Tuesday, April 12, 2022

#AtoZChallenge J is for Just in Time!

Sometimes things go according to plan, and sometimes we are JUST in time! 

As we are jauntily working our way through our second full week, sometimes we have to remember to give ourselves grace with our A to Z posts. It's great when you have every post scheduled and up at midnight on each day, but it's equally okay if you're posting at 11:59pm, or... catching up when you are juggling all the joyful (and maybe not joyful) aspects of your life.

We hope that you are enjoying your A to Z journey and whether your posts are jingly or jetlagged, we're excited to read more!

~Jayden R. Vincente

Erotic Fiction Writer at jrvincente.com (Adults only!)

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Be sure your copy is updated with everyone who signed up for the challenge. Hopping to other blogs to leave comments is half of the challenge!
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Sunday, April 10, 2022

#AtoZChallenge I is for Integrity

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The team's theme of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge this year is:
ACCOMPLISHING YOUR DREAMS, AND THE DUALITY OF 22

If you are a freelancer, an entrepreneur, a self-employed content creator, an artist, or anything of the sort, you probably spend a whole lot of your time trying to promote your work online. Blogging might or might not be an integral part of that - or even the entire business in itself - but we are still constantly bombarded information on how to blogging bigger, better, more profitable. How to optimize content, posting frequency, posting times, social media shares, tags and hashtags. Sounds familiar?

This post is just here to remind you to take a break. Integrity is important. Your blog, your contant, first and foremost, has to be you. Accomplishing your dreams is not worth changing those dreams to fit some kind of an expectation. It is good to learn how to do your own thing better - but you don't need to change your content, your stories, your interests into something "more marketable." As cliché as it sounds: you are the content. The person, the personality, the enthusiasm, the dreams. All of it. Stay true to that.

Also, hey, we are done with the first full week of A to Z! How are you feeling? :)


#AtoZChallenge 2022 Master List is CLOSED

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The Master List is closed. 234 bloggers signed up this year. 

The next chat will be on April 15.



Facebook did not receive enough interaction. The next chat will post on Twitter and Instagram only.
 
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Be sure your copy is updated with everyone who signed up for the challenge. Hopping to other blogs to leave comments is half of the challenge!
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Saturday, April 9, 2022

#AtoZChallenge H Is For Happy

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The team's theme of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge this year is:
ACCOMPLISHING YOUR DREAMS, AND THE DUALITY OF 22


A lot of you are already experienced bloggers and don't need to hear this. Or maybe you do. But this is more for the newer bloggers out there, for whom maybe this is your first challenge, this is for you (but everyone's welcome to read along).

One of the reasons that I started blogging was because I saw a few blogs that were participating in the A to Z Challenge and thought "hey, that looks like fun, maybe I'll do it next year." The next year came along, and I joined up. I learned a lot about blogging that year, and it's grown from there. In short, the A to Z Challenge made a blogger out of me. How, you ask?

  1. It taught me to set a schedule and stick to it. Before I did my first A to Z, I was posting whenever the spirit moved me. Whatever readers might be have been interested in reading me didn't know when they'd see another post from me, and few waited around to find out. Doing A to Z taught me that, when they when they knew when to look, they did. You don't have to be out here every day, like I am, but commit yourself to one day a week, or every two weeks, and make it the same day.

  2. It taught me that, to get traffic, you have to give traffic. One way to let other bloggers know that you're out here is to comment on their blogs. More often than not, it results in a return visit. Plus, when other bloggers see your comments, they'll be curious to know who you are.

  3. It taught me to find the joy in what I was doing. That's really what it's all about: having fun! Meet people from around the world, share your thoughts with them, write whatever's on your mind, have a few laughs along the way.... you get the idea. If you had fun writing it, they'll have fun reading it.

I had come into blogging thinking that I wanted to be a fiction writer. Part of the reason I didn't write on my blog initially was that I was trying to force story ideas out of my head. Fiction didn't make me happy, blogging did. I had more fun coming up with blog ideas than I did coming up with story ideas. Blogging made me happy.

I hope it makes you happy, too.



Does blogging make you happy? How?



