Toi Thomas's Blog, page 94

How Indie Publishing Compares to the Indie Music Scene by Jessica Bell

This article hit me where it counts. I adore music and writing, so I get this. I would normally share a link to such an article and hope someone would take the time to stroll over and read it, but this deserves more attention. This is essentially a reblog from one of my favorite industry specific blogs, The Alliance of Independent Authors blog.

Look at what this multitalented author and musician has to stay about indies.

“Independent artists are everywhere now. And authors don’t self-publish because they’re too lazy to go through the slog of submitting queries to agents, or editing their manuscripts properly, or simply out of impatience to see their work in print, just like independent musicians aren’t too lazy to find a record deal. They simply have a different sound. Or they don’t want to be told by a record label what they should and shouldn’t record.” –Jessica Bell

From the Alliance of Independent Authors blog, Opinion: How Indie Publishing Compares to the Indie Music Scene; published October 29, 2013.

If you have the time, please take a look at the full article (linked above) to see and understand the comparison. I have felt this way about indie publishing for some time now, but it is always good to see one’s own opinion validated and agreed with by someone else of status, importance, or influence.

Now, if only the consumer masses could get a hold of this idea and make it go viral, then the publishing industry really would be changed forever and for the better.

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: comparison, indie, indie music vs indie pub, music, publishing, self-published, try this

Review 19: Childhood’s End

Childhood’s End by Author C. Clarke

I give this book a 5.

This is a wonderful book I wish I’d read sooner. Everything I’ve always known and loved about alien invasion plots seems to have been influenced by this book in one way or another.

The book starts out by describing the harmless, but startling invasion of the Overlords. Within very little time, the soft-spoken, and at that point, never seen Overlords have rid the world of war and violence and made it subtly clear that they plan to stick around for a very long while. Of course people being people constantly wonder and question the motives of the Overlords, but since no lives are being taken, peace abounds around the land.

Generations go by before the Overlords present themselves to the public, for good reasons that are clearly explained in the book. After that the earth begins to reach its almost utopian pinnacle.  The one and only thing that really seems to be lacking in this new perfect world is the desire and or opportunity to explore new things. So of course there is one man who decides to tackle this deficiency, with unexpected results.

More and more generations come and go until such a time that man has begun to evolve. Finally the Overlords are ready to reveal their true purpose, but by that time, it doesn’t really matter anymore. There’s something more in store for the fate of the earth.

Wow, is the first thing that comes to mind each and every time I think of this book. The most riveting notion throughout this book is the sense of the unknown. Every time one thing is explained and all is well, there’s something else to keep you guessing. The story comes to a very clear and compelling end, but even then you are left wondering, and not because the author didn’t feel like filling the reader in. There are some things in this world that we just cannot understand. We can either accept them and move on with our lives, or we can let our desire to know destroy us.

While children and even some teens may not understand all the themes and scope of this story, I would recommend it to anyone. Sci-fi fans are sure to love this story, but anyone who’s ever been plagued by wanting to know more will appreciate this book.

This review has been posted to GoodReads.

If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try these links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble.

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: Reviews Tagged: "the system", aliens, books, cultural study, demons, drama, ebook, fiction, future, humanity, life, peace, reviews, sci-fi, space travel, spec-fic, terminology, war

Character Files from the ToiBox 33: Giovanni- Psych Test

Rorschach Test

This is not a real Rorschach test , but simply a fun little additive to the whole character profile motif.

Subject EC:GA 3-Giovanni describe test image #1 as:

Himself, the monster within that struggles to get out.

Subject appears to suffer from a paranoid delusion. He’s thinks he’s a monster, but is very adamant that he’d rather be a hero. The conviction this subject exudes almost makes one wonder if he knows something the rest of us don’t. Threat level undetermined.

