Is Planning Now for the 2015 A to Z Too Soon?

Hello everyone. My name is Tim Brannan. I blog over at The Other Side where I primarily talk about games, RPGs and horror.  I am a game author so I use my blog as a platform to talk about my books, but also to share with others in my blogging community to sorts of things I like to write about.

I have been writing material for games nearly as long as I have been playing them.  I started in 1979 and my first "custom class" was a Healer. And....I am not afraid to admit my first new monster I ever wrote up was a "Smurf". Yeah. I was 10.  My first witch class was written sometime between 1985 and 1986.

This was my fourth year of doing the A to Z Challenge on the Other Side. I have also done it one year on my Atheism blog, The Freedom of Nonbelief and another year at Red Sonja She-devil with a Sword, a shared blog dedicated to the comic book character Red Sonja.  Plus I have guest-posted here before on how to use the A to Z challenge in your own writing efforts and the importance of having a theme to your posts.

One would have thought I would have been more prepared this year!

At some point in February I was still planning on doing an A to Z theme on Vampires.  I had started the posts last year when I did Demons. I had an idea for a book about vampires and I thought it would have been a good way to do some research.  It was. Till I shifted midstream.

My newest book is now at Kickstarter to get funding for art and printing.  "Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch & Warlock" is, well, the most complete guide to playing a witch in the Pathfinder game.  A bit of background.  Back in 2000 the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons hit the shelves with the "Open Gaming Licence" which briefly meant 3rd party authors could make their own books for D&D and not get sued or anything like that.  If you followed the admittedly simple rules of the Open Game Licence then you could do it.  Well I did and in 2003 I released "Liber Mysterium: The Book of Witches & Warlocks".  A friend of mine released a similar book for witches called "Way of the Witch". We liked each other books and we were happy.  2013 rolls around and this friend, Christina, decides it is time we mixed our books together with the newest version of the D&D 3rd edition game, Pathfinder (it's not exactly, but close enough).  We added in the Pathfinder witch and some others and decided to kick start it as a project.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-pathfinder-the-ultimate-witch-and-war

So far things are going great!  But my extra writing time was taking a solid hit.  I have 13 years worth and thousands of pages of notes and material to go through.

So to save some time I switched over to the A to Z of Witches.

It was a good idea.  Go through notes, post ideas as they come to me.  I only managed to stay about 10 days ahead of schedule and that was nowhere near enough.  So much for my own advice about theme and planning!

I got a lot of great posts up and in fact have enough for another couple months of solid witch postings.   I got to participate in a "mini-hop" of people doing supernatural creatures during the A to Z as well and that was the best!  I have to give very special thanks to Tasha (Tasha's Thinkings) and Sophie (Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles) for helping me with the idea and then doing all the heavy lifting afterwards.  THEY, and everyone in the Supernatural mini-hop, really made this A to Z special for me.

If you look at my May 5th post I state I survived the A to Z challenge.  Survived is the right word. Not beat, not won, but survived.  Yes I posted everyday and still got in some of my other posts. Yes I visited my neighbor blogs, but didn't always comment on them.  Yes the material I wrote will find a home somewhere in Strange Brew.

But, I didn't get to interact with other bloggers as much as I wanted. I didn't visit every blog on the list like I have in years past.  And while I noticed that I was getting a good amount of traffic from the Supernatural A to Z and from the A to Z site itself, my regular readers dropped off.  So in that respect I didn't do as well as I would have liked.

I write about games.  That is who I am and what my readers want.  I tried to keep the topics I posted very relevant to gamers, but also to the non-gamers.  Most people in the world don't care if some beastie has 5 HD or 15 HD, you just want to know how tough it is. To gamers that is a big deal. It's a big deal to me.

I love doing the A to Z and I am taking my own advice to heart and starting my 2015 posts this summer.  I am still considering doing vampires. So to make it work there needs to be plenty of material for gamers (what we in the RPG biz call "crunch") and plenty of narrative material enjoyed by everyone else (what we call "fluff").

