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Full Moon Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 21: Italy

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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

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EC: Giovanni's Angel Full Moon Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 20: The Race Thing

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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

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Full Moon Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 19: Love Triangles

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Today I’m sharing a picture a Rose Chintz Cottage tea cup 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 love triangles?

This is a question I often ask myself. Why did I write a love triangle? I hate love triangles. For the most part, they are filled with unnecessary drama and people behaving selfishly. I always figured that the person at the center of the triangle was just a mean person, probably, undeserving of the affections of the other two.

Then I got the idea to put myself in a scenario where I’d ever be caught up in that kind of situation, just to see if I could be compassionate about the predicament. I thought about three movies that I actually like that contain love triangles, to some degree, to use for inspiration. In the end, I decided that the characters of these movies were just as I had originally thought- selfish, but not so undeserving of affection. In truth we are all selfish to some degree.

So after considering all that, I decided to write a love triangle that made sense to me. I came up with characters and situations that seemed plausible to me while also being fairly entertaining. I don’t see many more love triangles in my future. This one has been more of a challenge than I ever imagined, but I’m glad I did it. It forced me to point my judgmental finger at myself and see that not all drama is bad and or superficial. While this is a work of fiction, people really do go through this kind of stuff. Just because it was easy for me to find the love of my life, it doesn’t mean that everyone else has to have the same story.

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