Category Archives: Life

You Can’t Put a Square…

What kinds of activities do you engage in while mulling over your storylines? Have they ever helped you get over a stumbling block?  When I finally sit myself down, keys to the board, I fly away writing.  If I get … Continue reading

Posted in advice, author's life, battles, big plans, Books, characters, contemporary, Daily life, decisions, descriptions, editing, experiences, goals, HEA/HFN, how to write, imagination, inspiration, language, Life, marriage, Miscellaneous, misunderstandings, novels, procrastination, research, short stories, subplots, technology, time management, Tonette Joyce, using talents, Words, writing | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Personal Growth

Do you garden at all?  When I was in Colorado, I had a townhouse. It had a fair-sized yard, but the back was two-thirds deck and the rest was generally shady, which was great for the kids playing, but not great … Continue reading

Posted in advice, America, battles, big plans, contemporary, Daily life, Dealing with stress, descriptions, experiences, Family, food, goals, inspiration, Life, lifestyles, memories, Miscellaneous, Random thoughts, spring, summer, Tonette Joyce, using talents, Validation, weather | Tagged , | 5 Comments

“Socially” Acceptable

I thought of the topic of the week, “How do you use social media and how has it changed”, when I found myself on one platform more and more, one that I never expected to connect with folks through:  YouTube.  … Continue reading

Posted in advice, America, audiobooks, authors, battles, big plans, blessings, blogging, book review, Books, careers, collections, creativity, decisions, descriptions, experiences, Family, favorites, food, foreign language, foreign languages, foreign publications, friends, Friendship, history, hobbies, holidays, imagination, inspiration, inspirational stories, interview, language, libraries, Life, lifestyles, Lists, Miscellaneous, movies, Music, musicians, Narration, new skills, non-fiction, novels, paranormal, performances, personal libraries, pets, poetry, pronunciations, publishing, Random thoughts, reader interview, reading, reading preferences, recipe, reviews, self-improvement, shopping, short stories, shyness, teaching, time management, Tonette Joyce, translations, using talents, weather, writers, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Making and Keeping Connections

Our Friday Fox asked, “How has your use of social media changed over the years?” I’ll be the first to admit that I’m online A LOT. Much of that time, I’m on one social media outlet or another. Sometimes I’m … Continue reading

Posted in author's life, experiences, Family, friends, Life, Patricia Kiyono, self-publishing, social media, technology, writing, Writing and other professions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Visiting Old Friends

Oh, that I had the time! But there is a help for that, so that I can revisit those that moved me, changed me and those that introduced me to life-long friends.  Before I could read, I had my aunt and … Continue reading

Posted in Anthologies, audiobooks, authors, blessings, Books, characters, childhood, Children's books, classics, Clean Writing, Daily life, descriptions, dialogue, Family, favorite books, favorites, friends, imagination, inspiration, inspirational stories, Kindle, language, Life, memories, novels, personal libraries, phrases, plots, poetry, Random thoughts, short stories, time management, Tonette Joyce, Words of Wisdom, writers, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Ac’centuate the Positive

Since accents have played a major part in my life, I would be surprised if they had not come up here before.  Hello, my name is Tonette, and I pick up accents.  Do any of you do this when speaking … Continue reading

Posted in advice, audiobooks, blessings, blogging, Books, childhood, Daily life, descriptions, experiences, Family, foreign language, foreign languages, guests, hobbies, imagination, inspiration, language, Life, memories, misunderstandings, new skills, pronunciations, self-improvement, teaching, Tonette Joyce, traditions | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Family, Friends, Fiction

This week we were asked if we wrote any characters based on real people. I know we have touched on this at one time in the past, but as I was running through my head about characters that I had … Continue reading

Posted in author's life, authors, Books, characters, Characters based on real people, contemporary, cozy mystery, creating scenes, creativity, decisions, descriptions, dialogue, editing, experiences, Family, fantasy, imagination, inspiration, inspirational people, inspirational romance, Life, marriage, Miscellaneous, misunderstandings, non-fiction, poetry, Random thoughts, short stories, subplots, Tonette Joyce, Words, writers, writing, writing from experiences | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Finding Room to Find Things

The Monday Fox asked: “What’s first on your to-do list for 2023?” Lists are good for me, especially with all that goes on in my life. I used to have a phenomenal memory and never made a grocery list, copy … Continue reading

Posted in advice, big plans, blessings, collections, decisions, experiences, Family, goals, helping others, holidays, inspiration, Life, lifestyles, Lists, Miscellaneous, new skills, Tonette Joyce, using talents | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

The Dickens, I Say!

This is not a ‘review’ week, but this one won’t wait. It’s about a story that all of you know, one that I thought that I did in its entirety. I also thought that I had read the complete story, … Continue reading

Posted in advice, big plans, book review, Books, characters, Christmas, Christmas books, classics, creating scenes, decisions, descriptions, editing, Faith-centered stories, free week, helping others, history, imagination, inspiration, inspirational stories, Life, movies, novels, publishing, reading, titles, Tonette Joyce, traditions, winter, writers | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Christmas, Once Again

“How does/did your family countdown to Christmas? Did/do you have any special family traditions?” Ch-ch-ch-changes! My mother decorated early. We always got a huge Christmas tree, one carefully selected and as close to prefect as possible. Seriously, my generally tight-fisted, … Continue reading

Posted in America, blessings, Christmas, Christmas books, Dealing with stress, decisions, experiences, Family, favorites, food, guests, Holiday, holidays, Life, memories, Miscellaneous, movies, Tonette Joyce, traditions | 7 Comments