Tag: stories

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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

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Guest Posts

My Friend, Uzo by Darlene Jones

drums
provided by D. Jones

Let me introduce you to Uzo

I don’t remember how we met. Uzo reminds me that he was surfing WordPress looking for authors, found my blog, and read some of the posts about Mali. He made a comment, I responded and a new friendship was born.

Uzo is a young Nigerian with a blog. He lives in Asaba, Delta State (South-South Nigeria), one of the oil producing states in his country. I’m an older Canadian with a blog. I live a world away (in so many respects) on Vancouver Island, Canada.

Uzo writes novels. I write novels. Uzo writes in English, which is not his first language. As he says, “English is quite a vast language. Every day is a learning process for me.”

We begin by talking about books. We both like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I’d read Half a Yellow Sun. He told me about Purple Hibiscus. Here’s what he had to say about that book. “Purple Hibiscus is a wonderful story. Adichie did a marvelous job there from the first person pov. Kambili’s account is so real and reflects the life of a rich, caged Igbo child-woman during one of the military regimes in Nigeria.”  We’re both anxious to read Americanah.

Uzo says, “I’m a no-good writer. I’m just a wannabe like you guys call it.” On the contrary, Uzo is a powerful writer. Here’s a sample.

Although the Liberian war is now over, I cannot wish away the memories. There are nights in my sleep when I still find myself dressed in army uniform, AK-47 ready. On these nights I hear the voices of parents calling their children; others joking, shouting: “Where’s your bunker?” The air cracks and I hear the sounds of diving jets and stuttering LMGs. Fire, blood, bullets and bodies everywhere. Things soon simmer to normal as danger passes. People fill the streets, young boys and girls going on various errands. Then he appears in a blood-stained enemy uniform. His oily dark face is teased with abandon. He’s about to aim his rifle at me. In my dreams, he dies in different ways. I’m his killer. Something tells me that he is my son. But I’m too afraid to believe it.

I’m not a professional editor, but I’ve offered to help Uzo with his English as he’d be drained if he had to pay an editor, so files are sent back and forth. I’m careful not to tamper with the uniqueness of his voice.

Only the eyes that moved swiftly would see the legs that desperately sprinted across the farms and pathways. Thereafter thoughts would arise if the runner was after something, or rather, was the prey.

Beautiful, right? And yes, my life, as a person and as a writer, is richer for having met him. That’s the beauty of the Internet…

To see the rest of this article and learn more about Uzo and  Darlene Jones, 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

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