So what is my plan?

• Start my post writing early.  Crunch takes longer to write than Fluff. I'll need the time.
• Keep enough crunch to keep my regular readers happy. Especially if it something new.
• Keep the fluffy interesting to keep the A to Zers coming back.
• Visit and interact with more of the bloggers in the A to Z. If I write all my posts this should be easier.
• I would LOVE to participate in another mini-hop like I did this year. That was awesome.

Looking forward to it!

About the Author 
Timothy S. Brannan is the author of The Other Side blog, http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/
He has worked on a number of games including the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG", and is the author of “The Ghosts of Albion RPG”, “The Witch”, “Eldritch Witchery” and the upcoming “Strange Brew” which is currently in a Kickstarter Campaign. Please stop by and see if this is something you would like to support.

#atozchallenge #roadtrip - Stormy and Heather hit the road!

They made up their minds
And they started packing
They left before the sun came up that day
An exit to eternal summer slacking
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?

(The Way by Fastball)

So, welcome to our first leg of the Post A-to-Z Road Trip!

Stormy the Weather Gnome and I are going to try to hit at least 20 new blogs a week from the Challenge list and tell you about a few of them in each of my posts.

When you go visit these awesome blogs, please make sure you tell them that you're visiting on the Post A to Z Road Trip!

Tossing It Out
Arlee Bird
 
We really can't start this trip without visiting the founder and leader of this great Blog Challenge, Arlee Bird aka Lee.

His vision for the Challenge may have started small but it certainly has taken on a life of its own. Over 2000 people participated in the April Challenge. Lee's theme, on 1 of his 4 blogs, was Marketing Concepts from A to Z.

We can all learn a lot from Lee, so I highly recommend visiting his April posts.

They drank up the wine
And they got to talking
They now had more important things to say
And when the car broke down They started walking
Where were they going without ever knowing the way? 

No Page Left Blank
Tracey Lynn Tobin

Tracey's A to Z theme was all about her favorite fictional characters. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marvel, Star Wars, Disney, Harry Potter, Supernatural & Star Trek just to name a few!


Dreaming of Publication
Jossie Marie Solheim

Joss's A to Z theme was all dogs all day long! So many dogs so little time! Pictures and videos! DOGS!


The children woke up
And they couldn't find 'em
They Left before the sun came up that day
They just drove off
And left it all behind 'em
But Where were they going without ever knowing the way?


Beneath the Jack Reviews
Tiffany York

Tiffany's A to Z theme was books, books, and more books! Book reviews, TBR lists, recommendations! Lots and lots and lots of books are listed in this blog.

Mental Indegestion
Melanie Lee

Melanie's A to Z theme was a Haiku for every day in April! Also, look for her links to her stories from the 2012 and 2013 Challenges.



Thanks for visiting with us today!
Are you finding any great blogs on your trip?

Why Do You #Write ? #atozchallenge

A to Z Challenge participant Vidya Sury was part of #TeamDamyanti this year, and she did an excellent job of providing social media tips (A Must-Read Guide now that we're taking a relaxed Road Trip!) and a hundred other things that go into running the challenge.

