Ups and Downs ( #AtoZChallenge )

You never can fully understand how up you can get if you haven't experienced a few downs now and then.  If life were consistently going our way then it might get kind of boring.

       How's your April been so far?  Has everything gone as you had expected?   Hopefully you haven't had to deal with any computer problems or sickness this year.   I know that some of you as well as I have had to face those difficulties in the past.  In other years I've had travel scheduled during April making the Challenge an extra challenging ordeal.  A few of you could be traveling this year and if so I hope you've handled A to Z okay.

       But that's life isn't it.  Good days, bad days.  Smooth sailing, rough waters.  Sometimes you're feeling fine, other times you want to scream out of frustration.  If life didn't have its little problems then we might have to create them just to make things more interesting.

        Look no further!   The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is just the remedy you need to really mix things up.  You likely have run over a few bumps in the road, but you've kept going until you've reached this point.  We usually expect ups and downs in life, but life works best when we accept the ups and downs.  Since it lasts for a month, the A to Z Challenge is a sort of microcosmic metaphor for life:  Filled with ups and downs, but hopefully a darn good time for all.

          Utterly fun!   That's how I see it.


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      Have you run into any major problems in this year's Challenge?   What is your most dreaded blogging hassle?    Do you see your life as mostly ups, mostly downs, or a healthy balance of both? 

T is for Tales #AtoZChallenge

You probably noticed that we have expanded and reorganized our list of Categories this year. It is an exciting change, and people have been taking advantage of it! I am especially pleased that there are several blogs rocking Mythology and Folklore themes this year. Check out some of them:

Story Crossroads: Tales of Kindness Across Cultures

Kelsey Ketch: Egyptian Mythology

The Mad Grad Student: Characters from folklore and mythology in video games

Writing Dragons: Dragon art from various artists

Our Literary Journey: Fantasy creatures

I also have a folktale theme running on my own blog this year, and I wanted to note how fascinating it is to receive comments on posts about folklore and mythology. I am used to mostly discussing tales with professional storytellers and folklorists, people who are steeped in this kind of stuff. It is interesting to see how non-folklore people, especially fiction writers, react to the same stories. Listening to folktales is an acquired skill; people who don't regularly interact with them have vastly different reactions than those who do. Folktales make sense in a different way than fiction does. That's the fun part: You can pick them apart and say "but none of that makes any sense!" or "there is no character development!", but in the end, they still carry deep truths, and they are still entertaining. On the other hand, getting opinions on the tales from many people of different backgrounds often makes me re-think the stories in a whole different light. I love that experience.
I recommend adding folktales to everyone's regular literary diet!


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S is for Saturday #AtoZChallenge

Saturdays 

My favorite thing to do on a Saturday is to sleep in. In a perfect world, I would sleep until my body naturally woke me up, and then I would write. I can just pictures myself type type typing away in my cool quiet bedroom with no distractions. Unfortunately, that is hardly ever possible. So instead, I fit writing in wherever I can. Ten minutes before work. Five minutes before the kids come home. Late at night after everyone else is asleep. 

That's how I know that writing is my passion. It's the first thing I think of when I wake up, and the last thing I think of before I sleep. Most of the time, anyway. 

What is your passion? How do you know?

~Jayden R. Vincente 

jrvincente.wordpress.com (adult content)

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Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. - Harriet Tubman