Introducing the Multicolored Lady's Minions of Might & Magic! Csenge's #atozchallenge team

Sziasztok!

I'm the Multicolored Lady, the Challenge's resident Hungarian co-host. I have already introduced myself earlier - this time I am here to introduce my marvelous, much appreciated multicolored minion team, my

Minions of Might & Magic!

(*confetti*)

Erica is a lover and practitioner of Music, Meditation, and Storytelling. You might remember her from her amazing theme of Hindu mythology last year! I hear she will have something equally fascinating for this year's challenge. You can find her blog here.

Freya writes about herself thus: "Incurable Drama Queen, Mind-Vagabond, OCDed Control Freak, Innate Traveler, Proud-Softie Dog Mama, Insatiable and Irregular Blogger. I'm Freya and I live in Bangalore, India. I love to read, that's my thing. I'm a housewife and have 5 dogs who fill up my life along with the husband. Mostly that's what my blog is about too."

You can find her blog here, and you can also connect with her on Twitter or Instagram. 

Lancelot is 25 years old, and describes himself as "a foodie who loves to eat (not so much love in the cooking department), part-time wanderer, blogger since 2014, an A to Z survivor and basically trying to live 100% a life without regrets since 2015!" You can find his blog here, and follow him on Twitter here.

Last, but not least, the team would not be complete without our Everyday Fangirl, Patty. She is from Michigan, and lives disguised as a mild mannered data analyst for an advertising firm. You can find her blog on all things fandom here, follow her on Twitter here, or check out fandom blogs The Cantina Cast and The Bearded Trio where she also regularly posts. 

The Minions of Might & Magic will be visiting you over the course of the Challenge, helping us make sure everything is in order and everyone is having a great time.

See you all in April!

*disappears in another shower of confetti*

#atozchallenge -- Introducing co-host AJ Lauer

Montserrat Monastery, Spain
September 2014

Hello friends! Nice to meet you!

My name is AJ Lauer. I am an author and educator living in the Front Range of Colorado, USA. This is my fifth year participating in the A-Z Challenge and my third year as a co-host. Can't believe it's been so many years already!

In general blog about whatever I want - hiking/travel, gluten-free baking, education, writing. The same goes for my A-Z themes. I've done writing prompts, 'Things That Make Me Happy', random interesting things, and last year's super-fun interactive A-Z Pick Your Plot story.

On the Challenge Team I am a scheduling master - so I help our team keep track of all the things we have going on, including posts, our own A-Z Challenge participation, and timing of other A-Z related events (Theme Reveal Day, etc). I'm also a bit of a data hound, so the participant survey you'll get at the end of the event is a care package from me - please fill it out! :)

Here are all the places you can find me. Stop by and say hello:
The blog
Goodreads
FacebookTwitter @ayjaylauerBuy my book! Armageddon: Pick Your Plot
Join my email list! New subscribers get a free ebook novella. Hooray!

Have a wonderful Challenge, everyone :)


And! Don't forget, our first A-Z Twitter chat is tomorrow, February 18! Join us at 9pm Eastern time (USA) at #azchat. Co-hosts will be around to answer questions and share in general excitement. See you there!

Meet your co-host: The Multicolored Lady

Hi, my name is Csenge, and I am a storyteller.
No, really, I do that for a living.

I have been blogging for 8 years now. I started my first blog when I came to the USA as an international student (I a originally from Hungary) and I needed a way to keep all my friends and family updated without writing billions of emails. I soon started a parallel blog in English, to keep my new American friends updated - and it the rest is history. Currently I have three regular blogs; two of them in English, and both participating in the A to Z Challenge because I am a chronic overachiever that way.
This is my fourth year in the challenge. Last year I was a minion on Team Damyanti, and this year I am a co-host. I am exactly this much excited about it:

On The Multicolored Diary I blog about storytelling, and my storytelling-related adventures: Gigs, conferences, festivals, new folktale collections and storytelling CDs I enjoy, things like that. For the past two years I had folktale-related themes (Weird Princesses and Tales with Colors). This year I am doing my most ambitious theme yet, but in order to find out what it is, you'll have to wait for the Theme Reveal Blogfest! (or better yet, participate!)

