Toi Thomas's Blog, page 66

Sample Sunday 45

Here is approximately 100 – 150 words from a randomly selected original piece for your enjoyment. These samples can include excerpts from my all my WIPs and my Eternal Curse Series, but only as works in progress (not the final products). These samples of published and unpublished works are protected under the U.S. Copyright agreement.

Eternal Curse: Battleground chapter 5.3 (wip)

My whole body trembled with fear and anxiety. I was relieved and terrified at the same time. Mira became sick and went off to a corner to throw up. I stood my guard over the burning body to keep the flames from spreading. I’d learned to contain fire around me, but so much had happened I only hoped I had enough strength and concentration left in me. I stood there until the body had turned completely to ash. When Mira returned she could barely speak recognizable words as she pushed her hands up into her face and swept them up over her hair. She dared not take a deep breath at the moment for fear she’d simply become nauseous again.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Filed under: EC: Battleground, Samples Tagged: angels, demons, Eternal Curse: Battleground, family, fiction, reading, spec-fic, Toi Thomas, war, wip

ToiBox Blog Weekly Recap 05/24/14

Check out my Recent Posts links to see what I was up to this week.

Last Saturday, I posted The Celebratory Trifecta!

I started out this week with Sample Sunday 44- Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel  chapter 5.5

On Monday, I shared a post from Mira’s Closet, and then…

I shared the news about the Crane Goodreads Book Giveaway!

On Tuesday, I added to my Character files the preferences for Paul.

On Wednesday, I shared my monthly Blogdom post.

On Thursday, I shared A Day In My Life (I wonder how many sang the Rubber Ducky song?).

And yesterday, I posted a brief Friday Forecast followed by my interview with Randy Attwood.

-Today begins my long weekend. I do hope I get to rest a little.

-No Adventures in Blogging today.

-I’m out all day with my nephew as his soccer team competes in a tournament.

-I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself this week and enjoy a very pleasant weekend.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: author, biography, blessings, blogging, books, character, culture, discussion, entertainment, fashion, geek, interviews, journal, life, likes, lists, reading, reviews, sample, wip

Randy Attwood Interview

The Eternal Curse Series Blog Presents an interview with author: Randy Attwood.

So tell me, who is Randy Attwood.?

image from Goodreads

I grew up on the grounds of a Kansas insane asylum where my father was a dentist. I attended the University of Kansas during the troubled 1960s getting a degree in art history. After stints writing and teaching in Italy and Japan I had a 16-year career in newspapers as reporter, editor and column writer winning major awards in all categories. I turned to health care public relations serving as director of University Relations at KU Medical Center. I finished my career as media relations officer of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Now retired, I am marketing the fiction I’ve written over all those years. And creating more.

I can see you’ve already had quite a career, but now that you’re retired, I’m sure the adventures will begin. Being an author is a lot more involved than most people realize.

So whacha got for me today?

image provided by author

Growing up on the grounds of a mental hospital and working in the cafeteria that fed its 1,500 patients meant I got to know a lot of crazy folks. “Write about what you know,” goes the adage. “Crazy About You” is told in first person from the point of view of a high school student who will have a week that grows him up far faster than he could have every wanted. Crazy is a coming-of-age, murder mystery, thriller story. It’s my most downloaded and purchased book with 17 five-star reviews. You can see them here.

Not too many people can write from firsthand experience in a mental hospital. Already your story sounds very intriguing.

So who’s starring in this 2 dimensional script read of “Crazy About You”?

Brad Adams is a high school junior. He’s a folk singer and a dreamer. When his dad, the mental hospital’s dentist, goes on a work trip, Brad has no idea that he will spend the week grappling with questions about sexuality, sanity and death. And some of the answers aren’t pretty.

There was once a time when hearing of a teen grappling with questions of sexuality meant that someone was having their first crush. Teens are so mature these day and subjects that were once taboo are now being openly discussed in healthy ways. This definitely sounds like a tale that will appeal to a wide audience.

