Happy New Year!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

New Year's!

As we move from the hustle and bustle of the holidays, a bright, shiny new year awaits!

As a certified coach, I encourage you to take a few minutes to think about what you'd like out of 2009. Life happens at warp speed, whether we're ready for it, or not. If we don't focus on what we want out of life, we generally don't get what we want.

As you decide what you want, I suggest you write it down. The very act of writing it out engages the left side of the brain. The right side, the more creative side, is the side we tap into when we're dreaming, when we're exploring the possibilities that lie ahead of us in 2009.

At least once a month, and preferably once a week, look at your list. Hold it. Read your dreams out loud. The feel of the paper (or the "touch" of your fingers on the keyboard if you wrote on your computer) and the sound of your voice all work together to help anchor your wants, dreams, and desires.

But it all starts with the very first step, dreaming, wishing, hoping, thinking...

Next month, we'll talk about the crucial next step...

Until then... Happy New You!!

Cool New Website!!

Check this out!!!!!!!!

http://www.ticklesandtingles.com/

My friend and I are very excited about this site! We provide high-end and luxury adult oriented items where you are center stage. Fun stuff, exciting stuff, provocative stuff from the United States and Europe.

Please visit us.

A Great Big Juicy Bite

In this part of the world, it's time for a celebration of the harvest! Pumpkins, squash, apples... Fun!

And while it's a celebration of abundance, how about a time to celebrate you? And how about taking a moment to slow down and think about taking a great big, juicy, delicious bite of...life?

Is there some adventure your soul longs for? I'm not talking, necessarily, about jumping out of an airplane (although I'm game if you are!) or bungee jumping or even racing a NASCAR. I'm talking about a big, juicy bite of something that appeals to you!

That could mean painting a wall or a picture. Writing a book or penning a journal. It could mean traveling somewhere new and exciting, or even trying a new place for dinner or a drink. It could mean taking up a new sport or a new hobby. It could mean baking something new.

For me, my great big, juicy bite is about...owls! Tonight, I'm heading out to "band" Northern Saw-whet owls. I have no idea who else will be part of this adventure. I have no idea how you do it. The only thing I do know...it will be cold in that part of the Rockies at night, and it will be dark. And it's something I've never done before. I'm excited and nervous.

I could easily have said "No" to the call to adventure, after all, it's a long way from home and it's cold and... You get the picture. There are always a dozen, legitimate reasons not to do so something new, something outside your comfort zone. But if you were to set aside that reluctance and to take a great big, juicy bite of something, what would it be?

Let me know what you decide!

Have to run now...I need down gloves and a headlamp for tonight's adventure. Let's hope it's a hoot! (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Love, Sierra
Sierra Cartwright
http://www.sierracartwright.com/
http://sierracartwright.blogspot.com/

Too Exciting!!

I'm happy to announce I'll be participating in the "I HEART NY" series from Loose Id!

The other authors are superstars, and I'm honored to be in their presence!

The series will start around Valentine's Day and end with St. Patrick's day!

Of course, my heroine has an Irish background. (Write what you know, right? LOL) Her name is Bridget (thanks, Mom!) and she has red hair (and I wonder where she gets that??)

Life is good, yes?

Unbelievable

I cannnnnnnot believe it!!

"Signed, Sealed, and Delivered" was nominated as one the best erotic romances of the year!! Thank you, Night Owl Romance!

Will you please vote for "Sierra Cartwright Signed, Sealed, and Delivered?" Thanks!!

http://www.nightowlromance.com/nightowlromance/norawards/fall2008norawardseroticebooks.asp

Updates

Cool stuff is coming as fall approaches!!

Time to curl up with a hot book!

I'm thrilled to announce that you can get my latest book, Danger Zone, from Loose Id, on October 14, 2008! What a fun way to celebrate my birthday.

S-s-s-sizzle!

Wow!

Talk about fun in the sun!

I just returned from the International Lingerie Show in Las Vegas. The weather was hot, the evenings sultry, the excitement palpable, the energy level high, the food abundant and delicious. Excitement and expectation were everywhere. The atmosphere sizzled.

