2020 Vision: The Old Shelter - Sarah Zama's author blog (#AtoZChallenge)

The team decided our theme for this month's posts here would be a take "2020 visions of blogging." This set of posts focuses on:

A Blog with 2020 Vision

Do you like historical fiction? How about historical fantasy? Are you excited to be living in the 20s again? How about escaping into the 1920s?

Sarah Zama is a long time participant of the A to Z Challenge with her blog called The Old Shelter. This is her sixth year joining us! Since as an author she works with the past - specifically, the 1920s - I thought she would be a perfect candidate for being featured in our "2020 Vision" series!

Sarah's challenge posts are always a delight to read. This year, her theme is Living in the Twenties! In the past she has done other themes related to her research work for historical fiction:

2015 - The Roaring Twenties
2016 - Jazz Age jazz: early jazz as a social phenomenon
2017 - 1940s film noir
2018 - The Weimar Republic
2019 - Berliner Cabaret

What I especially love about Sarah's posts is that they are extremely well researched and well organized. I always learn a lot from them. And what makes her an even better participant: she always visits back!

Sarah is an author who writes historical fantasy, focusing on the 1920s - or as she describes it, 1920s Dieselpunk Noir. It's history mixed with fantasy, and some fairy tale elements. If you want to find out more about her stories, follow this link!

If you haven't visited Sarah's blog yet, stop by and say hi to her!

You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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National Literacy Month and Happy Labor Day

Co-creator of Spider-Man, the Hulk, Xmen, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four and Honorary Chair of Library Card Sign-up Month Stan Lee.

September is National Literacy Month and Library Card Sign-Up Month. And as a writer I'm interested in raising awareness about this issue. After all, I write books, and what's the use of doing that if people can't read them? Here are some stats that I discovered when doing research for my latest novel in which my main character is barely literate.

• A 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) revealed that 90 million Americans read at basic and below basic levels. READ MORE
• The anual U.S. cost for low literacy is mind boggling: 80 billion in lost worker productivity, 225 billion lost to unemployment benefits, lost taxes and crime. Literacy Partners 
• L.A. county, population 7,000+ has 33% of its people who are lacking basic literacy Visalia Times READ MORE
• 2 million New York City residents are functionally illiterate (25%) READ MORE .
• 32 million (14%) of U.S. adults can't read and 774 million people worldwide can't read. READ MORE

If any A to Zers are interested in joining the cause here's the LINK to my post about Writers Supporting Literacy. 

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And now LABOR DAY!

Labor Day has been with us for 132 years. The U.S. celebrated the first one on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. Then in 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday.

Over the years, it's had it's poster girl and other spirited patriotic images to communicate the U.S. Can Do spirit.

Here's the famous Rosie The Riveter that was popular WWII. 

AN ICON OF AMERICAN LABOR, 1942

NORMAN ROCKWELL'S SATURDAY EVENING POST ROSIE, 1943

Have a safe, wonderful, restful LABOR DAY! 

Getting to Know Your Fellow #bloggers #atozchallenge #photoblogs

Featuring Photography Blogs

It’s like visiting a museum or photo exhibit, as you wander through this amazing assortment of brilliant photography blogs. No camera captures the same subject. Nor does it delight in sharing a similar one the same way. Each photographer explores the world through a camera, letting each snapshot reveal a larger story waiting to be shared.

Spud’s Daily Photo: Bill Nichols combines a bit of history with photos he’s taken throughout the years. His photo journalism charms us with a unique point of view and delightful photography.

Throo Da Looking Glass: The combination of haiku and brilliantly captured photographs make this blog stand out. Combine that with the diverse collection of photos taken, and you’re sure to find something that captures your eye!

La Fotografia Efectista Abstracta:  This blog might be in Spanish, but the photos speak to a universal language. You’ll positively be amazed by some of the pictures you see here!

Outreach:  While photography is strongly present on this blog, you’ll also find a plethora of other intriguing posts. Everything from research to random bits of advice, contests and reviews are just a sampling of what you will find here.

