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Friday, June 7, 2013

LAUGHING MY WAY THROUGH THE A TO Z CHALLENGE



For this A to Z challenge, which was my third, I had two ideas. Because I wasn’t sure which one to pick, I incorporated both into my theme. The one idea was what I called an “alliterative-styled alphabetical greeting”, which I posted at the beginning of each post. Some greetings were long, some were short. Some of them didn’t make any sense. Well, they weren’t really meant to. Some of these greetings turned out to be a string of mumbo-jumbo, incoherent rambling... Bottom line is – it was all about fun! And the posts were super-short! 

The other idea was my whacky definitions! For the whole month of April, I posted  a word –the meaning known to me -  BUT I also posted my own definition with accompanying nonsense. 

The participants were invited to have a go in the comments section. They were encouraged to also leave their own definition for the day's word. Have fun with it, too. If readers knew the real meaning then the request was -  make something up anyway!! The point was to take some time away from the everyday humdrum blogging schedule and S-T-R-E-T-C-H the imagination!

At the end of the project, I  posted a collection of my favourite comment definitions, for everyone to vote on. And it was soooooo difficult to choose. I started off with approximately 60 definitions, and then cut them down to 18 for the final reader votes.

Bloggers had to choose the best–most creative, fun, and/or ridiculous comment! The winner would get a gift equivalent to the letter. For example, if an E commenter won, then the gift would equal 5 units/items. If a J commenter won, then the gift would equal 10 units/items. The units/items remained a mystery until the 01 May.

By the way, the winning letter was S, which means that there were a total of 19 items/units in the prize that I eventually posted. For want of a more suitable explanation, I called my prize: A Hamper Filled With Oodles and Caboodles of South African Goodies!

As the challenge progressed. I began to respond to blogger definitions by posting my thoughts; or what I imagined the commenter was trying to say (that sounds crazy… I know) I certainly didn't plan to do so. During the challenge, time is soooo precious. You never have enough.  But I just couldn't resist. It was spontaneous and in the moment…. and sucked most of my time. But the interactivity was PRICELESS and I had a blast doing so, and wouldn't go back and change anything! This is the main reason why I didn't get around to many blogs (my minion duties also meant that I was responsible for checking in on a certain section of the A to Z list…)

I have never ever had so much fun, or laughed so hard, like I did during the month of April. I'm talking about ROTFL moments. Tons and tons and tons of ROTFL moments. I think I had the most fun during the challenge. And that's what consumed most of my time. As a result, I didn't get a chance to visit too many new bloggers. I just about managed to keep up with my regular blogging buddies. A positive note: I forged stronger connections with certain bloggers who I've known for a while, but never visited on a regular basis. I look forward to maintaining better contact with these bloggers. I did find a few brand new blogs, which I will be visiting on a regular basis as well...

Here are the “alliterative-styled alphabetical greetings” that I posted every day.

ATTENTION ALL: a hearty welcome to all you amazing and anxious A-post arrivals who are making an appearance at this humble abode today! All aboard? Away we go!

Blistering Barnacles! (I've always wanted to say that) *giggles* I was up bright and breezy on this B-Day to browse the writings of you bloody brilliant, busy-bee batch of brave bloggers. If the barrage of bombasticity begins to bore you, I'm begging you to bear with me… don't burst my bubble…
Anyway, stay busy… break a pencil… or something like that…

Crikey! It's C-Day! Come, come, come… join the cool conversation my creative counterparts! Are we not a crazy collection of clever creatures?
Caveat: continued commitment to this challenge will lead to a celebratory conclusion… so blog on! Have to cut the chit-chat due to chronometrical constraints. Cheers!

Dudes and Dudettes!
I declare: your daily dose of diligence, dished out to de-stress, and destined to destroy your dampened spirits and downheartedness…
D'oh to doomsayers who declare us to be dotty, self-deluded dimwits. Dare I say, don't disregard us daring and dazzling dreamers!
Dang! Duty demands I gotta dash!

Eureka! Happy E-Day to every energetic, ecstatic entrant! Endurance is essential in this epic challenge. Expose and eradicate expected emergencies quite easily! Enquire early… there's help everywhere! On with the entertaining episodes!

F-Day is upon us! Flabbergasted? Frazzled? Frantic? Fiddlesticks! You can do it! My fanatical friends and followers, forget about being finnicky and have fun! Feel free to be freaking foolish and follow the festivities. Some folk favour a dash of finesse and flair ! Flippin' heck is what I say folks!

Greetings! Gadzooks! It's G-Day! Did I hear gasping, gulping and gnashing of teeth? Get a grip, get a grip! Good grief got a gazillion blogs to get to! Grab some grub. Got to gobble and go! Goodbye!

