Cynthia T. Toney is my guest this week, and she shared some thoughtful responses when I gave her five random words. Keep reading to learn more about Cynthia and her young adult books, 8 Notes to a Nobody and 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status.
Wisdom: Something I wish I’d had an ounce of in my twenties about a number of things, including choosing people that will treat me well, understanding my family members better, and recognizing writing as a possible career.
Prairie: A simple but beautiful place where resolve continues to be tested. I associate the prairie with hard work by good people.
Menu: I wonder who created the first menu. Perhaps he or she chiseled descriptions of a few specialties into a stone and offered those dishes to hungry travelers in exchange for a bear hide or bow and arrows.
Tourist: Something I haven’t been for a while. I’d love to visit certain places in North America as well as in Italy.
Passion: My passion is helping rescue dogs about to be euthanized in animal shelters. For others like me, the goal is to make every dog pound or animal shelter no-kill. One of the ways to achieve this is to educate people and convince them to spay and neuter their pets.
Bird Face: 8 Notes to a Nobody
Wendy Robichaud doesn’t care one bit about being popular like good-looking classmates Tookie and the Sticks—until Brainiac bully John-Monster schemes against her, and someone leaves anonymous sticky-note messages all over school. Even the best friend she always counted on, Jennifer, is hiding something and pulling away. But the Spring Program, abandoned puppies, and high school track team tryouts don’t leave much time to play detective. And the more Wendy discovers about the people around her, the more there is to learn. When secrets and failed dreams kick off the summer after eighth grade, who will be around to support her as high school starts in the fall?
Bird Face: 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status
Wendy Robichaud is on schedule to have everything she wants in high school: two loyal best friends, a complete and happy family, and a hunky boyfriend she’s had a crush on since eighth grade—until she and Mrs. Villaturo look at old photo albums together. That’s when Mrs. V sees her dead husband and hints at a scandal down in Cajun country. Faster than you can say “crawdad,” Wendy digs into the scandal. She risks losing boyfriend David by befriending Mrs. V’s cute grandson, alienates stepsister Alice by having a boyfriend in the first place, and upsets her friend Gayle without knowing why.
Will Wendy be able to prevent Mrs. V from being taken thousands of miles away from her? And will she lose all the friends she’s fought so hard to get?
Cynthia T. Toney is a former advertising designer, marketing director, and interior decorator who holds a BA in art education with a minor in history. While employed by a large daily newspaper, she tried to rewrite some ad copy without permission and got into trouble for it. At that point, she knew she was destined to become an author.
When she’s not cooking Cajun or Italian food, Cynthia writes historical and contemporary teen fiction containing elements of mystery and romance. The first edition of her debut novel, Bird Face, won a 2014 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, Bronze, in the Pre-teen Mature Issues category.
With a new publisher for an entire Bird Face series, the original story is now book one and titled 8 Notes to a Nobody. Book two is 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status. Look for more books in the series in the near future from Write Integrity Press.
Cynthia loves dogs and the friendly South from Georgia to Texas, where she resides with her husband and several canines. She enjoys connecting with readers online and looks forward to hearing from you.
Thanks for inviting me to appear, Marissa. I thoroughly enjoyed addressing your random words. Such a clever idea for visiting authors!
It was fun to have you, Cynthia. Thanks for participating!