Tag: interviews

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Author Insights Videos

It’s a brand new day on You Tube!

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NKAlheK-B8&w=320&h=240]

So, last year I launched my You Tube channel unsure of what I was going to do with it. I knew I wanted to interview authors and help support their books, but it’s crazy how many authors are afraid of video interviews. Not that I love being in front of a camera myself, but I’m not exactly camera-shy either. I really wanted my channel to be a way to connect with people, but it seemed to just be a little lacking.

I’ve been working hard all summer trying to find a solution to this problem and I think I have some ideas that could really work, if only I can find an audience to embrace them. I will continue my efforts to interview authors whenever I can find some brave enough, but I’ll also be adding in some purely entertainment content that I find interesting. I will continue my book snippets “Toi Reads” whenever the mood strikes and will continue to promote my own works whenever an opportunity is appropriate, but I’d like this channel to be less about me and more about everything around me.

I’ll be making efforts to reach out to friends, family, colleagues, and strangers to both guest host and sponsor videos. Guest hosting is a free endeavor that helps me and whoever participates. It provides my audience with some variety and keeps them from having to stare at me constantly. For the guest hosts, it’s just like being on TV. People get a chance to know you a little better and you get to promote yourself in a passive manner. Sponsorship is whole other issue; click here to learn more about both.

So here’s what I’m planning. I’ll be sharing movie and book reviews, discussing writing, creative, and other working techniques and methods, talking about music and vinyl records, and even sharing some silly opinions on greeting cards. (This one you’ll just have to see to understand.)

So there you have it. I’m putting myself out there in yet another way. I can’t wait to see what comes of this.

This is an unofficial Author Insights post.

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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About Toi Other

Happy 2nd Blog Anniversary! – An Interview, Part 5, Finale

anniversayGreetings readers, bloggers, geeks, and authors. It’s my anniversary and I thought I’d interview myself and share it with you. I’ve come a long way as a writer, blogger, reviewer, and interviewer and I’d thought it would be nice to share some of the things I’ve learned and tell you a little about myself, in case you don’t already know.

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What’s the most fun experience I’ve ever had, to date?

I have so many fond memories with friends and family that it’s nearly impossible to focus in on just one, but I’ll do my best. When I think long and hard about it, I’d have to say that my most fun experiences are of times spent on short little trips with my husband.

One year we got away from it all: our jobs, our friends, and our families just to spend a private Thanksgiving together. It was really nice and a lot of fun, especially since our getaway destination was Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA or as I like to call it “Little Vegas”.

The whole experience was weird, fun, nice, and exciting in a way that’s just too complicated to describe here. I sincerely hope we get the chance to recreate that moment again down the road.

Not that I can see into the future, but in my opinion, what does the future hold?

I’m going to go against my very nature and try to be positive here. I’m a realist, but I feel a need to look on the bright side, or at least search for one. I hope that the US figures out that what it’s doing isn’t working and realizes it may be time to let some non-politicians come up with some ideas for how to fix things. I hope that at some point the rich will stop trying to keep all the rich people rich and the poor people poor and start focusing on how to manage their wealth in a way that allows them to keep wealth without keeping it from others.

As for me, if by some miracle I’m able to step away from a day-job and write full-time, I’ll be happy, but if not I’ll still be right here sharing with all of you. I’ll be doing that anyway…but hopefully in the future there will be a lot more of you to share with.

Is there a message or cause that I want to share with the world?

I could stand on my soap box and talk all day about all kinds of issues that I feel are important, but I won’t go against the nature of this blog, which is to be lighthearted. If you really want to know how I feel, get to know me. Aside from my author page, Toi Thomas, on Facebook, I have a personal profile as Toinette Thomas. You don’t have become my friend to see what I’m doing, thinking, and sharing. Follow me for a while and see for yourself.

Aside from that, I’ve posted, in several places on this blog, some of the causes that I’m actively promoting and giving to, including The American Cancer Society. Please feel free to seek them out and learn more.

 

Any last words to offer these readers after visiting here at the ToiBox of Words?

In case you haven’t picked up on it by now, this is a very diverse blog and I am a diverse person. I don’t have a lot of extremes about me and I don’t fit neatly into any specific category. In truth, I think that most people are like this whether they realize it or not. I think that we are all more alike than we are different and I welcome all to experience what the ToiBox of Words has to offer.

My blog motto: “I promote books and authors because I think authors should be just as important to the world of entertainment as music groups and movie stars.”

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Okay readers, bloggers, geeks, and authors, that’s all for today…unless you have a question you’d like to ask me. 😉

Thank you for sticking with me these past two years and these past five days. I hope you have enjoyed at least some of the things I’ve shared. I do so humbly look forward to seeing you around the ToiBox of Words in the future.

This has been a

interviewpic-toibox

 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
About Toi Other

Happy 2nd Blog Anniversary! – An Interview, Part 4

anniversayGreetings readers, bloggers, geeks, and authors. It’s my anniversary and I thought I’d interview myself and share it with you. I’ve come a long way as a writer, blogger, reviewer, and interviewer and I’d thought it would be nice to share some of the things I’ve learned and tell you a little about myself, in case you don’t already know.

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What is my favorite food or meal and why?

Wikipedia

Food is an issue with me. I enjoy cooking and baking and experiencing new food sensations, even when I turn out not to like them. Food, like music, is one of those things that I believe can bring people together across racial, national, and religious barriers.

My favorite food is rice. I can eat it almost any kind of way and with anything, but most of all I can eat it plain.

My favorite meal changes, right now I’m going through an Indian cuisine phase, but I’ll never be tired of my mother’s vegetable stew with cornbread. It’s the one thing she makes that’s better than everything else.

If I could only watch one movie for the rest of my life, what would it be?

Wikipedia

This is not a fair question to ask, but since I put other authors through this torture, I’ll give it a go.

I’d first like to acknowledge that this answer may be different at another time on another day. For now, I’d say the one movie I’d watch over and over, if it was the only movie I could have, would be Love Actually.

When the soundtrack of my life is playing in my head, what songs express my glee and what songs bring out my rage?

I adore this question but never stopped to realize just hard it would be to answer it. The problem I’m currently having is that I do actually hear a soundtrack running through my head all the time and there’s no way I can describe it all to you. Plus, I’m a music lover; there are few forms of music I can’t at least appreciate.

Popular or Pop music is what it is. I like it, but it’s not what brings me glee; it takes several musical forms to do that. When I’m down, listening to Harlem Renaissance jazz, opera, oldies Do Wop and beach music, and even some Reggae brings a smile to my face.

Wikipedia

When I’m raging, because I can admit that I do that sometimes, listening to punk, rap, and even some alternative music (that’s not too hard-core) lets me get it all out of my system.

I have other songs that serve other purposes, but I won’t mention them all.

Currently my favorite album to sit back, relax, and enjoy an evening with my husband is Talking Book, by Stevie Wonder.  Oh, and of course I listen to it on vinyl.

Let’s play zombie urban survivor.What 3 things would I need to survive a black-out in Central Park the day zombies attack?

Wikipedia

Why am I in Central Park? …This is actually more like three and a half things since one thing goes with the other. I’d need at least one pair of night vision goggles, a Swiss Army Knife, and a semi-automatic weapon with lots of ammo. Too bad I only asked for three items; this list could get very interesting.

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Okay readers, bloggers, geeks, and authors, that’s all for today…unless you have a question you’d like to ask me. 😉

Thank you for sticking with me these past two years. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for part five of this interview and hopefully enjoy some more of my insights.

This has been a

interviewpic-toibox

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