Tag: day job

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IWSG WIP Updates

#IWSG September 2016: finding time to #write & WIP update 19

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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.

Monthly Question: How do you find the time to write in your busy day?

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If I’m really being honest with you and myself, the truth is, I don’t usually find time to write. I’ve tried many times to stick to a writing schedule, but being the worrier that I am, I found that it only stressed me out more. I do make a conscious effort to write regularly, but that could be anything from blogging, editing, formatting, creative writing, outlining, and more. Then I also find time to do social media and read for pleasure. It doesn’t help that I keep taking on new projects either. I guess, all in all, my main goal is to publish or release something each year; even if it’s not a full-length novel or the long unfinished third installment of my Eternal Curse Series.

But…
On the note of publishing something each year; I’m just a few steps away from releasing a quartet of educational children’s books. For those of you who read this post each month, you know I’ve been talking about how I wanted to write and illustrate these myself. Well, I did it. I just got them back from a few educators I trust and admire. I have a few minor things to change and spruce up and they’ll be out to the public just in time for my birthday in October. I’ve attached the covers I’ve mocked up as a sneak peek of what I’ve been able to do. I have another children’s book in the works, but I’m not illustrating that one myself. I really want a professional to do it justice. Know anybody I could try?

On a personal note, I’m back at my day job; back to teaching. It’s exciting and scary all at once. There are many lows to what I do, but the highs and kids make it all worth it. I will admit, though, it’s really going to be difficult to finish my series now that back to work, but I’m determined to at least finish a draft.

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How do you find time to write?
Releasing any books soon?
Stuck trying to finish a long unfinished piece?
Know any good and affordable illustrators?
Think they’ll do a payment plan?

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After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts:
C. Lee McKenzie,
Elizabeth Seckman,
Lori L MacLaughlin, and
Elsie Amata!

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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 #72).

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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Books

Review: Year Zero

Year Zero by Rob Reid

I give this book a 4.

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This is a very entertaining read full of laughs and, oddly enough, a great deal of factual information I never knew. This story is so absurd that I’m not quite sure how to describe it.

Apparently advanced aliens, far across the galaxy, have been craving and downloading earth music because it’s the one thing the insufficient human race is actually good at (and the rest of the known universe is not). Then one day the superior aliens, through their mastery of legal principles, realize that they owe the people of earth an innumerous amount of royalties or something like that. While some aliens have decided to settle the matter in court, others have decided to just eliminate the problem all together. That’s where the intergalactic misadventures of lawyer Nick Carter (not to be confused with Backstreet Boy, Nick Carter) begin.

To say that the characters of this story are kooky would be an understatement. My favorite thing about the story isn’t technically apart of the story. I love the footnotes. The footnotes of this book are like a running commentary in a movie. They are informative, hilarious, and pleasantly distracting. Eventually I had to stop reading them to finish the story and then went back to read them in perspective. I guess if you’re not really a reader, this may not sound appealing.

All aliens aside, anyone who likes music will love this book. It’s also good for a laugh.

This review has been posted to GoodReads.

If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

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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Guest Posts

Courage to Change: Guest Post: Ian Mathie

When there seems to be no way out you need Courage to Change.

A perspective on Sylvie Nickels’s book by author Ian Mathie.

Courage to Change, by Sylvie Nickels
Paperback: 232 pages, also available in ebook
Publisher: Oriel Press, UK (June 6, 2013)
Reading level:  Young Adult / Full Adult
Genre: Fiction
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1782995579 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1782995579 (paperback)
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
Content Rating: General release

As an industrial psychologist I was accustomed to dealing with many problems people brought with them to the workplace every bit as much as with problems growing out of the working environment. A problem which raised its ugly head quite frequently had many faces yet in each case it was the same problem: addiction. Reaching well beyond the workplace, addiction is far from easy to deal with and its first and most difficult challenge is recognition and acceptance by the sufferer.

Often misunderstood is a subject the very thought of which turns most people off. As a result it is too often ignored. Nevertheless, we are all potentially vulnerable to it. We can all learn useful lessons about the pitfalls and what fuels different forms of addiction if only we take the time to listen or to read about them.

This is one of the benefits that books like Courage to Change, by Sylvie Nickels have to offer. The novel offers a great story wrapped a framework of relationships, situations and problems arising out of one form of addiction, alcoholism. As the story unfolds it explores all the human dilemmas faced not only by those addicted, but by their families, friends and those who seek to help them.

Sylvie Nickels has a great wealth of life experience. She understands human abilities, frailties and weaknesses so well. This gives her the capacity to express the emotions and mindset of people in all sorts of social, domestic and working situations in ways that make her characters so real you feel they could be your own relations, or you know them personally. Because of this, what seems at first like a lightweight story draws you in and carries you along, wanting to know what people will do next and how things will turn out. Her writing is not gripping in the conventional sense, but it is truly compelling and will keep you reading to the very last page.

Through the medium of a touching story she offers a subtle exploration of the many dilemmas and problems involved in addiction; offering insights that should be valuable to any parent or person who shares their life with an addictive personality. Whilst she offers no magic solution to the problems; there isn’t one anyway, she at least offers hope whilst leaving it to the reader to make their own final judgements.

Courage to Change is a most rewarding book that can teach one a lot about life and human interactions. It also offers a good lesson to writers in how to convey the feelings and emotions of one’s characters. Here the players are very ordinary people and yet we come to know them intimately. That only comes about through very skilful writing and a thorough understanding on the part of the author of both the subject and the people she is writing about.

Sylvie Nickels’s other works include an excellent trilogy based on the effects of conflict on families, using the Bosnian war as its backdrop. She has also written a mystery thriller based in Finland and a series of travel books during her long career. Publishing most of her books by her own efforts, she is an author whose work deserves to be much better known.

To see the rest of this article and learn more about the author of this book and the author, Ian Mathie, visit the ECS blog.

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