Getting to Know: JoJo of Tahoma Beadsworks and Photography

Please welcome our second installment in the “Getting to Know Your Fellow A-Z Participants” that I posted about during my invitation for guest posters. Over the next few months leading up to the 2013 challenge, we will have lots more of these posts. If you're interested in participating, just email me (Tina) at tndowney (at) gmail (dot) com. Be sure to include “guest post” in your subject. I get a LOT of emails...

1. When did you start blogging and why? Tell us a bit about the kind of blog you have.  Be sure to include the name of your blog and the link.
   
   
   I opened my blog, Tahoma Beadworks and Photography on July 6, 2006 and originally it was intended to be a fan site for actor Vincent D'Onofrio.  A bunch of us VDO fans started blogs around the same time.  I soon realized that my friends were providing way better pics and info about him so I transitioned mine into one about my life and featuring my photography and crafts.  This was before Facebook, so it was a way for friends/family to keep in touch and keep up with what I was up to without my having to write emails or *gasp* handwritten letters.  My muse left me in 2009 and I took a substantial break that year, but returned to regular posts in 2010.  It's a fun and creative outlet and I enjoy preparing the posts.  Please come visit!!  
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. How did you find out about the challenges, and how many have you done? What was your favorite part of participating?
   
   
   My friend Bev at Blue Velvet Vincent invited me to participate so I signed up.  My fave part was finding and following new blogs and meeting great new friends.  
   
   
3. What suggestions would you have for visiting new blogs during the A to Z challenge?  What blog visiting strategy has worked for you during the challenge?
   
   
   I basically just clicked on random blogs from the Linky List.  It was frustrating as some weren't participating, had removed their blogs or were blogging on topics that didn't float my boat.  That was the most time consuming part.  It'd be great if there was a topic list into which we could place our blog links, so as to find and reach people with similar interests.
   
   
4. What topics or themes would you like to see other bloggers cover during the challenge? What types of content (poetry, short stories, writing tips, photos, reviews, etc.) would you enjoy reading during the A to Z Challenge?
   
   
   I can only speak for my own interests of photography, crafts, Canada and life-type diaries.  I am not a full time writer so the writing and poetry blogs didn't really do it for me.  Nor did the ones about babies and raising children or religion.  
   
   
5. Please tell us something unusual about yourself – don't be shy. 
   
   
   Unusual....hmm.....that's a hard one.   There was a time, from 1987-1995, when my life literally revolved around the Grateful Dead.  Going to shows, trading the live tapes, hanging out with other Deadheads and talking about the shows, waiting for the mailorder tickets to be available for the next show, recruiting non-Deadhead friends to help me try and get the coveted New Years Eve tickets (I paid for the money order but had them fill out the information because it was one mailorder per person).  I met my ex-husband at a show and we followed them for our honeymoon in 1989, then moved to San Francisco to be closer to the 'scene'.  Got to meet Bob Weir & Jerry Garcia in 1990.  It all came to a screeching halt when Jerry died in 1995 (only a couple miles from my house, too, I might add...I heard the ambulance go by that morning).  I still love them, listen to them and wear the t-shirts, but I won't go see the remaining members...not without Jerry.  I also found that once Jerry died, I had almost nothing in common with a lot of the people we'd been hanging with regularly for years.  I hadn't realized that all we did was talk about the Dead and once that was over for me, there was nothing to talk about!  Still, it was a wonderful time in my life and I'm glad I had the chance to experience it.
   
   
   
   
   6.    Are you joining the challenge in 2013? Are you doing a theme? Please share any plans you have. We promise not to steal your ideas.
   
   
   I am hoping to do the 2013 challenge, as long as I am still unemployed.  If I do end up finding a job and work full time, it will be virtually impossible to keep up with a daily challenge.  No themes....i think that's way too hard, although I thought about doing an A-Z of music I like, but I like to keep it theme-free which is easier for me.
   
   
   

   Thanks for joining us, JoJo!  It was great to have you.

   Tina

   
   
   
   

Letter Play - Crazy C's

The following blog photos are brought to you by Nicole at The Madlab Post...

It’s time for Letter Play - Where DIY activities, cinema and life offline collide!

After a brief, unanticipated hiatus, we’re back in the swing of things with these images that you can use for your A to Z Challenge posts in April. This batch includes photos of Letter C, taken from items that I found in and around the kitchen. I dare you to guess what products these C’s are from.

