Remembering Tina Downey

Today has been set aside for the blogosphere to remember Tina. I already did a post to about her last week, so I don't want to repeat what I've already said. However, today's about honoring her with the sunflowers she loved. There's not much to show for the one I planted in her memory, so instead of photographing dirt, I took a couple pictures at a farm we were at the other day.

Remembering you, my friend.

Tina's motto was "Life is Good." She made every moment count. So today I ask you to think about what is good in your life. For just one day, try to set aside the negative and embrace the positive.

We've got sunflowers growing all over here in town, along roadways, in the parks. If you happen to see one in your neck of the woods, send up a happy thought.

Do you have wild sunflowers growing near you?

May you find your Muse.

A Final Road Trip

I imagine just about everyone will know by now, because she touched so many lives, but Tina Downey of the blog Life is Good passed away this weekend. You can get more information at her blog.

I know I won't be the only one thinking of her today. She was a kind person with a huge heart that did so much for others, even if it was just in supporting them or throwing them a friendly hello. Unfortunately, she was battling health issues the whole time. Even knowing that, I was stunned to hear of her passing. I never thought it could go so far.

By xlibber (Sunflower  Uploaded by russavia) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Today I wanted to say goodbye to a friend I met through my blog, so what better way to honor her? We met as participants in the A-to-Z Challenge. Somehow (and I couldn't tell you exactly how), we started talking via a comment one or the other of us left on the other's blog. This conversation bloomed into the Post A-to-Z Road Trip, where we challenged each other to visit ALL the participants of that year's A-to-Z after it had completed.

We both liked a challenge.

I never would have done the Road Trip on my own. I might have gone and visited a bunch of the blogs I hadn't gotten to, but I sure wouldn't have issued a challenge to everyone else to do the same. I was a newbie blogger, who only found others and learned about blogging via that first A-to-Z (that I participated in--certainly not the first A-to-Z overall.)

But Tina was energetic, vivacious. She took hold of a goal and went for it with her all. She was organized and consistent. And we egged each other on, having a lot of fun in the process.

That little Road Trip got us noticed by Lee, and the next year we became part of the A-to-Z Challenge team. Why? Because Tina posted to them about our little mini-challenge. She was brave and brassy. She was a phenom.

We had even more fun working with that awesome team of folks, and we were able to continue our little Road Trip, which wasn't so little anymore. Through it all, she soldiered on, despite health issues that landed her in the hospital off and on, despite trouble breathing, and the misery that comes with that.

Most of all, she did so cheerfully, with no dip in the level of energy she dedicated to us and the challenge.

Courtesy of Saxo, Wikimedia Commons

When I announced to the A-to-Z team that my dad had been diagnosed with ALS, and that I was going through the CNA certification process so I would be better equipped to care for him when the time came, she told me about her dad, who had Parkinson's. And though we'd been talking via email for awhile, we were now able to give each other support and share the understanding of something that was hard for other people to empathize with. What other people didn't know how to respond to (despite wanting to be able to), we knew what to say and how it felt.

I suspect she would have known just what to say whether she was in that situation or not, though, because that's just the type of person she was. She wasn't afraid to speak, to support, to be honest.

Though I never got to meet her in person, despite living only about 90 minutes from each other, she was a great friend to me, and I hope I gave her just a little bit of that back. Our plans to meet were derailed by various things, the last time because I was sick with a fever and she was back in the hospital. I'm sad we never had the chance to meet in person, but I'm glad I got to know her for awhile, and that I had the honor of calling her a friend.

May you find your Muse among the sunflowers.

Insecure Writers Support Group & Links

What?! It's a new month already? No way!

Everybody say it with me in true Keanu Reeves-style: Waaaaaay.

So, yes, this means it is time for an Insecure Writer's Support Group post, hosted by the ninja, himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

My current insecurities concern time. Time for writing. Time for blogging. Time for visiting fellow bloggers. I've fallen so far behind, and I feel bad about that. I know that I will eventually get caught up, at least for a little while, but I feel a bit panicky about it in the meantime.

Gary Warning: Your eyes may burn, as A-to-Z is mentioned! You still love me, though, right? :(

I've not caught up on all my comments from during the A-to-Z, which means I also haven't caught up on current comments here on the blog. I intend to start going back and forth, replying to comments from my most recent post, then an A-to-Z post, and so on and so forth. I haven't gotten to all the Reflections posts yet, either, so that's not good. Some who I did visit, though, commented in their Reflections posts about people who hadn't visited them back yet, and how they figure those people didn't care or did the A-to-Z just to gain followers and not reciprocate. I feel bad about the fact that people may be viewing me that way.

