This post is brought to
you by Nicole from The Madlab Post...
It’s time for Alphabet Soup - The Word Scramble Puzzle for A to Z Wizards!
Unscramble the following
names of movie actors and actresses whose first name starts with letter J. The first commenter who has unscrambled all of them, or the most at best, wins this week’s Alphabet
Soup game. Answers and the name of the winner will be posted here at
the A to Z blog during next week’s “Friday Fun Time.” Word to the wise:
Don’t let the spaces in these names fool you!
1
Jhcaknsooa Jus
2
otkeacaJnsn J
3
ernnnH fidoeuJs
4
nferCylonJen ine
5
tosifei nnAJrnne
6
errCJy mia
7
eeortJtl nuSelm
8
JrnOCo lelnry
9
NlckoncJiohas
10
kck acaBJl
Have an alphabetized
weekend, everyone!
Need some extra blogging
motivation? Sign up for the Monday Movie Meme, a weekly writing and memory
activity that will have you thinking about movies in a whole new light. New
topics are posted every Monday!
Lots of carefully alphabetized activities are in store for you all starting this month! Some of you are already familiar with me, either from my guest posts at Tossing It Out or by reading my blog, The Madlab Post. For those who may not have ever read my posts, however, here is a quick primer: I am a writer and filmmaker who sometimes publishes short movie reviews and helps other blog readers figure out whether they comment like Harry Potter or not. You can Get to Know more about me Here, if you’re really interested.
In the weeks to come, I will be hosting A to Z themed blog posts for your reading pleasure, every Friday. These posts will include word scramble games, detailed writing prompts to get you prepared for the next Blogging from A to Z Challenge and letter craft tutorials. Depending on the subject matter, each post will be a part of one of three series, unless otherwise noted. The Friday series includes:
Alphabet Soup- A word scramble game
The Alphabet Remix - A to Z Challenge writing prompts
Letter Play - Alphabet crafts, design and related DIY tips
Now, answer me this...
What letters did YOU find the most difficult to blog about during this year’s 2012 A to Z Challenge?
Today we are joined by Nicole from Madlab Post. As you'll probably gather from the following, Nicole takes her blogging seriously. Today she offers some suggestions that are good for not only the Challenge, but for your blogging activity in general if you want to protect your blog content.
A Quick A to Z Challenge Survival Kit
Being as prepared as you can is one of the best ways to ensure that your experience Blogging from A to Z in April is less stressful and more fun. After participating in a few different monthly blogging challenges during 2011 including NaBloPoMo and The WordCount Blogathon, I learned the importance of having alternative plans in place for unexpected problems that arise with technology and online services. This is especially relevant for bloggers who utilize services that are available free of charge such as open source blogging software or free blog hosting platforms such as Blogger and Wordpress(.com). There is no one in tech support to call or email if something goes wrong. You usually end up having to just wait and see what happens.
Here is a quick little survival kit that bloggers who plan to participate in the 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, or any future blog events for that matter, can implement to save time, energy and sanity….all of which you’ll quickly lose if you’re busy yelling expletives because you can’t seem to shake that hopeless and powerless feeling of being stuck at a computer that you can’t use the way you want.
Backup Your Blog Save backup files of your blog posts. You should already be doing this anyway whether you’re participating in the A to Z Challenge or not, but it's all the more important when you have 26 days’ worth of brand new posts that you worked hard on writing. Most, if not all blogging platforms have a way to backup your blog within the settings. Some services allow you to automate the backup process while others don’t. If you have to backup your blog manually, do this often, like every day or twice a day if you publish multiple posts on a daily basis. A manual backup is as simple as exporting your blog to a hard drive or CD-R disc. The file will be in XML format, at least for Blogger users.
Have a Secondary/Plan B Blog on a Separate Blogging Platform, Ready to Go in Case your Host goes down for Maintenance, Unexplained events, Hacking, Spam or other Unforeseen Technical Difficulties
If you haven’t already, you should open an account with another blog hosting service. The second blog can serve as your Plan B or alternate place for A to Z posts if something happens to your main blog. I’m speaking to you from experience, so take heed.
On May 11, 2011, Google’s Blogger service was shut down for a so-called “maintenance” issue, causing posts and comments published that day to be removed from blogs on this platform. Blogger also appeared to be in read-only mode, so people could still visit blogs but bloggers were not able to publish new posts. The issue affected many bloggers, especially those of us who were participating in the WordCount Blogathon where we had to blog every day in May for a total of 31 straight days of blogging. This read-only mode continued through to May 13th.
