Baseball Season Opens Today - My Favorite Time of Year Returns

The Major League Baseball Season opens today, and, of course, I am super excited. This is my favorite time of year.

Tyler Lyons warms up ©Mary Montague Sikes

We returned from spring training with the St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter, Florida in mid-March. This is a time of enthusiasm for all because each team has a chance as the players prepare for the new season.

We attended six games and had seats in our favorite location in Roger Dean Stadium, six rows behind the bull pen. From there we have a perfect view as each pitcher gets ready to enter the game. It is an ideal location to photograph not only the pitchers but also the other players as they stretch and get ready prior to the game.

"Alex Reyes, Phenom" ©Mary Montague Sikes

 During one of the games, our young phenom, Alex Reyes, showed up wearing a shirt with 97 on it. I don't think anyone else in the seats behind the bull pen realized who he was. I knew he wasn't no. 97 because that no. was listed for a young non-roster pitcher I had watched earlier. After throwing about 15 pitches, he smiled, spoke to a bull-pen coach and left. Normally, the bull pen warm-up area is reserved for the next pitcher coming into the game. Reyes won't start pitching in games until May. Seeing something special is one of the benefits of spring training.

I'm excited about the new season and have high hopes for my teach, the St. Louis Cardinals. It is a special time of year.

"Pichers Gather to Watch Adam Wainwright (50)" ©Mary Montague Sikes

If I Never Had to Market My Work Again, I'd Be Happy

If I never had to market my work again, I would be very happy. This is for week 11 of Marketing for Romance Writers 52-week blog challenge.

Don't get me wrong. There are some marketing tasks that I like.

For one thing, I enjoy meeting new people, but sometimes I feel intimidated, especially at book signings. The type of book makes a lot of difference, I've decided. Novels are a hard sell for me. I'm told often that the person only reads non-fiction. Not much hope there.

My new children's book, An Artful Animal Alphabet, gets a more positive response. It is colorful, illustrated with my own original paintings, and a lot of people have purchased copies for their grandchildren. I enjoy seeing their enthusiastic smiles.

If I didn't need to market, I could use all my time writing books and creating art. That would be more fun. I don't mind writing a few press releases, but if I never have to do a lot of marketing I would enjoy the creative process much more.

Follow the Rules - Probably the Worst Writing Advice I've Gotten

In the Marketing for Romance Writers 52-week Blog Challenge, week eight is about the worst writing advice I've gotten. I started to think about all the submission rules romance writers got back when I first started writing in that genre. I followed them, others did not and met with great success.

We were told to never do multiple submissions to any of the houses. I knew people who did and were never harmed by it. Those writers said they didn't have time to wait around to get published.

Some writers didn't care that they had not finished a manuscript when they submitted their proposal. They didn't follow the rules of having it complete. Those writers often won.

Show, don't tell, the rule says. Some well-known authors tell a lot in their books and do just fine. Readers love them. They often hit the top of the best-seller lists.

Maybe the many rules are right for some people. Maybe they are good for special occasions. Maybe, but...

"On the Train, Brightly" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Here is my rule. Follow the rules that intuitively feel right for you. Use common sense. If age or illness places you near the end of your writing career, break all the rules in an effort to get your work out there. Do what works. Writing is hard. Go for the gold.
Create your own train and ride it to the top.

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.

Five Authors I Would Like to Meet Would Include William Shakespeare

Six-toed Cat at Hemingway house ©MM Sikes

Much to my surprise, for week six of the 52-week blog challenge for Marketing for Romance Writers, I realized I would like to meet William Shakespeare. The fiction series, "Will", intrigued me and made me more interested in the back story behind Shakespeare's work. I wonder if any of the TV story lines are fact-based.

Ernest Hemingway is another author from the past I would like to meet. Key West is one of my favorite destinations, and I love visiting the Hemingway displays at the waterfront museum. I also enjoyed a visit to his home where I got to see the six-toed cats.

Of course, being almost from Richmond, Virginia, I treasure the words of Edgar Allen Poe. I especially love his poem, "Annabelle Lee", as well as most of his short stories.

As a member of Romance Writers of America, I attended every annual conference for many years and got to meet lots of authors. Once, in Chicago, I chatted with Janet Evanovich and was amazed to hear from her that she was leaving Love Swept and branching out on her own. You know where all of that went. She made the right move.

Ruth Montgomery's work has always intrigued me. I would love to meet her and discuss her paranormal writing.

So many wonderful authors. I would like to meet many others as well.