It seems strange: I’m not much of a “joiner,” and generally love my solitude, but when it comes to things like NaNoWriMo or the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, it’s hard for me not to get caught up in the collective, creative energy and throw my lot in with the rest of the crazies. This year, I’ll be participating not only as a blogger, but as part of a team that will help to ensure that bloggers mingle, read, and get read. Unlike the Ultimate Blogging Challenge, A to Z seems to draw more personal, hobby, and writing bloggers than business, tech, and social media tips bloggers.
If you’re interested in joining the fun – either as a blogger or a reader only – start here: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/ You’ll learn a little more about the history of the annual event, and you can get your blog on the list of participants. Hover over the word recommended>> on the menubar, above, and you can see the participating blogs from 2015, 2014, and 2013. You can sign up from here, too – it all goes to the same link widget.
See the Tremp’s Troops – Aliens to Zombies image on the sidebar? That’s our team:
Stephen Tremp
http://stephentremp.com
Chrys Fey
http://writewithfey.blogspot.com/
Barbara in Caneyhead
http://lifefaithincaneyhead.blogspot.com/
Betty at Views From Benches
http://viewsfrombenches.blogspot.com
Holly Jahangiri
http://jahangiri.us/2013 (You do know where you are right now, I hope!)
Suzanne Sapsed
http://www.suzannes-tribe.blogspot.co.uk
Samantha Dunway Bryant
http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Garcia
http://itlnbrt.com/
Corina
https://corinajoyc.wordpress.com/
We will each be dropping by several blogs a day to say hi and meet some awesome new (to us) bloggers. As you can see from the participants list, visiting all of them would be a Herculean task – but we all love visitors and would hate for anyone not to get a little blog love from A to Z! You can help, too, by bookmarking the 2015 A to Z Challenge participants list and perusing a few each day. It’s the perfect place to find new voices and blogs to enjoy.
To help you focus on the blogs you’re most likely to relate to, there are optional codes that each blogger can add to their name:
ANIMALS: (AN)
ART: (AR)
BOOKS/REVIEWS: (BO)
CRAFTS: (CR)
CULINARY: (CU)
EDUCATION: (ED)
FASHION: (FA)
FILM/MOVIES: (FM)
GAMING: (GA)
GARDENING: (GR)
HISTORY: (HI)
HUMOR: (HU)
LIFESTYLE: (LI )
MEMOIR: (ME)
MUSIC: (MU)
MYTHOLOGY: (MY)
PERSONAL: (PR)
PHOTOGRAPHY: (PH)
POLITICS: (PO)
SCIENCE: (SC)
SOCIAL MEDIA: (SO)
SPORTS: (SP)
TRAVEL: (TR)
WRITING/STORYTELLING: (WR)
ADULT CONTENT: (AC) (Not suitable for children and the faint of heart!)
Isn’t that nice? Takes some of the guesswork out of choosing, unless you’re up for random surprises – which is also quite fun! (Someone must’ve edited mine, because I ignored the “just pick ONE” admonishment and had (PR, WR, LI, HU, ME…) I’m not one to be pigeonholed, and while this is a personal blog, choosing “PR” always makes it feel like I’m throwing in my lot with the folks who blog about their drunken sexual romps and making love to the porcelain throne the next day. If that’s what you’re looking for, landing here is tantamount to death by boredom, I’m sure. On the other hand, if you’re turned on by appropriate use of semicolons and a flamboyant excess of ellipses, coupled with an eclectic assortment of rainbow-colored brain farts, stick around. We’ll get along just fine.
Looking forward to your posts, Holly! 🙂 This will be my second year. (Link #115 – didn’t put a category.) It’s the only daily blogging challenge I can handle – well, sort of. Still a bit gruelling, but also fun.
What are you talking about? You have a whole month to pre-write! Who am I kidding? Seat-of-the-pantsers, UNITE!
Hahaha! Yes, that is the plan and I’ve done all the “grunt work” for each post (adding logos, etc.), but life has a funny way of interfering. I could never be a “seat of the pantser”, but admire those who can pull that off. Good luck!
Oh, seat of the pants is my natural milieu. I admire those who do a better job of planning and organizing, but if there were more of them, I probably wouldn’t have half the writing credits I have on my resume today.
I will keep visiting your blog Holly, but to expand my horizons at this time is something that I am not geared to do with other priorities. Perhaps next year. In the meanwhile, here is wishing you happy A to Z blogging.
Thanks, Ramana! I always appreciate your visits and encouragement, and would be grateful for that. (Hands you a carton of eggs to egg me on…) Yes, A to Z is an annual thing, so jump on in any April! Another nice thing about it is that unlike NaNoWriMo, writing ahead is not against the rules. Not that I’m likely to do it, but it’s always an option.
Holly,
How do you do it? I barely blog once a month..except during December when I try to do a Holidailie…But, even then, if I get 15-20 blogs for the 31 days of December, I consider it wonderful. Anyway, I’m delighted to have found your blog. I’ve subscribed to a feed. I’ll see if I can make time to at least read a blog a day!
Linda O
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypergraphia (Just kidding! I think…)
Every blogger alive loves readers, so if you can manage to find that time, we’ll all love you, Linda!