Past, present, future, is there a rhyme or reason to your writing?

I write by the seat of my pants. A scene or situation or character comes to me and I start creating that scene and character and see what happens. I never know the ending of a story when I start it. I used to be upset when people would ask me how much of “Crazy About You” really happened. Then I realized that the writing created a reality for those readers. And that’s what I’m trying to do with words: create a reality.

I try to write by the seat of my pants, but I think I need a better belt. It never goes well for me. I need to plan; however, I do appreciate the creativity of others who can simply write.

What author(s) has most influenced your writing? Why or how?

image from S. Rufener, rufener@earthlink.net

Like my own writing, the taste in fiction is all over the map. Joseph Conrad was an early influencer. So was William Faulkner. Philip K Dick‘s science fiction grabbed me when I was in high school. I’ve read John D. MacDonald‘s Travis McGee series several times. Ditto, Adam Hall’s, Quiller series. Erich Remarque did some many other wonderful things than “All Quite on the Western Front.” Walker Percy, Evelyn Waugh, Robertson Davies and, of course, Elmore Leonard.

I think I’m detecting a theme here. Lots of crime fiction and thrillers here, but that’s great for influence and inspiration in your genres.

Whose brain are you just itching to scratch?

Joseph Conrad. We seem to know so little of what he was like as a person.

Nice choice and for good reason.

Who is so you and why?

I seem to connect deeply with many of Eric Remarque’s characters.

Fair enough. We can’t all always identify with just one person or character, but I can understand relating to many.

What’s your ideal reading spot for your next highly anticipated read?

from Goodreads

Outside when the weather is nice. Right now I’m reading Camp Concentration by Thomas Disch, which I’ve had on my shelf for decades and just reading. It’s brilliant.

I also enjoy reading outside though I hardly get to do it.

What was your favorite book or story, pre-teen years?

The Black Stallion series. I liked the character and set up and looked forward to the next tale. I’ve only tried to do one series, the Phillip McGuire series and found out how difficult it is to achieve.

I tried to read this book as a child, but had no luck. I never seemed to warm to books about animals, mainly horses, but I don’t mind to watch the film versions. I’m sure it’s all psychological.

There is more fun and insights to this interview, visit the Eternal Curse Series Blog for the full experience. For more information about this author, Randy Attwood, please visit the links below.

Blog: Attwood Collected Works

GoodReads: Randy Attwood

Facebook: Randy Attwood

Twitter: @AttwoodRandy

LinkedIn: Randy Attwood

Purchase links for “Crazy About You”: Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes and Noble | Apple

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Filed under: Interviews Tagged: asylum, author, biography, book, Crazy About You, crime, fiction, life, mental health, movies, music, promotion, Randy Attwood, reading, thriller, Toi Thomas, writing

Friday Forecast : 05/23/14

Highlighting interviewees, guest posters, my standard weekly posts, and whatever else I can think of, going into the next week.

So, here what’s happening next week:

Sample Sunday

My Geekdom followed by the first feature of the Bruce Jenvey spotlight

Character Files

Cinder Review followed by the second feature of the Bruce Jenvey spotlight

WIP Update

Friday Forecast followed by the last feature of the Bruce Jenvey spotlight

Weekly Recap and possibly another Adventures in Blogging Post.

–

Today, please enjoy my interview with author, Randy Attwood.

No Adventures in Blogging tomorrow.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: author, blogging, interviews, life, reviews, sneak peak, try this, writing

A Day in My Life: May ’14: Rubber Ducky

You may or may not find this surprising, but as a writer I’ve never been much of a journaler (I like making up words). I’ve always kept writing, sketching, and poetry notebooks, but I’ve never really liked writing about myself. This monthly post is my attempt at rectifying that and is an opportunity for me to get a little personal, as I share a single event from my life.