Today she is the Featured Guest on this blog, and talks to us about her passion for writing.

~~~~~
I worship the written word and the spoken word. I owe my love for writing to my Mom and one of my Uncles, who always encouraged me to express myself on paper.

And of course, to all the people who enjoy what I write, inspiring me to continue to write.

Writing is more or less like breathing to me, and today, I am glad to say, it is my bread and butter. Okay, also flavored cheese, sometimes.

Writing is a wonderful outlet, liberating, opening up new perspectives and teaching tolerance. When I go back and read something I wrote years ago, I enjoy seeing how I have learned and grown, and changed. Sometimes, I am proud of what I wrote and sometimes, I feel like I could have done a better job of it.

One of my earliest writing exercises was diary-writing. My Mom always encouraged me to keep a journal. It improved my language, my vocabulary and my confidence. It also helped me learn better at school. Above all, it kept my mind well-ventilated, stress-free and positive. It improved my memory and fed my creativity.

I remember, each time we went on a trip, my Mom would make sure I had packed my notebook and pencils. Oh yes, not only did I write about the trip as it happened; I also sketched in those pages. Sometimes, sketching helped me get my thoughts on paper far quicker than words to describe the scene.
Another writing exercise that helped me grow as a writer was letter-writing. Ours was a large family that believed in keeping in touch with relatives who lived in various cities. Letter-writing was a weekly chore. On Thursdays, which was a school holiday, my Mom and I would settle down with a stack of post cards and postage covers. I would love writing the addresses on these covers. Then, she let me add a couple of lines to each letter. Eventually, I took over the letter-writing and felt so happy when they were lovingly acknowledged. Some of my family still have my letters and read them with pleasure.

My love for writing paid off during my school years and beyond, making me a better student and a better person in life. At work,  I was rewarded with the remark “excellent communication skills” on my performance report and not surprisingly, I made a career in sales, marketing and training, before I quit the corporate world to become a stay at home Mom.

Today, I am excited to have a regular outlet for my writing via my blogs. My reward is my community, meeting other fabulous writers and exploring different writing styles via writing challenges and blog hops. Most of all, I am filled with gratitude to know that I make a difference with my words in peoples’ lives, bringing me closer to wonderful human beings. 

Writing is like oxygen.

Most of all, I am especially grateful that today, it is my chosen profession. Thanks to my writing skills, I earn my bread, butter and jam as a freelance writer and blogger, helping businesses, professionals and individuals.
~~~~~~~


Vidya Sury is a professional copywriter, editor and blogger. In a previous life, she was a corporate powerhouse. She now works from home crafting connections between businesses and their target markets, but prefers to focus on collecting smiles, playing with her dust bunnies, showing her diabetes who's boss and celebrating the little things.

She loves coffee, people, cooking, reading, writing, photography and travel. Vidya blogs at Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles , Coffee with Mi  and Your Medical Guide.

Dear Bloggers, why do you write? Do you blog for passion as well as remuneration? Did you participate in the A to Z Challenge? What do you think of guest blogging? Would you like to be a Featured Guest on this blog? Hit us up using the contact tab!

What else did you do in April?

Today Jemima Pett, author of the Princelings of the East series, begins the first of her regular post features on the A to Z Challenge Blog.

If, like my friends, you took a bit of a break last week due to exhaustion, you may by now have forgotten everything else you did in April.  Judging by some of the Reflections posts, many people were like me - totally exhausted by keeping up the blog visiting!

The only thing I HAD to do in April were the chapter illustrations for my sixth book, Bravo Victor, which came out last week.  I thought it would be a nice relaxing thing to do in among all the blogging and visiting.  Then I got into last-minute mode - you know, when you don't have to do something yet, so you put it off?  I steeled myself and got most of them done over one weekend.  Not many writers do chapter illustrations, and sometimes I wish I hadn't started, but in the end I enjoy doing them, and I get great feedback from my readers.

Castle Marsh (c) J M Pett

They aren't great art!  More sort of scribbly sketches.  But my series is set in places I see clearly - the Princelings of the East come from Castle Marsh, which in my mind is in the UK's Norfolk Broads, somewhere between Hickling and Winterton.  It's a low lying area of reeds and cuttings filled with water, used by holiday makers who rent boats for a week to travel around and enjoy the sunshine.  We get a lot of sunshine in Norfolk!  This is Castle Marsh (the improved version, if you have the first versions of the first three books).

One I did for the new book is a view of the road from the dunes through the marsh to the castle, which captured the atmosphere I wanted exactly.

