When Does a Writing Career Begin?

"When did you start writing?" In interviews, whether radio, television, newspaper, or blog, that question is usually asked at some point.

I most often answer, "I've been writing forever."

As I think about it, I always enjoyed writing lengthy answers on test papers in school. In high school, I wrote short stories, was school reporter for the local newspaper and editor of the school newspaper. In early adulthood, I stumbled accidentally into a freelance writing job for a city newspaper. Although I was busy writing and had a small but steady newspaper income, I never dreamed of becoming a novelist. That happened completely by accident.

When our youngest daughter was 14, I received a call from the local community college, inviting her to participate in a creative writing class they were offering. A gifted writer, she was recommended for the class by her high school English teachers. Since the college was 10 miles away and she wasn't old enough to drive, I decided to take her. Because I would be at the school with her, I enrolled in the class with her.

I loved the class; I loved the instructor; I started a novel. My daughter was less impressed and did not continue after that quarter, but I stuck with it. I wrote my novel and had each part of it critiqued along the way. The instructor, the late Jane Deringer, was inspiring. She got me involved in travel writing, a critique group, starting two writers clubs in the area, and much more.Years later, the novel I started in that class was published.

When did my writing career actually begin? Was it when I wrote a poem in third grade and was asked to recite it in front of the entire school? Was it when I won awards for my short stories in high school? Was it when I fell into the newspaper freelance job? Or was it when I met my mentor, Jane Deringer?

Perhaps it was each of those times.

Perhaps I became more of a writer at each rung of the ladder.

What about you? When did you become a writer?

Painting the National Parks

"Yellowstone Lake" pastel painting ©Mary Montague Sikes

These are the first of my paintings this year that are focusing on scenes from our beautiful National Parks. For these art works, I used as reference materials photographs I took during a trip to Yellowstone National Park in 2006. Both of these works were created using vine charcoal for the basic drawing, then I added color, working mostly with Rembrandt soft pastels. For both these paintings, I used half-sheets of Canson Mi-Teintes pastel paper in the Moonstone color. The half-sheets are 19" x 12 1/2" unframed.

"Yellowstone Lower Falls" pastel painting ©Mary Montague Sikes

Do Art and Writing Mix When It Comes to Marketing?

For several years, I have tried cross-marketing ideas of promoting my books at art events. For example, at art fairs and festivals, lots of people come with plans to buy something. A book is less expensive than a piece of art, so this is a good place for book sales.

Right?

Not necessarily.

I've read about authors who have great success selling books at these types of events. However, I have achieved a limited amount of success. Often, I find those attending the festivals are not readers, or they are readers who no longer buy books and use their e-readers instead. Now at these events, I'm experiencing more success selling cards with images of my art on them than selling my books. That is disappointing for the writer in me.

Non-fiction books with a local connection appear to do better at art fairs, festivals, and crafts shows than novels. A local tie-in is ideal if an author can create one.

Occasionally, I have tried selling books in my art gallery spaces. This also has met with limited success. Those who come in for open house events often are only interested in the food and are not readers. Even when advertising as a book signing event, there is little interest from the art crowd.

From my own experience, art venues offer limited opportunity for book sales. What about your experiences with cross-marketing your work in other ways? Were they successful?

Thank you to the co-hosts of this Online Marketing Symposium about what works and what doesn't:

Arlee Bird - http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/

Yolanda Renee - http://yolandarenee.blogspot.com/

Jeremy Hawkins - http://www.beingretro.com/

Alex J. Cavanaugh - http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

Yellowstone Lake Hotel is an Historic Convenience for Travelers

"Yellowstone Lake Lodge" ©Mary Montague Sikes

"Yellowstone Lake Lodge 2" ©Mary Montague Sikes

The Lake Hotel opened in Yellowstone National Park in 1891. Its convenient location provides visitors with an excellent base from which to start daily explorations of the massive park. We stayed at the hotel for a week in 2006, enjoying lovely views of the lake from our room windows and excellent meals each night in the large main dining room. I especially liked watching the work of the park resident artist as work in progress changed each day.

In 1903, the hotel was redesigned and expanded by architect Robert Reamer who also designed the park's famous Old Faithful Inn. The Yellowstone Lake Hotel is a rather plain clapboard structure with two large porticoes that face the lake. The original building was three-stories high. The 1903, 1922-23, and 1928 re-modelings added an eastward extension with a third portico, a two-story west wing, a dining room expansion, and a solarium. More renovations took place in 1984 and 1990. The most recent renovations occurred in 2012 and 2013-14.

"Buffalo Roam" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Although the hotel has an austere appearance from the outside, the lobby was cozy and inviting during our stay there. I especially enjoyed the art on display, and in the evening, buffalo were sometimes seen roaming along the lake front.

The buffalo often stopped traffic along the road that led to and from the hotel. Warning signs were posted throughout the park about the danger of the animals goring tourists, so most people were wise enough to stay inside their vehicles while taking photographs.

If we return to Yellowstone, I would like to once again stay in the Lake Hotel. However, I do not believe the resident artist program is still in place there. I will miss that feature.

Yellowstone National Park - One Visit is Not Enough

"Yellowstone Lake" ©Mary Montague Sikes

One visit is never enough when traveling to and in Yellowstone National Park. It is amazing to realize that when Yellowstone was established in 1872, the United States was not yet 100 years old and the park was the first national one in the world. Located mostly in Wyoming, it extends into Montana and Idaho as well. When we spent almost two weeks there in 2006, we flew into Bozeman, MT which is an interesting town to visit and a good place to begin a visit to Yellowstone.

The park was everything I hoped it might be. I loved the rugged landscape, the wild animals, especially the buffalo, that lumbered across the roadway, halting the passage of all traffic. The mudpots were astonishing, like paintings on the surface of the land.

Can you believe the Yellowstone Lake is over the center of the super volcano that has been in the news a lot in recent weeks? How dramatic it must have been for early settlers to stumble across the fantastic scenery of Yellowstone.

"Yellowstone Falls"©Mary Montague Sikes

For Week Two of my journey through some of the National Parks, I will add more about Yellowstone. I haven't begun my paintings
 and will post them here when I do.