I found the item displaying Letter C in the recycling bin.

This Letter C was found in the freezer.

The Letter C on this item was found among snacks.

If you are among the bloggers who are participating in the challenge, you have my permission to use them so long as the usage is made during the month of April and is a part of a blog post that pertains to the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. As always, if you do display them on your blog, feel free to credit me and link to my blog or link back to this very A to Z Blog, where you found the photo!

Have a Fun Friday, everybody!

Sign up for the Monday Movie Meme, a weekly group blogging series that inspires discussion about entertainment in a whole new light and provides recommendations for your DVD, on-demand or theater fix. New topics are posted every Monday at The Madlab Post!

NICOLE
Also @MadlabPost on Twitter

The Latest and Greatest in Space and Astronomy by Stephen Tremp

Space Bling: From Diamond Planets to Crystal Oceans to Precious Moon Jewels. All that glitters in the night sky could be, well, diamonds and rubies and emeralds, as space probes uncover a variety of precious minerals in the universe. The discovery of a new planet made largely of diamond, known as “55 Cancri e,” has many itching to add a piece of cosmic jewelry to their collection. Unfortunately, the planet is 40 light years from Earth, but the universe is also home to some other fabulous space gems. From green-crystal rain to ruby-like moon rocks, here is some other bling that’s out of this world. Reference

House-Size Asteroid Comes Closer to Earth Than the Moon Friday: A newfound asteroid the size of a house will fly closer to Earth than the moon on Friday (Oct. 12), but poses no danger of impacting our planet, NASA says. And I thought that five dollar bill I found in my laundry was exciting. Reference

Speaking of Asteroids: Private Asteroid-Hunting Space Telescope to Launch in 2017. A private space telescope mission that aims to discover 500,000 near-Earth asteroids is technically sound and on track for a 2017 launch, a review panel says. The B612 Foundation plans to launch Sentinel in 2017, placing the instrument near the orbit of Venus.

Sentinel will look outward from there, scanning Earth's neighborhood without having to fight the sun's overwhelming glare — a serious impediment to asteroid-hunting instruments on or near our planet. The telescope's infrared eyes should spot about 500,000 near-Earth asteroids in less than six years of operation, B612 officials say. That would be quite a feat, considering that researchers have discovered just 10,000 or so such space rocks to date. Reference

Speaking of Private Funding: Space Funding Startup Uwingu to Unveil 1st Product. The first project Uwingu will fund is SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The firm pledged to donate half of any money raised beyond the $75,000 goal in the IndieGoGo campaign to the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array (ATA), a set of 42 radio dishes in Northern California that are searching for signs of civilizations in the universe. Reference

Speaking of Telescopes: World-Class Telescope For Sale. The impending closure of the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope might be averted if the observatory’s owners can find a buyer. Got $1.24 million in your pocket? That’s how much it’ll cost per year to operate a productive, world-class observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Reference

Speaking of Dark Matter: Giant Strand of Elusive Dark Matter Seen in 3D. Astronomers have taken their first 3D look at a gigantic filament of dark matter, an invisible cosmic structure that can only be detected by its gravitational effects it has on its surroundings. The universe is thought to be structured like a tangled web, with long strings of mostly dark matter intersecting at giant galaxy clusters. Since dark matter cannot be seen directly, these filaments are difficult to observe. But using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have managed to probe one of the elusive cosmic strands in 3D. Reference

Question: So what do you think of our amazing universe in just this past week?

Stephen Tremp posts at Breakthrough Blogs and is the author of the Breakthrough trilogy.

Special Challenge Participant Feature - Author Rusty Webb!

Today’s guest is one of my very best friends on the Internet and an incredibly talented writer and artist – Rusty Webb! He attacked the A to Z Challenge in a truly ambitious manner, showing no fear (or very little) as the month progressed. Rusty posted a new illustration for every letter. Brave man! Obviously I had to question his sanity…

What made you decide to do an illustration a day for the Challenge? Glutton for punishment or did you lose a bet?

It felt like I lost a bet! My real thought was that I didn’t want to ask so many people to stop by every day of the month and offer them something similar to what they were getting elsewhere, and probably by people doing it better. So I hoped it would be nice, unique, and most importantly, quick for the reader.

Which image was the most challenging?