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Friday, April 8, 2022

Goody! Goody! We've got a week behind us! ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

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The team's theme of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge this year is:
ACCOMPLISHING YOUR DREAMS, AND THE DUALITY OF 22


       Great!  If you've made it this far then you're off to a good start.  We've got a week behind us and now there's only three more to go.  We know you can manage that.  After all you're a blogging pro.  Or at least you're a pretty good blogger. 

       Getting to the end will take persistence, patience, and a lot of self-assurance.  We're all cheering you on to make it to the end.  You don't want to give up and at this point why should you?   Take things a day at a time, but if you find some extra time then go on ahead and work on future posts if you haven't done them already.  And most importantly, please visit other blogs and leave them comments.

       Growing your blog and your blogging community is what this Challenge is really about.  You want others to read your blog and the same applies to everyone else.  We want to make friends and support others in their blogging endeavors.  So comment with encouragement or start a conversation.  Successfully complete the Challenge with your own posts and commenting on other bloggers' posts and you will find this all to be rewarding experience.  Who knows what friends you will make this April.

       Go get 'em!

    Is anything in particular stressing you out this year in regard to keeping up with the April A to Z?   How do you balance your personal time with blogging?  What advice would you give to others in regard to finishing the Challenge successfully.  



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Be sure your copy is updated with everyone who signed up for the challenge. Hopping to other blogs to leave comments is half of the challenge!


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Thursday, April 7, 2022

#AtoZChallenge F is for ...

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The team's theme of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge this year is:
ACCOMPLISHING YOUR DREAMS, AND THE DUALITY OF 22

It’s hard to believe that we’re a full week into this feat known as the A to Z Blog Challenge. Give yourself some felicitations on achieving a full week! Let’s focus on our theme of accomplishing your dreams and the duality of 22. 


When we think about our dreams, we are planning for the future. What does that mean to you? Setting goals? Participating in blog and writing challenges? Saving money? Take a few moments today to think about what you want for your future. See it, believe it, feel it. 


Here are some quotes to help you focus your energies on a successful future. (Emphasis is mine.)


"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." --Winston Churchill


"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him." --David Brinkley


"The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself." --Mark Caine


"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember, that's where you will find success." --Thomas J. Watson


We hope you can find your successful future by staying focused on your dreams!

~Jayden R. Vincente
Erotic Fiction Writer at jrvincente.com (Adults only!)

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Twitter @AprilA2Z @AprilA2Z Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge
Please follow us on social media.

Sign up for the 2022 challenge? Click this:
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File, Make a Copy of the Master List for yourself! Click this:
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Be sure your copy is updated with everyone who signed up for the challenge. Hopping to other blogs to leave comments is half of the challenge!
Get your 2022 merchandise here:  2022 merchandise #atozchallenge
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Tuesday, April 5, 2022

#AtoZChallenge E is for Encouraging Each Other

 

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The team's theme of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge this year is:
ACCOMPLISHING YOUR DREAMS, AND THE DUALITY OF 22

Day 5 of the challenge. You may be hitting your stride by now, or you may be starting to reconsider your choices... either way, we are in full swing! If you are a perfectionist like me, who wants to make the most of everything, I am here to tell you: You are doing great. You are doing ENOUGH. Being in this challenge, putting your posts up, visiting some others, is enough. Don't let the pressure to do more spoil the fun.

We are here to help you! All of us. My favorite thing about the Challenge is that we cheer each other on. Everyone can use a little encouragement from time to time, right? That's what visiting and commenting is for! Seeing that people have read what you've written. And they are engaging with your content. And letting you know you are doing an excellent job.

Keep going! Keep exploring! Tell us about your visiting experiences in the comments!

Visit some fellow bloggers, and leave some encouraging words! 
Isn't it nice to cheer each other on?
 