While the posts and comments on many blogs (except for mine, which I’ll explain in the next “Survival Tip”) were restored within a few days, this maintenance issue with Blogger caused many blogathon participants to panic and I was one of them. Instead of skipping a day or waiting around for Blogger to get back up and running as usual, I started a new blog on Posterous titled it The Madlab Post-Lite and published myDay 12 post over there.
During that time while checking out various options for blogging, I also realized that I had an old Wordpress account that I opened but never did anything with. Now, I have two alternative blogs to use if necessary.
I’m sure many of you who are gearing up to tackle the Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April would hate to experience missing posts, missing comments and the removal of your ability to publish new posts on your blog. This is why I urge you to open a new account now. Do not, however, start a second blog using the same service that your first blog is being hosted on, because that defeats the whole purpose of having an alternate option for new posts in the event that something unexpected happens to your main blog.
If you use Wordpress for example, then start a Blogger blog, or vice versa. If you use Tumblr, start a blog on Google+ or vice versa. Do you own any domain names that came with a free website or blog feature? Try playing around with it to see if it can be part of your Plan B if you ever need to use it at the last minute.
The possibilities are endless and the alternative blogging platform that you choose is up to you. It doesn’t really matter which one you use, so long as you have a means to blog on all of the 26 days in the A to Z challenge. Some blogging options include Wordpress.com; Tumblr; Typead; LiveJournal; BlackPlanet; Myspace (remember this Social Networking site? It does have a blogging feature!), Redgage, Gather; Google+ and Posterous. I’ve used nearly all of these services at one point or another so I can attest to the fact that they all pretty much have every basic feature needed to write and publish a blog post.
Consider Developing a Routine to Backup Your Comments
After the Google hiccup (as mentioned in the previous “Survivial Tip”) that caused posts and comments to get deleted, I started saving every single comment that I receive on my blog.
The one and only comment that was posted on my May 11th blog post was not restored by Blogger and remained missing, so I found the original notification for that particular comment, in my email (sidebar: Email or SMS notifications can come in handy in a variety of situations) and republished the comment as a reference in one of my blog posts, a few days later. I then decided to save or backup every comment on my blog posts.
Now, I do this manually and some of you who get more than a dozen or so comments on your blog may find this particular task to be time-consuming but it is worthwhile to at least try to figure out a comment backup plan that works for your lifestyle and your blog. If you use self-hosted Wordpress, maybe there is a plug-in that you can utilize to backup comments. If you use Intense Debate or Disqus, maybe you can find a backup solution within those services. Just try to find a way to keep track of all your comments, if possible. Funny enough, the missing comment that I am referring to is showing up on my restored post, at the time of this writing. So I guess it has been restored, miraculously. I say, whatever! Too little, too late. Backup your comments!
Our thanks to Nicole for this first installment of her guest post which will be continued tomorrow. She points out some issues that many of us don't usually think about and probably don't want to think about. Maybe we should.
Do you back up your blog as Nicole has described? What are some of your blog horror stories?
Here's one of Nicole's entries to the A to Z Video Contest. Are you still stumped for ideas for the April Challenge? Try this:
Stuck for ideas of what to write about during the Challenge in April? The ideas are everywhere and a number of bloggers have been offering their suggestions based on how they are going to approach this year's Challenge or what they did in years past. Here's what Nicole from Madlab Post is going to be doing.
The Monday Movie Meme Invasion of April’s A to Z Challenge
Finding inspiration to blog every day is a challenge alone. This struggle can easily be elevated when you are faced with the task of blogging along the lines of the alphabet. I have found that keeping to a schedule helps minimize the risk of writer's block and blogger burnout all year long. My general blogging schedule includes writing a post every Monday, for the Monday Movie Meme that I co-host with Dale aka Smurfdok at Smurfin' the Web.
Monday Movie Meme History & How it Works
Dale and I host the Monday Movie Meme, a weekly blogging activity where Participants list and discuss movies that fit the current topic or theme chosen by him or me. If the topic is "What are Your Favorite Best Picture Oscar Winners?" or "The Big Payback: Revenge Flicks", then you would either leave a comment on the host (The Madlab Post or Smurfin' the Web) blog with movies that you can think of that fit that topic or you can write a blog post with your answer, making sure to link to the host and also leave a comment on the host blog with a link to your blog post, in order to participate in that week's Meme.
While a simple list of movie titles will do just fine.... especially for those who do not participate by writing a blog post and only leave a comment with their answers, it's also more fun to write a brief explanation of why you chose a particular film or basically, which characteristics of the film coincides with the Monday Movie Meme topic....if you choose to participate by writing a blog post with your answers. These explanations help other participants who are unfamiliar with any of the films on your list to learn more about the movie and determine whether it is something that they would want to rent or buy on DVD or at the very least, keep a lookout for it on their local TV listings.
