Challenge Participant Feature - Mary Montague Sikes!

Today’s Challenge Participate Feature is Mary Montague Sikes!

For the Challenge, Mary decided to do an animal painting a day, which I thought was very ambitious. Not only did she succeed, her paintings were beautiful. Please welcome Mary!

Alex, thank you for having me as part of the A to Z feature!

What made you choose your theme of a painting a day?

For many years, I've admired people who made the effort to create a new work of art every day. There are even web sites devoted to promoting that work. I thought that the challenge was the perfect opportunity to try out A Painting A Day.

Did you ever worry you wouldn’t be able to create a new painting every day?

Every day, I worried and wondered if I would actually be able to pull off yet another painting. That was especially true while I was in Boone, NC taking a workshop in experimental painting. It was hard to shift creative gears and paint an animal and post it in just a little over an hour for each of four days.

Which one was your favorite?

It's really hard to choose. I have them spread around the walls of my studio right now. The possum and the jaguar are among my favorites, possibly because I like the design of the background foliage in each of those paintings. My husband likes the X-Ray Tetra best. While I was working on them, I found I liked the newest work best on most days.

Did you work from a photo or create them from scratch?

I worked from photos—mostly that I took myself or borrowed from my daughter, Amy, who took animal pictures while visiting Tasmania last year. It would be hard to create animal paintings from scratch unless they were fantasy images.

Did you have a picture of a unicorn?

I looked at unicorn paintings on the Internet to get ideas then used the photo I took of the horse sculpture in Avon, Colorado and embellished it with a horn! I used that same photograph when I painted the horse for the A to Z Challenge.

What do you intend to do with the paintings now?

I took six of the animal paintings with me to Tides Inn for display on Memorial Day weekend. I also printed out a greeting card for each of the animals and sold them at the Art Marketplace set up at the Inn. The gift shop manager there kept all I had left, except for the alligator and the iguana. Turns out she doesn't like reptiles. I'm looking for a gallery or a place that would like to display all the animal paintings together in a show. Several people urged me to contact publishers of children's books with a proposal. I hope to do that as well. It's hard to pursue those things when I want to keep on painting instead!

Do you know what you’ll do for next year’s Challenge?

I loved doing the painting a day and would like to try something similar for next year. However, I don't know what subject might work best. I need to choose something that will keep up my enthusiasm to the last day!

As a bonus, from this year's A Painting A Day for the A to Z Challenge, I have a new painting almost finished on the wall of my studio. It's 30" x 42" acrylic on stretched canvas. For several years, the canvas has been leaning on the floor roughly sketched out with charcoal. Each day in April (except for the time in Boone), I used the leftover acrylics on my palette from the Challenge painting on this new work. I haven't named it yet but hope to have it completed in early June. I'll unveil it then! What a nice surprise to get an extra painting from A to Z!

Thank you, Mary! Your paintings rocked.

Co-host Ninja Captain Alex is the author of Best Sellers CassaStar and CassaFire and his blog can be found HERE

The Three Golden Rules for Surviving Blog Challenges

By Terri Rochenski

This year I decided to join in the A-Z blog challenge. It’s a big undertaking, not a quickie way to gain faithful followers. I learned a few things along the way – things that had I not done, I never would have succeeded.

Being prepared. 

As a stay-at-home mom, finding time to read and write is tough. Life itself often gets in the way, distracting me from deadlines that must be met. I realized the only way I would make it through this challenge would be to do things in advance. I’m ridiculously organized, so I made up a to-do list – preparing my mind I WAS going to succeed being #1.

Chose a theme.

I read this countless times, and decided since I’m such a neat / order freak this idea was perfect for me. I chose quotes & excerpts, then went on to create my own little widget to place at the beginning of each post letting visitors know what my challenge was all about. After this, I scoured my publisher & the world of fantasy books for titles that began with each letter of the alphabet.

Scheduling.

Starting a month before the challenge began I dove into pre-blogging. Getting posts completed in advance took the stress of the challenge off my shoulders. Luckily, I was able to complete all 26 posts before the challenge even began, thus freeing up the entire month of April for … well, life!

And the month of April brought a LOT of life.