Hurrah! It's H-Day. Hang in there! Have hope. Humour helps. Hostility hampers healthy progress. Ask for help. No heart attacks please. I have a hunch that hundreds of hearts are harbouring heaps of happiness which is heating up the blogosphere. Hasta la vista.

Are we irrational idiots, insisting on immersing ourselves, in-depth into this intense yet impossible and irksome challenge which is imaginative and innovative. It is definitely an industrious journey which is incredible, insightful, inspirational and indescribable...

Jumpin' Jehosophat! This joyous journey has produced some jewels and a certain je ne sai quoi. Jeepers Creepers! I'm just jabbering in a jolly jumble of words that mean jack! But I'm still jovial and jubilant on J-Day so join in the jollifications!

Kickstart your K-Day at your keyboard with a keen and knowledgeable, killer, knockout, kick-ass attitude. Kapow! Keep at it!

Listen A to Z labourers, leave out the lazy and lame attitude. Laugh out loud. Liaise with others lest you become lethargic and lackadaisacal… lose pace… lag behind by lengths… you are liable to be labelled loser…

Mama mia! The massive and mean A to Z machine marches merrily along on M-Day. It moves minute by minute with a mixture of mediocre and masterful minions and messengers. It's the mid-way mark! Mazel Tov!

Notification! N-Day is here, all you nervous and normal narrators and novelists! This is a noteworthy newsflash to nip and neutralize the negativity of the narrow-minded, non-supportive, nasty naysayers… who had the nerve to say:  never, no ways, it will come to naught and you are all nuts, numbskulls and  nincompoops and not likely to nail the challenge. The notorious A to Z nomads are still navigating new territories and discovering new neighbours!

Ooh-la-la! O-Day is on! Order! Order! Order, I say! All you open-minded, outstanding, outrageous, obliging bloggers and the obstinate, obnoxious oddballs too. If only we could continuosly overflow with optimism, omit negativity and operate in the original and organised way we did when the challenge began… Ooopsy Doopsy… I don't think that's gonna happen though… Need something to keep you going? Breathe deeply and ——- Om…. om… om… om… om… om...

Pssst… P-Day promises plenty of possibilities. All you puzzled plotters and pantsers, please practise patience yet playfulness with minimal panic, as you pledge to get those poems, paragraphs and pieces polished, then proceed to press publish. Is your P-post up? No? Get to it. Pronto! Procrastination prohibits progress!

Que sera sera… to this quirky, quintessential and questionable challenge...

Righty-o! Let's rock-'n-roll. But first… rapid revision required. Are you relieved, rattled, or revved up and ready to rendezvous on R-Day? It rushes in and raises the realisation that rest, relaxation, refreshment and rejuvenation are required to recover as the the raw and rattled nerves resist… reluctant and resenting the daily ritual. Reminder: responsible posting = roaring results. You'll reap the rewards.

Sheesh! S-Day settles slowly… Summoning all scribes who are still stressing, struggling silently… and those super savvy, high-spirited ones, smiling smugly as they sail smoothly into S-Day sharing stylish snippets, skilfull sentences and sparkling stories… show-offs! So, if you are stuck, then a speedy solution to strengthen, support and sustain spinning senses is sorely needed. Shazaam! Or spontaneous scribbles should save the day...

Ta-da! It's T-Day! Todays twisted thoughts are trapped in a tormented turmoil… a total tizz… tsk. tsk. tsk… thanks thus far for the tremendous tidbits, tall tales and tip-top theories that you've posted. Think positive! Triumph takes top place. Toodles!

U-Day is upon us! Are you up-to-date? Then utter uncontrollable ululations with urgency and uplifted spirits because only five units remain in this ultimate universal blogging challenge. This unique and unending journey is unravelling quickly. This is an unavoidable fact for all participants, whether unconcerned, uncertain or unruffled...

Viva! All you A to Z voyagers, or should I say valiant vagabonds who have wandered around in this vast sphere, visiting various versatile blogs. Blow your vuvuzelas! VOILA! V-Day is vanquished. Va-va-voom! Va-va-voom! Victory in view. Will your verdict be Veni Vidi Vici?

Welcome to all you wonderful wordsmiths who, at this stage, are also weary, washed-out, wrecked worrywarts and waffling along to the end of the challenge. Well done to all you whacky, wise-crack writers who are wavering and wringing your hands in wild wonder as you whoooooooosh warmheartedly across the blogoverse. Wow! Three days left. Whoopee! *whistles*

X marks the spot… that's all I can say. I have xero fancy words for this post… sorry...

Yakkety yak… yada yada yada… yesiree… yippee yippee yo, yippee yippee yay… that's all that's left to say!

Zippidee-doo-dah Zippidee-ay, My oh my what a wonderful day, End of the challenge, Nothing to say, Zippidee-doo-dah, Zippidee-day!   ZING-BA-DA-BING!!

