Tag: book club

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IWSG

#IWSG April 2021: Do you play it cool or take risks?

Let me start off by saying that I’m done with blogging and writing….
That’s just silly. I can’t even keep a straight face while trying to write this. I have no idea how people pull off decent April Fool’s pranks. So glad that’s over and done with. 😉

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Created and hosted by the Ninja himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writers Support Group posts the 1st Wednesday of every month. Click the image to learn more or sign up.

Optional Monthly Question: Are you a risk-taker when writing? Do you try something radically different in style/POV/etc. or add controversial topics to your work?

I feel like, for the most part, I’m a write what I know kind of writer, even when I’m writing fantasy, but there are times when I challenge myself. Sometimes those challenges can be risky. I once attempted a gender-neutral story- didn’t turn out too bad. I like playing around with POV but I’m not very good at it. I do think I have a knack for adding in darkness where it’s unexpected and mashing up genres in unique ways. But that’s just my perspective. I’d need more feedback from readers to really know.

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IWSG BOOK CLUB ON GOODREADS

March was a very slow reading month for me. I will be posting my book reviews on this blog later this month, but for now, I’m only halfway through The High Mountains of Portugal. I haven’t even started Deep Point of View, but I have a plan to catch up.

Discussion Day for both books will be May 26, 2021!

Please consider JOINing US for our next discussions.

Remember this post. Well, guess I’m a glutton for punishment. I’ve relaunched my newsletter but it’s very different from anything I’ve done in the past. Here’s the sign-up if you’re interested. It will focus on my love of reading. Here’s the message I sent to all my old subscribers.

Now, on to the personal updates.

I’ve been struggling to write a piece for the WEP April challenge. I’ve started it but can’t seem to finish it… And there it is, my insecurity. Not being able to finish a story I’ve started.

I actually have a lot more to share, but I think I’ll wait ‘til next month. I’m writing this post pretty late in the evening and feel I need to get my ideas more organized before sharing them with the world.

For anyone who was curious, I enjoyed my time with LitCon last month. You can watch the fantasy panel I participated in here: https://youtu.be/eBySbxc-AtE 

My February book reviews can be found in the video below. March reviews will soon follow (shh, there’s only 3).

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Are you a writing risk-taker?
Read any good books lately?
Any other interesting bookish or geekish news to share?
It may take some time, but I promise, I will eventually stop by your blog.

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After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts:
PK Hrezo,
Pat Garcia,
SE White,
Victoria Marie Lees,
Lisa Buie Collard, and
Diane Burton!

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Click here to visit other IWSG blogs and sites to receive and share more inspiration and support. (This month, I’m #37).

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 #blacklivesmatter

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IWSG

#IWSG December 2020: The Best Time of Year to Write

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Created and hosted by the Ninja himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writers Support Group posts the 1st Wednesday of every month. Click the image to learn more or sign up.

Optional Monthly Question: Are there months or times of the year that you are more productive with your writing than other months, and why?

I used to have a job that made me cry every day, but it came with lots of vacation time and summer’s off. I used to get so much writing done on my paid vacations that I stayed in that horrible job for 10 years. I now work a job I love, but it comes with no time off. It’s really a pain for me to plan to take time off and then enjoy my time off because it’s always so brief. I have no time to write (I know that doesn’t make me special or unique in any way, but it’s harder for me to write now than it’s ever been). Still, I don’t cry 5-days a week on the way to an abusive job, so that’s nice. Not sure I’ll ever get to a point where I write like I used to. I’ll always be a writer, just not sure I’ll ever get to publish anything again.

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WEP October and December Challenges


It was an honor to come in as Runner-up in the October “Grave Mistake” challenge. Be sure to check out the emotional guest post from challenge 1st-place winner Rebecca Douglass.


Briefly, the December challenge “Unmasked” was canceled due to time constraints and stressors of the season, but the WEP admins have come up with a very casual and laid-back approach for this challenge to continue for anyone interested. Click the image to see what’s in store for 2021 and see any stories that may be shared for the December prompt. You can read my entry here if you’d like.

IWSG BOOK CLUB ON GOODREADS

Our book club is changing things up!
We will have quarterly book selections now, giving us more time to read. We will also have one fiction book selection and one writing craft book selection. Members can read both or choose between them. Finally, we won’t be offering 5 optional discussion questions anymore. Instead, we will be utilizing the polls that our members enjoy, so there will be one poll question for the fiction book and one for the non-fiction book on Discussion Day.

