Explaining the Top Items on My Bucket List

This is week seven of the 52-week blog challenge for Marketing for Romance Writers, and the topic is the top five items on my bucket list. Because I have cleared away many items over the years, I had to stop and think about this list.

Going to the state of Alaska has to be at or near the top of my bucket list. After all, my husband and I have visited every state except Alaska. Years ago, I dreamed of flying to the West Coast and renting a vehicle to drive from Washington state up the coast of Canada to Alaska. It sounded like a wonderful adventure. That was the exuberance of youth speaking. Such a trip now sounds rather grueling and long. Also, Alaska is cold with short days most of the time. I am rethinking.

A trip to Australia was once at the top of my list. However, that sounds even more daunting now. When we flew for nine hours on a trip from St. Louis to Hawaii, that flight dampened my desire to fly double that time to get to Australia. And that did not even count the many hours to get from the East Coast to the West Coast to begin the trip.

I have now added to the top of the list the promotion of the "Passenger to Paradise" novels I started to write as a series in 2001. Those stories began with Hearts Across Forever, set on the luxurious tropical island of Jamaica.  There, I discovered Rose Hall Great House and the legend of the White Witch. Ideas blossomed in the lush setting and drummed up a magic drama and love story for the characters and for the "Passenger".

A dreamer, creator, and traveler, the "Passenger to Paradise" loves to go to exotic places where she can readily research her books. A new novel, set in the tropics, is now part of my bucket list. That will make six books for the "Passenger to Paradise". I wonder how many more ideas she will drag onto my bucket list, making it always out of reach to complete.

Loving Animals, Books, and Children

 
 






 An Artful Animal Alphabet, my first published children's book, has been released. What a thrill it is to hold this bright hardcover edition in my hands.

Because I've worked for many years teaching children to love art as much as I do, I suspect this book is greatly inspired by their work and their excited enthusiasm. It is also inspired by the love of animals I have witnessed in my own three daughters who grew up rescuing and protecting them.

We once had a baby blue jay sheltered in our garage for a while. We've had multiple stray feral cats. One daughter had a special little dog that she loved dearly for many years. Some of the animals in my book were inspired by photos taken of the unusual creatures two of them saw and photographed on visits to Tasmania and Australia several years ago.

Each animal has a little story to go with it. My hope is that someone will expand my stories or make up their own tales to go with each of the 26 paintings in my book.

W is for Wallaby - A Painting a Day

A to Z Challenge

"Wallaby" acrylic painting - Mary Montague Sikes

For "W" I've chosen another animal, the Wallaby, a marsupial that inhabits Australia and Tasmania. My daughter, Amy, provided me with a photograph that she took in Tasmania that I used as my resource image. Since these animals actually live among rocks, I took some liberties with the terrain.

This painting is 11" x 14" acrylic on stretched canvas. We are nearing the end of A Painting a Day for the A to Z Challenge.