Thanks Team! ( #AtoZChallenge )

         The A to Z Team wants to thank all participants and supporters of the Challenge.  Without you A to Z would not be what it is.  On a personal level I want to give a hearty thank you to our great A to Z Team who keep the Challenge running smoothly.
                                                                       ---Arlee Bird

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

#AtoZchallenge. The blog hop that made an online community by asking bloggers to spend the month of April using the English alphabet as inspiration for their posts. We're glad you stopped by today.

                                         ***********************

        If you're looking for someone to thank for this year's Challenge then don't be heaping any praise on me.   Maybe I seem to have been a bit withdrawn from the A to Z this time around and to a great extent I have.  If it weren't for the A to Z team this year this Challenge might not have gotten off the ground with the success we have seen thus far.

        Over the past couple of years we have downsized the A to Z Team from what it had been in the past and it's worked pretty well in my opinion.  We've had some outstanding A to Z Team members in the past and this year we've had one of the tightest most efficient teams yet. They're all Challenge veterans who've gotten the routine down to a science.

         So my most expansive thank you to our team captain J Lenni Dorner who with great competency took the reins of this 10th annual Challenge as I've dealt with some distracting personal matters.  J, you're the best and hope you'll stick with us in the coming years.  Also, my thanks to Jayden R Vincente who has done a fantastic job setting up the sign-up lists and maintaining them.   Another big thank you goes to John Holton who has provided technical assistance to make things run better as well as his continual efforts to promote A to Z.  And finally there is Zalka Csenge Virág who has been a key A to Z Team member since 2015 and provided valuable promotional support for the Challenge.

          I hope everyone who reads this post will take the time to visit the blogs of each of these members to say thank you.  I'm sure they'd appreciate that.

        Thank you Team 2019!

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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

E Is For Everybody And Everything #atozchallenge

There's a lot to remember to do during the A to Z Challenge:

• Write all your blog posts. 
• Schedule all of them for the correct day.
• Respond to everyone's comments.
• Visit other blogs and leave them comments.

It's that last thing that trips up a lot of people. How do you find blogs to visit? 

Here's what I do:

• Visit the blogs of everybody who was kind enough to visit my blog and leave a comment. This should be the first thing you do: acknowledge the comment they left, then go visit their blog and leave a comment there.
• Visit the blogs of everybody who left a comment on my visitors' blogs. As I'm reading and commenting on someone's blog, I look at the other people who left comments there. Some of them are bound to be people who left me a comment, but many others won't be. I give them a visit and leave a comment there.

I can keep iterating through this over and over, or I can refer to the daily lists, the theme reveal list, or the original sign-up list. 

Two things you'll want to remember: you won't be able to visit everybody, and not everything will be interesting to you. There are close to a thousand people who participate in A to Z each year, each with their own interests. If you visit 10% of them over the next month, you're doing really well, and don't feel guilty if the theme isn't all that interesting to you. The goal is to make blog buddies! Remember, you share one interest: you're bloggers. 

If you wish to include a direct link to your blog post of this day's letter, please click:

https://goo.gl/forms/RmTGYV8Mde9f1VxM2

If you wish to visit other blogs in this bloghop challenge who have incorporated today's letter into their current post, please click:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M8WZYFyhp__ea0iGI2FlpQeL6gob-PJSh6PBZpKyVYg/edit?usp=sharing


Click here for the MASTER LIST of all participants who signed up for the #AtoZchallenge 2018!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nd9634nZWf1FmHFZ6ofKxBiIwGPWqkct9T9H5ugDQBA/edit?usp=sharing

Make new friends and learn new things!

A is for Amazing Alphabet Team #AtoZchallenge

For our team A post, we present a brief interview with the 2018 Amazing Alphabet Team!

(The fine folks who volunteer their time, energy, and skills to make this challenge happen for you. There will be a seperate post to honor our Amazing graphics guy, Jeremey, later this month.)

1- What's your passion in life?

Arlee-  One passion that consumes much of my thinking is road tripping.  I hate to think of a time when I wouldn't be able to drive.

