August is Back to School Month! #AtoZChallenge

August is Back to School Month!

All over the United States, students are going back to school! There are, of course, schools that already went back in July, there are schools that won't go back until September, and there are schools that are year-round! 

It's a special kind of feeling when the back-to-school sales start. Sometimes, it feels like they've started even before school is out for the Summer! And now, some stores are already set up for Halloween! The sales can be hard to skip. It's very tempting when notebooks and pens are on sale!

Are you excited that the kids are heading back to school? Or maybe sad? How are you feeling about this time of year? 

Don't have kids? Aren't a teacher? How did you feel when you were in school?

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August is Officially Happiness Happens Month

What does this mean?

It’s a time to focus on the things that make us happy, appreciate the things that bring us joy, and experience happiness in the small things every day. #HappinessHappensMonth

Be as happy as you possibly can.

The Stoics of Ancient Greece found that happiness depends on the quality of your thoughts. Yes: only happy thoughts here!

Some people believe that you can only be happy once you’ve achieved everything you’ve ever wanted and that you can’t be happy if you have problems in your life. That’s faulty thinking. Happiness is a choice. Happiness is a life-long pursuit. You can find happiness in the darkest of places and times.

You can learn how to be happy if you’re not a naturally happy person. Take time in the day to journal (write down your thoughts and feelings, or draw, whatever helps you to communicate with yourself), or to meditate, to find that inner peace and figure out what makes you happy and what keeps you from feeling joy.

Block Print by Anne E.G. Nydam

For me, joy is waking up before my alarm goes off because one of my Rottweilers couldn’t wait one more moment to spend time with me and woke me by pressing their nose against mine. (Could be argued that they thought I’d stopped breathing and was checking for signs of life, but I prefer the idea of the good morning kiss.) You can see my beautiful furbabies on Instagram.

What brings you joy?

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Take Your Poet to Work Day!

So July's second post was going to be about something else.

But then I found out that Take Your Poet to Work Day, celebrated on the 3rd Wednesday every July, falls on July 16th in 2025!

I couldn't pass this up.

This is also why I am putting up this post one day early: so that you have time to prepare!

This one goes our to all the POETRY people in the A to Z Challenge - and everyone who follows and reads their work :)

If you don't know what Take Your Poet to Work Day is, now you will. It is exactly what it sounds like: people print and cut out pictures of their favorite poets, and take them to work on this day. It started in 2013, and now it has a whole big online following. People take all kinds of favorite poets to work to show them off. There is even a hashtag: #poettowork

It is a simple and fun thing to do, and a great conversation starter about literature and poetry!

So, which poet are you taking to work tomorrow?

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Happy Family Reunion Month!

       This month I'll be joining millions of you as we have various family reunions and gatherings with friends.   July can be a nostalgic time (as well as very hot!)  My family's gatherings will include our annual July 4th reunion with members of my wife's family as well as family gatherings from my side with my kids' families in New Jersey and a visit to my sibs in Tennessee (and maybe a drop-in on an old friend or two). 

 

       Many of you probably have similar things going on.  It's a wonderful topic to blog about.  Sharing pictures, travel stories and tips, genealogy ideas, food adventures, and so much more!  So much content for a blogger that it can provide a wealth of inspiration.

        What are you going to be doing this summer?  Do you have any family reunions in the future?  Do you like to blog about your personal life?

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June is Officially Audiobook Appreciation Month

Why I love audiobooks:

• ·         You can listen to them while you’re exercising, cooking, cleaning, driving, doing admin.

Why I’m not fond of audiobooks:

• ·         I have ADHD and sometimes I lose track of the story as my mind wanders and I’m lost until I figure out what’s going on (or I’ll have to skip back… never fun).

Why I love audiobooks:

• ·         It makes stories accessible to people who can’t read (dyslexic, blind, arthritis making it hard to hold physical books, etc.).

Why I’m not fond of audiobooks:

• ·         The characters never sound the way I imagined them – you know, with my voice that I hear in my head.

LOL. The benefits far outweigh my concerns regarding audiobooks.

As an author I know it’s expensive to have audiobooks made (you need a whole production team: narrator, producer, editor, etc.) but I also know that it is a market segment that is underserved. Which is why I have no issue with digitally narrated audiobooks, and even partnered with Apple to get all my books digitally narrated. I also narrate my own audiobooks, though it’s a slow process to get from manuscript to finished audiobook.

You can see all of my audiobooks here.

Why not take a chance this month and try out an audiobook? You can get them from your library, various subscription services like Spotify, you can buy them from online retailers (and sometimes directly from the author), and there are even authors posting their audiobooks for free on YouTube.