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, EC: Giovanni's Angel Tagged: angels, blessings, character, cultural study, demons, fiction, profile, shape-shifting, spec-fic

Mira’s Closet: 10/28/13

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: Some people seem to think there is a line draw between fashion and literature, as though to combine the two would be a big stretch. I completely disagree with this notion. Just like the costumes in a play and the wardrobe and make-up of a movie cast makes a big difference in production quality, fashion has a place in literature. You would never image Sherlock Holmes wearing a graphic-T and a pair of jeans… and why do you think that is? Or maybe, can you image Alice wearing  a studded bra and stiletto hills as she tumbles down the rabbit hole, but lets face it, that’s not exactly the classic tale you’re thinking of…I leave the rest to you to think about.

Now here are some style tips from

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

From Looks of 2012

images provided by Tori Jones

If you like this, be sure to stop by Tori’s Fashionplate to see what else she has to share and don’t be afraid to leave comments and ask questions. Also check out her 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, fashion, life, links, try this

Sample Sunday 18

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 3 (wip)

Mira and I began to seek out others that might know of someone or even be someone like me, though we really didn’t know where to begin. We set up an anonymous inbox account so we’d be able to communicate with people all over the world, without the fear of revealing Sinclair Manor or ourselves. With the addition of very expensive and exclusive network protection, keeping our anonymity was the least of our worries.

For months, we dealt with psychotic and delusional ranting from all sorts of people who’d been hurt, were grieving, or were misguided throughout their lives. There were just so many lost people out there wanting to be found, and so many who didn’t care by who or by what. It was almost sad seeing the hopelessness of the world from a vantage point I’d never previously recognized- the hurting and misguided masses of ordinary everyday people, the same people I once and sometimes still envy.

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, family, fiction, spec-fic, war, wip

Adventures in Blogging: 1- Introduction

When I sat down to write this article I thought it would be pretty cut and dry…Thus begins my first Adventure in Blogging post. I must rethink my original plan for this post and break it up into two pieces. This first piece will be an introduction, and next week I’ll finally post what I thought I would post today: Types of Blogs vs. What I Read.

As my first article in what I hope becomes a long running series, I’d like to lay a few things out the table. This may or may not be news to anyone reading this post, but I have my reasons for taking the time to make my next follow-up statement. I am making this statement as a means to clear my mind and have a realistic outlook of what I’m doing here in the blogosphere.

Most people, the average citizens of most nations, do not read blogs. Reading isn’t a big deal to most people, at least not in terms that is it apart of their daily routine and everyday life. People who have a strong interest in a particular subject or medium tend to look toward blogs as a means of information and connection to that subject and its community of followers. Most people are content to watch TV or surf the web for Youtube and Vimeo videos to fulfill their entertainment needs and informational itches.

Luckily for me I don’t write my blog for those people. Granted, if any of them should stumble upon my blog, I feel confident that they would find something here they would like. I write my blog for three reasons:

1. Me, myself, and I- I like writing and having an opportunity to share ideas and make connections, but mostly I just like to write.

2. I have an opportunity to promote books and reading and refuse to let it pass away.

3. I write my blog for all the book lovers, writers, authors, bloggers, book nerds, and any others immersed in some way with the book publishing industry.

So, next time around I’ll be breaking down the types of blogs out there from my own personal point of view.

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: AdventuresNBlogging Tagged: author, blogging, books, information, reading, sharing, writing

ToiBox Blog Weekly Recap 10/26/13

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

I started out the week with Sample Sunday 17- Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel; chapter 4.1

On Monday I wished a Happy Birthday to myself.

I posted my Listography of Spaces I lived in.

Then Paula Hrbacek stopped by to share her review of Marketing Your Book on a Budget.

On Tuesday, I added to my character files the results of Bletsian’s Rorschach Test.

On Wednesday, I posted my monthly Blogdom post, with so much to share.

On Thursday, I posted a comical Count Your Blessings with a very subtle hidden message…

And yesterday, I posted my first ever Friday Forecast.

Later today, I’ll be posting my first article in my new series, Adventures in Blogging. In case you didn’t know, I’ll be posting my first full length ToiBox exclusive interview, on Friday November 1, with author and editor, Rob Bignell.

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

Friday Forecast : 10/25/13

I’m trying out two new posts, so bear with me.

