In the moment (#AtoZChallenge)

The team decided our theme for this month's posts here would be a take "2020 visions of blogging." This set of weekday posts focuses on:

Blogging in the Present

Are you a pre-writer or a pantser? I pre-wrote all my posts over the course of February. I usually do this because my posts require a lot of research (including library trips), and I like to be free to visit others in April. But it also has a downside: Things can change a lot in a few weeks.
Interest changes. Every year I think I know what I want to blog about for the next Challenge. And then I change the idea multiple times. You might do the same. Having multiple interests is a good thing!
Inspiration changes. You might think your theme is up to date when you start, and then things turn around, and you might be inspired to blog, talk, muse about something else entirely. Allow yourself flexibility in the Challenge, and in your blogging!
Intensity changes. When you start a demanding challenge like A to Z, there are days when you just don't feel like doing anything at all. Sometimes you get excited, and sometimes you just cruise along. Both are okay!
In the moment, a lot of things can happen that Influence your blogging. I am writing this post two weeks in advance, and I can't even tell what things are going to look like both online and off by the time if goes live. But that's okay! Even if you plan ahead, you can always go back in an edit. Things change. Things get interesting. Inspiration strikes. Go with it!

Did your interests or inspiration change since you started the Challenge this year? 

Tell us what inspires you!

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

Here and Now ( #AtoZChallenge )

Thoughts on blogging in the present...







The team decided our theme for this month's posts here would be a take "2020 visions of blogging." This week posts focus on:

 Blogging in the Present

Here and Now

           Periodically we see the statement made that "Blogging is Dead (or dying).  I don't think so.  Since blogging is often a very personal and individualistic enterprise I think it is inevitable that some bloggers burn out, give up, or let their blogs languish on hold as a blogger waits for inspiration or ambition to rekindle. 

              What I've observed in my 10 1/2 years of blogging is that while bloggers may come and go or some seem to vanish and then reappear sometime later with their personal reason for doing so, the totality of the world of blogging remains consistent as bloggers either blog like they always have or their blogs transition and grow with the times.

              Perhaps there is an illusion of a death or diminishing of blogging on the whole because we as bloggers fall into communities where we have our circles of blogging friends that we try to visit as much as possible or who we see commenting on our blogs with a certain regularity.  The complacent blogger is limited to the world they know best and as they settle into their routine of blogging they may rarely if ever seek out new blogs.  As bloggers within a community fade away, there is a sense that the entire realm of blogging is disappearing.

            Those new blogs are out there I'm sure--I no longer dig up the new ones like I used to because I too have become a complacent lazy blogger.  If it were not for the annual A to Z Challenge, I as well as you might never encounter a blog that has been previously unknown to us.   Though I have no quantitative data to back up my claim, I think blogging remains strong in the here and now.  You might have to look outside the community in which you have become ensconced to find those new-to-you blogs.  Blogging after all involves some action on the part of you the blogger to keep finding more blogs.   As always, there are more than you will ever be able to read or explore.

         From your experience, what is the best way to find "new" bloggers?  How has your blogging community changed since you first started blogging?   Do you think blogging is dead or dying?




For the Master List! Click this: Master List! 

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

#AtoZchallenge Good Vibes

The team decided our theme for this month's posts here would be a take "2020 visions of blogging." This set of weekday posts focuses on:

Blogging in the Present

Good Vibes

As we think about blogging in the present, I feel one big issue we face is negativity. Let's put on our "2020 vision" glasses and talk about how we can get more good vibes.🤓😎

How can we abstain from the negative sides of blogging? What do you do if you encounter posts or comments that are mean-spirited, angry, greedy, self-centered, or unforgiving toward a situation that probably has more than one side? We want to protect the precious freedom of speech and expression that blogging offers our world. Yet it's the negative aspects that so often drives people away. Many bloggers have told me they shut-down their site because there were "too many negative comments."

The old adage is "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never break me."
🤔 Actually, words have an enormous and lasting impact. Thanks to the Internet, that's truer now than in any era before. Blogging and commenting have the potential to cause glee... or to take it away.


Get glittery! Give gratitude! Get in our comment box with some good vibes. 😁


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

Feasibility #AtoZChallenge

The team decided our theme for this month's posts here would be a take "2020 visions of blogging." This set of weekday posts focuses on:

Memories from Blogging in the Past

Feasibility of Blogging

When I first heard of the A to Z Blog Challenge, I thought it would be insane for me to try to participate in such an activity. It was not feasible! Not in the least!

Why?

Because I didn’t have a blog.

So on March 5^th, 2015, I created a blog. I made three posts, and then dove headfirst into the A to Z Blog Challenge. I have made some internet friends who have been an incredible inspiration through blogging. And now, five years later, my blog still gets the most hits during the A to Z Blog Challenge.

See those tall lines? That's April.

I will be forever grateful for the interaction with other bloggers, and I am awed that I get to be part of the team to help bring it out to all of you. Without this community, it would not be feasible for me to keep blogging year around.

