Tonya Thomas's Blog

Tonya Thomas writes gripping stories about issues that affect women
today, such as parenting, eldercare, second marriages, domestic abuse,
and more. She lives in Newark, NY with her husband and two cats,
Sasha and Simka.
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Find me on Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads

Welcome to the Cyber Home ofwomen's fiction author
TONYA THOMAS



Tonya's StoriesAbout TonyaTonya's NewsletterExtras
Find me on Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads

Got an e reader?  Through the month of July, Smashwords is having a GIGANTIC Winter/Summer sale. (Winter, because it's winter in places like Australia where they sell books, and summer because -- hey, it's summer on this half of the world!)  I'm participating.  My anthology, THE EDGE AND I, is on sale for 50% off.  (Which makes it only $1.50--yes, FIVE stories for only $1.50).  Hurry!  Click this link and go buy it, and then come back and read the rest of this post. 

Discounting and giving away books is good marketing. It can introduce an author to a whole new reading audience.  According to her blog post yesterday, my FB friend L.L. Bartlett has already given away over 117,000 copies of her mystery, Murder On The Mind.  And for today only, my friend Lee Barnett is giving away her fantasy novel Tales of Telenia: Threshold. 

Why are authors doing this?  Because they want to bring greater awareness to their work.  The books I've mentioned here run the gamut of women's fiction, mystery, and fantasy. So, why not click the links and try something new to you? 

You might just like it.

One of the great things about being a writer is the camaraderie.  We help each other out.  Like giving a shout out for a friend's latest (or in this case, a first) release. I'm talking about my friend Lee Barnett's fantasy novel, Tales of Telenia: Threshold, which is exclusively available for Kindle (until October--then it will be available for all other e readers).  It's the first in a series.

Here's the book description:  When a spatial rift causes Amanda Shelton’s space shuttle to crash land on an unknown planet, she awakens to find herself locked in a cell with a tutor charged with teaching her an alien language. Crown Prince Paxdon is determined to scavenge not only her ship, but any technology he can squeeze from her brain to vanquish his enemies in a neighboring province. But just who is Amanda’s real adversary; the warriors in the north or the people of Telenia?

I write stories about strong contemporary women, which is why I like this story so much. Although it's about a strong woman in the not-so-distant future.  Maybe you'd like it, too!

Authors are not always as hardy as we look.  A bad review can be like a stake in our hearts.  So when I read a bad review on Amazon for The Hoarder's Daughter, I took it to heart. It was posted back in March, but it has stayed with me, making me feel like a failure as a storyteller.  : (

I recently had to do a very long, boring household task that took 9 or 10 hours.  Guess what I decided to have on in the background while I completed said task?  Nine or ten episodes of A&E's HOARDERS.  After that, I revisited my manuscript.

You know what?  I don't know what the Amazon reviewer who spewed such negativity wants from a short story, but what I had written was pretty true to reality.  (And I had done considerable research before I wrote the story.  While I have never lived with a true hoarder, I have lived with a person who had hoarding tendencies, so I could identify with the adult children as portrayed in the TV show.) 

Still, when given the opportunity, a writer will revise.  In fact, if I read any one of my works 100 more times, I'd still come up with yet more refinements and additions.  Guess what?  Over the weekend I read the story twice and added quite a few very minor changes.  I clarified a few points, and embellished a few descriptions, but when all is said and done, I'm proud of the story and it hasn't really changed all that much.

If you've already purchased a copy of The Hoarder's Daughter through Kindle, Nook, or Smashwords, you can download a new version for free.  (I'm not sure about Apple, Kobo, Sony, etc.  And it might take a few weeks for Smashwords to distribute the new version to those places.)

If you haven't yet bought the story  . . .   what are you waiting for?

I've been working on my SF novel for the past few months and I'm happy to say it's finished.

Okay, it's not finished.  I awoke this morning and realized there was one tiny thread hanging that must be snipped.  Easy to do in a couple of sentences.

And ... I'm sending it out for two friends to read.  Both these authors have written fantasy before.  One of them has written SF (we're talking NY published authors).  I've never had anything (professionally) published in the SF genre, so I'm eager (and anxious) to see what they have to say.

And there's that little problem of no title.  I hope my friends will be able to suggest one to me when they finish reading the book.

And, this is part one of what I'm planning to be a trilogy, so of course the "story" isn't yet finished.  (I do have half of the second written in first draft.)

I guess a writer isn't really finished until the thing is out there and being read by readers.

So ... I hope some of my readers will find it in the coming months/years.

Here's my description:  When a spatial rift causes Amanda Shelton’s space shuttle to crash land on an unknown planet, she awakens to find herself locked in a cell with a tutor charged with teaching her an alien language. Crown Prince Paxdon is determined to scavenge not only her ship, but any technology he can squeeze from her brain to vanquish his enemies in a neighboring province.  But just who is Amanda’s real adversary; the warriors in the north or the people of Telenia?

Do you think you'd like to read it?

This blog/website has seen a LOT of traffic since the terrible murders in Florida earlier this week.  I wish I could say that those reading this now are interested in my writing, but that's not the case.

So if you landed here looking for insight on a murderer named Tonya Thomas, you won't find it here.  I'm a writer from central New York.  If you're interested in the kinds of emotional pressures that drive some women to the brink, try one or more of my stories.  I write tales about women in complicated circumstances and, often, volatile relationships.

Motherhood's dark side?  Try The Eyes That Haunt Me.  Women on the edge of terror due to domestic violence (and it sounds like that may have happened to the Florida Tonya), try Trapped In An Abusive Relationship.

You can find a list of all my current work on the short stories page.

Thank you for visiting my site, and I'm sorry the visit was prompted by such awful circumstances.

It's Mother's Day ... but not all of them are happy.

I explored the dark side of motherhood in one of my stories, THE EYES THAT HAUNT ME.

One hot September afternoon, Annie Henderson's life changed forever. That was the day she was raped. Nine months later, she gave up the daughter she'd conceived on that terrible day. Forging a new life was difficult, but Annie had a successful military career and then had a family. Life was good, until the daughter she gave up reenters her life, and threatens to ruin it forever

I'm giving it away free today only from Smashwords.  

When you go to purchase it, use coupon code RH67C and you'll get it for FREE.