May 2019 Authors' Challenge

 May is upon us! I'm only slightly surprised at how fast April flew by. I knew Camp Nano would speed things along for me. I met and exceeded my Nano goal, so that's a win. And I completed the three challenges I started on April 1st. [After doing three in April, I guess one for May seemed easier.]

I've no Monday post planned as of right now. Since I'm only participating in one IG challenge this month, I'll save Monday posts for updates on OLUS and the artwork, since that's what I'll be tackling for the first two weeks of May.

Read on for the challenges!

#AuthorsChallenge2019 May Edition

• Day 1 - This is me. - 5 things I love: family, friends, the play of shadow and light, plants, music 4 things I hate: lies, selfishness, bullying, unsewing (a.k.a. ripping seams because I made a mistake) 3 things I enjoy doing: nature hikes, finger painting, and reading to learn 2 things I'll never give up on: my marriage, my kids 1 thing that makes all the difference: my faith in Messiah Yeshua. I don't much like selfies. So I collabbed with my fan and Picas to create this ethereal 'almost there' image of my face. LOL
• Day 2 -  My Writing Process - I start with characters and getting their profile basics jotted down. Then I fill in from there. Y'Dahnndrya was always meant to be a growing, changing place with limitless possibilities and for me, the way the characters view the world around them is the best way to fill it in. That comes with the writing. I use Nano for writing drafts and speeding revisions along. And I just go from there. 
•  Day 3 - Follow Loop - I dislike Follow Loops. I don't have a lot of time to spend commenting on other authors' photos but I try my best to make the rounds. I feel like if I don't comment every day on at least one of their posts, they unfollow me. Then I wonder if they hate my content and despise my efforts at connecting with them. Follow Friday Loops are a serious downer for me. But I am not a quitter. And these writing challenges present just that...challenges. I refuse to fail simply because I didn't like one of the challenge topics.
• Day 4 -  Star Wars Quote - "These aren't the droids we're looking for." This is my favorite photo for the challenge so far. Well, it might actually be tied with day 8. I found the original on Pixabay and you can see it by clicking here.
• Day 5 - Delicious Dialog -
  Zek peered through the crack in time to watch Tor rake a hand through his long hair and sigh. "The  Guild is too busy seeing to the normal running of things. I doubt they even notice the turth of what's going on before it's too late to do anything about it."
  The Guardian snorted and threw her hands up in disgust. "Make them see! Are you not a part of that illustrious council?" She interrupted Tor's negative report. Zek grinned as she jabbed Tor in the center of his chest each time she said 'you.'
  "You're a Kne'narri Karvi and a well-known and successful guide. These are positions of honor. Why not use your status to turn their hearts back to the true Creator's ways?"
  "You don't understand, Guardian. I cannot. But for these younglings under my protection I would. If it was only my life at stake, you must know I wouldn't hesitate."
  She nodded slowly. "I understand your wrods very well, Tor. But there is on ething you've overlooked. There is no revolution in which only one life hangs in the balance." 
• Day 6 - MC's Profession - Zek Inessi is (or will be training to become) a gemstone carver, or a glyptician in today's world. When I first started researching this topic, I couldn't find much information. If you recall, I think I shared the link I discovered back then on the blog. It was an article about a school in Germany. Perhaps my frantic searches tipped off the big-wigs about interest in the topic. :)
• Day 7 -  My Hobbies. In the first collage, I shared three costumes I created, one of them rather formal because I needed a Mardi Gras ball gown. I don't do ball gowns. They never fit right. I wish you could see the entire outfit, mask included. I love creating costumes! The second photo is my husband's Steampunk Admiral's costume. I only made the jacket but I think, aside from the cutting, I constructed it in one entire day. I was still working on it at 2 am on the morning of the event. The last photo is my first mate's Steampunk outfit. I made the shirt with the cool shimmery sleeve and the vest-jacket, as well as the jewelry, medals, and boot chains.
  In the second collage, I shared some of my different art media. The first photo is one of my favorite creations. I've been making chainmail jewelry since our time in the SCA, back in 2006 or 7. This is the jewelry I made to wear with the formal dress in the previous photo. Photo 2 is an experiment in collage and mixed media. Her name is Pianola and one day, her cousin Burble will join her. Photo 3 is a chalk pastel drawing of my daughter Rowan...if she was a cute little cartoon. LOL
  And the third collage shows a couple more things I enjoy doing. In the first photo, weather spotting! All of my family from my husband, to my daughter-in-law, to our youngest daughter, are Certified Advanced Storm Spotters. The youngest isn't as enthusiastic about storms as the rest of us seem to be, but she's got good eyes. And last but not least... Photo 2: Music...is really my first love. I've been musically inclined since before I could speak clearly if my mom is to be believed. If we'd had more resources then, I might actually be a working musician or lyricist instead of a writer. But God knew where I needed to be to come to the place I am now. I'm content.
•  Day 8 - My Favorite Fairytale - If we're talking about reading it in its original form, that would be Rapunzel. I love every piece of that story. My favorite Disney rendition of a fairytale is Sleeping Beauty. I didn't find this photo like this. I found two elements on Pixabay and combined them, added text, a filter and a frame in Pixlr. Pixabay is an excellent place to find open source photos. And Pixlr is a free photo editing app I use on my phone. 
• Day 9 - Great Writing App - As I mentioned on Instagram, I don't know how great this app is, but it sure does come in handy. Every author needs a Reverse Dictionary for those times when you think of a series of words, but you only need one. Click here for an online one.
• Day 10 - Writer's Retreat - The only writing retreat I've 'gone on' was the Pondering Writing Retreat on Instagram. If you've never tried it, you should! :D