Well, the early ones were tough because I was somewhat out of practice drawing, and on top of that, I had this tablet that I never really used because I found it awkward. I didn’t want to sketch on paper because I had this awesome tablet, but I didn’t want to use the tablet because it was hard for me to get comfortable with it. Anyway, I promised myself I would get acquainted with it no matter what. Which is why you see a much more deliberate use of color as the month progresses. I was getting more comfortable and able express myself a bit more freely.

All that being said, I really struggled with ‘G,’ and is still the one I was least happy with. It wasn’t right, not at all. And I think I spent more time with that one than any other.

I thought the sketch of Ish was awesome. Which one was your favorite?

I thought Ish turned out pretty well too, at that point I was beginning to get a bit of confidence in what I was doing. But I still think I like the old man from ‘O’ the best. I love drawing faces, and older faces are really interesting. But since I wasn’t using a reference I found it hard to do an older person, jaw bones atrophy, skin sags, wrinkles form, noses get big… it can be hard to get all that right. People are really good at noticing a face that isn’t done right. I ended up being happy with that one.

Tell everyone about your inspiration for M!

Heavy Metal Parking Lot? Well, it’s this amazing 20 minute documentary done in the parking lot before a Judas Priest concert sometime in the mid-eighties. Everyone who wants to see what being a guy who liked heavy metal was like during that time… well, there you go. I was just starting to really get into metal at that time and had begun attending rock concerts. It’s like a bizarre time machine for me to look back at that. That was me, that was my friends, that was my life (not really, but you get the idea).

Really, it’s probably a lament for my lost youth. It goes by so quick. But for 20 minutes while I watch I’m there all over again. I’m a kid. Great stuff. And who better than Bevis and Butthead to celebrate all that?

You’ve done covers for other authors, including Andrew Leon, and a publisher as well – do you enjoy working with someone else’s vision? Or does that make it more difficult?

Honestly, it’s tougher than I thought it would be. Much of it is communication. Me not understanding what the author (or publisher) wants and then giving them something that neither one of us really likes as a result. When I’m working with someone else’s vision it can take a lot of back and forth to get something right. And even then, after several rounds of back and forth we still might not be on the same page.I’ve lost my cool once or twice in private due to my frustration.The good thing is that everyone I’ve worked with has been so great. I wouldn’t trade some of the relationships I’ve built doing these covers for anything.

But I don’t really solicit my services for cover art to anyone nowadays. I have friends and acquaintances I will do covers for either as favors,or in exchange for services, like editing or critiquing, or because I’m anxious to prove something to myself. But I’d have to charge a lot of money to make it feel like it was worth the effort.

You did the cover for your own book, A Dead God’s Wrath. (Awesome book!) Tell us a little bit about the book.

A couple of years ago I wrote a novel. I really liked it, but thought it was a bit rough around the edges and needed some work.So I set it aside to work on other projects. However, for that novel I created a backstory of a secret war that has been fought on earth for thousands of years over some alien artifacts. I decided it would be great to expand on the backstory through stand-alone shorter works, like A Dead God’s Wrath. I had this vision of interconnected stories that can be read in any order and enjoyed, but when put together paint a much larger picture. In this story, a young man in the late 19th century discovers his beloved has been kidnapped by some local thugs for ransom, but he slowly comes to realize something much larger, and stranger, than what he imagined is taking place beneath the surface. To date, I’ve already written the aforementioned novel, two other novelettes, two short stories and a short novel in the same universe (and plan on writing one, very long novel). I hope to have the short novel released this fall as soon as I get revisions and editing done on it.The rest I’ll get to as soon as I can.

You write, you draw, you play guitar – what else do you do creatively? Basket weaving? Yak herding?

Ha! I’m cursed with the desire to do more than I’m capable. It’s really hard to excel at multiple disciplines, gaining mastery over anything requires undivided attention. Over the past decade I’ve had to make some tough decisions about how I spend my time. I’ve given up acting, amateur astronomy, music, and photography in order to focus more on the things I feel like I can’t live without. In this case, writing, followed by the occasional art project. If I ever win the lottery though, watch out, I’m picking them all back up.

If you do the Challenge again next year, what theme would you consider? (Safe bet it won’t be illustrations, right?)