#AtoZChallenge D is for Doors #flashfiction Drabble

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The team's theme of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge this year is:
ACCOMPLISHING YOUR DREAMS, AND THE DUALITY OF 22


The WEP team has accepted the challenge to write for the A – Z. This time we’re playing tag with the letter “D”. We’ve decided D is for Door/s. As we’re lovers of #flashfiction, we’re writing in the form of “Drabble” = flash fiction of exactly 100 words. (Yolanda Renee is on hiatus).
WEP 2022
 

Behind the Door

 
I’ll be lighthearted some time and peer in -
behind the door will be the ball you forgot,
neat hooks to hang things, walls that look too clean -
except a backpack-shaped amorphous spot
where that hung for years. A square rim of grime
will mark out a photoframe and passing time.
 
I’ll be lighthearted someday again between
your coming and going, growing, nothing caught
on the wardrobe shutters, bedclothes pristine.
Just some odd scraps of poems I once wrote
for some vanished milestone, in half-slant rhyme
will claw at my days and at passing time.

 
Nilanjana is a bi-lingual writer, blogger and market researcher. She specialises in poetry, panic and tinkering with bucket lists. Her physical address keeps changing now and then but thankfully her online home is constant at Madly-in-Verse.
 

They Told Her


She sat in front of the hedge where everyone told her there wasn’t a door. It didn’t lead to anywhere other than the neighbour’s yard. And Mr. and Mrs. Harrison wouldn’t appreciate either a hole in their hedge or a girl’s footprints on their perfect grass.

They told her the hedge was made only of leaves and branches. They told her there wasn’t a land full of wonder and magic beyond. They rolled their eyes and laughed. There definitely wasn’t a door in the hedge.

She pushed to her feet and opened the door anyway.


Jemi Fraser writes small-town romantic suspense stories filled with heart and humour.


Behind the Basement Door

 
It's also inspired by real life tornados that went through my state recently.
 
 
Huddled under the table, Mable cuddled into her mama’s side. The basement door rattled 
on its hinges. The wind howled.
 
Mama stroked her hair. “It’ll be okay, baby girl. The storm will pass soon.”
 
Mable knew what a tornado was. She’d seen pictures of them and the damage they could do. 
She never dreamed she would have to hide from one.
 
She covered her ears as the roar outside grew louder. She couldn’t block it out no 
matter how hard she tried.
 
The storm would pass soon, she hoped, but what would await them when 
they opened that basement door?

 
L.G. Keltner writes many things, though primarily sci-fi, while also caring for 
her energetic children. She lives in a small town in Iowa.

Romi Ran


Romi ran. If the enemies caught her, they would shoot her. Their boots trampled behind the corner, loud in the silence of the night. The houses stood dark, afraid. She didn’t dare knock on doors. Nobody would let her in, not against the occupants’ orders. Suddenly, stairs to a basement yawned in a narrow lane between two houses. At the bottom of the short staircase, choked with garbage, a half-door was ajar. Romi stumbled down and crawled in. She pushed the door shut, leaned on it. The enemies’ boots slapped past, their barrage receding. Safe for now. She started shaking.


Olga Godim is a speculative fiction writer from Vancouver, Canada. 
When she doesn’t write, she reads and makes book covers.

Vampire Hunter


The crumbling bricks of the castle behind me, I happen upon a twisting stone path below street level. I follow its twists and turns, sheltered by branches above which shake and whisper in the evening breeze. I imagine they warn: beware. The moon gives enough light for me to see. Around the curve, a door appears.  I stop. Look. See no one. See no thing. Where does this door lead? The hairs on my arms raise. To the subterranean tunnels beneath the surface where the vampires live? I feel the heft of steel in my hand. I push open the door.


Denise Covey is an Australian author of contemporary and paranormal romance. When she’s not dreaming up stories based on her travels, she loses herself in the pages of books.


Do you ever write flash fiction?



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Instagram @a.to.z.challenge @a.to.z.challenge Facebook logo @atozchallenge
Twitter @AprilA2Z @AprilA2Z Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge
Please follow us on social media.

Sign up for the 2022 challenge? Click this:
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File, Make a Copy of the Master List for yourself! Click this:
https://tinyurl.com/AtoZ22
Be sure your copy is updated with everyone who signed up for the challenge. Hopping to other blogs to leave comments is half of the challenge!
Get your 2022 merchandise here:  2022 merchandise #atozchallenge
https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/103818836