Categories
IWSG

#IWSG February 2022- I miss Crystal

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

This post contains affiliate links. If you click through to make a purchase, I may make a small commission at no additional cost to you. Any amount I make goes towards my dream to host a book fair in Hampton Roads, VA. Please see my About page for more details. Thank you for your support.

Optional Monthly Question: Is there someone who supported or influenced you that perhaps isn’t around anymore? Anyone you miss?

In many ways, my family has been very supportive of my writing even if they don’t understand what being a writer really means. Most of my family members haven’t read what I’ve written, but mostly because they are not readers. The ones who do read, and are supportive, have read some of my work. However, there was one person, early on who was not only excited about me writing but read what I wrote and was a big cheerleader of my pursuits until she passed.

My sister-in-law, Crystal, passed away from colon cancer several years ago. She and I didn’t always agree on things, but for the most part we got along. We liked each other and felt a sisterly connection. The fact that we both enjoyed reading definitely helped. The great thing about Crystal was that she was supportive no matter what. Before I began writing, I tried out other things to fill, what I now know was a creative void, and she was right there ready to try out activities and products- you name it. The worst thing about Crystal was that all the support and enthusiasm she showed for others, she rarely showed for herself. She saw herself as weak and limited herself in ways that we often disagreed about.

At the end of the day, I miss her. I still don’t believe she had to go as soon as she did, but I feel good that I supported her when she decided to stop fighting her cancer battle. I was there to help her, as much as I could with an 8-hour travel distance between us (and yes, my husband and I made that trip many times). We weren’t there the day she passed, but when we got the call, after recently just returning home, we packed our things and went right back to help lay her to rest. She supported me when I needed her, and I hope she felt supported by me in the end.

The last happy memory I have of Crystal, was her eating a fried egg I’d made her while she was receiving hospice care. It was the first thing she’d been able to hold down in days. I liked seeing her smile that day.

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IWSG BOOK CLUB ON GOODREADS

Member Spotlights

#iwsgbookclub

The books we’ve chosen to spotlight in the month of February are Champion in the Darkness by Tyrean Martinson and Circle of Friends: Lori by L. Diane Wolfe. Please check these out and consider giving one or both of these a read this month. If you’re not up for reading them, no worries, you can still help spread some love for these publications and or participate in the book club activities.

Feel free to share this image on social media to help spread the word.

My co-mods and I have done a lot of research into the books written by IWSG members to help facilitate the current direction the book club is taking. In the process, I’ve learned about how readers find and don’t find books by our members. So, I’ve put together some, hopefully, helpful tips I like to call…

Ways to Make Your Book(s) “Findable”

…and increase their chances to be featured and discovered.

6) List purchase links to your books. I know it can be time-consuming to list the link to every retailer where your book is listed, but it may be worth it to list at least your top 3 (or try a universal link service). Which sites give you the most royalties, either through individual sales or through traffic. Don’t make people go search for your books. They may find it listed on a discount site or worse, a pirate site. Please post clear and accurate links to retail sites where readers can buy your books if they so choose. *I briefly had some of my books available at a local bookstore and advertised that on my site, and you can too. No links are required, but a store name, address, and phone number might be helpful.

Reminder: Here’s our monthly spotlight schedule.
IWSG blog list 1-50 = Feb, Jun, Oct
IWSG blog list 51-100 = Mar, Jul, Nov
IWSG blog list 101+ = Jan, May, Sep (IWSG Anthologies)
IWSG Registry = Apr, Aug, Dec

In March we’ll feature books from authors in the 51-100 position of the IWSG blogging list. Remember, if you are not currently on the IWSG blog hop list and don’t plan to join, the registry is the only way for your books to have a chance to be spotlighted by the book club. If you are on the blog hop list, please don’t join the registry. We want to be fair and give everyone an opportunity to be featured, which means some of us will have to wait our turns, including me (the book club admin) and the co-mods.

Please click the hyperlink to fill out the form to be added to the IWSG Book Club Spotlight Registry, and please help us spread the word.

Now, on to the personal updates.

I read one mini book and have downloaded the next nonfiction book for my #ReadWithFey2022 challenge, but I’ll talk more about that next week when I post my book reviews. I did pretty well with my overall Goodreads challenge last month.

I posted a WIP update to my YouTube channel for the first time in a long time. I’m going to try to do this on a regular basis. Now that I feel obligated to squeeze out writing time, due to my Patreon community, I should have something to share more often than not. Check it out here if you are interested.

It’s been said that everyone will eventually get COVID or had it already without knowing it. I believe it. If I had it I didn’t know and I’m glad. That means that God and all those vaccines came through, still that doesn’t mean I’m ready to risk getting it. I’ve been held up in my house for weeks now, only engaging with the outside world virtually. No one made me quarantine, it’s just a choice I made, but I am physically ready to go back out. The problem is that I’m not quite mentally there. Whatever your beliefs may be, I’d appreciate some prayers and good vibes to help me feel comfortable enough and safe enough to get back to normal, sooner rather than later.

