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 use Twitter and Instagram and Facebook to interact with writers and friends and share stuff about my books and from time to time excerpts!
to: Wishing Well by Ben Moody: All for This
“Just know, when you truly want success, you’ll never give up on it. No matter
how bad the situation may get.” – Unknown
Interview Questions:
why?
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
now….yeah, it is still that, I just can’t have it all the time.
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.
Thanks for reading! Hope this was entertaining.
Keep writing,
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