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| Photo courtesy of Tristan Colangelo |
It’s never too early to start preparing for your
participation in next year’s Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Year after year,
themes continue to be one of the best ways to survive this April blog hop with
ease. Themes give readers a good idea of what to expect when visiting your blog
while helping you better organize ideas into 26 cohesive pieces of alphabetic
content.
Choosing a theme does not have to be a daunting task in
itself. In fact, it’s as simple as becoming a virtual handyman for some of life’s
challenges. If you’re stumped for
topics to blog about during the next April A-Z Challenge, consider teaching people how
to do quick repairs -- whether that be for damaged household items, bad hair
days, or even a broken heart. Don’t think you have any knowledge of tips or
tricks to help other people solve everyday problems? You may be able to provide
more handy hacks than you think.
Just recall the last few times you’ve fixed a
dilemma that you or someone you know encountered. Now use these instances to
jump-start the topics of your April Blog Posts. Here are some quick topics that
can be worked in many ways to help you get from point A to point Z, based on my
own experiences with quick fixes that came in handy.
Technical/Hardware
Hacks
When cassette tapes were still a thing in the early 90s, I
used to play them on a boombox style stereo system. The Bad album by Michael Jackson was one particular cassette that I rocked
as a kid “until my tape popped” (*extra brownie points for those who can identify
the song/artist reference here) one day while playing in the stereo. Determined
to not have to throw this cassette away, I grabbed a screwdriver (or maybe it
was a kitchen knife…the specifics of that memory has faded after all these
years), opened up the cassette and snapped the jumbled up portions of plastic tape off
of the spool. I then re-attached the two remaining portions of the music on
this cassette, using a small piece of adhesive tape.
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Cassettes remain available from some places such as
TurnAroundRecords. |
The result wasn’t perfect – the beginning of the first song on
Side 1 of the cassette was now gone, as well as the end of the last song on Side
2 – but I could now still continue to enjoy most of the album.
Cassettes may be
a thing of the past but so long as people still like to listen to music, there
are quick fixes that you might know how to employ in the age of modern
technology. Do you have a neat way to organize playlists on a home
entertainment system, tablets or related electronic devices?
How about syncing
or migrating your iTunes library on a computer where the system had to be
re-installed? These nuggets of knowledge may come in handy for those of us who
do not know how to navigate through various software programs and/or devices.
Style, Fashion &
Wardrobe Hacks
When one pair of my jeans started to rip in the back, I
continued to wear them until the tear became too large. Having no patience to
sew or patch-up denim (or really most other garments), I just wore tights under
my jeans, to prevent me from unintentionally flashing people during my daily
travels out in the street. Sometimes these tights had cute heart patterns on
them and sometimes they were solid colored. It all depended on my mood, the
climate or temperature and whether the laundry was done or not. Did you ever
experience any clothing malfunctions that you’ve dealt with in a hassle-free
manner? If so, try to come up with 26 ways to get around the problem, from A-Z,
without throwing the garment away!
Food Prep Hacks
Have you ever made a salad only to find out that there isn’t
any dressing in your refrigerator or cupboard? What do you do in that
situation? When I found myself in a similar situation, I combined some olive
oil, vinegar and all-purpose seasoning such as (Mrs. Dash or Trader Joe’s 21
Seasoning Salute) to make a quick vinaigrette. Not only did it save me time in
contemplating on whether to eat something else altogether or consume the salad
dry, this quick fix was also a money-saving solution; I didn’t have to make a
trip to the store just to buy some salad dressing. If food hacks are up your alley, try coming up
with an A-Z theme that provides some quick seasoning tips for when people don’t
have the usual staples on-hand and need to substitute it with other items in
the refrigerator or cupboard.
Productivity Hacks
My morning routine usually involves books, writing and
meditation of some sort. I try to read first thing in the morning to get it out
of the way because unless it is for research purposes, it’s HIGHLY unlikely
that I will pick up any book
whatsoever later in the afternoon or evening after my day gets started and
filled with other tasks. Do you have a
productivity hack that helps you get things done? Maybe other A-Z participants
can try it to figure out if the hack might work for their lifestyle needs.
Providing handy lifestyle hacks to your readers will save
you time on writing and publishing blog posts. That time saved could then be
spent visiting your fellow participating blogs on the A-Z Challenge list. Happy
blogging!
Have YOU decided on a
theme for next year’s Blogging from A-Z Challenge yet?
A-to-Z Challenge Co-Host Nicole Ayers writes about international
films, Cinematography and movie goers at The Madlab Post. You can connect with
her @MadlabPost on Twitter.
