The YA Author Club is expanding is author presence and bringing on new talent every single week. This week, we are introducing the newest member of our team, Toni Lombardo. She is not an indie author, and she does not plan to become one. She's working hard at establishing herself within the traditionally published world. We wish her the best of luck in her efforts and thought it might be kind of cool to offer our fans/friends/followers a new voice within the club.
Instead of posting information about indie publishing, Toni will take a few minutes every few weeks to fill us in on her trials and tribulations as she journeys toward the Big Six.
Also... leave us a comment and let know which Big Six pic you like best #1 (first one) or #2 (second one). The one getting the most votes/comments will be the one we use to introduce Toni's posts from this point forward.
Social Media Sites for Toni:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/write_to_live
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IamLifewriter
Without further ado, we are pleased to introduce Toni Lombardo:
Hello
there blog readers! Toni here, I am going to talk about myself now. Hope you don’t mind.
Okay,
so first off I am a twenty something (21) and striving to be a writer! I am currently(ish) a student at a community college (although at
the moment I am taking a break from school) and my plan is to major in meteorology. Of course I’ll have to transfer to a four
year. In some moments I want to major in
English, because I am in love with words (a good thing for a writer, right?) . I would like to teach an elective class in a
preppy school to do with the appreciation of old timey writers (Stoker,
Melville, Shelley, etc.) and introduce the kids to modern day writers who I
think are fantastic such as John Green (The Fault in Our Stars) , Jay Asher
(Thirteen Reasons Why) , *clears throat* T.R. Graves (not kissing up, she is
actually really great, like go read her books now!) .
I have
been writing since I can remember. I
wrote short stories or was forced to by teachers, but I always enjoyed it and
nine times out of ten exceeded the length required or well wanted (sometimes
they weren’t happy) . My dad also made
up stories for me when I was little, I hope to one day publish and anthology of
them (I do attribute that to my love of the plot) . I actually sat down to write a book when by
hand when I was fourteen? Maybe? But I gave up on that book (I will one day
reapproach that book, but for now the characters and I are not mixing…it’s not
my fault blame them) to write what I wanted
to publish as my first. I started that
book when I was fifteen and finished it when I was sixteen and went onto the
next. I am on the third in the series
and am currently rewriting the first book.
I was young when I wrote it and afraid of words like sex, so I would
dance around the word. Plus other things
I wrote in it are just cringe worthy and embarrassing. Trust and believe if a writer says their work
is cringe worthy it is…we are our biggest critic yes, but if we can make
ourselves cringe it is pretty correct to believe that the reader would wonder
what the heck the writer was thinking.
I spend
my days working at a clothing store. I
love it. I work with kids ranging from
size 6-20. I love working with the girls
who aren’t societies standard of ‘beauty’.
It’s great because you can see the kid coming in so self-conscious
(because they are a size 16 not 12 like their friends) and leave smiling because you told them they
are beautiful and helped them pick out clothes and raved over how amazing the
kid looked and sometimes the kid even hugs you.
I know this sounds like I am saying ‘oh look at me. I’m so great.
Blah, blah, blah.’ That is not my
intention. Today’s society is so messed
up, these kids are so self-conscious at such a young age, and they are getting
bullied. Their parents telling them they
are beautiful is one thing, when a someone else makes a big deal about it the
kid feels good. I think it’s a thing everyone
should do. Encourage people, because one
day you will need it. Okay enough about
my job.
I also
spend my days plotting up stories and plot twists. I like listening to music and sometimes it
even inspires or curbs scenes. I like going to the gym and reading, it is where
I get most of my reading in. In one day
at work…working on stock in the back room, five new book ideas came flooding
in.
I have
one dog, a Beta named Platelet in one tank with a snail, eight goldfish all
named after characters in my books and a Plecko and a snail in another tank
that is huge. I have the plecko and
snails to help keep the tanks clean.
I’d
like to write more often and I need to.
It is the best and worst thing in the world, if you are a writer you
will understand that sentence; if you are not a writer ask one that you know.
I use
Twitter and Instagram and Facebook to interact with writers and friends and
share stuff about my books and from time to time excerpts!
I hope
to change the publishing world by introducing them to new styles of
writing! And once you get to know me you
know I don’t just dabble in things, I jump in whole heartedly with both feet,
and most of the time without a safety net.
I am beginning to blog under the supervision and guidance of Graves (I
just love her) . Please come back
bi-weekly to join me on my journey of publishing and writing on my blog series
called Toni’s Big Six Journey.