There were beautiful young women, and some hunky men!, modeling for various lines. The highlight of the event was a fashion show on Monday evening. Drinks flowed from an open bar (what’s better than a glass of Merlot, but a free glass of Merlot?!). The music was techno, so it had a great, energetic beat. The choreography, staging, and lighting made the package complete.

The whole event started me thinking about fantasy, about creativity. Every piece of lingerie on the models (and some of the pieces were itty-bitty!) had been designed by someone. Then there’s color and fabric. In its way, creating an event like the International Lingerie Show is not terribly different from writing a book.

You begin with nothing, other than an idea. Then you craft characters to sweep away the reader and create a fantasy. Words become a writer’s canvas. Plot provides the nuance of color, dialogue, the music. Conflict is the fabric, be it sheer and daring or sturdy and opaque. Pacing is the backdrop, the staging.

If a writer has done her job well, then we’ve been entertained. We’ve been swept away into an alternate reality that allows us to forget our problems and concerns. We’ve escaped to a place that is real, but doesn’t really exist.

Our senses have been fed. We’ve laughed or cried. We’ve rooted for some characters and shouted boo-hiss at others. We’ve been moved emotionally, turned-on in an elemental and thrilling way. Maybe we’ve been provoked to think about our own lives in a new or different way. We’re excited, as if a techno beat had provided a staccato to energize us.

Writers have created a sizzle that satisfies. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

Love,

Sizzlin' Sierra

www.sierracartwright.com

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered from Total-E-Bound Books

Coming Soon: Danger Zone from Loose Id www.loose-id.com

Summertime!

It's summertime!

Green leaves, flowers blossoming, sultry nights, birds singing, birth, renewal....

What do you need to renew?

What do you need to re-connect with, re-connect to?

What's is YOUR passion?

What makes you feel alive?

What quickens your heartbeat?

This is the absolute perfect time of year (at least in the northern hemisphere!), to sit on a chair outside, or maybe curl up in a hammock, bask on beach.

And when you do, don't forget to connect.

Dream while a lazy, fat cloud saunters across the sky.

And it's okay to ask yourself some questions that will sustain you in the shorter months of fall and winter.

Questions like:
If I had my ideal day, what would it look like? What time would you get up? What time would you go to bed? What would you eat? Where would you live? What would you do (if anything!) to earn a living?

Who would I like to connect with? (Is it time to send a formal written invite, or maybe an email or -- gasp! -- pick up the phone! and invite a friend to lunch, dinner, even a glass of wine at a rooftop cafe?)

What will summer of 2009 look like? (Will there be a great holiday to the ocean, or will you rent a cabin in the mountains for some blessed cool?)

What are my plans for this year's first cold snap?

What do I want to accomplish the rest of the year?

Regardless, this is a fantastic chance for you to picture your perfect life.

After all, what are daydreams for?

Here's to you and your dreams!

Muah!

Book Release Day!

It's book release day! YAY!!

Here's a link to my latest book...

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=Ys2w49236071&strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=247

Taking Care of You!

As writers, we’re told to write what we know. So, for this blog, I will. I’ve learned, the not-so-easy way how important it is to take care of myself.

As a coach, writer, parent, manager, always looking out for others, you’d think I’d look out for myself, too, right? Er, not so much.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve done what might be termed a “crash and burn.” And it’s not pretty. I caught a nasty virus, had my energy level drop to nearly nothing and haven’t had a lot of interest in things that generally energize me.

So, darn it, I’m going to have to practice what I preach and write what I know.

When I coach my clients to take a sheet of paper and divide it into seven sections (one for each day of the week), and write out their ideal schedule, that means I need to do the same.

When I instruct an employee who has been working too many hours that they need to take a refresh and rejuvenate day, I need to recognize my own limits and take some time to rest and rejuvenate, too.

When I tell my daughter (who’s certainly old enough to know better!) that sleep is the mighty healer and that things will look better in the morning, I should tuck my tired self into bed and remember that things will look better in the morning. After all, I’m definitely old enough to know better!