I don’t know. If I’d planned for the sketch-a-day theme in advance then it probably wouldn’t have been so bad. But I made my decision to do a sketch-a-day on the day before the blogfest began. During the month,I was literally sketching things at eleven o’clock at night in order to post the next day. Or on a few occasions, I was calling in to work to tell them I would be late because I had nothing and I needed an hour or so to whip something up before I started my day. The effort took so much out of me that I went down to posting about once a week after. But it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had blogging. I wouldn’t be surprised if I feel ambitious again come the spring. So, maybe I’d do something similar. Or maybe I’d do A-Z caricitures of blogger buddies.

The one you did of me last year is awesome, so I’m all for that theme! Rock on, Rusty – you’re one cool and talented dude.

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

Getting to know: Author Martha Reynolds

Please join me in welcoming Martha Reynolds, an author and A-Z participant. She's the first to answer the “getting to know you questions” that I posted during my invitation for guest posters. Over the next few months leading up to the 2013 challenge, we will have lots more of these posts. If you're interested in participating, just email me (Tina) at tndowney (at) gmail (dot) com. Be sure to include “guest post” in your subject. I get a LOT of emails...

1. When did you start blogging and why? Tell us a bit about the kind of blog you have. Be sure to include the name of your blog and the link.

I wrote and posted my first blog on July 13, 2011. It was my birthday and I thought it would be a good way to begin. I hadn’t yet started writing full-time (although the book was percolating in my head), so my blog was simply based on my own reflections about life, love, and family. It still is, for the most part, although I have posted a little about this whole crazy journey into publishing! I blog at Wordpress under the title “MarthaReynoldsWrites.” 

2. How did you find out about the challenges, and how many have you done? What was your favorite part of participating?

The April (2012) Blogging from A to Z Challenge was my first, and I absolutely loved it! I found out about it by reading other blogs, and I think it was late March when I first read about it, so I made a quick decision to participate. By that time, I’d written most of my first novel and was awaiting a response from my editor. The theme I chose was writers, but I included poets, essayists, and songwriters as well as novelists in my group. I received some good feedback and I know I gained more followers from the challenge.

3. What suggestions would you have for visiting new blogs during the A to Z challenge? What blog visiting strategy has worked for you during the challenge?

This is tough, because we’re all so busy. For me, I’d return to the A to Z main page, with the blog links, and simply go through the list. Some blogs just grabbed me, and I liked and followed them. What I’ve found works best for me is setting up my notifications on Wordpress so I receive a digest of blogs every Monday. Some folks only blog once a week (like me), so this way, I can use Monday morning to catch up on what’s been posted.

4. What topics or themes would you like to see other bloggers cover during the challenge? What types of content (poetry, short stories, writing tips, photos, reviews, etc.) would you enjoy reading during the A to Z Challenge?

I’d love to read reviews, as long as they weren’t too lengthy. I found some great writing tips last April, and that’s always beneficial. Someone blogged about food, and I thought that was fantastic. Actually, I’d be happy with just about anything, although I do remember one blogger who used the challenge to explore some BDSM language and ‘procedures.’ That’s not for everyone!

5. Please tell us something unusual about yourself – don't be shy. Check out my revelation from last year here.

As a writer who works from home, it can be hard to find the right discipline. I sit at my computer, and social media is all around me. Sometimes when I’m stuck with a scene, it’s too easy to click on Facebook and see what my friends are saying. All of a sudden, it’s an hour later and I haven’t done anything with my scene. The Challenge really made me focus on the topic, because I was posting every day (except those Sundays, when I was planning the week ahead). I tried to keep my posts relatively short (400 words tops, most times 250-300), understanding that we want to read as many as possible.

So I don’t know if it’s unusual that I get distracted, but I know now that writing means writing, not tweeting, or checking my Amazon stats.

6. Are you joining the challenge in 2013? Are you doing a theme? Please share any plans you have. We promise not to steal your ideas.

I am definitely joining the 2013 challenge! Can’t wait, really. I loved my 2012 theme and actually thought about doing it again (there are so many wonderful writers), but I’m also thinking about places. Places where I’ve been – a short reflection of that place. It might be a foreign country, city, town, village, or even just a church, a hilltop, a bar. Someplace where something memorable occurred. I think it could work!

Thanks for joining us Martha, and letting us get to know you better! We look forward to reading your April 2013 challenge posts. Congrats on the publication of your first novel, Chocolate for Breakfast, available at Amazon.