Our December/January/February reads are…

Ghost Light by Joseph O’Connor, a book written in second-person. Since many readers haven’t read a book in second-person, and many writers haven’t written in second-person, we figured this is a great chance to explore something new.

 

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Preparing to Write Settings that Feel Like Characters by J Lenni Dorner. This will be our writing craft book, with a focus on settings.

 

 

Discussion Day for both books will be February 24, 2021! JOIN US! 

Now, on to the personal updates.

I’ve been reading a bit and writing a bit, but not as much as I’d like of each. Honestly, it’s not as bad as it would usually be because it’s 2020. I’ve simply decided that this is a trial year- everything will pretty much be a do-over in 2021. In 2021 I’ll work on actually reaching some writing goals, I’ll give my Goodreads challenge a legit effort and post reviews on time, and I’ll stop phoning in my blog efforts. For now, I’m just focusing on getting to 2021 without a complete breakdown, so that means I read less, write less, and blog less. At least I’m still moving forward- even if I’m moving very slow and don’t really have a destination.

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Is there an ideal time of year for you to write?
If you don’t write, have you considered it?
It may take some time, but I promise, I will stop by your blog.

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After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts:
Pat Garcia,
Sylvia Ney,
Liesbet @ Roaming About,
Cathrina Constantine, and
Natalie Aguirre!

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Click here to visit other IWSG blogs and sites to receive and share more inspiration and support. (This month, I’m #37).

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 #blacklivesmatter

Categories
IWSG

#IWSG January 2020: How did this all start?

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Created and hosted by the Ninja himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writers Support Group posts the 1st Wednesday of every month. Click the image to learn more or sign up.

Optional Monthly Question: What started you on your writing journey?
Was it a particular book, movie, story, or series?
Was it a teacher/coach/spouse/friend/parent?
Did you just “know” suddenly you wanted to write?

There were three distinct moments over a 20-year period that started me on my writing journey. First, it started with Peter Pan. I loved that story as a kid and read as many versions of it that I could get from the library. I wanted to be a lost boy and would write out adventures for me to go on. I also wrote other stories in my youth, but those stick with me the most and have inspired many of my stories.

Second, there was the teacher, the co-worker who revealed one day that she had written a children’s book about her journey to living in the U.S. and learning English. I had learned a lot from her and was inspired by her to write something, I just didn’t know what.

Lastly, there came “the dream” about the gray man. I feel like I’ve blogged so much about the inspiration behind my first book that there’s no reason to rehash it now. But after I started and then published that first story, I just couldn’t stop. Because of that dream, I started, writing, and blogging, and vlogging, and connecting with the writing community.

Sure, there were many other things along the way that also helped put me on this path, but those three things were pivotal in getting me where I am now.

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The December IWSG member spotlight was Donna K. Weaver. Be sure to stop by her blog and say hi.

IWSG Book Club News

Goodreads.com

The December 2019/January 2020 book will be On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. Discussion Fun Day will be January 22, 2020.

I’m about halfway through it. The first chapter was rough, not the writing, just reading about his youth. It got better after that, but it’s very refreshing, at this point, to read about where he started compared to where he is now. I’m looking forward to finishing and discussing it.

WEP-IWSG

The 2020 challenges are on the way.  The WEP challenge for December was very touching. Here is my entry.

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Now, on to the personal updates.

I’m laying low for this post but here are a few nuggets.

I did two different 2019 wrap-ups on; one on this blog and one on my Lit Carnivale blog. Later, I did a video wrap up with some goals for this year. I think I covered all the basis.

I brought back Counting My Blessings, but instead of posting to this blog, I’ve turned it into a vlog series. You can check it out here, with the updated image.

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So, where did your writing journey start?
Did you meet your 2019 goals?
Set any goals for 2020?
It may take some time, but I promise, will stop by your blog.

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After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts:
T. Powell Coltrin,
Victoria Marie Lees,
Stephen Tremp, and
J.H. Moncrieff!

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Click here to visit other IWSG blogs and sites to receive and share more inspiration and support. (This month, I’m #42).

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