner Pirates--And Win!

Today I sent the class introduction for Battle Your Inner Pirates and win! to the members of the American Christian Fiction Writers free online class.

ACFW offers free courses 10 of the 12 months to its members. We have about 1900 members now and many love to take advantage of this free benefit. If you are not a member, you can join by going to www.acfw.com and then after signing up, you can find the course links on the member home page to join the classes.

I'll be teaching a one week course starting tomorrow so you have time to join ACFW if you want to take it :-)

As a life coach, I help people battle their internal pirates--all those negative attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that hold you back from reaching your goals and dreams.

Our topics this week will be:
Monday - Friday instruction days. Tuesday/Thursday discussion. I teach this in 17 chapters or in life coaching at your personal pace. It's obvious we can't do it all, so we will do our best to do justice to what we can. We'll try for 3 of the topics and a quick wrap up on Saturday.

Consider this as a way to find what is blocking you, yes, but also consider it a study in characterization. If your main character were going through some of these mental/spiritual issues, how would they respond?

Be sure to make notes on a different sheet than your personal journal for your character's responses. By doing this, you allow your character to answer differently and grow or become more complicated.

As you work through those pirates that hold you back from your goals, you will be battling for a gem of wisdom. Our goal this week is to win 3 for your treasure chest!

We will deal with these battles on M-W-F:
1. Reframing-- Our Pirates: Rumination, Destructive Scripts, & Assumptions -- Awarded Gemstone: Garnet
2. Ownership vs. Empathy-- Our Pirates: Ownership-- Awarded Gemstone: Opal
3. Courage-- Our Pirates: Fear & Short term thinking -- Awarded Gemstone: Obsidian

Here's a glimpse our treasure hunt together. You may find some of these landmarks mapping the journey in our class this week. It's based on life coaching from, Insanity Rules: Gems of Wisdom, while we battle those internal pirates that hold us back from reaching our goals:

Pique Points: Thought-provoking questions to discuss.

Ponder Points: Tidbits to entice an open mind.

Personal Places: I may share a tender and true story, from the heart of a research volunteer, shared to help others.

Pirates: Those cutthroat negative attitudes, situations and feelings that get in the way of healthy living and healthy writing presented through fictional allegory. In this one week class, we won't be able to deal with all of them, so we will give our attention to the three listed.

Putting It All Together: Tying all the loose ends together in each lesson so it’s easy to understand and easy to then put into practice.

Polishing Point: Real life options to solve real life dilemmas and suggestions on how to put them into practice.

Gems: Gems of wisdom awarded as new concepts are learned along the treasure hunt route.

Definitions: A little more perspective on some words and ideas.

Tips: Tried and true, these are little gem chips that have worked for others. AND these may very well come from you or your classmates!

Ahoy there, Matey. Welcome aboard.

If you are more interested in personal life coaching rather than the spin towards writers, you can contact me here or go to the www.MyGemofWisdom.com site for more information.

God is my market

Tuesdays with Tiffany
By Tiffany Colter

As I continue to build my writing business I have encountered a few different kinds of people. The one I'd like to hone in on today is Christians. I am a Christian and I know that there are times where we hold up our hands in frustration and want to scream "God, what in the world are you asking me to do?"

The trait that I'm noticing more and more is "Well, if God wants me to write He'll bring the projects my way."

Excuse my irreverence but that is like saying "If God wants me to give He'll cause my wallet to jump out of my pocket."

The reason I act so strongly to that statement is because most of the time when I am talking to someone and they say that they've done virtually NOTHING to improve their craft. They've submitted very few queries [if any at all] and they're "Waiting on God."

Anyone who knows me knows that I want to live a life of obedience that honors God. I also know that He knows how to get my attention. Once He told me to write I went full speed ahead except for the eight months when God CLEARLY told me to stop for a season.

Other than that I have taken classes, read books, written words, learned to market and any number of other skills to grow as a writer.

