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Monday, June 29, 2015

Embracing challenges from A to Z: Notes from a 4-time challenge winner by Laura Roberts

Embracing challenges from A to Z:
Notes from a 4-time challenge winner by Laura Roberts 


       

           The annual Blogging from A to Z April Challenge has become a rite of passage for me. I can't remember how I first discovered its existence, but I do remember how intrigued I was by the notion of blogging on a daily basis, focusing on every letter of the alphabet – one at a time – as a special challenge.

         The first year I joined the challenge was 2012. Upon discovering that the organizers suggested choosing a theme to help keep your blogging on track, I decided to write about Awesome Lady Authors. The goal was to combat an irritating trend I'd noticed in the media, which seems to focus predominantly on male authors, despite the fact that far more women are reading – and writing – than men. I wanted to play up the female writers I knew and loved, and to discover more of them throughout the month. Writing about female authors based on the first letters of their last names, I discovered the excellent works of Xue Xinran (a double X, as I've always been a bit of an overachiever), and got a chance to promote the works of several authors I'm friends with, like poet Gillian Sze and spoken word performance artist Catherine Kidd. I also highlighted some of my childhood favorites, like Beverly Cleary (author of the Ramona books) and Louise Fitzhugh (author of my all-time fave Harriet the Spy). The whole exercise made me feel a lot more connected to my own writing, on a personal level that I had previously abandoned in my blogging, and seemed to resonate with fellow A to Z participants as well. But that was just the beginning.

         In 2013 I joined the challenge again. Having published the first book in my erotica series, Naked Montreal, the month before, I wanted to give my readers a less sexually-charged point of entry. I realized that many of my American readers knew little or nothing about the Canadian city of Montreal, and I wanted to help them get to know this alluring, French-speaking "Paris of America," through personal anecdotes about the time I'd spent there. So I wrote chose the theme "Montreal from A to Z," and went for it. Again, I felt inspired by the challenge, excited to share my thoughts, and wanted to keep going! After the 2013 challenge was over, I decided to turn my Montreal posts into a book. In November of that year, I finally published them as Montreal from A to Z.

          In 2014, I went a little more risqué. Drawing on my past as a sex columnist, I wrote nonfictional posts on the subject of Sex Toys from A to Z. And, as per my 2013 challenge, I published the results as Play With Me: Sex Toys from A to Z.



            Which brings us to 2015! This year I decided to double-down on my challenge themes. At my newly minted blog, Laura Roberts Books, I would write about my new hometown, San Diego, highlighting some of its most interesting hotspots, as well as the unusual bits and pieces that might not make the typical guidebook under the banner of "San Diego from A to Z."

           Meanwhile, at my erotica blog over at Buttontapper Press, I would also write about Sexy San Diego – focusing on more X-rated sights and performances you can find in the city. That way I'd have not one but two books completed at the end of April. I'm happy to report that I finished both of my blogging challenges successfully this year, despite the fact that it was twice as much work. The A to Z Challenge has given me plenty of material for my new books, one of which is launching today! Born from my April blog posts, along with plenty of bonus material, San Diego from A to Z hits shelves today at Amazon. I hope you'll give it a read, and that it will help inspire you to turn your own A to Z Challenge posts into a book.

       Visit Laura Roberts Books for her blog and past A to Z posts.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Who Are You?

I visit a lot of blogs during the week and over time, most of those bloggers become my friends. Good friends as in on a first name basis. During A to Z and other blog hops, I have the chance to meet new-to-me bloggers. Some are so interesting and I'm happy to have found new friends. But sometimes I can't find their names.

Perhaps their blog has a name relating to their area of interests, something like Bug Eaters of Pennsylvania. After I read through a fantastic post with delicious recipe for fried crickets and comment on it, I decide I want to follow this unique blog. Or I want to make my comment more personal by using the blogger's name. Or perhaps I want to tell everyone about this fun site by linking to it on my own blog. But no matter where I search on that blog, I can't find the name of the person or persons behind it. Who are they?

Sometimes people want to keep their exact identity from general knowledge and that is understandable. But even then, coming up with a name for your online presence is better than no name at all. For instance, one of the blogs I've discovered recently is SpacerGuy. It's a fun blog about Star Trek and SciFi stuff. I have no problem with the name SpacerGuy. It's a name I can call my friend.

I don't want to point out any of the blogs that I've found without a name but I'm sure you've run into a few of them. Check your blog title, your blog sidebar. Is it easy for a new visitor to figure out who you are? Do you have something in your blog header or the sidebar that lets visitors know what your blog is about? Is there a name they can call you if not your given name?

If your name is the title of your blog, then it's easy for people to know who you are. If it's not, do your visitors know what they can call you? Or should we just call you, Bug Eater?

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

June, the Love and Marriage Month

We're nearly halfway through 2015, time flying by as it tends to do. Have you written more than half the posts you'll produce for the year. Probably yes if you survived April.

June if a favorite month of mine. As a teacher, of course, it meant the start of summer break. But it's so much more than that. It's the month my oldest son was born, the month of my anniversary, the birthdays of two my sisters and generally considered a time for romance and marriage.

There will be weddings galore and many of us will be invited to at least one. The name June comes
Juno
from the Roman Goddess Juno, Juno was the goddess of marriage, pregnancy and childbirth. So which came first, the name of the month or all the weddings during the month? I think the name.

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind." William Shakespeare

But June isn't know just for marriage. June 6th was D-Day, marking the day when 160,000 Allied troops landed on be beaches of Normandy. A day to be marked forever.

June 14th is Flag Day in the USA representing the date when in 1777 when the Continental Congress accepted the design made by Betsy Ross for the fledgling US Navy as our national flag. My oldest son was born on June 14th but we didn't name him 'Old Glory.'

June's birthstone is the pearl, which was once thought to be a cure for insanity. So wear those pearl earrings just to be on the safe side.

Today, June 17th, is Bunker Hill Day in Suffolk County in Massachusetts, marking the battle at said hill during the siege of Boston in 1775. Not a widely noticed holiday but it was an important day.

Tomorrow, June 18th, marks the start of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting where followers do not eat from sunrise to sunset each day.

June 21st is Father's Day and the Summer Solstice. My husband is always thrilled on that day when our five boys come over to play all day. Maybe even a golf outing. I love that longest day of the year but I don't like how our hours of sun start to shorten again after ward. And for those long summer nights, here's some wisdom from The Old Farmer's Almanac. The warmer the temperature, the faster a cricket chirps.

"The summer night is like a perfection of  thought."  Wallace Stevens, American poet

Is there a June highlight I missed? Do you wear pearls and if so, are they keeping you sane? Why are there so many weddings in June? Are you number of posts for 2015 well past the halfway number for this year?