•  Day 11 - Type vs Write - I type about 90% of the time. It's just faster for me. When I edit, or jot down notes, I most often do that by hand. 
• Day 12 - Favorite Mom Character -  My favorite mom character was hard to pin down. There are so many to choose from! Anime moms are an interesting lot. I chose Misako Kurata from the anime "Kodocha" because she's got such an interesting outlook on life. She'd also make an interesting cosplay. I think I'm going to try doing that. :D
• Day 13 - Literary Pilgrimage - I don't think I've ever gone on a literary pilgrimage. But if I did, my target area would be England/Scotland/Ireland. I'd want to see all the places that were dear to Tolkien and Lewis and other writers from that area.
• Day 14 - Writer's Workout - My favorite workout is weight-lifting. But I can't do that in my current state of non-fitness. Yoga is about all my poor, weak muscles can handle. LOL But I'm hoping it will strengthen me to the point I can start lifting weights again.
• Day 15 - Fun Fact About Me -  TBH, I really had to dig deep for this one. I've shared so many fun facts and about me that I feel like I'm running out of interesting ones. I love the Snapchat filters, but rarely share my selfies. I'm just not into that part of it. I think of these, the only one I shared was the top center photo. I used it for my profile photo years ago. That's probably how some people view me, anyway, since I don't talk much until I get to know someone. But the photos on the corners are totally the silly me. LOL
• Day 16 - Pencil or Pen - At the time I'm writing this, I haven't even posted it to IG yet. But given my choice, I'll choose a fountain pen any day, even if it kills my hand. This one is a survival pen and it's pretty weighty. I can't use it often because it hurts my hand after a short time, but I do love the feel of it and the bold lines it makes. You can also see my new author name cards. I'm so proud of those! People ask me all the time where they can find my book. Now I can give them one of these. :)
• Day 17 - Follow Loop Friday - You guys know how I feel about follow loops so I won't rehash that. I will say, though, I think I'm getting the hang of weeding out the ones who aren't interested in connecting with me or reading my work. I only got a handful of followers this go round. I have to say, though, I've been swamped and haven't had a whole lot of time to go surfing the feed for other loopers.
• Day 18 - Writer's Conference - If you've followed me for any length of time, you know I /love/ the Alliance of Independent Authors. They mainly focus on those publishing through KDP and Create Space. I do find their advice to be sound and up-to-date. If you ever get a chance to catch one of their online conferences, why not give it a try? It's free, after all. Also, I just realized the link written on the photo is incorrect. But the photo is now hyperlinked directly to the conference information page. If you'd rather get to their home page, then use the hyperlink within this text block.
• Day 19 -  A Clean Joke - I wasn't going to write any text on this one. BUT...I'm a writer. That's what I do. :D This is my husband's favorite joke. I'm not into jokes that much but I had fun decorating this one with fun photos, thanks to Pixabay and Pixlr App.
  Oh! For non-natives, here's the written joke so you can translate it...though I have to wonder if the joke goes completely wrong in translation...
  Question: What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back?
  Answer: A stick.
• Day 20 - Writing Playlist - Click on the photo to go listen to the playlist I have set up for 'Over Land & Under Stone.' Be prepared for a lot of ambient, dark, drone, and ethereal music mostly free of lyrics. 
• Day 21 - Haiku - I don't like writing haiku ever since I learned more about the intricacies of the art form. I'm terrible at it. LOL
• Day 22 - Join the Challenge in June!
• Day 23 - Dream Library - My dream library needs at least two stories for book storage with a cozy study opening off of it.
• Day 24 - Writing Fears - We all have fears. My writing fears consist of one star reviews and snarky comments about my hard work. I also fear being oblivious to obvious mistakes when I'm editing/revising.
• Day 25 - Food Critique - I didn't want to do this portion of the challenge until I decided it might be more fun if I pretended to be a cat. I'm from Louisiana. We like our food a lot. But I'd rather eat food than critique it. xD
• Day 26 - My Day in Emojis - I can't share my exact emojis here but you can always visit my Instagram profile to view any of my challenge posts. I sometimes elaborate a little more here, because it's just easier to type with a full-sized keyboard.
• Day 27 - Military Character - (Spoiler alert! If you plan to read the series, then you probably shouldn't read this caption.) - Shout-outs to all my military and veteran followers for the sacrifices you make daily so the rest of us can live relatively peaceful lives. When I think of military type characters in my novels, none come closer than Kol Udota. He is Ammir (something like Captain of the Guard, I guess) of Yacan. All these photos pertain to him or his personality in some way. I'll leave it at that for now.
• Day 28 - Non-fiction I'm Reading - TBH, I'm not reading this one yet but it's a new addition to my TBR list...which seems to grow longer every day. (I'm still reading this one in September 2020. It's difficult because of the topic.)
• Day 29 - 25-Word Story - I'll be honest with you, I'm terrible at these things when my brain is fixated on other topics. So this one came out super lame. But I'm sharing it anyway because...bravery...courage...yeah.
  Letters flooded the screen like a busted levee. Relentless time sang a chime just as the cursor lit up 'save'. "Whew! Made it."
• Day 30 - Photo Prompt - Let me introduce y'all to my Steampunk alter ego, First Mate Anonya Volkov. All I ask is that you keep your writing for this photo clean. I'd love to see what you come up with if you give it a go. Feel free to leave a link in the comments to wherever you share your writing. :) I'm mainly sharing this photo because I need to write some backstory for her. It would be interesting to see what others come up with, though. 
• Day 31 -  Another Follow Loop - I won't go into how I feel about these again. LOL

 And now for the slideshow...

 

This concludes the May writing challenge I chose to work with. I'll be doing this one again in June, as well as one or two others I've been checking into. Thanks for reading!