Our Monday Movie Meme Plan for the A to Z Challenge
In April, Dale and I are both participating in the 2012 Blogging from A to Z challenge and thus, we are incorporating our Monday Movie Meme topics within the challenge. Each Monday in April, he and I will choose topics based on the current letter of the alphabet that is being covered during the A to Z challenge.
A to Z Challenge Participants are Invited
Bloggers who signed up for the 2012 A to Z challenge are welcome to also participate in the Monday Movie Meme, which offers some structure and motivation to write...a benefit that many of you who are still wondering what to write about may find quite useful...on Mondays, at least. After that, you're on your own. Just kidding. I'm still trying to figure out what to write on other days of the week, myself, so you're not alone. We're all in this together...another reminder of why it's so fun to be a part of the A to Z Challenge. In the meantime, A to Z Challenge bloggers are also welcome to participate in the regular weekly Monday Movie Memes from now until April. If anything, it will allow you to try the memes on for size and get into a routine of blogging on Monday.
Your A to Z Challenge promo posts are appearing all over the place and now it's getting difficult to keep up with all of them. I'm sure we'll miss some of them, but please bear with us as we love them all and appreciate every mention that we get.
We tried our best to get to 1000 sign-ups this past week. With your help we can still make it. By April 1st I hope to see at least 1500. Keep encouraging everyone you know to join us.
Don't forget about the A to Z Video contest. We haven't had any submissions in the past week and we'd love to see a few more before next Sunday's closing date. The video doesn't have to be professional or anything elaborate, just you and something you want to say about the A to Z April Challenge.
Here are some of the special posts we came across this week:
Jessica at Visions of Other Worlds is in a quandary about how best to approach the Challenge. She even offers a poll for those who want to help her decide.
I believe the announcement on ReAhkemiH'sfullishness in its foolblog was in Portuguese, but her final sentence assured readers that her Challenge entries will be in English. A to Z is a worldwide event!
Jennifer Wells declared her love of a good challenge and exhorts her readers to sign up for A to Z in April.
Overcrowded Book Shelves blog makes an April Challenge debut in 2012. Can anyone help her with the letter "z"?
Back for her second year, Miriam joins in Jenny Pearson's A to Z Tag questions on her blog An' de walls came tumblin' down. She found the questions on the blog Wake up, eat, write, sleep where Annalisa Crawford also answered the questions.
Teresa at Jounaling Woman has been posting about the A to Z Challenge with some regularity now including this Open Letter. Hang in there Teresa--chocolate marshmallow eggs are the best cure-all for all that ails you.
Sarah Allen at No Write No Wrong is back for a second year and she tells how she's ready to go. She'd like to hit the 200 follower mark and as I write this she needs 74 more to make it. Maybe you can help her out right now by visiting her blog and clicking the "Friend Connect" button. Maybe you'll get a new follower as well (that's usually the way it works you know).
Julie at Empty Nest Insider recalls how last year's Challenge got her fired up. She's looking forward to the 2012 Challenge.
Yadin Bromberg is making lemonade: Main ingredient the A to Z Challenge. That's the way my blog friend!
Lucy Jane is at her Writing Desk and geared up to go in April. She's in for a second year.
Theres Just Life has joined the A to Z party and is crazy about the Challenge.
Sylvia at Writing in Wonderland is returning to the Challenge and offers some good reasons why others should be a part of this great blogging event.
Then there wasinspirenordicwho passed on an award with a "join the A to Z Challenge" stipulation. We condone bribery in this case.
Kelly at Kelly Said... said that she was accepting the Challenge so said Kelly at Kelly Said... Now say that quickly three times.
Nicole from Madlab Post is back with some more tips about making videos. For those who are new to the A to Z Blog or just happened to miss the announcement along the way, we are having an A to Z Video Contest where you can submit a promo video for the April Challenge. Details can be found by clicking a tab at the top of this page. There is also a tab where you can go to visit some of the videos that have already been sent to us. For those who may be intimidated by the prospect of making a video, Nicole is offering some assistance.
More Easy Production Ideas for A to Z Video Challenge Entries – Part 2
Live shots, which are one of the easiest ways to make a promo for the A to Z Video challenge and get it up online was covered in Part 1 of my production tips for bloggers. Since all videos are not made equal, there are additional ways that you can promote the 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge using video editing programs that came with your computer and video footage that you recorded on a camcorder or modern day gadget such as an iPhone or digital camera. Here are some options that can be used to step things up a notch on the editing side when making an online video.
