Before we continue with my series on planning, let’s celebrate a new release! Ripple, Persy & Sully’s story, the second in my Seaside Valleria series, is out now!
Amazon: http://geni.us/SV2AZ
iBooks: http://geni.us/SV2iBooks
Nook: http://geni.us/SV2Nook
Kobo: http://geni.us/SV2Kobo
Google: http://geni.us/SV2Google
Goodreads: http://geni.us/SV2Goodreads
Her voice was a rough whisper. “Sometimes I feel like I’ll never have peace.”
He reached up to cup her cheek. “Honey.”
She loved the way he said that. Sometimes his ‘honey’ was thick and sweet, sometimes low and gruff. Other times it was full of need and want and passion for her. She wanted to drown in his words, in him.
He leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. “I’m right here with you. I know it won’t be easy, but we’ll get through this. We’ll find our peace.”
***
Can they move beyond the aches of the past towards a future together?
Persy has been restless and running from her tragic past for years. Since leaving Ireland, she’s stayed the longest in Masillia, soaking in the quiet calm of the sea and now working at the local pub, the Seashell. Is she staying because of the peace she finds here? Or because of the passion she shares with the sexy cop who spends his nights with her?
Sully never planned to stay in Valleria long-term. His one-year assignment with the local police is coming to an end, and soon he’ll return to his life back in Ireland. Yet, every night, after work, he finds himself at the Seashell. When the bar closes in the early hours, he walks Persy home—then takes her to bed. Their nights are full of passion, not promises, which works for them both.
Or it did.
One night, everything changes for Sully and he realizes he wants more than an affair. He wants her, all of her.
Can their relationship move past the lure of the night to the bright light of day?
*Please note: This book contains sensitive content that may be considered triggers.
* * *
Continuing with my series on planning, someone mentioned that they’d like to see more of the vision boards I mentioned in my last post. While I won’t show you everything, here are a few pics.
As I mentioned yesterday, I used 6 months from a Big Happy Planner®, and I added the mini metal discs for the binding. The gorgeous cover is from Stylish Planners (her site is available here and on Etsy), though I do wish the full quote was on the front (I don’t see the end of the quote as much since it’s at the back). I still love it and the colors are fantastic (#purpleforever). I covered up the dates/days of the week using some dark washi (see pics; this is from Simply Gilded but any dark washi will work, or you can just use correction tape/white out). You could also use an undated planner for this, but you still may want to cover up days of the week. You can also add pictures for more inspiration (either of a motivational image, or of yourself and your family). I recommend always leaving some room to allow space for your dreams to grow, or if you need to add more inspiration later on.
I basically use each month section (the full calendar for that month and the individual weekly spreads) as a vision board for different things. One section, for example, is all about the places I’d love to travel. Each weekly spread in that section is for a different type of traveling – one week is for big trips I’d like to do, another week is for shorter weekend adventures, another week is for conferences I’d like to attend (whether that’s author-related conferences or something fun like Comic Con). Other month sections focus on different things, like my goals as an author, what retirement looks like for me (hint: I’ll still be writing, just not working the day job – I don’t think I’ll ever want to stop writing!), and other personal goals.
For so long I had all of these goals and dreams in my head, but I’d never put them on paper. The act of writing them down makes them more real, doesn’t it? It might put more pressure on you to achieve those goals, maybe even more stress.
But it’s also more liberating.
I thought it would stress me out to create this but it was a lot of fun, and I actually feel more positive about my future because I’m putting them down and making them more real. Writing down goals doesn’t have to be scary. If you’re afraid of writing things down, ask yourself why (my series on overcoming fear might be helpful for you; here’s the first post). Goals aren’t something to be afraid of, they’re something to aspire to. Sometimes we’re more afraid of failing of our goals, than we are of the goals themselves. Even just using an extra piece of printer paper or scrap paper to write something down can be useful. You certainly don’t need to do the same thing I did. I love paper planning and knew I’d love having lots of room to get everything down. If you don’t like stickers or washi, then don’t use them, and fuck anyone who tells you that you need to. If you want a short and sweet list, then do that, too.
Vision boards are about YOUR vision for your future, not anyone else’s. Make your future what YOU want it to be.
Do you have a vision board? If so, how did you set yours up? If not, are you interested in setting it up? Comment on this post and let me know (if you’re receiving the blog by email, just click “Read More” to navigate to the blog page to comment).
~xoxo Marianne
This is Post 92 of 100 as part of the #100DaysofMKAuthorLife.