Tackling the Taunting Letters: Guest Alana Garrigues

        Many of you know Alana of Writercize for her tips on better writing and building writing muscle.  If you're looking for some great exercises to help you become a better writer, visit Alana's blog and let her be your trainer.  In this post Alana offers some suggestions on how to conquer some of the those letters that menace our successful completion of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.




       There are a few select letters in the alphabet that like to taunt writers navigating the linguistic waters from A through Z. Dr. Seuss had one solution to this conundrum in his alphabetical children's books; he made up his own words like Zizzer-zazzer-zuzz.

       Since most of us have neither the illustrative talents nor the vast audience that Dr. Seuss enjoys, word creation is not likely the first choice of A to Z blogging challengers seeking to attract and sustain an audience. If I were to open a page and see a post titled xytorphian xolecites, I would probably run for the hills, thinking it was a foreign language or highly complicated medical terminology. Either way, something that would take far too much time and effort out of my blog reading time to understand!

       So, rather than cringe and avoid certain letters, cling to a dictionary in hopes of discovering inspiration or resort to nonsensical word creation, let's band together as fellow A to Z participants to brainstorm and support one another as we embrace a few pesky letters.

      Say it with me:

To the letters F, J, Q,

We are not afraid of U!

Finally, dear X and Z,

We'll find great posts for you to be.

        Yes, last year those were the six letters that attempted to elude me. X and Z are pretty obvious. I was surprised that F and J were not more cooperative, expecting more difficulty towards the end if the alphabet with W and Y, but those two stuck out like a sore thumb. Random knowledge thanks to participation in the A to Z last year!

        Before we move forward, please take a moment to bookmark this post now. Go ahead. I know how amazing, creative and cooperative readers of this blog are, so I know they (and that means you!) are going to make it a valuable resource and reference point for all the 2012 A to Z bloggers who find themselves stuck on any of the aforementioned letters.

        Good, now ... I run a blog called writercize, where I create and post a few writing exercises (hence, writercize) every week, and I have an assignment for you here today to help you and hundreds if others prepare for the challenge. Ready?

        writercize: Brainstorm words, phrases, feelings, topics, celebrities, locations, companies ... anything you can think of ... for the letters F,J,Q,U,X,Z. Pick one letter to focus on, spout out solutions to a couple or give all six a go, but please help your fellow challengers out by leaving your brainstorm in the comments section of this post.

       The goal is to have a page where anyone in the challenge can visit for inspiration or a free word when those tough letters seem ready to bare their teeth.

       I'll get you started with a few, and really look forward to seeing what you all come up with!

F: first (love, kiss, fight, discovery), flight, fox, finnicky, fear

J: juice, jiggles, jumpy, jaded, jolly

Q: quell, quit, quake, quick, quart

U: underdog, understood, underwhelmed, ugh, ubiquitous

X: xeno, x marks the spot, x-hilirated, the exes, xanax

Z: zany, zither, Zoey, zebra stripes, zoo

          Good luck to everyone with the challenge, and here's to a very prolific April in the blogosphere! Now get those brainstorms thundering!



writercize.blogspot.com
www.alanagarrigues.com

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