Friday Forecast- I’ll be highlighting some of the interviewees and guest posters I’ll be expecting to stop by next week. I’ll be mentioning what to look forward to in my standard weekly posts, and I’ll also be sharing a few personal matters or things that I’m looking forward to. Last, but not least, I’ll be including a book review (when applicable). Not that my book reviews are so special or that I’m just overflowing with them, but I thought that only presenting one review a month, was lacking…I mean this is a blog about authors, life, the publishing industry, blogging, entertainment, and books.

Saturday- I’ll be posing an article in a new series I’m starting entitled, Adventures in Blogging. If ever I guest post one of these articles, I’ll be sure to include the link so no one misses out. I’ll also be posting links from older posts you may not have seen.

So, here what’s happening next week:

Sample Sunday

Mira’s Closet- Is there a place for fashion in literature?

Character Files

Review: Childhood’s End, a rating of 5

A Day in My Life- a birthday celebration

Interview with Rob Bignell, and editor and writer with so much to share

Adventures in Blogging- Types of Blogs vs. What I Read

–

I’m looking forward to starting my new series, Adventure in Blogging. I can’t promise that I’ll post on the topic every week, but there will be loads for me to share.

On a personal note, I have stacks of comic books I’ve been neglecting and a virtual stack of books that need to be reviewed. I’ll do my best to get through both of those this week and hopefully by next week end.

I started watching the new season of Once Upon a Time, and while it’s not a bad show, I find that I have no patience for TV anymore. Between writing, blogging, reading, and the convenience of Netflix, TV is almost none existent to me.  I’ll catch up on that show and many others later. I’m taking my time going through season 8 of Supernatural because that was the next season for me to watch before I started phasing out TV, and it just so happened to appear on My List a few weeks ago.

The last movie I saw on the big screen was Man of Steel…I think. It’s been so long since I went to see a movie in the theater that I think it’s about time. What’s out right now or coming out soon?

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

Count Your Blessings 05

Gravity

I’m really not trying to be silly here, but there are several reasons why I’m grateful for gravity. I’ve seen Wall-E and zero gravity isn’t good for my weight (LOL, I am being silly here, a little). Seriously, I thought that the idea of weightless was so cool and still do, but only on a temporary basis.

It would be quite difficult to maintain the human way of life without gravity. We would be constantly concerned with ways to keep ourselves tethered to the ground. I can’t even imagine what would happen to the Fruitarians if nothing ever fell from the trees (being silly again, but not really).

Gravity is a blessing because it keeps us grounded in more ways than one.

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: Blessings Tagged: blessings, gratitude, gravity, life

Blogdom Sept. 25-Oct. 23 ’13

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.

(Sept.25-Oct.23, 2013)

Book Reviews

-From Obsession with Books, Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas

-From Tynga’s Reviews, Charming by Elliott James

-From MYRIAD SPHERES, New Release! A DIFFICULT MIRROR by Benjamin X. Wretlind

-From Blogging for a Good Book, The Earth Moved, by Amy Stewart

-From BIBLIOBETH, Ballistics – D.W. Wilson

-From BIBLIOBETH, The Cuckoo’s Calling – Robert Galbraith

-From Jocelyn Sanchez, Mist on the Meadow

-From On Starships and Dragonwings, Seven Forges by James A. Moore eARC {3 Stars}

-From Typing Tiara, Soulbound [Legacy of Tril #1]

-From Aleksandra’s Corner, “Sealed with a Curse” by Cecy Robson

-From Book Passion for Life, Black City (Black City #1) by Elizabeth Richards

-From Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy, ARC Review: Realm Walker by Kathleen Collins

-From Lynda R. Young, Out of Control

Interviews

-From Authors to Watch, Lion’s Head Deception Blog Tour

-From Under the Tiki Hut, Alex the Great AND Follow Fest!