Spend time in His presence to find out if He wants you here...and if you know He does then get out there and do it. Even the Israelites in the desert had to walk out of their tent to collect the Manna God sent.

Do we think we should do any less?

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

A willing Vessel

Tuesdays with Tiffany

by Tiffany Colter

If you read this blog or my Writing Career Coach blog you know that I'm a person who focuses on planning-then executing your plan.

As important as that is the month of January for me is about being a willing vessel.

Are you opening yourself to be that willing vessel? Are you willing to put in the effort to pursue His call for you? Are you willing to learn the marketing skills to help advance your writing career?

These are the questions I've asked myself as I began 2009.

As you look at 2009 are you preparing the year to be obedient to God's call to write?

Be ready to step out of your comfort zone-and be a willing vessel.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Leave an inheritance

A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.[Proverbs 13:22, NIV]

Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. [Ecc 7:11, NIV]

The Bible has a great deal to say about leaving an inheritance. If you type the word in to a search engine in the NIV version you get literally HUNDREDS of hits on the word.

As I was doing my daily reading recently I came across the word "inheritance" and it quickened in my spirit that this word could also mean a legacy.

What will my kids have when I die financially, spiritually, emotionally? What will the world remember about me?

And how does that line up to the gifting and call that God has placed on my life.

It is hard to believe some days but God planned on us being born.

In America we will celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday. There is a great deal of planning that goes in to making a meal of that size. Groceries must be bought. Homes must be cleaned.

What if you made that meal and no one showed up? Or what if everyone showed up but there was no Turkey?

That is what we do to God all the time. We either don't bother to come with our gifts and talents to sit at His table of provision OR we show up but don't bring all of our gifts with us [like the Turkey] and so the plan is incomplete.

There is someone here that God sent you to reach. Maybe many people. But until we focus on God and His giftings there will be an incomplete picture.

So as you're sitting with family, whether this week or next month, consider whether you're showing up in God's family.

What you do is leaving an inheritance to your kids. You're modeling to them the kind of person you'd like them to be.

What is your legacy?

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.

Romans 14:12 for writers

Tuesdays with Tiffany
By Tiffany Colter


Romans 14:12 [Amplified]
12And so each of us shall give an account of himself [give an answer in reference to judgment] to God.

We will have to give an account one day.

That's what the Bible says. This past sunday my Pastor was teaching on this verse [among others] as he talked about what Jesus taught on finances. [My pastor is actually blogging so if you'd like to check him out click here.]

He was talking about what we invest. And when he came to this verse he said "We should make the most of every opportunity."

I scribbled that down and decided "I must blog on this."

Think about this, authors. God has given us a gift and one day we will have to give an account to Him. What will your accounting look like?

Played computer solitaire-3 hrs
emailed friends-4 hrs
thought about writing-7 hrs
talked about writing- 1 hour
Prayed-5 minutes
Bible study- 10 minutes
Watched TV-2 hrs
Wrote-??

I tell you one thing. I'm ready to write! I heard pastor's message and I was excited to write. I wanted to write. I realized this was a gift He gave to me and He not only expects me to do something with it. He's COUNTING ON ME!!

Yes, God is COUNTING on us to use the gifts He's given us.

And we will have to give Him an accounting.

Guess I should stop blogging and get back to work....How about you do the same.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Read Tiffany's full novel "A Face in the Shadow" one chapter at a time by going to http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com

See you next Tuesday.

As unto the Lord

Right now I'm in a time of harvest. I have many opportunities to write stories I love. My creativity is flowing and life is getting back to normal.

However, as I've walked out this Christian life these last few years I've also learned that I cannot allow my confidence to remain in what I'm seeing now. Things can and do change.

Also, I can't be afraid of the changes that are coming.

As I was thinking about what to blog today I thought about the phrase "As unto the Lord". God tells us to do everything as if we're working for Him. I really think that is the key to not being overly confident in the good times, or being fearful in the bad times. We have to do everything for Him.

