Spring Flooding

Only two weeks left until April 1st. There's been lots of advice from veterans of the challenge and I'm here to day to offer two more bits for any and all to use or ignore.

How's this statement? Prepared to be unprepared for what happens. There are going to be days where something happens and you just can't keep up with visiting new blogs or returning comments. All of us will have days where we're flooded with other responsibilities such a family, the day job, or even the business of spring chores.

Yes, I'm going out on a limb here and predicting that winter will end. Where I live, we're getting a late start on spring cleanup and I have a sizable property to take care of. It will take me at least an entire day just to pick up all the branches that have fallen off the trees in my back acres. As soon as the snow drifts melt, I'm going to get on that.

Unexpected things are going to happen so don't stress about it. Make up for it on another day. Everyone is going to understand if you're more active on the challenge some days than others. And don't compare yourself to others. You'll visit some blogs that have dozens of comments when you get there or someone will mention that they're visiting a hundred blogs a day. Work at your own pace. It's not a competition.

One of my Dragon Soldiers, Sabina Leybold, asked as a joke on our weekly #azchat on Twitter if it was cheating to have guests during A to Z. Only if being smart is cheating! Having guests could save you lots of time. So far I only have one, but that could expand.

For you veterans, what unexpected event has disrupted your A to Z in past years? Has winter put back your usual spring chores? Are you having guests during April? Have you joined us at all on the Twitter chats every Thursday, 1-2 pm and 8-9 pm?

Meet the wHooligans!

Happy St. Patty's Day, everyone!

Hope you are all enjoying the day of green, orange, and blarney! Since my team is the wHooligans, and hooliganism is a favorite Irish pastime, I figured today to be the perfect day to introduce ourselves!

My name is AJ Lauer. I'm an author and educator based in the Front Range of Colorado. You can find me at my site, or on Twitter @ayjaylauer. I wrote an interactive apocalyptic fiction novel called Armageddon: Pick Your Plot in a crazy two week writing spree with a friend. It's great fun. You should check it out :)

Here are my answers to some of the questions posed by our readers a couple weeks ago:

Q: What is THE Tip you would like to share with the people who would be doing the A to Z Challenge for the first time?

A: Visit, visit, visit! Our list contains so many talented people with great ideas. Go see what is out there :) 

Q: How do you manage your time during the A to Z Challenge? 

A: Very carefully! So usually I've got about 60% of my posts written before April starts, and I do the other 40% on the fly. This year my theme involves audience participation, so I'll be writing every evening. I find that visiting folks is great to do during my lunch hour at work. It's a nice way to pass an hour.

Q: After you successfully complete the 2015 A to Z, and they stick television cameras in your face and ask "So, what are you going to do now", what will you answer?

A: I just did something that is perhaps a little crazy. I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, which is also occurring in April. So I will probably just grunt and grumble something about words before shoving my head under my pillow.

Q: Isn't it phenomenal?

A: I am awed by how phenomenal it is. I get out to appreciate our world whenever possible. (see the above picture!)

And now... A brief introduction for my wHooligan team!

Sue McPeak

TaMara Sloan @peedeemama

Shilpa Garg @shilpaagarg

LuAnn Braley @kentuckygal

Kripali Kulkarni @precarious_me

These ladies are fantastic. They'll be working hard all month to say hi to as many participants as possible, so go pay them a visit to say thanks in advance! :)

Themes. Themes. Themes.

The first year I did the A to Z, I didn't use a theme. To be honest, I didn't know that most people did use themes. I didn't do much advanced planning that year, either. Every morning I wrote a post, alphabetical, of course, so I got that right. And I visited as many blogs as my nimble brain and fingers allowed, then I patted myself on the back. Great job!

What I discovered was the bloggers who created thematic posts were the most interesting to visit. Guess what? The second year I had a theme.

To wax a bit nostalgic  here are some of the themes that I thought were the most exciting in the 2014. I couldn't get around to the hundreds out there, so I know there were others I would have put on this list.  Here are a few that I returned to daily and really enjoyed.

• Lexa Cain
• Hillary's Positive Letters
• Michelle Wallace's Writer in Transit
• J.L. Campbell's Character Depot

Why were these among my favs? Here are the qualities these bloggers brought to the Challenge.
They were

• informative
• humorous
• fun with puzzles or games to play
• short or with lots of white space
• well-written
• easy on the eye (no fancy dark background with green fonts or flashing gifs)
• no word verification

This year I'm looking forward to finding more favorites, and I have a feeling that the themes I'll gravitate to will have these qualities.

Ready? Set? Almost GO!

Post A to Z Road Trip! - Stormy and I Pahk the Cah in the Gahrage.

It's been almost a year since Tina and Nicole asked me to be a part of the Road Trip.

I was thrilled and honored to be asked by them, two women that I highly admire.

I still have all of Tina's emails, about the Challenge and the Road Trip, and I still get choked up when I see them.
We miss you, Tina.

Nicole did a fantastic job on the Road Trip. I enjoyed working with her very much.

Stormy and I had an incredible journey going through so many wonderful blogs. I hope we shared a few that you found interesting, informative, and fun. That was our intent.

Stormy and I will be putting the ol' Road Trip car in park and unpacking our bags, but we wanted to say thank you to those of you that came along for the ride.

Tom Cochrane - Life Is A Highway

You can come see us anytime at my blog, The Waiting is the Hardest Part.

Characters Who Blog

We're less than a month away from the kick-off of the A to Z Challenge, so I thought I'd give you a little inspiration in the form of one of the best literary and film characters of all time. He's certainly one of the most quotes, for his catchphrase is hard to forget . . . 

I hope you enjoyed my take on what Inigo Montoya's A to Z Blog might look like. And I hope it did it's part to get you a little more excited about the upcoming challenge. If you haven't already signed up, there's still time! 

And if you want to get people excited about your theme for this year's A to Z, don't forget to sign up for The Great and Powerful Theme Reveal blogfest happening on March 23rd. Sign up here and join us!

Happy Wednesday everyone, and as always, happy blogging!

S. L. Hennessy can be found blogging at Pensuasion.