Go and immerse yourself in a fantastical world.

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A to Z Road Trip 2025 #AtoZChallenge2025

IT'S ROAD TRIP TIME!

Road trip is our annual post-challenge tradition, which gives everyone an opportunity to visit others, and catch up on things they missed in April. Do you have blogs on your list you didn't get around to read? Did you run out of time and not get to follow along as much as you wanted to? Here is your chance!

FIRST: Sign up for the Road Trip! You can do it here. You can choose which one of your A to Z posts you want people to land on. Also, get the Road Trip badge from the graphics page above for your own blog!

SECOND: Get copies of the Road Trip List and the Master List to use as a guide!

THIRD: Start visiting blogs! You can go through the list of those who are participating in Road Trip. Read some posts, leave some comments! Leave a link to your blog. Visit back those who visit your blog. Go to the Master List, and visit some blogs that you didn't get the chance to in April! Enjoy!

LAST, BUT NOT LEAST: There is no time limit for Road Trip! Visit and read at your leisure. 

HAVE FUN!

Important dates for 2026:

March 9-14 Theme Reveal

March 23- April 4 Sign-up

May 4-9 Reflections

May 11 - Road Trip opens

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Reflections #AtoZChallenge2025

  

Our team theme this year was our blogging community, gratitude, or being grateful for our blogging community.

April is over. How did your blogging journey go? Now is the time to start reflecting on what you’ve accomplished this month.

Reflections sign up: https://forms.gle/YHYF1Byz4XJd384h6

The Reflections post isn’t mandatory and it’s an additional blog hop you can sign up for. This is where you tell others what you thought of the blog hop and how you experienced it. I’ll add some questions for you to think of below. Remember to grab the winners’ badge and display it proudly on your site if you completed the 26 letters.

In my Reflections post, I usually have a list with links of all my posts for the month so people can easily access it. I also have a list (with links) to my top commenters and my favourite A-Z blogs. Then I’ll talk about my likes and dislikes, how I approached the challenge (writing posts, visiting other blogs, etc.) and my verdict of the year’s challenge.

As you see, the Reflections post is all about your experiences and what you gained from them.

Some other questions to spark your creativity:

• Did you finish the challenge?
• What was your favourite post to write?
• What was your favourite comment posted by another A-Z participant on your blog this April?
• Did you follow the A-Z team on social media? (Who and where?)
• Did you follow the A-Z Challenge on social media? (Which platforms?)
• Did you feel supported by the A-Z team? (The Team: Arlee Bird, J Lenni Dorner, Zalka Csenge Virág, John Holton, Jayden R Vincente, and Ronel Janse van Vuuren.)
• Did you like the graphics for this year?
• Did you like the A-Z blog’s theme?
• Did you encourage other bloggers to take part in the challenge this year?
• Did you have a theme on your blog? If so, how did you come up with it?
• Did you learn anything new because of the A-Z Challenge?
• Will you consider doing the challenge again next year?

Remember to drop the direct link to your post in the sign-up sheet for the Reflections blog hop – and check out what others thought about this year’s challenge.

Reflections sign up: https://forms.gle/YHYF1Byz4XJd384h6

Result: https://tinyurl.com/3j6kapkz -- visit others!

Watch this space for the announcement of this year’s A-Z RoadTrip!

Important dates for 2026:

March 9-14 Theme Reveal

March 23- April 4 Sign-up

May 4-9 Reflections

May 11 - Road Trip opens

MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/tauke86z

Hop to as many blogs in the challenge as possible. Grow and strengthen the community.

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Z is for Zoom #AtoZChallenge2025

Z is for Zoom!

(And I don't mean the video software!) 

Where in the world did April go? Zoom! It went so fast!

Pretty soon, we'll be reflecting on this crazy experience (May 2nd) and then taking a Road Trip through A to Z Blogs (May 10th). It's always hard to pick a Z word. Some might say it's a difficult letter to figure out, but I think there are too many good words!

Zoom

Zip

Zap

Zen

Zero

Zillion

Zesty

What is your favorite Z word?

MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/tauke86z

Hop to as many blogs in the challenge as possible. Grow and strengthen the community.

Important dates for 2026:

March 9-14 Theme Reveal

March 23- April 4 Sign-up

May 4-9 Reflections

May 11 - Road Trip opens

Please follow us!

bloglovin.com/blogs/blogging-from-a-to-z-april-challenge-3294742
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com
@a.to.z.challenge     @atozchallenge   @atozchallenge.bsky.social
@AprilA2Z Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge