O is for your Oscar Speech (#AtoZChallene)

We're celebrating our Tenth Anniversary here at the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

The A to Z Challenge is called a challenge for a reason! It takes time, dedication, and a whole lot of writing (not to mention research). We are in the third week now, and if you have gotten this far, you deserve to pat yourself on the shoulder. Doesn't matter if you scheduled all your posts ahead of time, or if you are pantsing it - it is still a great accomplishment!

I don't know about you, but I know I couldn't do the Challenge alone, without the help and support of many other people. So, here is my question to you today:

If the Challenge was the Academy Awards, what would you use your acceptance speech for? Who are the people you'd like to thank for their help and support? And what is the message you would like to share with all of us?

And, just to fit with the theme: Who are the ten people that have been the most influential to your blogging career?

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https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nZ7UupzB78MvJnraN9khkLJT3jM6uOP1LTDc8gaQluY

That's the link to the Master List. You can find, and hop to, all the blogs officially participating on that sheet.

Grab your A to Z gear, and other cool goodies from our graphics guy, here: NeatoShop.com/artist/Jeremy-Hawkins

A as in Arlee & All

 Attention!

       The time has come.  Already the first posts of the 2015 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge have been flooding the internet as bloggers from India and other parts of that side of the globe have been publishing their posts for the letter "A".   As many of you are reading this now, more bloggers from other time zones have published their blog posts.   I've seen some quality work so far which gives me high hopes for this year.   As of today I'm giving the bloggers of A to Z at big A+ grade for the work that's being turned in.

Action!

        Even if you don't have your post up or prepared you can still gear into action and start writing.  Listen all you bloggers, you are also writers (even if you don't think of yourself as such) and you can write off the cuff, spur of the moment improvisational pieces.   A to Z is a test of your blogging abilities and I have no doubt that you've got what it takes to start and finish this Challenge.  Give it all you've got and let's see this thing through!

All of Us!

        We are the mighty A to Z Community and we've got unity, comradery, and a spirit of support for each other.  Now in it's 6th year, A to Z has shown how we bloggers can help each other out when help is needed.  We are all in this together.  Visit as many blogs as you can and comment often.  This is a good investment of your time and as you continue blogging onward into the future you will see how your actions in April will pay off in the coming months and even years.

Ask Arlee!

       All of the co-hosts have been doing their "About Me" posts so here is mine.

        With a lifelong interest in writing, I discovered blogging in 2009 and realized it is a great way to get ones writing out before the public without having to submit it all over the place to face numerous rejections and maybe never get published.  It's been a wonderful writing adventure for me so far.

        After a couple months of being mostly unnoticed on my blog, I started catching on to the social networking game and the not-so-secret secret of getting blog followers.  This discovery led to my starting the first Blogging from A to Z April Challenge in 2010.   It worked and now here we are with six fantastic years and thousands of adherents, fans, and followers.  A to Z has gained an admirable reputation and we've had some of the best bloggers in the world joining us since its inception.

        I currently blog at:

        Tossing It Out

        Wrote By Rote

        A Faraway View

        A Few Words

        I have all of these blogs operational for A to Z in April.   I hope you will take time to visit them.


>>Some questions asked by A to Z community members:

Susan Scott from the Garden of Eden Blog asks "Do you remember your dreams?"  Much of the time I do remember my dreams.  I've been interested in dreams since childhood and have at times kept a dream diary.   Now I write about dreams and dreaming at my blog A Faraway View.  Be sure to visit Susan's blog as well as she also will be writing about dreams as her A to Z theme for April.

Barbara In Caneyhead asks: 
"What is your favorite pastime other than writing/reading/blogging?"   For many years I worked in touring theatrical productions as a manager, actor, and juggler.  I'm still very interested in show business even though I've stepped away from that life for now.  I continue to have a passion for travel and take long road trips whenever I can.  I love traveling the roads of the United States.

Loni Townsend asks:
"You are one insane guy... four blogs for the A-to-Z challenge?? Okay, here's my question for you: How do you find time to do it all?"   In order to take on the four blogs for the Challenge I plan ahead as much as possible.   Short posts are also vital.  I highly recommend that everyone keep their posts short for A to Z if they can.  In fact, I've grown to be rather a fan of shorter posts all the time.  Oh, I still get wordy at times, but don't most of us?

Nicole asks:
"What I'd like you to blab about is:
How did you propose?"   Actually I don't exactly remember the how of it.   Since we were both older and had gone through previous marriages I think we just kind of came to a mutual agreement that incorporated logic and, of course, love.   My wife and I have now been married for going on 18 years.
"Aside from blogging, what do you do for fun?"   I enjoy movies and music.  And my wife and I like to dine out.
"If you could only have one condiment for an entire year, what would you pick?"  That's so difficult since I'm a condiment crazy guy.  One of my absolute favorites though is Tabasco sauce.  That could take the place of a lot of other things for me.

Dixie@dcrelief asks:
"Oh, and a question? What finally made me say yes to the challenge?? I don't know, this is 'ask Arlee' today... right?!!"   Well yes, it is "Ask Arlee" day, but I can only guess why you said yes to the Challenge.  My guess is that you needed A to Z in order to Challenge your abilities, you wanted to be part of a great community of bloggers, and you find me utterly irresistible.   Isn't that why every one does this A to Z Challenge?

Advance!

     And now, my thanks to all of you for stopping by and being a part of A to Z.  Also, a magnanimously huge thanks to my great team of co-hosts as listed in the sidebar and all of our individual teams of helpers who you can find listed in the tab at the top of the page.  These are the people who really keep A to Z advancing onward and I'd be lost in this Challenge without them by my side.  Be sure to visit all of them and express some gratitude.

     Now let's get busy wrapping up our blog posts and visiting all the wonderful bloggers out there.  Don't forget to leave comments!

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Blogging Under the Influence

A lot of the decisions we make for our blogs are based on the views, interests and behaviors of outside forces, whether we realize it or not. These forces are influential in almost everything bloggers do -- from the design of our blogs to the frequency of posts we make and maybe even the platforms we choose to use. Here are some factors that play a part in our habit of blogging under the influence of our immediate and distant surroundings.

The Personal Interests behind your Blogging

A person’s favorite colors, bands, hobbies, foods and the like are all personal interests that can have an impact on how he or she blogs. It is worth considering the possibility that incorporating blogging elements based on the things, people and places you love tends to give your blog more personality and make you more relatable to readers. The design of our dear late great Tina Downey’s Life is Good blog has sunflowers and flamingos on display, as they are among the greatest forms of living organisms she favored most. This is an example of how bloggers make a blog their own while also creating a way for visitors to familiarize themselves with the space and person behind it, even before reading a single word that we write.

Your Blog Visitors and Readers

The people who visit, read and comment on our blogs also influence how we manage our little corners of the online world. Chances are slim that posts will be frequent if you don’t think anyone is reading your blog. On the flipside, you might be more likely to keep a consistent blogging schedule or at least post more often if there are people visiting your posts to discuss whatever you have presented to them. Our readers also impact the topics that we blog about and how we deliver this information. When similar questions related to the A-to-Z Challenge arose among various participants – such as categories and Adult Content, some A-to-Z Challenge Co-Hosts centered our blog posts on subject matters that addressed these concerns.

The Topic(s) You Blog About

If your blog focuses on a certain topic (writing, fitness, books, music, food, art, etc.), or several thereof, this tends to influence other elements of your blogging – from the fonts and colors that you use to the overall tone of the blog. For example, the dark background and glowing text on Jeremy Hawkins’ Being Retro blog is very reminiscent of Halloween and other creepy cool stuff. This works well for his blog because he writes about zombies, comics and monsters. The same type of color and font choices would likely be off-putting for a blogger who wrote about…say…bird-watching or the history of Jamaicans in the Olympics.

Your Favorite Blogger(s)

Anyone who has been blogging for a while knows there are times when we make decisions for our blogs based on what someone else is doing with his or her blog. Have you ever noticed a layout, style, social media button, sharing banner, design or blog post topic on another blog and then adapted that very same thing for your own, because you liked it so much? Sometimes our favorite bloggers that we look up to (or we think are just doing it right) inspire us to make changes or updates to our blog that wouldn’t have even been considered if they didn't do it first.

Anyone who has participated in the A-to-Z Challenge after seeing other bloggers they know signing up is a prime example of others in the blogosphere having influence on when and how you blog. If you've ever written a blog post in response to another blogger, that right there shows that someone else had an impact on your blogging decisions. A few years ago, one of my blog friends posted photos of his movie collection and invited readers to do the same with an “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” persuasion. Welcoming the invitation, I not only posted a photo of my messy batch of VHS tapes and DVDs but I also took the subject matter a bit further, responding to his original post by blogging about My Top Ten Independent Films. This is an example of how our favorite blogger(s) can influence the topics of the next blog post we make.

Statistics and Trends in the Blogosphere

Common technical and behavioral factors such as turning Word Verification on (or off), having music on auto-play, responding to comments and page-load times are things that affect our blogging decisions. Knowing that people are less likely to return visit or comment on your blog if it requires them to sign into Facebook or perform some other annoying task, will determine the features that you choose to implement for readers. Bloggers who place importance on engagement and interacting with their readers will be mindful of the trends that work against their blogging goals versus those that help them. The flipside of that would be bloggers who place their own interests above the visitors, and thus, would only receive a smaller sector of visitors who are members of whatever platform they limit the blog to.

What influences YOUR blogging decisions the most?

Are there any other influential factors that YOU think play a part in how someone blogs?

A-to-Z Challenge Co-Host Nicole Ayers discusses the misadventures in cinema at The Madlab Post. She is currently supporting the American Red Cross and chatting with funny folks on @MadlabPost on Twitter.  

What Does Your blog mean to You? #blogging

A to Z Challenge is about promoting the blogging community-- we're all bloggers here-- a friendly, supportive bunch, who would like to help each other grow.

That's the purpose of this A to Z blog-- to give voice to other bloggers, to promote their work, to give advice and support, to feature guest bloggers, and foster a sense of community.

This clarity of vision is very important when blogging-- bloggers need to clearly understand what the goals of their blogs are. Their mission statements, if you like.

It could be random, it could have a niche, but every blog needs to mean something to its owner, in order to thrive. Both my blogs, six-years old each, are my playground-- Amlokiblogs is all about writing and reading, whereas Daily (w)rite has become about questions and answers-- I often have weird or useful questions, and I look to my audience to educate me, give me answers.

So what does your blog mean to you? What is is about? Fire away in the comments!