I’m so excited to share the cover of the fundraising anthology, CORVID-19, with you as the Kickstarter campaign to support RavenCon launches today.
I’m so happy to have contributed to this collection of stories and hope you will consider giving to the campaign. Click the image below to visit Kickstarter and learn more.
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
The first time I attended RavenCon I was blown away. It was such a good experience all around and I knew it would become part of my regular Con experience whether I vended or not. So, when I was given a chance to speak at my next RavenCon I thought I’d truly made it into this geeky tribe where I would be safe and accepted… until I wasn’t.
I won’t go into a lot of details, but at my second RavenCon, someone who worked for the establishment where the event was held made me and my niece feel less than accepted. This wasn’t RavenCon’s fault in any way, but when news of my experience reached them, they investigated to make sure this kind of thing didn’t happen again at their event, which I thought was great. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it was their word against mine. At that point, everyone tried to convince me that I was being sensitive, but after a lifetime of being the only black person in a place and being ignored or being last to be acknowledged, they were right. I was being sensitive- sensitive to the familiar feeling of being overlooked and dismissed. Not having someone understand that hurt.
Despite the hurt I felt, when I saw RavenCon stand up to proclaim that Black Lives Matter, I decided to put the past behind me and move forward. 2020 and COVID-19 have been hard/difficult/down-right terrible on so many. When I saw that RavenCon wanted to raise money to help compensate vendors and refund tickets I wanted to help. I’ve been a convention ticket holder and vendor and I know first hand what it’s meant to not attend Cons this year.
I gave to an initial fundraiser they held a while back and submitted a story for their charitable anthology, knowing I would make no money from it if my story was chosen. I was surprised when my story was chosen and was happy to work with the editor, Michael Pederson, to perfect the story for print.
I’m very excited for people to have a chance to read my story in the CORVID-19 anthology, and even more excited to do my part to help raise money for RavenCon. The Kickstarter campaign launches in one week on Wednesday, December 16. I do hope you will check it out and #BackTheRaven.
*Sorry I didn’t share the cover of CORVID-19, I wasn’t given clearance for that 😉 Don’t worry, I’ll post again on launch day. Hope to see you then.*
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
This is an unexpected Monday post for me. Usually, I leave this day open to reblogs and promoting others but since I wasn’t booked and realized I had way too much content to stuff into my IWSG post on Wednesday, I thought, ‘Why not do a Monday blog?’ It’s not that unusual for me… In any case, here’s what I got.
I had a rough birthday this year, but there were some highs that made it all worth it. Oh, and I have a winner for my birthday, Top 5 Angel books, giveaway.
Sherry Fundin
I hope you enjoy this prize!
Now let’s talk about one of my current pet projects that means so much to me, the Blogger Ambush Blitz, hosted over at #ReadingIndie.
The idea of this blitz isn’t something I came up with, by far, but it’s an idea that I thought was great the first time I saw it and think it’s worth giving a go time and again.
The original idea was for bloggers to unite to visit and support one blogger among the group all at once to give them a boost, engagement, and simply make their day. It was such a good idea that the blogger list grew to outrageous proportions. While I loved getting the notification that it was time once again to spotlight someone, I think many became defeated with the notion that their turn would never come. Plus, the spotlights were sporadic, not giving members a sense of routine or stability. I’m not sure if this original blitz is still going on.
My idea for the Blogger Ambush Blitz is simple. We ambush one random blogger from the list of members each week until everyone gets a turn. Our aim is to grow the list to 25 members, offering each member a chance to be ambushed (or spotlighted) twice a year. For me, I personally hope the idea catches on and grows to the point where I can set up multiple blogger lists. I can imagine having Blogger Ambush Blitz’s for major fiction genres, just for writers, just for inspirational quotes, and so much more. With the blitz only requiring members to visit ONE blog a WEEK, I don’t see why this can’t be the next step in blogger support and networking.
At least, that’s my dream 😀 .
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