******************************************************************************

May 2014 – Rubber Ducky You’re the One…

So the month of May has been a little stressful, but I can’t complain too much. It’s not like it’s Birthday month or anything like that (that’s what I call June). Anyway, I haven’t done a whole lot simply because I’ve been tired and taking advantage of the fact that I’m no longer working extra odd/long hours at my day job. One cool thing did occur recently even though I was slightly traumatized by it in the beginning.

I went to the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA to see a giant rubber ducky (that’s right people, don’t be afraid to sing along). On my way to see Florentijn Hofman’s Rubber Duck, I experienced my usual apprehension…I don’t like crowds. They make me cry, and sweat, and shake all over, but I barreled through with the help of my devoted husband.

  

Even after making it out among the crowd and taking my picture with the duck, I was still fidgety, but my husband would have none of it. He rushed me into the museum building (in case you didn’t know- crowds in a confined space is worse than the ones out in the open) to see the new glass exhibit. It really was an astonishingly beautiful exhibit, but I don’t think I truly appreciated it until after we left the crowd and I could reflect on everything I saw.

All in all, it was a very nice day and I managed not to cry, even though I wanted to a few times. I actually had fun. However, it will be awhile before I go to another fee exhibit viewing (Didn’t I mention it was free that day? That’s why the placed was swamped more than usual.)

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Filed under: Listography-Top5-MyLife Tagged: anxiety, art exhibit, biography, Chrysler Museum, crowds, family, glass, life, rubber duck, social interaction, Toi Thomas, tradition

Blogdom Apr. 23-May 21, ’14

Oh boy, do I have loads to share from my Blogdom (my personal realm of the Blogosphere)!

You may want to bookmark this and come back to it a few times. Good stuff here.

(Apr.23-May 21, 2014)

Book Reviews

-From Tynga’s Reviews, Peacemaker by Marianne De Pierres

-From On Starships and Dragonwings, In the Shadows by Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo

-From Blogging for a Good Book, The light, by D. J. MacHale

-From MyBookAddictionReviews, COMETS by Clive Algar

-From BIBLIOBETH, DANGEROUS GIRLS – ABIGAIL HAAS

-From BIBLIOBETH, BETH AND CHRISSI DO KID-LIT … THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW BY C.S. LEWIS

-From Blogging for a Good Book, Dark Enough to See the Stars in a Jamestown Sky, by Connie Lapallo

-From Blogging for a Good Book, Far Far Away, by Tom McNeal

-From Fiona’s Book Reviews, Miracle Man by William R. Leibowitz

-From BIBLIOBETH, THE ROSIE PROJECT – GRAEME SIMSION

-From Authors to Watch, Few Are Chosen: Book Review

-From The Hungry Monster Book Review, Under the Amoral Bridge by Gary Ballard

- From Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy…, ARC Review: Renegade by Debra Driza (& Happy Mother’s Day)

-From Jemima Pett, Blog Tour & Giveaway: Four Fiends by Nikki Bennett

- From The New York Times, Kai Bird’s ‘The Good Spy’ Portrays Robert Ames

Interviews

- From Paranormal Reads, Interview with Author Lavinia Urban

-From Brummet’s Conscious Blog, Christopher L. Hedges

- From Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy…, Renegade by Debra Driza

- From Christian Book Review Blog, The Short Life of Moths by Sharon Bernash Smith

-From BookMarketingBuzzBlog, Interview with AudioFile Publisher Michele Cobb

Book Trailers

-From Chronicle Books, THE FALCONER – By Elizabeth May – Welcome to Edinburgh!