When I coach clients to list the things that jazz them and to write a top 100 list of things to see, to do, to have, I need to do the same thing.

Getting a regular massage isn’t just for those around me. Eating nutritious foods that aren’t loaded with sugar are for me, too, not just others. Moving my body so that I look and feel better and have more energy to make it through the day (to say nothing of releasing endorphins and regulating serotonin levels) is something I should do every day. After all, I do know about the Law of Inertia. (An object in motion stays in motion, right?)

So, here I am, making a public commitment to taking better care of myself. Starting with a bubble bath, a good night’s sleep, and packing my gym bag for tomorrow’s work out.

What advice do you give others that you should take yourself?

See you again next time…when I have some progress to report!

Please, feel free to let me know what you’re doing to take care of you…

OMG!

OMG! OMG! OMG!!

I have really great news, and...and...and, I can't share it yet!!

Stay tuned!!

Dreaming

www.sierracartwright.com

"Follow your bliss and doors will open where there were no doors before." -- Joseph Campbell

Follow your bliss...

Easier said than done!

So many of us are caught up in the daily grind, get up, peel back our eyelids, brew a cup of coffee or tea or crack open a can of soda (who cares, as long as it has caffeine) go to work, or drag the kids out of bed and get them ready for the day. Then, with our responsibilities to our relationships, our jobs, friends, homes...

We're so tired, how would we even know what our bliss is, let alone to follow it? But you know what, it's there, somewhere, niggling. It's those random thoughts that dart through when you're busy doing other things. Maybe it's a book you see advertised, and you think, "One day, when I have more time, I'll read it." One day, I'll take a long vacation. One day, I'll go back to school, get a puppy, do that volunteer work I've been thinking about.

One day...

Maybe, if you're like me, you get ideas at the most interesting times. When I'm in the bathtub, when I'm driving, drifting off to sleep, or going for a walk. But all those times have something in common...they come to me when I'm either alone or being quiet. It's in those moments that I get that whisper of what my bliss might be. But it's what I do with those moments that matter. Do I ignore them until they go away? (Yeah, more times than I care to admit! LOL)

Or do I do something with that urge? Do I follow it? Do I book a trip somewhere fabulous? Do I do a little research into a new job I might like to have? Do I scribble down a few words for my new book?

In the quiet, and, thank God, sometimes in the chaos, ideas, thoughts, inspiration come to us. What we do with them is up to us. What were you thinking about as you read this? What came to your mind? And now, what are you going to do with it?

Here's to you, and here's the the urging of inspiration!

Simple Pleasures

www.sierracartwright.com

….Deep breath in. Another out…. There. Doesn’t that feel better?

Not that I’m one to talk, LOL.

As a coach, writer, business manger, I, like you, wear a dozen different hats, sometimes more than one at the same time! (You know what I mean. It’s when you are at work and you’ve got your cellular phone pressed to you ear because you’re getting a call from home. Oh, wait! There’s call waiting buzzing, telling you an important client is ringing.)

And it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of our lives…phones, shopping, cooking dinner, running the kids to school, checking email…

By the time you get to the end of the day, you fall into bed exhausted. Then the alarm shrills and you drag your still-tired body from bed only to do it all over again.

Sometimes it feels as though our lives are roller coasters where you’re strapped in. “Please stay seated until the ride comes to a complete stop.”

Well, guess what? It’s not easy, but we can stop at least part of the insanity. How? This may sound counterintuitive, but we can enjoy our lives more by scheduling some fun into our day.

As a coach, I know that time for fun doesn’t magically appear in our lives.

It has to be planned. At least weekly, maybe even monthly.

You’re kidding, right?

I have to plan even more than I already to?

If you want to enjoy life more, yes.

My suggestion? Call your BFF and put a dinner date on the April calendar now. Schedule a ‘date’ night with your SO. Buy tickets to that show you’ve been dying to see, even if it doesn’t open until July.

By having things to look forward to, we brighten our lives.