The Road to Castle Marsh (c) J M Pett

The frustrating thing about writing series is that although everyone is doing it (it seems), it gets harder to promote them as you go on.  I mean, if I see a book is part of a series, I want to start reading at the first one.  Sometimes you can enter halfway through without losing too much, but it always makes sense to go back and find out how the characters and their world arrived where they are.  I think it applies to all series, whether Suzanne Colliin's The Hunger Games, Lindsey Davies's Falco series, Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe books (I wish he hadn't done the prequels later), Harry Potter, or your favourite series.  You have to announce your new book so all your fans can leap on it (thank you!) but otherwise, the promotion effort goes into the first one or two, to attract new readers.  Is that true, do you think?

I met so many wonderful writers during this year's A to Z that I'm sure there are lots of experiences and opinions on this.  Readers, what do you think?  Have you jumped into the middle of a series? What's your favourite series, or do you prefer stand-alones? 

Jemima Pett, part of #TeamDamyanti for the 2014 A to Z Challenge
Jemima's blog http://jemimapett.com  
Follow on Twitter - @jemima_pett
The Princelings website: http://princelings.co.uk 
Facebook http://facebook.com/princelings

#AtoZChallenge #Book Launch: Do You have Imaginary Friends?

         The A to Z Challenge has given birth to many books (my post about them here), and the latest to hit the stores is Imaginary Friends by Melanie Lee. 

         It has been published by MPH, Malaysia, and recently I went to the book launch in Singapore-- a fantastic event, full of warmth and good cheer!
          Melanie wrote this book inspired by the A to Z Challenge, writing a story a day, and then tweaking and polishing each to bring it to a publishable level.
        

What do an overachieving octopus, a zealous zither and a hopeless hippo have in common? They're all part of the zany world of Imaginary Friends, a collection of 26 hilarious, satirical tales by Melanie Lee. Note: This is NOT a children's book. These fun fables are for the BIG kids, the young-at-heart adults who love laughs and poking fun at the silly grown-up world!

Imaginary Friends on Amazon

     The Author Melanie Lee, and Illustrator, Arif Rafhan

 
MORE ABOUT IMAGINARY FRIENDS:

 A SUCCESSFUL EBOOK HIT IN KOBO IMAGINARY FRIENDS was first released as an e-book of witty, original fables targeted at teens and adults. It has done remarkably well since its debut, shooting up the Kobo Top 50 chart and being picked up by e-book vendors from around the world, hence the subsequent release of it in Print version. 

           Originally published by MPH Digital (a subsidiary of MPH Group Publishing), IMAGINARY FRIENDS made it into the Kobo Top 50 in the week of its release and even briefly touched the No. 2 spot. Launched in mid-October2013, IMAGINARY FRIENDS (at the time of writing) was still in the Kobo Top 15 under several categories. At first glance, Imaginary Friends may look like a typical children's book but its sophisticated wit and references to modern pop culture make it an enjoyable read for New Adults.

       I found the book entertaining on different levels-- a feast for the imagination, with fluid illustrations, and a bite in the writing that only got enhanced by the moral of each story. As the author said at the launch, the morals are a way to end each story with a snap. I think the morals bring the stories out in relief, and I spent happy two hours reading all the stories. 

          Imaginary Friends is also available on Amazon. If you’d like to buy the print edition, you can buy it from MPH Online (they do international deliveries). If you’re from Singapore or Malaysia, the book is available at MPH and Kinokuniya bookstores. If you’d like to buy the ebook version, it’s available on Amazon and Kobo.

          Melanie Lee is a freelance writer based in Singapore. You can find her at her site, her blog or talk to her on twitter: @melanderings and her Facebook Page.

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Have you thought of compiling your A to Z posts into a book? Would you enjoy a book like Imaginary Friends? If yes, please leave a comment below, and Melanie would randomly choose two commenters-- she has an ebook and a physical copy to give away! To support this excellent author, consider buying the book-- it makes a sweet little gift, I'm told-- and share this post on social media. Have a question for Melanie? Ask away in the comments!