-From Abrams Books, The Monkey Goes Bananas

-From Abrams Books, Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy

- From Hachette Book Group, THE STRING DIARIES by Stephen Lloyd Jones

- From torforge, The Kraken Project by Douglas Preston

Short Stories & Excerpts & Poems

-From countingducks, A Surprising Meal And A Moment of Terror

-From Tricia Drammeh, Loved No More

Writing

-From Insecure Writer’s Support Group, X is for X-FACTOR

-From adoptingjames, So You Wanna Write Part 8: Knowing When to Stop

-From Creative Writing with the Crimson League, 4 Reasons Authors Shouldn’t Edit While they Write

-From Green Wizard Publishing, Handling Negative Reviews

-From Live Write Thrive, Theme—What’s at the Heart of Your Story

-From Craig Lumen, How to create unforgettable characters: the Protagonist (screenplays)

-From The Wizard’s Cauldron, Top children’s Author Ngaire Elder Talks Audiobooks

-From Tricia Drammeh, The Plague of Independent Publishers (publishing)

Marketing

-From BookMarketingBuzzBlog, Good Girls Don’t Get Media Coverage

-From Alana Munro, Promoting your blog with Google+

-From Buffer, The Social Media Frequency Guide: How Often to Post to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn And More (not just for Buffer users)

-From ALLi, Penguin’s Author Solutions Still The Worst Self-Publishing Choice (publishing)

-From BookMarketingBuzzBlog, Can You Find Someone To Sell Your Book To Out Of These 600+ Groups?

News

-From WordPress.tv, Introducing WordPress 3.9 “Smith”

-From Digital Book World, Goodreads Launches Add Amazon Books Feature

-From Shelf Awareness, First California Bookstore Day a Rousing Success

Movie Reviews, Trailers, & More

-From Derrick Ferguson, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

-From SHANNON A THOMPSON, My Interview with David Congalton, writer of “Authors Anonymous”

-From Derrick Ferguson, BRICK MANSIONS

-From hollywoodstreams, ‘The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz’

-From Sunset Boulevard, A Master of Music: 8 Great Scores From Henry Mancini

-From hollywoodstreams, ‘The Giver’ Trailer (the comments are worth perusing)

-From ScreenRant, ‘Gotham’ Behind-the-Scenes Trailer: There Will Be Light (TV)

-From Jack Flacco, Kara (from Dragonheart)

-From AOL Originals via inspirationenergy, That’s Racist with Mike Epps | Sneak Peek

-From MOVIECLIPS Trailers, The Hundred-Foot Journey Official Trailer #1 (2014)

-From MOVIECLIPS Trailers, Wish I Was Here Official Trailer #1 (2014)

Entertainment

-From Godvine, These Hilarious Grannies Are About to Fly Away With It!

-From INTERESTINGLITERATURE, The First Gothic Novel

-From etinkerbell, Love Game

-From The Fashion Medley, Geo Challenge

-From THE TOP 10 OF ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING!!!, BEST TAKE ONE (TEAR-OFF) PAPER STREET FLYERS

-From inspirationenergy, Mom 2.0 Summit

-From papergong, Please Use This Song

-From Gary Turk, Look Up

-From Alana Munro, Guest Post: 5 Ways to Develop Positive Thoughts

-From Tricia Drammeh, Top Ten Things We Shouldn’t Say to Our Children

-From papergong, I Feel Good

-From A Stairway to Fashion, for a good cause – shopbob and born free africa charity project

By including links to these articles, reviews, interviews, etc…I am not endorsing the opinions of these bloggers and writers, but am simply sharing the highlights of my blog reading experience.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Filed under: WWWWednesday-Blogdom Tagged: blog roll, blogging, books, interviews, links, movies, news, reviews, Toi's Blogdom, trailers, try this, writing

Character Files from the ToiBox 59: Paul-Preferences

Subject FM 4-Paul

Favorite Color: yellow

Favorite Food: unknown

Favorite Book or Movie: Peter Pan

Favorite Music: jazz and classical, sometimes pop

Favorite Pastime: writing

Other: A little clumsy, but charming. He likes to read and watch movies, and usually writes about it later.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Filed under: Character Files, Full Moon Tagged: #thetoiboxofwords, character, contemporary fiction, cultural study, drama, family, fiction, friends, It's Like the Full Moon, Paul, preferences, profile, romance, Toi Thomas

Crane Goodreads Book Giveaway! via @Rourkewrites #YAfiction

I’m so excited I just can’t hide it! :D

Lame, I know, but I don’t care.