On MopDog, I blog about Hungarian weirdness, such as the cartoons of my childhood, strange Hungarian proverbs, and Aggressive Piglet jokes. Last year I barely made it through the alphabet, but this year I am all prepared, and even have a theme! Again, you'll find out later.

Apart from blogging and telling stories, I am also an author. My first book in English is a collection of 55 folktales that feature superpowers (pretty much anything from Invisibility to Sonic Blast). It is titled Tales of Superhuman Powers, and I wrote it as a resource for storytellers and teachers who want to get students interested in traditional stories. Also, because I love superpowers. I'm a nerd and a gamer, I should have said that up front.

Oh, and you can also follow me on Twitter, where I most tweet about storytelling, epics, books, and TV shows.

And now, for some of the questions you submitted:

Do you remember your dreams? (from Susan Scott)
Yep, I usually do. I am also pretty good at lucid dreaming (being aware that I am in a dream without waking up). Dreams are stories, and they don't always make sense, but I like them anyway :)

Which do you prefer, horses, dogs, cats, lizards? (also from Susan)
Dogs. Definitely, 100%. I'm a huge dog person. I have an English Sheepdog called Elderberry. I also love puli dogs (hence my second blog) and Irish wolfhounds.

Johnny Depp or Robert Downey Jr., and why? (from Barbara in Caneyhead)
RDJ. Because Iron Man.

Have you ever dressed up in some costume and ran into Walmart wearing it? (from Naila Moon)
Heck yes. I am in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) which means that when I need to shop during an event, I run in and out of all kinds of stores wearing historical garb (either 16th century Italian, or 2nd century Sarmatian, depending on the day). I love the looks I get :)

Happy A to Z everyone! I'm looking forward to visiting with you in April :)

Getting to Know the #atozchallenge Hosts- Damyanti

One of the things I hate doing the most is talking about myself---I never respond to tags in memes. I'm happiest asking questions, not answering them. I'm not the most interesting of people, (nor very lovable, some would say, lol)--I'd rather people read my fiction than my autobiography.

Not that anyone has forced me to be part of this "Introduce the hosts" series...but I thought I must make some changes in my attitude towards talking about myself, so here goes! My responses are going to be...brief.




Name: Damyanti Biswas
Blog: Amlokiblogs
Twitter :@damyantig
Publications: Various Stories

GETTING TO KNOW YOU QUESTIONS

1. What is the most daring thing you've ever done?
Gone white water rafting when I couldn't swim.


2. What is your favorite article of clothing? 
My denims 

3. What is your favorite monster? 
Hannibal Lecter

4. If you had to dress up as your favorite literary character, who would it be? 
 Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm way too old though.
 
5. What is your favorite fairy tale, urban legend or nursery rhyme?
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star--those were my first words in English.

 
6. What is a cause near and dear to your heart?  
Taking care of our environment. 
 
7. What's the strangest item you've used as a bookmark?
A toothbrush 

 
8. Name one habit you want to change in yourself: 
 Procrastination


SOME A-to-Z QUESTIONS

1. What was your favorite A-to-Z post from 2011?
This  was on of the first posts I visited, and haven't forgotten it--the author got married on that day:

A is for April 1st 
 
2. What brought you to the A-to-Z originally?  Tell us about your first A-to-Z
I signed up at random last year, without much thought. I was the 15th participant. I forgot all about it till I heard some A to Z buzz at the end of March. By then it was too late to withdraw, so I just jumped in.

3. Are you doing a theme?
I wrote flash fiction last year, which I then collected into an e-book, A to Z Stories of Life and Death . This year, I'm doing fiction again, based on prompts from readers.

Please drop me some prompts in the comments on this post (am desperate, cos I need a whole bunch to choose from!). Of course, when I post each prompt during April, I'll link to you and explain why I chose it. You may also mail me the pictures and story prompts at atozstories at gmail dot com.You need not be participating in the A to Z Challenge to challenge me with either a story starter, or a picture, or both. The more the merrier! 

Here's an example of the sort of stories I intend to do: You must not use scissors to cut out hearts

4. Are you writing & scheduling posts in advance?
As co-host, I intend to visit as many blogs as possible this year, so yes, I'll be scheduling at least some of the posts.
 
5. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet, and why?  What letter do you like least?
I like A a whole lot. It talks of beginnings. I hate X-- I can never relate to it, and it seems like a big cross-out, a negation of everything.