Special A to Z Participant - Lynda R. Young

Today’s Special Challenge Participant is the awesome Lynda R. Young! I met Lynda during the first Challenge and she never ceases to amaze me. Lynda embodies a generous and sweet spirit in more ways than one. Her writing tips are the best and she makes you think. (Thus reading her blog first thing in the morning sometimes makes my brain hurt!) But for the Challenge, she did something a little different with her blog…

You’re a writer – what made you decide to feature your photos for the Challenge?

Last year my A-Z theme was writing tips. It was super fun, but after two and a half years of blogging, it's quite a challenge to come up with new tips for 26 days straight. So this year I wanted to share a little more of who Lynda R. Young is and a big part of me is my artistic side. If I'm not writing, then I'm doing something creative.

Which photo was your favorite and why?

The dwarf pigface about to bloom is my favourite. The lighting was perfect for the shot and the colours are vibrant. I even managed to get it in focus.

Tell us more about your spelunking adventures.

Spelunking is off-the-beaten-track cave exploring which requires rope, a hard hat, and an adventurous spirit. Because I'm so little I could get into some pretty tight squeezes. The dirtier I got, the more fun I had. One time on a trip to Ireland I went cave exploring with some friends. We had a single torch (flashlight) between the three of us and we didn't have any safety gear. Unable to see the other side of an underground river, I jumped across and split my head open on a stalactite. I ended up getting two stitches and a cool scar. So much fun.

You had some great ocean shots – do you live near the ocean?

I live 10 minutes drive from Cronulla Beach, Sydney. The funny thing is, none of the shots I included in the challenge were from Cronulla. When I'm travelling, if I'm near an ocean I'll always make a point of checking out the view. I love the many moods of the ocean and the huge variety of different colours it has to offer.

What the heck is a Kookaburra?

The kookaburra is a native Australian bird with a distinctive call that sounds like a laugh. It always makes me feel happy when I hear it.

With all of the water shots, have you ever dropped your camera in water?

No, thank goodness. I'm a little paranoid about it so I always keep a firm hold of the camera. However, I learned the hard way to always carry around extra batteries. The one and only time I visited the amazing site of Pompeii, my camera battery died. I lost so many incredible photo opportunities there. Makes me a sad panda.

Which is more beautiful – the ocean or the desert?

That's a difficult one to answer. They both have their own unique beauty. However, after travelling for three days on the back of a camel across an Indian desert, I wasn't able to fully appreciate the beauty of the desert through the haze of heat, thirst, and a need for a good long shower.

Have you ever found the end of the rainbow?

I wish I could answer yes to that question. I'm still searching…


Thanks, Lynda!

Co-host Ninja Captain Alex is the author of CassaStar and CassaFire and his blog can be found HERE

Jolie Du Pre Blog Tour: Litria, a new novella in the M-Series

Please give a warm welcome to Jolie Du Pre who is stopping here at the A-Z on her blog tour promoting her exciting new series of paranormal books, starting with the novella Litria.  I don't want to give anything away, but wow, wait until you read her premise. This is a book I'm adding to my Kindle right away. Give her a warm Alphabet-loving welcome with lots of comments, and bloggy love.

Running A Successful Blog

Blogging is a great way to share your opinions, your life, information on almost any topic or virtually anything else you can think of using the World Wide Web. Chances are you want your blog to shine and to be set apart from the rest. Since there are so many blogs on the Internet, there are some things you need to do to make your blog unique and successful.

As a horror/paranormal author and reader, I created my blog PreciousMonsters to blog about all things monsters and to meet other horror/paranormal readers and authors. It's also been a great way to meet bloggers in general. So far I've been pleasantly surprised at the number of hits my new blog has received. However, I knew my blog would not be successful unless I followed some basic rules.

Choose Your Topic Wisely

If there are a million and one blogs about model airplanes, you probably do not want to start another one. Do some research and find out what is currently trending in the world of blogs. Choose something that is popular, but don't choose the most popular topic.

Blog Regularly

Once you have your topic chosen and are ready to blog, you need to be sure that you make regular posts. In order to keep an audience, you should have new content for them to enjoy. If someone comes to your blog and continues to see the same post, they will stop returning. On the other hand, if readers come back and find something new, they will continue returning to find out if you have made a new post. We're all busy, and it's easy to put our blog posts aside for awhile. I've done it many times, but let's try not too.