Import the recorded footage that you want to use into a video editing program that came with your computer. This can be done using either a firewire cable or a USB cable, depending on the camera that you have. If you are using a PC, then you will be making your video with Windows Movie Maker. Mac users can use iMovie to edit their videos.
To make this process easier, it may be better for you to start off with one or two Live Shot recordings based on the previous post (Part 1) on video tips. Once your video footage is imported into the video editing program, you can trim the footage so that the finished video only includes the portion of the footage that you want. You can also add titles to the video, which makes for a good time to add the address of the A to Z Challenge website in your video somewhere. The screen in Windows Movie Maker and iMovie will display the running time, so you can make sure that it is 2 minutes or less.
You can also add a music track by importing an MP3 song or audio recording from your computer, into the video editing program and then adding it underneath your video on the timeline (assuming you are either using Windows Movie Maker or iMovie, but other editing programs such as Adobe Premiere Express allow you to add music as well…I just don’t remember what the interface of that particular program is like, so I won’t comment on it at this time) for an extra layer to your Blogging from A to Z promo. Once you have the video done the way you like it, export it or save it and then upload it online somewhere where it can be viewed by the public and submit it using the submission form on the A to Z website and then you're done.
Actually, you’re not done….don’t forget to promote it to your blogging friends and social networks or mention it or embed it on your own blog.
Now that you're signed up for April you've got 2 months to get ready for it. This is a great time to make a video to enter into the A to Z Video Promo Contest. Make a short video about the A to Z April Challenge and submit it to us. Check the above tabs for more details. And to provide some helpful tips on video ideas we have Nicole from The Madlab Post with us.
Easy Production Ideas for A to Z Video Challenge Entries – Part 1
Contrary to what some bloggers who are Blogging from A to Z in April may believe, making a video for the A to Z Promo Contest that is open now, is pretty easy. It’s 2012! Meaning, you don’t need rolls of 8mm film and conversion equipment to submit something to the A to Z Video Challenge. All you need is a video recording device. Don’t have a camcorder? That’s ok too.
In this day and age, you probably own at least one gadget that has the capabilities to give you a two minute long video recording, such as an iPhone, iPod, Digital Camera (you know, the ones you use to take digital photos of your vacation or kid’s birthday party with? If you have a newer model, as in the last 5 years or so, it should have a video recording feature), Flipcam, Android phone with video capability, DSLR with video capability or a webcam…yes, I said a webcam, but before you either get your undies in a bunch or start losing them to get ready for your closeup because you’re such an exhibitionist, read on as I unpack a box of the simplest ways for Bloggers participating in the A to Z challenge to make a video promo for this event….webcam not included!
It’s all in the Live Shots
Make a video that features everything you want all in one shot, or rather, one recording. You just press the record button, record all you need to get in the video…in 2 minutes or less, of course, and be done with it. It does not matter what you choose to be the subject of your live shot nor does it matter what you record, so long as everything is included to convey the message that you want to get across to viewers.
You can record yourself talking to the camera, similar to the style in which one would record a live video podcast or TV contest entry. For those of you who are camera shy, like me, you also have the option to let the world or your surroundings speak for you. Record your pets or an area of beautiful scenery in your town and then signage to convey the message of your video. Want music? Play a song on your radio in the background while recording the video. Don’t have a radio? Fine. Put a CD into your DVD player and turn on the TV to let the sound play through the speakers in the background. Problem solved!
Have kids? Great! Let them be the star of the live shot and instruct them to talk about the A to Z challenge or the alphabet in general. You can also use props to spice up your live shot so that it doesn’t look like a talking head from the local news broadcast, boring viewers to death. That is of course, unless you want to have a talking head video as your live shot. There are ways to make this work without being boring.
You can either record a simple video testimonial, talking about your previous experience with the A to Z challenge, why you plan to blog from A to Z in April or what your exact blogging strategy is to complete the challenge and come out on the other side in one piece…OR…you can find one of those silly Bobble head toys (they make a lot of them for NFL players) and record the bobble head while you act as the voice in the background. The live shot approach works well for those using digital cameras or video camcorders that can be easily connected to a computer for sending to a hard drive and/or then uploading to YouTube or other online video website of your choosing.
Stay tuned for more ideas for the folks among you who want to take it a step further and get all fancy with recorded footage! In the meantime, if you need inspiration or need to see examples of how simple yet powerful one shot or live shot video recordings can be, just check out some of the “My Secrets” uploads on YouTube. This one made by Kaline Bran almost moved me to tears.