By that I don't mean "okay, God. This is yours." What I mean is if you were turning it in to God. If you walked in to work and told your boss you'd do your job "When you got a chance"-how long would you have that job?

I think many times we convince ourselves that God will wait forever on us-that we can put Him off.

But what if I got up tomorrow and I recognized that the creator of the universe has said "Here is your assignment. I'm going to give you the provision. The ability and the opportunity. I need you to work hard on this-be focused. Give me 120% of your efforts and abilities. Then let me multiply them."

How would your day look different? Your week?

If your kids come home tomorrow night and say "The teacher gave me a project. I have to make a paper mache volcano by tomorrow." Would you say "Well, let's sit down and think about the volcano." Then start watching TV. Play online solitaire and answer 27 emails. Then send your child off the next day.

NOPE!!

Whether a volcano or studying for a test...you'd have them do it.

Will the pay off be at the moment they turn that assignment in? Nope.

It could take years. A decade. More.

I spent 13 years in school [K-12], then 4 years of college and six years of studying writing. Most of my time was spent learning, trusting, asking, being rejected...and starting over again.

When we are writing for the Lord NOTHING is wasted.

But when we put Him off, you're wasting everything.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

I hope that you will all come over to my new fiction blog. I am posting an entire novel there, one chapter at a time. This is the book that won the Daphne du Maurier award for Excellence in Suspense/Fiction Unpublished Division in 2007. It is also the story that turned my writing around.

Writer Retreats

I am so excited to be planning on the Montana Romance Writer's retreat in a week and a half. These ladies are becoming very close friends who don't even mind when I go off track and write non-fiction on them.

We are cloistering in a mountain cabin with no electricity, phones or any way to be interrupted.

How cool is that?

I can't wait. I did go buy a new back up battery for my laptop. Lol, I have to use Lila, my handy-dandy laptop. Lila was named by my son a few years ago for the lilac brocade bag I carry her around in. And yes, Lila has to be a she :-D I don't think any fellow would like wearing lilac brocade everywhere ;-)

I am looking forward to the intense writing time, the friendships, the brainstorming and getting away from all the normal daily activities.

It's a retreat, yes, but I think it is also a soul rest. So different and so necessary for me. Refreshing and invigorating for my work. My biggest goal for that weekend is to finish my book, Insanity Rules. Okay, that IS my goal, lol. But I'm also looking forward to a few nights of solid sleep. I haven't had many of those in the last several weeks of business travel.

I see myself celebrating finishing the non-fiction book of my heart. I see the goal. And I'm thrilled that I'll be able to share it with other women who can completely understand the heart that has gone into it.

Thanks for letting me share today. Please visit over at God Uses Broken Vessels for my daily blog :-)

You have not been delayed

Tuesdays with Tiffany
By Tiffany Colter

Is it September already!!

I have enjoyed days where it wasn't so cold that my fingers hurt to type!! In less than 70 days there could be snow on the ground. Yuck!

Well, one thing I do like about the fall is the ACFW Writer's conference. Today I want to take a little different spin on the whole "Conference Prep thing." I want to talk about building your writing career if you are NOT going to a writer's conference soon.

Last year I told "My conference story". It was really a God word that He allowed me to share and if you'd like to read it you can by following this link.

What I want to talk about in this blog is what you CAN do when you feel like your writing career is stalled by your inability to network at a conference.

For years I was not able to attend a writer's conference. I had 3 young children at home and the cost of 2 in diapers, ear infections, ballet lessons and the growing pains that come with having a young child left us with very little extra money. The idea of spending over $1,000...well, there was NO way I could.

I was blessed, however, to have some alone time with God. During that time He reminded me that I was not being delayed; I was being prepared. There is a difference between the two and often times we forget that in our enthusiasm to "arrive". This isn't just in our writing; it is in every area of our lives. We want things to proceed on our timetable.

What I see now is I wasn't READY for a writer's conference all those other years. I lacked the maturity and professionalism-and the fortitude. All those years of delay I learned how to improve my craft and take a long term approach to my writing. I used to get so excited about WRITERS that I'd giggle at the idea of meeting one face to face. [Does that REALLY sound like a person who is ready to pitch to an editor/agent??]

I also built up MANY publishing credits in my articles. I was prepared with 2 full manuscripts that had been buffed and polished. I had learned a great deal from friends in ACFW, and I also got over my "groupie giggles".

And this year I have to miss again. While I had peace about it, I was disappointed until a few days ago when I was sitting at my computer and I suddenly thought about all I'd learned at the last two conferences. I realized that THIS year God was having me sit out on a conference that I REALLY wanted to attend because He wanted me to spend that time APPLYING what I'd already learned. Once I do that I can move to the next level in my writing and will-again-benefit from what I can learn at a conference.

So for all of you who feel you've been forgotten...you haven't been. God still has you on track.

And you haven't been delayed!

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

What is this blog anyway?

Tuesdays with Tiffany
by Tiffany Colter

For those of you fairly new to writer's rest you may not be sure why exactly you want to spend your Tuesday with Tiff. In fact, I couldn't even get my beautiful graphic to load to today so why should you care what I have to say?

Well, it's because this is where I market myself, My Writing Career Coaching products, my homeschooling lessons that will be released July 27th, and my upcoming books.

That's why you came, right?

Oh, it isn't?

Well, how about this. You came because you were told by someone else that I share from my heart tips to build your writing business?

Is that closer to the truth? I hope it is. Otherwise, I'm failing miserably.

My point in that opening was two fold.

First, no one wants to come to your blog to be manhandled. They don't want to be forced in to buying a product or service. They don't want to feel like they've stumbled on to an infomercial.

They also want to know WIIFM!! What's in it for me!! That's because ALL of us, myself included, won't stop at a blog-or if we do stop, we won't stay long, if the blog doesn't provide us with SOMETHING. That may be as small as a small laugh or as big as a life changing principle.

The SECOND is if people find something in your blogs or articles that give them something they will develop a RELATIONSHIP with you. They will see you as someone they can go to and they will trust you. Don't violate that trust by throwing every imaginable option at them. Treat them like a friend. Tell them what you've found that helps, and what doesn't. Then, as a friend, they will recommend you to others when your book releases.

So focus your conversations, blogs and articles on the needs of others. Seek to fill that need by developing relationships. That is how you grow as a person and as a marketer.

Check out my other blog to find out how I learned a great deal about marketing by reading a ketchup bottle and watching a horror flick.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Who Am I?

One of my favorite Christian bands is Casting Crowns. I enjoy keeping up with them because they’re from my hometown, but I also just love them because of their songs’ power.

It’s hard for me to choose a favorite song, but one of my top picks from their first CD is “Who Am I?” The lyrics ask about how and why God should care about and know every detail of our lives – who are we to deserve that? The answer, of course, is that we’re nobody – but then that’s also the point of the song. As part of the chorus says, “Not because of who I am, but because of what You’ve done … Not because of what I’ve done, but because of who You are.”

One day as I really pondered the words instead of belting them out, a different perspective struck me. Who am I, that God would call me to write and speak for Him? Who am I, that He would choose to plant seeds in my heart that will only grow when I share the message with others? Who am I, to be sent when there are so many other, much more qualified ones for the job?

I’m a nobody. A person who enjoys writing, speaking and teaching but who knows she’s leagues below other writers, speakers and teachers. But I’m also a person who knows she must write, speak and teach – even if no one else ever sees or hears the words. The things He tells me must come out or I’ll implode (and that would not be a pretty sight)!

Each time I prepare to write (or teach or speak) I’m awestruck and humbled by the One who has called me to this task. Why does He call me to this work? Why does He call you? I don’t know, but He does. And, thankfully, it’s not because of who I am or what I’ve done … it’s all because of who He is and what He has done.

That’s one of the biggest wonders of my life. How about you?