What makes blogging feasible for you?

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Enthusiasm #atozchallenge

The team decided our theme for this month's posts here would be "2020 visions of blogging." This set of weekday posts focuses on:

Memories from Blogging in the Past

I started my blog, The Sound of One Hand Typing, in 2012 so that I could participate in this challenge. I had been reading about it on other people's blogs for almost a year and finally decided to bite the bullet and start my own blog so that I could participate. I had a great deal of fun participating, so much so that when May rolled around I didn't know what to do with myself. Now I had this blog and a few readers, and I knew I had to keep going with it, lest I lose those readers and the enthusiasm I had for blogging. I tried writing about my nascent career as a fiction writer, but the more I wrote about it, the less I believed that I had a nascent career as a fiction writer, finally realizing that it's awful hard to be a fiction writer if you don't even like reading fiction.

So I started blogging about music, because I love music and I'm enthusiastic about it. I started writing stories about my youth, because the stories were funny and occasionally heartwarming and I liked telling them. I started participating in blog hops that gave me a prompt every week that I would have to write about (or, in my case, find a way not to write about while still using the prompt, which is often more fun). Now I was writing and posting every day, and having more fun than an adult should have with his clothes on.

My blog has taught me that I can be myself and still get people to read it. That's what has kept me going for 8+ years.

What about you? What got you started in blogging, and what keeps you doing it?

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Delightful! Jeremy Tribute Day ( #AtoZChallenge )

Celebrate Jeremy Day
 
         Today we want to take a pause to honor one of our long term behind the scenes members of the A to Z Team--Jeremy.

           If the name isn't familiar with you then his artwork surely is.  Jeremy Hawkins has been designing all of the badges and other graphics for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge since 2013.   All the way from the yearly badge to the daily letter badges as well as headers and even T-shirt designs, Jeremy has been the creative genius behind those ubiquitous graphics that appear on numerous blogs throughout April and beyond

           Where can you find more about Jeremy?  He has an extensive social media and internet presence that covers a wide range of his interests and endeavors.   I encourage you to visit his blog or his other sites to say thank you and hello to him and to get a better idea of exactly what his talents encompass. 

             And I want to say to Jeremy, "Thank you my friend for being there when we need you!"

             Here are some of the places where you can find out more about Jeremy and his work:

Jeremy Hawkins

(Promotions/Design)

For Hire:
Graphics/Design

Art Available:
Animal Art/Design
Cheap Movie Art/Design

Visit: Being Retro

Being Retro

http://www.beingretro.com/

For A to Z T-Shirts as well as a lot of other cool designs:
https://www.neatoshop.com/artist/Jeremy-Hawkins

Music Label:
Howlin' Wolf Records
http://howlinwolfrecords.com/
Executive Producer/PR

Sites:
Six Strings: Magazine
http://www.jmhdigital.com/


HBA [HORROR SITES]
http://horrorbloggeralliance.blogspot.com/

Social Media:
Instagram
@notplayingaround

Facebook
Six Strings: Magazine @jmhdigital68

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOWLIN' WOLF RECORDS: SIX STRINGS l HOLLYWOOD NUTS! l HORROR BLOGGER ALLIANCE

JMH Digital [2020]

You can see the list of all Blogs on our Master List!

C is for Communication (#AtoZChallenge)

The team decided our theme for this month's posts here would be a take "2020 visions of blogging." This set of weekday posts focuses on:

Memories from Blogging in the Past

I started blogging in 2007. I had just gotten a scholarship to study abroad in the USA for a year, and one of the first things my student adviser told me was "Start a blog. It's going to be a lot easier to keep people updated than sending out dozens of emails."
And that is how my blog started. For Communication, for Connection. At first, it was daily news for friends and family about my study abroad adventures. Later it morphed into reports from storytelling festivals and conferences. Then, in 2012, I joined the A to Z Challenge for the first time, and started sharing storytelling and folklore content regularly.
Through Comments, I was starting to make new friends, and meet new Colleagues. I became part of a Community.
Today, thirteen years later, my blog is a Combination of professional Content and reports from my travels and performances. I have grown as an artist and as a person. It is strange and nostalgic to look back at the very first posts, and remember when and how it all began.

How has your life changed since you started blogging? Did it change thanks to your blogging? What does it feel like to look back on the early days?

Ready to sign up for the challenge? Click this: Signup link

Already signed up? Grab a copy of the Master List! Click this: Master List

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

Blogging Beginnings ( #AtoZChallenge )

  My A to Z overview starts out with some of my past memories from blogging and my journey from that first post until now...





Blogging Beginnings






         Way back in September of 2009 I was at a sort of crossroads of life.  My job of 18 years had ended earlier that year and having difficulty finding another job I was pondering my next step.  It was at that time that I started running across ads about starting a blog to make lots of money.  Rather than send in the $99 to take the advertised blogging course, I instead researched the topic on my own which led me to Blogger.  Starting a blog was easy though it took some time to learn the ropes.  In fact I'm still learning.