My sister is an amazing person who inspires me to do more every day. She recently co-hosted a podcast and if you have 5-minutes to spare, consider checking it out. I know it’s on the Apple podcast app and the Podbean app. It’s called Clutch My Pearls.

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So, do you have a supporter or influencer you’re missing?

Excited about the Feb. IWSG Book Club books?

Are you working on any new WIPs?

It may take some time, but I promise, I will eventually stop by your blog. My response time has gotten slower but I’m still making my rounds.

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After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts:
Erika Beebe,
Joylene Nowell Butler,
Jacqui Murray,
Sandra Cox, and
Lee Lowery!

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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 #31).

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
Fun Hops Promotion

SOUPER BLOG HOP featuring Pea Soup Disaster #kidlit #picturebook

 
Prompt: Share your favorite soup recipe.
OR

Tell us about a soup you love. Even if your favorite soup is from a can, that works! Take a picture of it (the can or the soup in a bowl) for your post. Easy peasy.

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Aside from being thrilled to see such a cute book being released, I was so excited when I saw this hop because it’s all about soup. Now, I’m not crazy about soup or anything, but sometimes a good soup is the best thing in the world. Plus, I just so happen to have a pea soup recipe to share. It’s not a pretty soup and it always leaves my kitchen in a mess, but it’s hearty and delicious. I give you Abraham’s 3 Pea-Green Soup, created for and inspired by a character from my Eternal Curse Series.

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BLURB:
Gregory Green loves his mom’s pea soup, but when he eats it at school, all of his friends make fun of how it looks. He doesn’t think it looks like bugs, and it tastes good! Then at recess, his friends run from him, screaming, “He’s a monster!” Gregory doesn’t know why his friends are being mean until he sees his skin is green. The teasing gets worse until an unlikely friend comes to the rescue—his teddy bear, Sammy. Sammy usually only comes to life for Gregory and his family, but Sammy has an important lesson to teach Gregory and his classmates.

Available in Print: AMAZON| See my review here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Elaine Kaye got the idea for Pea Soup Disaster from her son who loved to eat her homemade pea soup. Pea Soup Disaster is the first of many fun stories featuring Gregory Green and his teddy bear, Sammy, as part of the Gregory Green Adventure series.

Kaye has worked as a library assistant and teacher’s assistant in elementary schools in the Sunshine State. She currently lives in Florida, but she has called Michigan; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan home. She is a grandmother of three boys.

Find Elaine: Website| Instagram | Litsy – @ElaineKaye | Goodreads | Amazon

See other souper soups and recipes by following along below:


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
Question of the Month

#Question of the Month: a #bloghop to think about. No. 9- When have you lost or found love?

A little while ago, Michael D’Agostino, of A Life Examined, brought up the idea of a new blog hop called Question of the Month. He thinks blog readers would like to know a little more about us, the bloggers. So we’re all gathering to show you guys who we are by taking part in the Question of the Month blog hop. On the first Monday of each month, we answer the question that gets posted here.

This month’s question is: “When have you lost or found love?”

Love is such a general term; it’s difficult for me to talk about it without going off on crazy tangents.

I’ve been blessed. I met the love of my life in college, and while I couldn’t stand him at first, we became friends and later fell in love. There really is something special about falling in love with someone you’re such good friends with, but not all love has to be romantic.

I’ve also lost love in my time. I’ve lost friends, people who I thought would always be there for me and vice versa. Alas, when the right circumstances present themselves, you find out exactly where you stand in someone else’s life. That’s not to say that I don’t have some devoted friends, but it still hurts to figure out how not devoted some are.

For me, family is the embodiment of love. I don’t always like or even agree with my family, but I love them and appreciate them so much. It saddens me when I see other people being hateful towards family members, or try to avoid family at all cost, or have a complete disconnect from the people they are related to by blood. However, I also appreciate the fact that not all family members have to be people you are related to by blood. People can say what they will about those “Fast and Furious” movies, but they are a wonderful representation of how family sticks together- if you ignore everything else that’s going on in the movie, hopefully, that message comes across.

Revisiting romantic love briefly, I just wanted to point out that my husband and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day as a couple. It’s too much of a hassle and is no reflection on the true nature of our relationship. We celebrated it once when we were still dating before we were even engaged. We vowed then to never do it again. We do special and romantic stuff for each other all the time- we’re cool…

With that said, we love to see how other people celebrate it. We love hearing stories of how others have expressed their love and celebrated this holiday.

If you’re interested and have the time, please check out my last BooktagsBlogHop post and perhaps join in.

Also, please visit the other participants in this hop and even join in if you’d like.

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