AND THAT’S A WRAP!
(I would love to share some of the whacky definitions with you, but this post is already tooooooo long. Maybe another post?)

Challenge Participant Michelle from Writer-in-Transit

24 comments:

Michelle Wallace said...

I'm really excited to be here today! Thanks for having me over guys.
Thank you Alex!
And a special thank you to Mr. A to Z himself, Arlee Bird, the creator of this awesome challenge!
Writer In Transit

Anonymous said...

This was excellent and yes I too had a daily dose of laughter,


Yvonne.

Denise said...

Exceedingly clever. I cannot begin to imagine the amount of time that must have gone into this. Congratulations.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Yes, a lot of effort to put it together. Thanks for joining us today, Michelle!

Bevimus said...

I think you did have the most fun, Michelle! And I certainly had a few good laughs as well. Thanks!

Tina said...

Thanks for sharing this! I only hit your blog once, but I did get to comment on some of the definitions. Loved your idea for the theme, and how very nice to get all your greetings in one place!
Tina @ Life is Good
Co-host, April 2013 A-Z Challenge Blog
@TinaLifeisGood, #atozchallenge

Anonymous said...

You worked hard on this...wow! I'd be celebrating too...nice post!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Michelle .. I think I caught you right at the end - but this great to see the definitions here ..

It looks as though you'd have worked for your A-Z living doing this lot - but I know everyone will have had a ball visiting .. and lots of giggles ..

Cheers Hilary

Unknown said...

I loved your posts, Michelle! Nice to see you spotlighted here! :)

Maria said...

Hello Arlee,

First I would like to say that the S is definitely the best! I love your alliteration idea for greetings.

I've been planning to participate in the A-Z challenge for 2 years! But I always forget it's in April and the challenge has already rolled out and I've missed the registration (again, for this year!) Perhaps I'll find a notification alarm somewhere, on my laptop, on my phone -- to tell me it's in April.

Moving on, I want to thank you for the advice you gave me last Friday. They are really concrete and helpful in identifying what I want right now and where I want to be in my career. I'm still in the process of re-assessing myself and it gives me a better feeling about things.

Nice meeting you in the bloggers' world.

Kind regards from Manila,
Maria

klahanie said...

Ah yes alliteration. The amazing alphabet an astoundingly awesome acclaimed adventure actually accentuated agility and applause.

Then there's the exception. I satirised the whole darned thing. And ironically brought further awareness.

Well done, Michelle :)

Gary, at the anarchic alternative astounding alphabet adventure.

Tyrean Martinson said...

You rock, Michelle! Thanks for making the A to Z Challenge so much fun this year!

Michelle Wallace said...

Yvonne: laughter IS the best medicine... as cliched as it may be!

Denise: they were written over a period of time... weeks and weeks... and then tweaked beforehand.

Alex: thank you once again.

Beverly: I'm glad you had a few laughs.

Tina: I know that you are a very busy lady, yet you found time to visit my place during the challenge, thank you!

MJ: thank you!

Hilary: lots and lots and lots of giggles... I love the AtoZ... it holds a special place in my heart...

Lara: thanks for playing along during the challenge.

Maria: thank you!

Klahanie: you rock! I crown you the King Of Satire!

Tyrean: thank you for playing along during the AtoZ. It was lots of fun. And your "fencing" theme was educational too!

Crystal Collier said...

Awesome. Loved it!

Unknown said...

Sounds like a fun theme, and that it really went down well. I wish I'd found your blog during the challenge, there were so many I missed!

Unknown said...

Sounds like a fun theme, and that it really went down well. I wish I'd found your blog during the challenge, there were so many I missed!

Anonymous said...

I loved these, as well as the words and definition.

privateperson said...

Cool! When are you going to post a new challenge? I'd love to participate! :)

Jocelyn Rish said...

I had fun reading some of the giggle-rific definitions people came up with - it really was a great idea for the challenge!

Empty Nest Insider said...

It was fun tuning in on all of your wacky definitions, and being able to participate as well. You definitely deserve the award for most creative A to Z posts Michelle!

Julie

Unknown said...

Fabulous, freeing and frickin' funny. F-thanks!

Vidya Sury said...

Michelle, you are amazing! Thoroughly enjoyed this. :D Hugs!

Philip Verghese 'Ariel' said...

Hi Alex, I am back again after a bit gap. This is amazing Alex, Yes, well done, yes, you did your homework well. What a patience. Keep up the good work.
Keep inform
Best Regards
Phil

Philip Verghese 'Ariel' said...

I am sorry Michelle,
The comment got misplaced, and i am unable to deleted it too. pl. delete the above comment. Thanks. Have a good day