Meet the A to Z Team for 2012

          Anyone who follows this blog is probably aware that the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is just a few months away.   If you don't know about what the Challenge is all about, please click on the "What is Blogging from A to Z?" tab above for an explanation.

          Today we want to provide you with the list of A to Z Team members for 2012.  Please stop by to visit these wonderful bloggers and say hello to them.  If you are not following them already then we encourage you to click the "Friend Connect" to join their sites.  Then be sure to visit each of them often to keep up with news about the upcoming Challenge.   

           Some cool things are coming up and we don't want you to miss a thing!

Here is the A to Z Team for 2012:

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller)

Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)


           Please get to know each of us.  If there are questions or comments about the Challenge, let any of us know and we'll give you the answers you need or address your comments.   Since a big part of the A to Z Challenge has to do with networking you should start your networking with all of us now.


          If you haven't joined this A to Z Challenge blog we encourage you to do that as well.  The Blogging from A to Z Challenge Blog is the official Challenge site.  We don't want you to miss any Challenge updates.


           Sign ups for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge will begin on January 30, 2012.

Related articles

• In Which Arlee Bird Explains Why Blogfests Are a Big Deal (damyantiwrites.wordpress.com)
• A Favorite Blogger Speaks: Reflections from Alex J. Cavanaugh (a-to-zchallenge.com)
• The Challenge Pays Off: Damyanti Biswas Got a Book Out of It (a-to-zchallenge.com)
• A Challenge Report from Jenny Pearson (a-to-zchallenge.com)
• Stephen Tremp Celebrates the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge (a-to-zchallenge.com)

How to Fix Your Sex Life: AZ Challenge Reflections from Tina at Life Is Good

           Not only did Tina at Life Is Good provide a fun Reflections post, she probably added some search engine optimization clout with her title.  Thanks Tina!  By the way, Tina along with Shannon at The Warrior Muse valiantly kept up the memory of the April Challenge through the summer as they organized their own Post Challenge Challenge where they invited A-to-Z-ers to join them in visiting all of the April Challenge blogs.  They were a couple of Challenge heroes for sure. 

How to Fix Your Sex Life: AZ Challenge Reflections

I'm so blessed to have found the AZ Challenge through my bloggy-buddy Rayna at Coffee Rings Everywhere. This challenge, as I told you in my A ~ A New Beginning post, came at a pivotal point in my writing. And as I promised in my V ~ Very post, I'll now give you the full scoop of why participating in this challenge was, for me at least, like trying to fix your sex life.

Ah, I see I have your attention!  As my dear, faithful readers know, I'm a walking, talking, medical worst-case scenario. If health insurance was priced like car insurance, I'd be paying the just-got-out-of-juvie-drive-a-red-sports car-not-so-spectacular-grades-but-would-you-please-insure-me-anyway rate. I go to a lot of doctor's appointments. (Just try my nifty search gadget in the side-bar and type “doctor” to get more stories.)

So I'm in a waiting room, forgot my book, and am therefore paging through, oh, probably Family Circle or Good Housekeeping or some other such magazine. In this issue, the regular marriage counseling  article is about long-married couples trying to recapture the spark in their sex life. There were three case studies. Yes, you get to hear them all because strangely enough, I think that each of these solutions can be applied to struggling writers. 

One couple decided that they'd take turns initiating sex. To writers, this translates as, “You give me a prompt, we'll both write something. Then next time, I'll give the prompt, and again, we both have to participate.” You still with me?

Another couple decided that they would only make-out. For a week. Then they'd see what happened after that week of, ahem, restraint. Writers: If I start to feel the beginning of a slowly smoldering fire,  I'll have to wait to write.  Until next week.  Anticipation makes everything sweeter.  No fair scribbling notes on napkins or jotting down ideas in your notes app. You have to WAIT to write.  Waiting makes the want grow fonder.

The last couple solved their, um, issues, with the equivalent of the AZ Challenge. Sex every 24 hours, come hell or high water or up the creek without a paddle. Once. Every 24 hours. If some unforeseen complication prevented this, then they had to do it twice in another 24 hour period. I probably don't need to translate this one...because...

That last scenario is what happened to me in this challenge. I hadn't foreseen it, but like what I read in the article, knowing that I had to put SOMETHING up every day just kinda freed my brain and my inhibitions. I was thinking, “Well OK, it just has to be something. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be long.” Some days all I managed was just a quick couple of observations, but then on other days, I was in the mood for a longer story. Some days I wrote about something I'd already written about. One day, I had no time time to write at all. To complete the challenge, I wrote two posts on the last day. I'll leave the translation from writing to sex up to you on this one :-)

Big thanks to my 27 new followers. I am honored. Also thanks to all who stopped by and left their footprints. My intent was to visit all of you in return, but if I missed you, please let me know. I really do want to meet you. As for the flip-side, I'm now following 23 more blogs, and I'm looking forward to continuing to build more inspiring bloggy relationships. I had a blast doing this, and hope our faithful and seemingly tireless hosts are willing to do it again. I knew I couldn't homeschool, write a post each day, and get to each of the 1282 bloggers participating during this event. It's like Santa.  Not really realistic.  But as long as the linky is alive, I will keep going until I hit 1282. I'm just too damn stubborn, not to mention competitive, to back down now.

This post was prompted by our challenge sponsors.  They asked all of us  to reflect on this month of writing, and then link up back at Tossing It Out, our host blog.  AND, last but not least...I got the groovy badge over there in the sidebar for completing the challenge.  Go me!  (I'm such a dork...)