Respond to Readers' Comments

As readers begin to comment on your posts, respond to their questions, concerns or general comments. If they ask a question, be sure to give them an informative answer. By taking the time to interact with your readers, you are showing that you care about what they have to say. This will keep them coming back as they start to view you as a friend.

Promote, Promote, Promote

Readers will eventually find your blog, but it will take longer if you don't promote it. You don't have to get crazy with promotion. Choose a few of the most popular social networking sites and call it a day. I promote on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. In addition, one of the best ways to promote your blog is by joining a blog hop. The Blogging from A to Z Challenge was one of the best things I've participated in for my blog's success.

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LITRIA starts off THE M SERIES–an exciting new series of novellas by Jolie du Pré chronicling the Buscetto family, their deeds, and their victims. 

LITRIA is available NOW at!

Logical-Lust

Also at:

Amazon

Who’s lurking in Layneworth?

It’s the Buscettos—a charming family who live in a nice house?

Not quite.

The Buscettos look human, but they’re not human. They’re Zxxtergins, a type of little-known monster who has roamed the Earth since the fifth century. The youngest Buscetto, beautiful eighteen-year-old Litria, is in search of gorgeous females for sex, followed by food. Her nightly behavior wrecks havoc, causing her family to fear exposure and resulting in grave concern, extra work, and late nights for Layneworth detectives.

When nude and mutilated dead women appear, almost daily, across Layneworth, Detective Brenda Martin, and her partner Robert Moretti, are on the case. The mayor, before his untimely demise, preached to beware of werewolves, and few believed him. But as the killings increase, Brenda thinks she may have more than just a serial killer on her hands. Will Brenda discover the true monsters, and what happens if she does?

Thank you for visiting STOP 4 of the LITRIA BLOG TOUR. Leave a comment to be entered in a contest to win a $5 Starbucks gift card.

The next stop is August 8 at the blog of Annie Walls.

Join Something: Guest Post by A to Z Veteran Matt Conlon

 
     Today's guest is Matt Conlon who blogs at =]V[= and other blogs as well (a complete list can be found at his main site.  He is a veteran A to Z participant with two years with two participating blogs under his belt.  Join him as he talks about his latest project.

I started blogging only a few years back with the intention of leaving behind a sort of journal that I and my loved ones could look back upon in the years to come. I loved the idea that someday my kids, grand-kids, etc. could find out who I was by reading the thoughts I had bouncing around in my head. As I looked into blogging, I couldn't help but get excited about the idea that people I didn't know were going to read what I wrote, and comment.

I tossed up my first blog post and waited for the comments to pour in. They didn't. Perhaps it wasn't interesting enough. I started taking content from other places and re-posting it. Nope, that didn't work either.

I looked around for a blog directory on blogger (the platform on which I started) and came up with nothing. I was shocked that there wasn't a place I could look at a list of blogs about this or that. I started searching Google for "blog about humor" and stuff like that and found one or two here and there. Left a few comments. After a few months, I got a half dozen followers, and it was almost like work!

Eventually, I stumbled upon the A to Z challenge, purely by chance. I signed up, and within the first couple of weeks my followers had sprouted from somewhere around 32 to over 100! Not only were people reading my content, but they were commenting! I found a few dozen great blogs which I still follow today, and created great relationships with wonderful people I may never have found otherwise. 

The 2011 A to Z challenge came to a close, and while recovering from a month of blogging like I'd never blogged before, (cause I hadn't!) I realized how powerful a blog challenge can be. Further, I realized how fortunate I had been to have found that one blog that linked to it! ...But what if I hadn't?? It certainly wasn't all that easy to find, I only happened to hit the "Next Blog" button on blogger and found a link to it on someone's side-bar. 

Thus, JoinSomething.net was born. The idea behind JoinSomething.net was to create a community where bloggers like us could come and register a blog challenge, or a blog circle, or come look for challenges and circles to join. There is also a user forum where you can come and post a link to your latest blog post, or join in some of the goofy word games we're playing, or simply mingle with other bloggers. 

We are currently tweeting updates about challenges, forum posts, blog hops, etc. Tweet your latest blog post @Join_Something and we'll re-tweet you.

Our hope is to bring more readership to your blogs, more exposure to your blog challenges, and help lost bloggers find a place to share and find content. 

I hope to see you there!

http://JoinSomething.net

- Matt Conlon

http://mattconlon.com

How about you?  Are you ready to join something?  Check out the links to see what Matt's talking about.



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