Tag: tea

Categories
Blessings

Count Your Blessings 23: Tea

blessings

Tea

I’m not much into vices, but I do like tea. I’m sensitive to caffeine so I must be cautious about what type I’m drinking and how often. There are many benefits to drinking tea, but when you enjoy the flavor, none of that really matters.

I sometimes go beyond enjoying the flavor. I enjoy the process and the presentation of having a cup of tea: selecting the type, deciding on additives, choosing a cup, choosing how to brew it, letting it steep, deciding what type if any sweetener, and more. Even when I’m in the rear mood for iced tea, I make it meticulously. I even have a monthly meme I write on this blog where I sit down with a topic and sip tea as I write about it. Then when I post what I’ve written, I share a Pinterest image related to tea.

I’m blessed to live in a world with so many varieties of tea, and while it doesn’t have the seemingly magical powers that music has, tea does tend to connect tea drinkers (same goes for coffee drinkers) across racial, cultural, religious, and even national borders…I like tea.

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

Categories
Full Moon Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 21: Italy

teaNtalk

Today I’m sharing a picture of “biscottea” by stephsus I posted on my tea pin board.

Please do not copy this image. Click image to share on Pinterest.

Today in my meditation I’m thinking about Full Moon and I’m writing about: Why Italy?

I have never been to Italy, but I’d love to visit one day. I have friends and family who’ve been, even my husband has been at least twice before we started dating. The main reason, however, that I write about Italy in It’s Like the Full Moon, is because of the movies that helped inspire the story. Two of the three movies that inspired the plot of It’s Like the Full Moon are connected to Italy in some capacity.

There are many places that are known for romance if you go at the right time. Paris, New York, Las Vegas, The British Isles, and more, but it seems the whole country of Italy is connected to romance. Of course, I’m exaggerating and embellishing a bit, but you get the idea. You don’t typically have to mention a specific city or town in Italy for people feel romantic at the mention of a trip there. Some places you go to for adventure, some places are for site seeing, and some places are for good food, but Italy is all that and more all wrapped up in romance…At least it is in my head.

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

Categories
EC: Giovanni's Angel Full Moon Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 20: The Race Thing

teaNtalk

Today I’m sharing a picture of “make tea not war” with a bird that I posted on my tea pin board.

Please do not copy this image. Click image to share on Pinterest.

Today in my meditation I’m thinking about Eternal Curse and Full Moon, and I’m writing about: Why the race thing?

My work isn’t that culturally diverse in comparison to works that aim for cultural diversity, but I do mix races and cultures a tiny bit sometimes. I can still remember one reviewer being shocked to learn that Mira, from Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel, was black. Apparently I revealed her race in a very dramatic kind of way. In actuality, I just think most people have preconceived ideas about how black/ethnic characters should be written.

In my mind, I was simply providing a reveal between characters who’d gotten to know each other online without ever wasting time talking about the color of their skin because so many other matters were much more important. In any case, I’ve made some changes to the chapter structure of that book, which should tone down the “race reveal”, since that’s not the point of that scene.

Now in my first attempt at a contemporary romance, I’ve included one black character who plays a supporting role to my white main character. Some people have asked why am I writing about white people. The truth is that race is never brought up as an issue in this story. I wrote the story based on the way the inspiration came to me. The story is not about race. It’s about all the crazy things that happen in the pursuit of love, but I’m sure someone will be fixated on the one black character for whatever reason because that’s how it always goes.

I’m still fairly new to this whole writing thing and even though I have so many other stories to share and so many other characters to create, some people will complain that I’m not culturally diverse enough, that I’m not black enough, that I’m too edgy, that I’m too PC, that I’m not PC enough, and so on. So, since I know it’s coming, I’m already prepared to simply ignore it all and keep on writing.

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