Stacey Rourke has kept me on the edge of my seat with suspense and laughter all through her Gryphon Series (hint hint ;) wink wink) and now, Crane, is one week away from release. I’ve added a digital copy to my library over at Smashwords.com as I await the release, but that didn’t keep me from entering the Goodreads.com giveaway for a chance to win a print copy.

Oh, ooo ooo ooo! I almost forget to tell you about the Facebook party.

This is going to be epic…you should totally tag along?

Check out Rourke’s, Diary of a Semi-Crazy Author, blog to read an excerpt and enter for a chance to win your copy of Crane!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Filed under: BlogHop-Promo Tagged: book, book release, Crane, ebook, excerpt, Facebook, fiction, giveaway, goodreads, humor, legends, New Adult, party, sample, Sleepy Hollow, Stacey Rourke, The Gryphon Series, YA

Mira’s Closet: 5/19/14

Mira’s no fashionista, but she definitely has her own sense of style…

And now here’s an update on just that.

First an observation: I don’t like pink, on me. I actually think pink is a very pretty color; I’m just not a very pink kind of girl. Usually when I say that I get the feeling people expect me to wear all black or denim overalls. BTW- I look awesome in black and I adore my overalls, but that’s not the point. I also happen to look good in yellow, all shades and hues of blue, brown, red, purple, and occasionally green. Have I worn pink before? Yes. Will I wear it again? Maybe if it’s for a good cause (hint hint wink wink ;) ) I simply prefer to wear colors I feel comfortable in on a daily basis. That’s just one part of my personal style statement. How about you?

Now here are some style tips/clips from

Click to see more.

my own personal fashion guru, trainer, and my physical inspiration for Mira.

 

Daily Dish: Vania’s Baby Reveal

I hope you enjoyed this. Also check out Tori’s new EBoutique: December 10.

For more on style and fashion check out:

Celebrity Trends at WhoWhatWear: http://www.whowhatwear.com/

Fashion Medley: http://thefashionmedley.com/ (content advisory)

A Beautiful Mess: http://www.abeautifulmess.com/

My Style Pinboard: http://pinterest.com/toinette_thomas/my-style/

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Filed under: Mira's Closet Tagged: accessorizing, culture, Daily Dish, Eternal Curse, fashion, Fashionplate, life, links, pink, style statment, Toi Thomas, Tori J. Jones, try this

Sample Sunday 44

Here is approximately 100 – 150 words from a randomly selected original piece for your enjoyment. These samples can include excerpts from my all my WIPs and my Eternal Curse Series, but only as works in progress (not the final products). These samples of published and unpublished works are protected under the U.S. Copyright agreement.

Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel chapter 5.5 (wip)

Back in her suite, Mira had already completely disrobed to get into the shower. She wrapped an oversized towel around her as she turned on the hot water. Mira always did enjoy a hot shower. Her towel fell to the floor as she stepped into the steamy, flowing water and let it rush over her body, even her hair.

This was her sacred private time to think and say all that she wouldn’t dare at any other time. Mira could, at this time, reach a level of concentration and relaxation that allowed her to intensely feel the therapeutic sensation of each individual droplet of water, rushing down over her face, down to her neck, and then dispersing all over her body. She thought about all that had happened so far, and even though she was very skeptical and even more confused by it all, she was happy to be there. Mira was glad she had taken the risk and made the trip.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Filed under: EC: Giovanni's Angel, Samples Tagged: angels, demons, Eternal Curse, family, fiction, Giovanni's Angel, reading, romance, sample excerpt, shape-shifting, spec-fic, Toi Thomas, war, wip