Traveling Cats:  Cats, cats and more cats - from in the house to around the world, this is no ordinary photography blog!

Now I know there are a lot more photo blogs out there. These are just a few I came across while doing some blog hopping recently. 

Thanks for capturing the world in pictures for us!

M. J.

©2014 All Rights Reserved
Photo credit:  Blogfrog, Blogfrog Logo, CCA-Share Alike 3.0 

Bill Nichols: A Wandering Picture Taker

Please give a warm welcome to Bill Nichols, a fantastic photographer and historian who is here to share some of his work with us. Take it away, Bill!  

I feel honored to be here today writing this guest post, and by the time you read this, my blog Spuds Daily Photo will be just over six months old with over 6000 views!

When I said I'd be up for guesting, I never thought I'd get accepted as I am relatively new to blogging. I'm no writer, so I thought it better to tell you about my blogs.  (Tina here - we love new people!  Encouraging new bloggers is one of the big goals of The Challenge, and this blog.  We're not just for WRITERS, we're for BLOGGERS!)

I've been called an historian and photographer though I claim to be neither. "I'm an old fellow who likes to take photos and reads some history on places I visit."  That is the description on my profile, but as someone once said on a forum I visited,  "A Wandering Picture Taker" would describe me better.

So how did I get in to blogging?  I thought it would be another outlet for the photos I have taken.  I am  a member of Geograph where I go round the country taking photos of the areas I have been to. I did a few posts on there and thought, "This is not so hard!"

With the encouragement of other bloggers, I started off with Spuds Rural Explorations which tells about places I had been to and photos to back them up.  The first post was called Pillboxes along the Thames which was about all the defensive blockhouses (pillboxes) that remain along there mostly hidden from view.
I update the blog periodically with new reports.

This is a pillbox and was one of my favorites as it overhung the bank but during the summer of 2012 it went in the river. 

This picturesque looking boathouse near me is a defended building, the section on the left is one huge pillbox.






 

As a spin off from this, I started Forgotten Fairmile which is about the conversion of a mental hospital in the village where I live. I got permission to record the development and started to photograph it all. During this time, I got involved with a villager who was starting a village archive and was researching his family who worked Fairmile.  The outcome was we had an exhibition for the village which was well received, and just lately I did a talk on the subject to the residents of Fairmile. My parents worked there and it is dedicated to them.

This group photo includes my mother.

It would have been taken on this lawn.
The link is a video I made.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7WJFKC_mT0





I realized I had few followers and discovered Google + which did help. Then one day I came across Beneath thy feet, a blog on Taohophilia, or the study of gravestones. Since I visit a lot of churches and churchyards, this seemed second nature so, My Grave Place came about. I tend to do this weekly and join up with a few other bloggers on the same subject.

Last we come to my daily blog, Spuds Daily Photo which is hardly six months old. I post a photo from my collection each day with a short explanation and hopefully people will enjoy my offering and leave a message.

The A to Z challenge was a good outlet, though I did need some encouragement from Dana of the Daily Dose.  I did feel out of place with all the writers and so few photographers posting. Oh yes, I'm sorting out the theme for the next one at the moment.

There is one more blog which is on a different account. Cholsey new Pavilion where I have followed the building of the new village hall for the village where I live in. The blog will soon becoming to and end as the work is nearly complete, though I will leave the blog going for people to look at. I might add the main contractors who came from the north of England who followed the progress on it as well.

I hope you have enjoyed my little rendition here and will come and visit my blogs, and if you like any of them feel free to join.
I'm currently on my roadtrip and visiting all the blogs in the A to Z and am amazed at the amount of subjects people blog on but I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful photos with us, and congrats on keeping so many blogs going!

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Dear Readers - we're still accepting guest posts from anyone who has participated in at least one A-Z Challenge.  Email me at tndowney at gmail dot com if you're interested.  We accept posts from all kinds of blogs, not just writing blogs!  We are a big family, and there's room for everyone!
~Tina