Yes, I visited blogs during the challenge – I even signed up to help ‘police’ the linky list of participants. On top of that, there was 20 feet of the front of my house being completely ripped open for a new entryway and front windows, spring break for daughter #1, 10 day vacation at my parent’s internet-less Pennsylvania homestead where I grew up, an ARC to read for my publisher, and awful, all-day-long morning sickness.  o_O

Will I do this or a similar challenge again? Depends. If I have a major deadline looming like I do right now for the completion of the 2^nd book in my 2-book series contracted with J. Taylor Publishing, then I’d have to say NO. Or if child #3 turns out to be a ripping terror who doesn’t let me sit and breathe until 8 at night it’ll be NO.

But if the next challenge comes along when only “normal” life is looming, I’ll give it a go. I just won’t attempt it without following these golden rules!

How about you? Planner? Panster? What got you through your last challenge?

Terri Rochenski

Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

About the Author: Terri started writing stories in the 8^th grade, when a little gnome whispered in her brain. Gundi’s Great Adventure never hit the best seller list, but it started a long love affair with storytelling.

Today she enjoys an escape to Middle Earth during the rare ‘me’ moments her two young daughters allow. When not playing toys, picking them back up, or kissing boo-boos, she can be found sprawled on the couch with a book or pencil in hand, and toothpicks propping her eyelids open.

Blogging Basics: Guest Posting

Last week, we discussed the basics of blog hops and memes, and how to make connections with them.  This week, we'll discuss making connections by guest posting on other blogs.

The five pointers last week were: 1. Be Interested, 2. Participate, 3. Follow the Rules, 4. Visit Other Participants, and 5. Advertise the Hop/Meme.

Guest posts can expose you to new readers, as each blog already has its own readership.  Thus, this is a valuable way to meet other bloggers and possibly build your own readership (as well as bring your readers over to the host's blog, benefiting both of you.)

Some basic rules for guest posting are as follows:

1. Choose a relevant host blog.  You want to find a blog that will have a readership that might be interested in what you typically post about.  If you are a writer of romance novels, it behooves you to find a host blog that has something to do with romance, reading, writing, or other related topics.  You will likely not find the appropriate audience on a hardcore science blog or one that focuses on politics, for instance.

2. Choose a relevant blog topic.  You've chosen an appropriate blog, now be sure the post you write up is a topic that is relevant to both your blog and the host blog.  You don't want to trick their readers into coming over to your blog, just to discover your post has nothing to do with what they will find there.  Don't make an entire post that is just about self-promotion.  Your guest post should have valid information and be interesting.  Choose a topic and do it justice.

3. Be present and visit the commenters.  Know when your blog post will be going live on their blog, then be sure to show up.  Respond to comments and questions left in response to your blog.  Be a presence and show that you care what they think, and that you weren't just throwing a post out there.  And just as you should visit those who comment on your blog, you should visit those who visit your post on another blog.  Stop by, read what they have to say, and leave them a nice comment.  If you really can't think of anything to say, or are limited on time, at least thank them for stopping by.  Your friendly personality might win you more readers than the guest post itself.

4. Link them back to your site.  Always give readers a way to find you.  The best way to do this is to include a short bio at the end of the post, which should include important links, such as your website, your blog, etc.  You may just choose to include a list of contact points/links, or you may include a link to your blog or website somewhere within the body of the post.

5. Thank your host.  Be sure to show your appreciation to the host.  Thank them in your post, in the comments, with an email, whatever you feel comfortable with.  Let them know you appreciate that they were willing to share their space with you.  Think of it as them having invited their friends over to their house to listen to you talk.  Wasn't that nice of them?  Also, as an advance thank you, be sure to ask them what they want from your post and how to format it.  Giving them something they can easily cut and paste, and that they will be happy to share on their blog, is the best way to thank them.  The thank you at the end is well deserved frosting on the cake.

Always remember that the host is doing you a favor by sharing their space with you, and treat them accordingly.  Try to make this exchange as easy on them as possible by having a well written post that is relevant to their blog, and that is formatted nicely, easily, and to their specifications.  If you have questions, it's better to ask them, rather than leaving it up in the air whether you're doing what they need you to do.

May you find your Muse.

Shannon
The Warrior Muse

Special Announcement:   The special A to Z edition of Woven Tale Press is now available!   Be sure to check out Woven Tale Press.    Is one of your blog posts included?