Categories
EC: Giovanni's Angel Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 04: Giovanni

teaNtalk

Today I’m sharing a picture of my tea box uploaded onto Pinterest.

Please do not copy this image. Click image to share on Pinterest.

Today in my meditation on the Eternal Curse, I’m writing about: Why Giovanni?

There are so many reasons why Giovanni is the main character of my Eternal Curse Series. First off, there’s the dream. I had a dream about a gray man and for some reason, I felt like his name began with the letter ‘G’. I tried out several different names, but when I came across Giovanni, it just felt right.

Secondly, the meaning of his name means God is gracious. Now, I had no idea of this when I started using the name and completed my first draft. I figured this out much later. Once you’ve read the story, it’s quite clear that Giovanni must be walking in some kind of grace, whether it be God’s or not. His character, as strange and dark as he is, doesn’t make it through life in one piece without some kind of luck or grace on his side.

Lastly, he’s somewhat of a mutt, in the best possible way. There are other characters in the series that are just as interesting as Giovanni, but only he really has all the qualities that bring the rest characters together either through companionship, association, competition, or opposition.

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
EC: Giovanni's Angel Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 03: Why a series?

teaNtalk

Today I’m sharing a picture of tea leaves from Pinterest.

Please do not copy this image. Click image to share on Pinterest.

Today in my meditation on the Eternal Curse, I’m writing about: Why a series?

I did not set out to write a series when I started Eternal Curse, but ideas kept coming into my mind that I just couldn’t find the time to fit into one book. Making the book a series, gave me an opportunity to complete part of the story and continue to develop all the other ideas I had without so much pressure on waiting time, opportunity, buzz, and or inspiration.

The idea of the story came to me in a dream and the first installment of the story seemed to write itself. With pages and pages of notes to sort through, actual thought and planning is going into the development of the other installments. Even though Giovanni’s Angel could stand alone, I like that I’m able to continue the story, allowing the narrator of the first book a chance to tell his or her own 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

Categories
EC: Giovanni's Angel Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 02: This story?

teaNtalk

Today I’m sharing a picture of a green tea set from Pinterest. This is from my personal collection.

Please do not copy this image. Click image to share on Pinterest.

Today in my meditation on the Eternal Curse, I’m writing about: Why this story?

There are a number of reasons why I wrote Eternal Curse: Giovanni’s Angel, but the one that’s the most honest and accurately reflects my mood and motivation at the time I was writing it, would be “stress relief.”  After having a reoccurring dream about a gray man who turned into an angel, I began to write down all that I could remember of the dreams and compile a new story. I found the whole process of taking notes, rearranging ideas and information, and actually typing up the words to be quite relaxing, which also provided me a bit of mental escapism.

So why was I so stressed out at the time I began writing this book? Let’s see, I was living in a very small space, commuting a very long distance to my day job, dealing with chronic health issues, and dealing with family issues. As much as I love my family, and I really meant that, it’s difficult sometimes to be around them too much. Eternal Curse came to me just when I need it. There is so much of myself and even my family in between the lines of this story.

I was never raised to believe that my family was poor or impoverished in anyway, but I also knew that we weren’t wealthy. I think that writing the characters and settings of Eternal Curse the way I did, helped me come to terms with my own issues of balancing social, financial, and family demands. Speaking from the stand point of a U.S. consumer, relationships come with any number of issues to be overcome or dealt with that have nothing to do with fiancés, but when finances are an issue it does add additional unnecessary pressure. In this story, I wanted to show how people who have no financial worries are still normal regular people with issues and problems. Having money doesn’t make them happy; it’s all the “other stuff” that ends up bringing them joy and peace.

Writing this story also helped to come to terms with many other issues that I still sometimes find myself struggling with such as: social interaction; technology misuse or over usage, romantic interactions, family dealings, faith and spiritual beliefs and tolerances, and so much more. If no one other than myself were to ever read this book, all the time and effort I put into it would still be worth it.

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