Listening
to: Wishing Well by Ben Moody: All for This
Quote:
“Just know, when you truly want success, you’ll never give up on it. No matter
how bad the situation may get.” - Unknown
Spotlight
Interview Questions:
1) What is your all-time favorite book and
why?
“The
Fault in Our Stars” by John Green (TFIOS) .
It is just perfect. I cried on
every page and went hysterical at Chapter 21.
I re-read the book within two months and re-experienced all that
beautiful pain (readers of this book will get it #nerdfighter) . Also, I bonded with my IBBF (internet best
friend forever) over this book. We’ve known each other for a little over two
months as of 7.12.2013, but it is one of the greatest friendships I have
had. So, beyond being a great book it
brought me a great friend.
2) Is there an author you could be compared
to or popular fictional characters your book's characters could relate to and
why?
Oh
gosh, this is a biggie. I don’t really
know. I have my own style, but some of
my darker pieces, like “The Tale-Tale Heart” which is a re-doing of “The
Tell-Tale Heart” by E.A. Poe for a final English paper, have been associated to
Poe. I’m actually about to start a
second mirroring piece of his, that T.R. Graves is up-to-date about.
As far
as characters…People are going to think TFIOS for some of my characters,
because I talk about the book ALL the time and it is a book about kids with
cancer. But my book is about a kid or
two with cancer but there is more of a story to it than that, just like
Green’s.
As far
as my characters relating to other characters…oh I don’t know, never thought
about that. I’ve read books with
characters that reminded me of mine, but never really thought about it that
way. I think Devon would like Thirteen
Reasons Why by Jay Asher.
3) Can you give us your favorite quote from
one of your books and explain it?
“If you
don’t know, you do not deserve to know!” –Devon
Oh my,
how can I explain, Devon? Okay so in
this scene Devon just found out something in his family. Sorry for being vague,
don’t want to give away plot points. He is really struggling in his life at the
moment and this news was just devastating.
Like a lot of teens Devon struggles with the idea of self-harm and when
his brother is talking to him he (Devon) hints to wanting to hurt himself, and when his
brother doesn’t get the hint he says the above quote possibly angrily.
4) What types of things/people/music
inspires you and makes you want to keep writing?
Things
that inspire me to write…I don’t know.
Sometimes I just see something, okay I was in a store the other day and
saw a beautiful all glass frame, free standing.
I saw it and instantly knew it belonged to a character in one of my
W.I.P.s, and when I got home it was already done the character would have it in
their house. So it is just kind of
random, if I see something and it attaches to a character, I say it inspired
me.
People-
My best friend Anne is who I write for along with a few other people. Anne is my muse and my ‘first reader’. She keeps me going when I don’t want to write
and pushes me to finish projects. So she inspires me as well as Graves, Green,
Asher, and others.
Music!!!
Ahh, such an inspiration! Don’t want to
say too much here because this topic is going to be a whole blog post for me!
What
makes me want to keep writing—my characters.
I get a points where I miss them and I physically feel missing them, I
feel pain of sorts. Sometimes just
thinking and plotting and writing notes just does not suffice, so I write to
subdue the longing for interacting with them.
And I love writing, so that helps.
5) Describe your typical writing day or
week.
They
are random. I write whenever and
wherever. At one point I was writing
(more than this at home) every Friday
night at the bar in Red Robin, where one of my friends works. I would buy an unsweetened peach tea with
EXTRA regular syrup and she kept me in well supply. It was a great writing environment and the
support was great!
6) Is there a food or drink do you have to
have when you're writing?
I love,
love, love peach tea, but I can’t have too much caffeine otherwise I can’t
sleep. So at one point it was that, but
now….yeah, it is still that, I just can’t have it all the time.
7) Can you tell us what you're working on
right now (& possibly provide an excerpt & cover) ?
Sooooo
many things! The book I am working on to get published first is Life’s Not a
Fantasy I have a cover idea, but no cover yet!
An excerpt? Sure! Here is the
introduction. It is written by Devon:
It
wasn’t ever supposed to be like this.
Our family was always so torn apart, even before what I’m, about to
write. Dad was out fighting for ‘our
safety’ but was never home...he was a ‘lifer’.
Mom chose her favorites and clung tightly to them, and I fell to the
bottom of that spectrum. I was okay with
it though.
I was
always the ‘untypical typical’ teenager, meaning I was or still am the
loner. I’ve done my fair share of stupid
things, but more on that later.
He,
Cameron always held us together. He was
our rock. He could make or break our
family and now his name resonates with pain.
How can
one name ruin everything? How can one
name bring so much pain?
It’s
been days, moments, but his name already feels like a curse.
Thanks
for reading! Hope this was entertaining.
Keep
writing,