J- Writing is my passion. That's how I relate to the world.

Csenge- Storytelling. It is both my passion and my profession, which makes me incredibly lucky.

John- Music. Roughly half of my posts outside the A to Z Challenge are about music, and a couple of years ago I had two themes (quite by accident) and one of them was music.

Jayden-Writing, of course. It's therapeutic. But music is a close second. Singing is like sharing a story through song and I love that.

2- What are your goals during the A to Z Challenge 2018?

Arlee-  To keep a balance in my life between blogging and other stuff around me.  But I do want to get my posts done before April.

J- My goals are to make this year really fun for all participants, to complete the challenge, and to leave comments on 300 blogs. On my own blog, I have a short story told in parts, which my goal is to get people to think about life. (If you do too, check out the stories of A to Z post!)

Csenge- My goal is to write posts that people find both entertaining and informative. Also, to make some new blogging friends! I have found marvelous blogs through the challenge in the past, I am looking forward to more.

John- To have all the posts done by April 1 and do as much visiting of other blogs as I can during April.

Jayden- My goal for this year is to have all of my posts ready to go before April 1st so I can enjoy exploring new blogs! I have found some awesome writers I am excited to catch up with this year and I look forward to finding even more!

3- What was your biggest accomplishment in the last 12 months?

Arlee-  It's become a yearly tradition--driving back east to see family, friends, and especially my grandkids including the newest girl child, Logan Lego.  This past year I made the trip twice.

J- Publishing my debut novel, Fractions of Existence, was my biggest accomplishement in the last 12 months. One of the coolest parts was being interviewed on the Debut Author Spotlight at Operation Awesome. (That's what I usually do on Wednesdays, so it was fun to switch to the hotseat.)

Csenge- Finishing my PhD, and publishing Dancing on Blades, my new folktale collection!

John- Continuing my streak of consecutive days posting to the blog, now close to 1500.

Jayden-Publishing my first Choose Your Own Adventure Erotic Novel: Runaway. I couldn't believe how much fun I had writing it for NaNoWriMo last year. I released one iteration of the novel in last year's A to Z Blog Challenge. Publishing the whole novel April 30th was incredible!

4- What about a blog will catch your eye and turn you into a regular visitor?

Arlee-  Interesting material written in an accessible style--and preferably in black print on a white background.

J- A blog with a subject I enjoy written in captivating manner will always keep me coming back for more.

Csenge- I like blogs with interesting topics or themes. Bonus if they are related to folklore, mythology, or role-playing games.

John- Humor. I like to laugh.

Jayden-I love a well written story. I enjoy characters whose lives are compelling, particularly if it's an ongoing story!

5- Besides your blog, how can you be reached online?

Arlee-  I'm not on social media very much, but I can be found on Twitter @ArleeBird

J- Twitter twitter.com/JLenniDorner is my favorite method of online communication. I'm also on facebook.com/WhatAreThey and most of the other major social media outlets.

Csenge- Twitter (https://twitter.com/TarkabarkaHolgy), and the Facebook page for my "Following folktales around the world" series.

John- I have presences on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/johltonehandtyping), Twitter (https://twitter.com/onehandtyping), Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/onehandtyping/), and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/onehandtyping_/). Probably the best way would be through Instagram, as I don't check the others that frequently.

Jayden- http://twitter.com/jrvincente, https://www.facebook.com/jrvincente,  www.goodreads.com/jrvincente


If you wish to include a direct link to your blog post of this day's letter, please click: 
https://goo.gl/1aNz52
LETTER A FORM

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If you wish to visit other blogs in this bloghop challenge who have incorporated today's letter into their current post, please click: 
https://goo.gl/CeRMy3
LINK TO LETTER A SPREADSHEET
(If you intend to make a copy of the spreadsheet, we suggest waiting until the form closes.)


https://goo.gl/9f9mfR
Click for the MASTER LIST of all participants who signed up for the #AtoZchallenge 2018!


"I enjoy challenges. If a challenge is in front of me and it appeals to me, I will go ahead and conquer it." - Conor McGregor