Categories
IWSG

#IWSG August 2021: I said craft book, not craft beer.

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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 is your favorite writing craft book? Think of a book that every time you read it you learn something, or you are inspired to write or try the new technique. And why?

Reading aloud my response to this question had my husband looking at me funny. Then I realized that he thought I said craft beer. I laughed. He and I both know I don’t know anything about craft beer.

I never felt like picking a favorite writing craft book would be a “thing” for me. It’s always simply been a matter of whether I got anything out of it or not. I’ve read quite a few craft books, especially since the IWSG Book Club started, and have learned something from all of them, even if I didn’t like them.

Here’s a list of a few of my 5-star craft reads:
Write With Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Keep Writing with Fey: Sparks to Defeat Writer’s Block, Depression, and Burnout
Deep Point of View (Busy Writer’s Guides, #9)
How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now!
I also have plenty of 4 and 3-star craft reads that I revisit as needed. But if I had to pick one, and only one, it would be…

Deep Point of View.

Before I read this book, I wasn’t even convinced that Deep POV was worth my time. I mean, the idea of it sounded nice, but I just didn’t get it. Oh, and what this author does with her appendixes is so effective, I was thoroughly impressed.

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IWSG BOOK CLUB ON GOODREADS

Don’t know if you’ve heard, but there are some changes coming. Many of us were shocked to see the book club founder, Chrys Fey, step down as admin of the Goodreads group. I personally expressed to her many times how important the book club has been to me over the years. Looking ahead to the future, I was honored to accept the role as admin to a new version of the club. We hope to have an announcement with all the details and new titles next month.

For now, I finished both of the June/July/August reads and am excited to post my first discussion after much guidance from Chrys, herself, and amazing feedback from my co-moderators Ronel Janse van Vuuren and Juneta Key.
Even if you haven’t read either of the books, I’d love for you to stop by and join the discussion. You can get so much out of just the discussions. Click here to join us.

Now, on to the personal updates.

I took the month of July off to reset myself and make a plan for getting through the rest of this year. Unfortunately, I didn’t really put much thought into how I would communicate that I was taking some time. Oh, well, I’ve said my apologies and am moving forward. I’m getting a handle on some of my health issues and following plans to continue my creative endeavors. Updates on all the details later.

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Any writing craft books worth mentioning?
If I bailed on you in the month of July, I truly am sorry. Poor planning on my part.
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,
Cathrina Constantine,
PJ Colando,
Kim Lajevardi, and
Sandra Cox!

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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 #36).

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 2016: Changes & A New Year

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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.

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Greetings all. I’m happy to announce that my 2015 was way better than my 2014 and I’m super excited to see 2016 and all that it has to offer. With that being said, I recognize that I, and my blogging career, are about to go through a major transition as I try something totally new (more details at a later time). Unfortunately, this transition means that my blogging and social media interaction will suffer while I’m figuring all this out (some of you may have already noticed my slack). In any case, I will make an effort to keep up with my major blog hops and visit my favorite blogs when I can, but I’ll probably be a bit elusive for the next few months.

For those of you who’ve been following me, please have patience with me. If things go as planned, I’ll be back on track and even better than before with my blogging and social media interaction; it’s just gonna take some time.

Enough about me. Aren’t you all excited to see the winners of the anthology contest. I can’t wait to get my copy. Wonder if it’s ready yet? 😉

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How was your 2015?
Got any big plans for 2016?

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After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts:
L.G. Keltner,
Denise Covey,
Sheri Larsen,
J.Q. Rose,
Chemist Ken, and
Michelle Wallace!

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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 #89).

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
Author Insights

Author Insights 10: There have been some changes.

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I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but I’ve been changing things here and there on this blog. I feel as if this will always be a work in progress, but I hope to reach a settling point at some time. So, here’s what’s been going on.

The merging of my Eternal Curse Series blog with this one is still going on, so I keep having to update little things here and there. I’m slowly rolling out my new interview format, but this will take some time.

I’ve added and made changes to some of My Topics. I’ve added IWSG and Adventures in blogging. While I continue my weekly recaps on Saturday, I’ve started a weekly preview each Friday, entitled “Friday Forecast”, but both of these are logged under Uncategorized. My About Me topic has been changed to Listography-Top5-MyLife to more clearly define the articles lumped under that topic. My Memes topic has been changed to WWWWednesday-Blogdom for the same reason.

My side panel has been packed with alternating buttons for different events I’ve participated in (and will continue to do so), but I’ve added one button I plan to keep around for quite a while as an FYI. I think the ALLi button and article shared there are worth visiting by anyone who will look at it.

Then there’s my tabs; so much is going on up top. My Youtube tab replaced my Listography tab. My Spotlight tab continues to update as well as others. I’ve added Pinterest Board links to many pages. My Features tab finally has content in it. And, I’ve added three new tabs, either replacing others or using empty Coming Soon tabs. I’ve added tabs for Pre-orders, Associations, and Appearances.

Lastly, my picture under the Toi Thomas tab has been enhance with a link to a touching essay I wrote to help qualify me for The AuthorShow.com contest, “50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading”.

All in all, I’ve done my best to make these changes seamless and hope I’ve kept this blog reading experience enjoyable. I’m not one to make idle changes, but if you have questions, suggestions, or comments for this blog, I’d love to hear them.

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