IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The 2024 OFFICIAL MASTER LIST: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Only 163 Shopping Days Until A to Z 2016!



Here in the US, it won't be long before we start seeing Christmas decorations appear in all the stores. The minute the plastic pumpkins and Hallowe'en costumes are put away, out come the Christmas decorations and we start hearing and seeing little reminders that it won't be long before Santa pilots his sleigh, drawn by eight tiny reindeer, through the sky, bringing gifts ande toys to good little girls and boys...

Okay, maybe I'm overdoing things a little. (No, wait... I'm not.) The point is, Christmas is a huge holiday for everyone, whether you're a retailer, a member of the clergy, a parent, (especially) a kid, or anyone else who loves the excitement and promise of the season. 

For the sponsors of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge, April 1 is kind of the same thing. It's something we prepare for almost as soon as May 1 of the previous year. Every year we do the Challenge, we want it to be better than the previous year's. For us, that means encouraging people who have participated in past years to participate again, and to bring their blogging friends, and their friends, and so on, and so on, as the old shampoo commercial used to say. The A to Z Challenge is truly a time when "the more, the merrier" applies. 

So, it's never too soon to start encouraging people to start thinking about April. And that includes inviting you to start thinking about participating in the festivities, and about people you think might enjoy the Challenge. Bloggers you admire, people who you think would enjoy themselves. You might meet some bloggers (or potential bloggers) during the upcoming NaNoWriMo, or in the other "blog hops" you do every year.

It's also never too soon to start thinking about your theme for the upcoming year. Maybe this is easy, because you use the same theme every Challenge. Great! You can start thinking about your entries. Maybe you try to think of something new every year. This would be a good time to start. If you have trouble thinking of a theme, you might want to see what other people have used in years past. The list of blogs who participated in the 2015 Challenge is still available; feel free to browse the blogs of other participants.  Maybe you never use a theme. That's all right! You can always begin planning your word list for the Challenge. 

You might think 163 days is a long time, but you'd be surprised how quickly it passes. Personally, I can't wait! How about you?

Monday, October 19, 2015

Cleaning the Garage from A to Z

English: A handyman project was to de-clutter ...
 A handyman project was to de-clutter a basement which tends to get filled with things when it's not certain whether to throw or keep them. When a basement becomes too cluttered, it's hard to find things that are really needed. One way is to move clutter to a second location where it can be sorted into two piles (1) trash (2) items to keep. Source of picture: here (see public domain declaration). Questions: write to my Wikipedia page or email me at thomaswrightsulcer@yahoo.com (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

       A frequent theme of posts on this Blogging from A to Z Challenge site involves ideas for the April Challenge.   It's a natural topic here!   How often do many of us wonder what we will be writing about come April Challenge time?    Often I read exasperated laments from bloggers who don't know if they can even participate in A to Z because they don't know what to write about.  To alleviate some of those feelings of doubt and fear, let me offer another of the infinite ideas that might spark some creativity in your mind.

        Instead of staring at the computer screen as your mind jumbles up with this idea and that, why not take a break from blogging for an hour or two or maybe even a whole day.   Get up out of your chair and go clean your garage.   Now, you might substitute "garage" with closet, drawers, car, or what have you, but the essence of this idea is to go take care of some accumulated clutter and get organized.

         When I think of organizing one image that comes to my mind is filing papers in an orderly fashion which typically entails separating items into easy to find A to Z fashion.   Using a cluttered garage as an example, you can even take filing to a larger scale organizing everything in your garage in some logical fashion.  Alphabetically might not be the most practical way to organize a garage, but it could be something to think about.   The point here is to clean up and organize.  Get some house work done!

         And once you've started diving into that amalgam of messiness (unless you are more fastidious than many of us) start thinking in A to Z terms.   Your garage might have anything from Ajax to Zap cleaner, old adding machines to non-functioning Zenith television sets, or accordions to zithers.  I think you're getting the idea.

        Your house is a wealth of A to Z inspiration and sometimes digging through the artifacts of what we amass over the years can stir up all sorts of thinking.  Take a look at ten or twenty items that you immediately see around you and consider what each item conjures in your mind.

         Can you remember when you first obtained that item or when you used it?   How did the items affect your life?   Why did they end up where they did in a state of disuse?   How useful were the items then as opposed to now?   Would you recommend these things to anyone else?  If you were going to give the item to another person who would it be and why?

          One cluttered closet could be the inspiration for numerous books, stories, or articles to an extremely imaginative person so it stands to reason that this same closet might be excellent inspiration for the 26 posts of April A to Z.

          Fiction, memoir, how-to's, photo essays, humor--there is no limit to what your clean-up jobs can inspire.  There's no good reason for anyone to come up with the excuse that they don't know what to write about for A to Z.   Your posts in April don't have to be exotic or even something absolutely unique.  Good content is always desirable, but excellence in writing can outweigh the most original ideas that are written about tritely or dryly.

         Maybe give it a try.  Start a household chore with A to Z in mind.   Even if you don't come up with an A to Z idea this time around, you can try again later.   And if the A to Z idea doesn't come from your efforts then you've still ended up with a positive accomplishment--you'll have a cleaner more organized house.   Not much of a downside to that!

         Have any of your A to Z themes been about common items around your house?    What are some great discoveries that you've come upon while cleaning house?    Are there any A to Z themes that come to your mind in regard to this post?

Friday, October 16, 2015

When the Road is blocked: 3 Alternative Methods for Leaving Blog Comments

Every road trip has its setbacks and those of us on the A-Z highway are sure to encounter a closed lane or two when trying to comment on new blogs we visit. Sometimes these roadblocks appear in the form of word verification. Or maybe you’ll find a blog where the commenting feature is turned off.  

There is also the chance that, regardless of how many times you typed a response and clicked on that “submit” button, your comment still didn’t get published for reasons that only the technology geeks could explain.

Maybe Wordpress (or Blogger or Google or your internet service provider) just doesn’t like you that day. These types of roadblocks make some drivers want to turn around and go back to the routes we’re used to taking through blogland. That is especially enticing for those of us who are already running low on gas. The good news, however, is there are a few solutions to getting around these blocked lanes and continuing on with our road trip activities as usual.

Comment via Social Media
When you encounter problems commenting directly on a blog, tag it on social media using the author’s profile handle. Many bloggers are active on websites such as Facebook and Twitter, making it easy to also link directly to the blog post you are commenting on. Social media is not only a great alternative for leaving comments; it also helps you keep responses short and simple.

Comment via Email
Sending comments in an email is one of the easiest ways to get around glitches with the commenting box on blogs you visit. This alternative method for leaving a comment is also a good way to inform the author of the blog about any difficulties that you’ve experienced as an end-user. On many occasions, bloggers may not be aware of issues with their commenting box, so they are likely to be glad you let them know about it. Emailing comments directly to the blog author can also be ideal for subjects that you may feel less comfortable discussing or addressing in a public forum such as the blogger’s commenting section.

Comment in a Blog Post of Your Own
Blogging in response to someone else’s content allows you to complete two tasks at once. The comment gets its time to shine and you get a new blog post out of the deal. Everybody wins.


How do YOU get around some of the roadblocks you encounter while visiting new blogs?