- From Authors to Watch, Catherine Astolfo

- From Mad Days of Me, Tricia Drammeh

- From Authors to Watch, Bette A. Stevens

-From JeanzBookReadNReview, AUTHOR INTERVIEW – ELISA NADER

-From 4covert2over, ENJOY THE POST AND MUSIC FOR ~REALITY by DANI HART ~ BLOG TOUR

-From The Writing Nut, Wednesday Writer’s Workspace Welcomes Alex J.Cavanaugh

-From Authors to Watch, Interview with Jamallah Bergman

Book Trailers

-From Hachette Book Group, MELT by Stephanie Stiavetti and Garrett McCord

-From Rhpubgroup, JIM HENSON: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones

-From WritersRoomProject, THE GOOD SISTER Book Trailer

-From Penguin Books USA, Diary of Edward the Hamster 1990-1990, Miriam and Ezra Elia

-From Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, How to Catch A Bogle by Catherine Jinks with illustrations by Sarah Watts

-From Abrams Books, The Wes Anderson Collection Book Trailer

-From Alyscia Cunningham via VBT Café, Feminine Transitions

-From Chronicle Books, Ten Thousand Stories

Writing

-From Lynda R. Young, Why Bad Reviews Don’t Bother Me and Shouldn’t Bother You

- From BookMarketingBuzzBlog, Don’t Send Me Your S.A.S.E

-From Kristen Lamb’s Blog, Why Writing Horror Is–SHOULD BE–Hard Part 1

-From Creative Writing with the Crimson League, Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Two Kinds of Suspense All Authors Should Be Aware Of

-From ALLi, How to Write an Effective Blurb for a Self-Published Book

-From ALLi, Put The Author At The Centre, Not The Publisher.

Blogging

- From The Daily Post, Taking Sides: The Tailor-Made Sidebar

Marketing

-From BookMarketingBuzzBlog, Avoid These 20 Social Media Screw-Ups

- From Digital Book World, The Truth About Author Websites

-From Meghan Ward’s Writerland, Transmedia Storytelling: A Guide for Authors

News

-From On Starships and Dragonwings, Goodbye Goodreads (opinion based article, good for thought and or discussion)

-From Review Books and More, First Amendment Rights / Writes! Banned Book Week

-From The Alliance of Independent Authors, Watchdog Warning: New Self-Publishing Resource from Writer’s & Artists

-From Publishers Weekly, Madefire Secures $5.2M in Funding

-From Bookaholics, London YA Lit convention announced!

-From Inspirationenergy, International Day of the Girl, October 11th: 10×10 Campaign For Girls Education

-From Kim Talks Books, Congratulations, Alice Munro

-From The Salt (NPR) via Shelfawarness, Catcher In The Fry? McDonald’s Happy Meals With A Side Of Books

Movie Reviews, Trailers, & More

-From Sincerely Truman via Alex J. Cavanaugh, 4 Rules to Make Star Wars Great Again

-From The Artificial Selection Project, Laugh At The Apocalypse. (Flash Review)

Entertainment

-From The Beautiful Room, Are you a book snob?

-From Bex ‘n’ Books, Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Stacey Rourke Gryphon Series (Content Advisory for this blog, but this post is fine.)

-From Zetta’s House of Random Thoughts, “The Face” on Oxygen – Slap me and give me some air.

-From Romance That Rocks Your World!, Sweet Child O’ Mine

-From Inspirationenergy, 30 Dr. Seuss Quotes That Can Change Your Life

-From The Middlest Sister, The Paperboy

-From PowerfulJRE, Everlast – Jump Around (Acoustic) (from JRE #387) (content advisory due to language)

-From TheWannaBeSaint, Getting Clean & Playing Jenga

-From Daily Dose of Gratitude, My mother’s Emmy Award winning moment

-From Dave Wainscott, “I love Jesus, but I drink a little..”

-From 4covert2overt, ART by CHERYL JOHNSON

-From Socialphy via Amy Lynn Andrews, Top 100 Photos of the Year 2012

-From The Beautiful Room, Which fictional character would you like to be?

-From RainfallFilms, Wonder Woman // a short by Rainfall Films

-From A Curious Gal, LITTLE MOLLY MEYER

-From AUDIO SEXXX, EARGAMS OF THE DAY – Odds are…you’ll like this too

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: Memes Tagged: blog roll, blogging, books, interviews, links, movies, news, reviews, trailers, try this, writing