Categories
Holiday

Joy to the World!

Christmas is just one day in a season full of celebrations and reflections. While it’s the most important day of the season for me, I’m glad that we have a whole season to re-evaluate, celebrate, and spread love no matter a person’s faith or lack thereof. I look forward to the holiday season every year. I know it is a sad and stressful time for many, but for me, it’s the calm after the storm and the promise of a new season, a new day, and new opportunities.

This year, and holiday season, has been unlike any other. While my Christmas celebration was virtual, it was no less a blessing. We were still able to sing happy birthday to Jesus, at midnight, even though we weren’t together to hug and kiss. I wish everyone love and joy throughout the season and into the new year.

Joy to the world.

Happy Holidays.

Merry Christmas.

Categories
About Toi Holiday

2020 Means Clear Vision

Happy New Years Around the World

Every time I hear someone say 2020, instead of two thousand twenty, I think of eyesight. I haven’t had 20:20 vision for quite a while, but I do feel like I have a pretty clear vision of what I want in the coming year.

First, let’s look back a bit. Yesterday (still going today) I spent most of the day catching up on the last WEP challenge entries. I went out of town for the holiday and wasn’t able to get good Internet service. I was able to access a few things on my iPad, but even that had limitations. So, the rest of this week is catch-up time and next week my New Year will truly begin.

In 2019, I really started to make strides in my efforts to host a book fair by getting my name and idea out there. I attended 3 author/vendor events and narrowed down my ideal venue to two locations. I will spend all of 2020 fundraising so that the 2021 event will be all that I hope.

Below is a breakdown of all that I read in 2019. Click here to see the Goodreads page that displays all the lovely book images and links or visit my Lit Carnivale blog to view it without going through Goodreads.

  • Novel length books = 28
    • Adult Fiction = 11
    • YA Fiction = 3
    • Middle grade = 8
    • Novella/Short Stories = 2
    • Nonfiction = 5
    • Anthology/Collections = 3
  • Graphic Novels = 18
    • Fiction = 15
    • Nonfiction = 3
    • Anthology/Collections = 2
  • Children’s/Picture Books = 25
    • Fiction = 23
    • Nonfiction = 2

In 2019, I also watched a lot a TV and Movies that I should have shared on my YouTube channel. In 2020, I’m going to do better about sharing things and not letting my lack of production value keep me from doing so.

Writing goals for 2020 include publishing a picture book about my dog, at least one short story collection, and hopefully a collaboration. I plan to keep submitting to anthologies and collecting rejection messages. I hope to complete the rewrite of my original paranormal series, though I seem to have hit a wall with it. Even if I complete the rewrite in 2020, the publication will still be a ways off.

Reading goals for 2020, 75 titles (includes nonfiction and fiction: novels, picture books, and graphic novels). I plan to share more of my book reviews than ever before. I also plan to read books written by authors from my local area as well as books by bloggers I’ve followed for some time. I will be sharing much of that experience over at my Lit Carnivale blog.

The last thing I plan to do in 2020, starting today, is going back to revive an old blog series called, Count My Blessings.

I don’t have the new graphic ready yet, but it’s coming. Today I am blessed to see a brand new year filled with new possibilities.

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