Author: Toi Thomas

Author and illustrator of children's books, as well as clean adult fiction and nonfiction. Toi is a geek-girl blogger, vlogger, reviewer, and advocate for a healthy reading lifestyle. She finds comfort in faith, family, and creative expression. Toi believes in the dream of world harmony and hopes all your dreams come true.

Categories
Character Files EC: B Files EC: Battleground

Character Files from the ToiBox 22: Sheldon- Bio

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nomaleBiography:  Subject EC:B 2-Sheldon

Sheldon is the product of ignorance and deceit. His birth was planned by both his father and his mother, but since they never actually met, it makes sense that their plans for the child clashed tremendously leaving everyone involved dissatisfied.

When Sheldon was born his mother thought he was dead or disfigured and so took her own life. He was left to be raised by strangers, but strangers who decided he deserved a better fate than what was planned for him.

Sheldon became a warrior for the righteous at a very young age and, ironically (explained in the book), never knew what it was to have a childhood until he met his new family. When Sheldon first met his adoptive family it was all business; he was to protect Mira on a mission. Years later Sheldon would find himself welcomed into a strange home that existed in both the world of reality and the illusion of a human only existence.

In Sheldon’s new home, for the first time, he would have a father, a mother, a sister, and become acquainted with humans who didn’t fear him.

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

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Author Insights

Author Insights 07: Ways to Follow

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Email is the best way for me to follow a blog, because it reminds me that I’m even following a certain blog and when I’m not in the mood, I simply delete the message or come back to it later.

WordPress is a community of bloggers and blog followers, and the follow feature is built in, but you can still customize it. If it’s a blog I know I really don’t want to miss, I’ll set up a daily or weekly digest for my email. Other than that, I make a point to visit the WordPress Reader a few times a week. WordPress is ideal because it lets you see who’s following you and others can see if you are following them.

Networked Blog is great if you’re already using it to follow other blogs. I also like it because I can see the people who are following me and they can see that I’m following them.

For Blogger, Google Friend connect does this also, but I find that it’s sometimes not the best way to follow to actually receive content. Again I can see who’s following me and they and see me.

Ah, Feedly. I heart Feedly. It has become my go to blog reader. Most blogs I follow, I actually follow twice, unless I do an email subscription. I try to follow as much as possible using Worpress, Networked Blogs, and Google Friend Connect, just so my little face is there smiling at my favorite bloggers, but I find that if I’m actually reading and commenting on that bloggers content, it’s because of Feedly. Feedly keeps me from having to go to all the above mentioned places to visit all the blogs I follow because they are all in one place.

Now, there’s Bloglovin. So, for once I’m really late on something I already knew about but didn’t realize. Let me explain. I follow a few fashion blogs. I got into the habit because of my sister Tori who loves fashion and is constantly teaching me a thing or two about it. I follow all my fashion blogs through Bloglovin and for some reason figured that’s all Bloglovin was for. How silly of me.

Sooooo, I guess I’ll be playing around with Bloglovin and Feedly to see which suits me best, but knowing me, I’ll probably end up using them both.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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 #cursescanbebroken

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Guest Posts

Book Review Etiquette by Paula Hrbacek

Authors can’t sell books without reviews.  Especially now that a lot of authors are going the self-published route, book reviews are crucial elements that authors seek and crave.  Well, good reviews are craved.

Recently, there has been a trend for readers to post reviews before they have even read the book.

“A fellow author recently received the following ONE star review: I did not read it I just downloaded it,” says Raebeth Buda, author of ‘Silenced’ and host of the Writing World web site.  “Last year I also got a ONE star review that said, “I haven’t read it yet, I will leave a review when I do” They have yet to review it. That star has been sitting there hurting my rating ever since. And with only 10 ratings on that particular site, it hurts LOT.”

It hurts the author because most book review sites give an average star rating, figuring all the reviews into one score.  It’s like getting straight A’s all semester, and then getting one F that pulls your grade average down to a C.

“It seems like common sense, but I think more people need to be aware of how much needless one star reviews can hurt. It’s great you bought the book, it’s great you intend to review it. But leaving a one star “placeholder” hurts the author much more than leaving no review at all.” Buda says.

Stars on a book review are pretty much equal to the five point grading system used in schools.  A five star rating is the same as an A on an essay.  It means you thoroughly enjoyed the book.  Four stars means the book was enjoyable, but had a few faults.  A three star rating means the book barely passed.  Anything below three stars warns other readers to pass the book by and buy something else.  A one star rating means the author should not have published the book in the first place.

When writing a review for a book, the reader should give a summary of the story to let the next reader know what the subject of the book is about.  It also lets the reader know that the reviewer did in fact read the book.  It should then point out the book’s virtues and weaknesses.  Is it well paced?  Does the plot make sense?  Are the clues foreshadowed, or does the answer appear out of nowhere?  Are the characters believable and likeable?  Is it well researched?

The conclusion of the review then gives an overall reaction to the book: it was a pleasant read, it was a page turner, I couldn’t put it down, I highly recommend the book, I can’t wait for the next one.  The conclusion of the review should not be what is called a “spoiler”: the butler did it.  It’s acceptable to say that the ending was surprising, but not to say what the surprise actually was.

So, please, write your reviews, but follow the rules and format of a good review.  Even if your opinion is bad, every review posted should be good in quality, helpful to other readers, and a true reflection of the reader’s opinions.

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Paula Hrbacek is the author of five books including: Stars Shine After Dark, a sweet Christian romance, available in paperback, Kindle and Nook, and Day Camp in Hawaii, a complete program guide for summer camp or summer school, available in paperback, Nook and Kindle.  For more information see http://paulahrbacek.weebly.com or her author page at https://www.amazon.com/author/paulahrbacek. She also writes two columns for The Examiner, a free online newspaper; Children’s Arts and Crafts, and Book Reviews.

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