So I'm here to say that I will ALWAYS visit back those who have commented on my blog. It just won't always be immediately. Well, I should curb that a bit by saying I will ALWAYS visit back commenters whose blogs I can FIND after they've commented. I'm afraid I have run into a few that I just plain can't find. Once I've caught up and am working my way through the A-to-Z list (Road Trip!), I'm sure I will find many of them. I sure hope so, anyway.

Now, before I get to links, I need to thank the lovely, devoted, spirited, and always awesome, Tina, at Life is Good, for the following award:

Thank you so much for thinking of me, Tina! Please visit Tina (after you're done perusing the below links and commenting here, of course!), and say hello for me. You'll never regret visiting the vivacious and entertaining Tina. Nope, nope, nope. (<---said in a Ducky voice, and I'm not talking about Pretty in Pink).

Now for some links. Please note, any links passed along are those I have discovered, and do not indicate sponsorship or recommendation. I have not vetted these companies, and cannot guarantee they are safe. Please always do due diligence in researching a publication or contest before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

Shotgun Honey is seeking short stories in gritty crime for their second anthology Reloaded: Both Barrels, Volume II. Deadline is June 9. Pays $25 and a contributor copy.

Fringeworks is accepting submissions for several anthologies. Raus! Untoten! seeks short stories involving a combination of Nazis and the undead. Deadline June 10. Pays in 12% royalties. The Last Diner seeks gruesome short stories set in food establishments. Deadline June 30. Pays in 4% royalties. NeaDNAthal seeks short stories involving the reappearance of neanderthal man in modern day. Deadline July 20. Pays 4% royalties. Cadavers seeks short stories about dead bodies (not walking dead bodies, just dead bodies). Deadline August 19. Pays 4% royalties.

Kerlak Publishing has calls out for three anthologies. All deadlines are June 15. All pay $20, plus contributor copy, plus royalties. The topics are Steampunk Superheroes; Full Moon Mayhem (werewolves); A Tall Ship, a Star, and Plunder (pirates).

World Weaver Press has put out a call for supernatural short stories for their anthology Specter Spectacular II: 13 Deathly Tales. Deadline June 15. Pays $10, plus contributor copy.

Baird Speculative Fiction is seeking short stories based on Norse myths/legends. Deadline June 15. Pays using a tier system (see their website for more details on that.) Horror, speculative, fantasy, magical realism, slipstream, etc.

Contests:

The Pikes Peak Writers Fiction Writing Contest is returning this year, but first they need a name for it! So there's a pre-contest contest entitled the 2014 Pikes Peak Writers Fiction Writing Contest Naming Contest (see why they need help?). Submit your proposed name for the new contest. Prize is free entry into the 2013 PPW Fiction Writing Contest. Deadline June 15.

A&U Magazine has announced their first annual Christopher Hewitt Literary Award. There are four categories (fiction, drama, poetry, nonfiction), with a $50 prize for the top entrant in each category, plus publication in their summer edition. All entries must have something to do with AIDS/HIV. Deadline June 10.

New Rivers Press is holding The American Fiction Prize contest. First prize $1000. Deadline June 15. They seek character-driven literary short fiction. Reading fee of $16. They are also taking general submissions through June 15.

Old Timey Hedgehog is holding a free fiction contest. They seek internationalist science fiction. Deadline June 15. Flash fiction and short stories. Pays $25 for short story winners, $10 for flash fiction winners, and publication in Old Hedgy Times. Opportunity for future publication in an anthology that will pay with royalties.

PRADA (yes, the fashion company) is holding a short story contest. Deadline June 18. Winner will receive 5.000 Euros. There's a lot of wordage on the site, so take care to read everything. For instance, it says that they will have the right to distribute your short story as an e-book and paperback (in their stores) without further monetary award to you.

Blog Hops:

Join Dani and Jackie in the Heroes & Villains Blog Hop, June 6.

Lisa L. Regan is hosting a blog hop to celebrate the release of her novel, Aberration. The Aberration Blog Hop will occur June 6 and 7.

Of Interest/Just for Fun:

Blogger Book Fair is a "blog hop" of sorts, intended to help get authors out there. It will involve giveaways. Fill out the form to find out when the next one begins.

Caldera's Artists in Residence Program is taking applications for their month-long artist residencies in the Cascade Mountains. Both visual and literary artists welcome.

(The following 2 links are a bit naughty. Well, one more than the other.)

Lovelyish posted 7 Famous Authors That Worked in the Nude.

This one is the naughtier of the two. There is strong language in it. It's dirty. You've been warned!!!! Don't get mad at me if you read this and are offended! Seriously, the "F" word is used several times. Disclaimer! Warning! Awooooga! This is an Onion piece that I found amusing: If You Wish to be a Writer, Have Sex With Someone Who Works in Publishing.

Anything to share? Any of these you're interested in? Any success stories? What are your insecurities?

May you find your Muse.