          Having been interested in writing since I was a kid, blogging seemed like the ideal creative outlet for me.  And I started out with a lot of enthusiasm for my new found outlet of blogging.  Initially I spent the better part of every day researching and writing my blog posts, exploring other blogs, and trying to come up with ideas of how to promote my blog to gain readers.    Early on I discovered that to attract readers I needed to visit other blogs and leave comments.

           The principle of reciprocal commenting and establishing blogging communities was the spark that inspired the first Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April of 2010.  This event caught on in a bigger way than I had expected and in that first year an amazing community of bloggers was built around the A to Z Challenge.

              Over the succeeding years we've seen bloggers come and go.  A handful of dedicated bloggers have participated in the Challenge since the beginning while many more have followed along to support the efforts of the A to Z bloggers.  That support fuels those of us who take on this yearly Challenge--just the encouragement we bloggers hope for.  That is the purpose of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge:  To expand interest in our blogs and to become better bloggers while connecting to others who have a similar goal.

             Some of my enthusiasm for blogging has waned since the earlier days of my adopted "career" and I don't put the same efforts into the endeavor as I once did, but I don't see myself stopping blogging.  For now I'm coasting in a sense, but I still see an explosion of functionality waiting for my blog.

           How about you?   How does your blogging experience compare?    Do you think you've found the real potential in your blog?    What lies ahead for you in regard to blogging?


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


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



You can see the list of all Blogs on our Master List!

#AtoZchallenge 2020 Anamnesis

Welcome to the eleventh year of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge! The team decided our theme for this month's posts here would be a take "2020 visions of blogging." Our first weekday posts focus on:

Memories from Blogging in the Past

Which brings us to the post title I used today:

Anamnesis

• the recollection or remembrance of the past; reminiscence
• the remembering of things from a supposed previous existence
• the ability to recall past events; recollection
• used as a narrative technique in fiction and poetry as well as in memoirs and autobiographies
• recollection, remembrance, reminiscence

This topic is special to me because I started my blog specifically so I could take part in the A to Z Challenge. I've since moved my blog, but Twitter never forgets! My first year, 2012, I did a month of posts about myself, and a month of posts about characters from my Fractions of Existence book. (The posts were mostly about the side characters.) Yes, I had the crazy idea to do two themes, to double post all month. The result? A lower comment count on both sets plus twice the work for me.

But my own posts weren't what kept me coming back for more. It was the community I found and the friends I made. I'd love to know how many of you have a comment from me on your April 2012 posts! It's great to remember why we started blogging and to see how far we've come. I hope you'll leave a comment over the next few days with your own memories of the blogging past.

Ready to sign up for the challenge? Click this: https://forms.gle/NHq5j25cNjZsishM9

Already signed up? Grab a copy of the Master List! Click this Grab your A to Z gear, and other cool goodies from our graphics guy, here: NeatoShop.com/artist/Jeremy-Hawkins

Theme Reveal 2020 #AtoZChallenge

It's time to reveal your theme for 2020! 

We'll even share our theme. It's 2020 Vision, of course! Join us here on the A to Z Blog all month long for posts from our team, and be sure to sign up with your theme reveal here.

Please make sure you share the link directly to your Theme Reveal Post and not your general blog post.

You can see your blog immediately on our Theme Reveal List and you can see the list of all Blogs on our Master List!

Be sure to sign up for the Theme Reveal by Thursday, March 26th! After that, the form will be closed. 

If you haven't signed up for the challenge on the Master List, you can do so here.

It's time!

It's time? Time for what?

Time to share your 2020 vision and sign up for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge!

Click here to fill out our Google Form to sign up. Once you've signed up, your blog will appear automatically on the Master List!

The form will be open until April 5th, so make sure to get your sign ups in ASAP!

If you have any questions about signing up, check out our posts from 2019 or 2018. In 2019, we outlined all the information you need to sign up, and in 2018, we posted helpful videos. Not much has changed since then!

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, March 16th: Theme Reveal Posts
• Wednesday, April 1st: A to Z Challenge Begins
• Sunday, April 5th: Sign Ups for the Master List Close
• Monday, May 4th: Reflections
• Monday, May 18th: A to Z Road Trip

Coming Soon!

Watch for information to come soon!!!!

ROAD TRIP! #AtoZChallenge 2019 Post Challenge Blog Hop

Sign up for the road trip!

https://forms.gle/oy5cUDQr91xRpvN98
The form will close on May 27, 2019.

We ask that you pick just ONE post from your #AtoZChallenge 2019 offerings.

Which do you wish more people had commented on? Or which was your favorite?

JUST ONE DIRECT LINK PER BLOG.

(Your link will probably look long, as it likely includes your title in the link. If you only see your blog name, that's not a direct link to your post. Try visiting your blog — not where you WRITE the posts, but where others go to view your posts — and clicking on the date or on the title of your posts. That should bring up just the post, making it easy to copy the direct link. If you need help, please ask in the comments — include a link to your blog and the letter of the post of which you need a direct link.) 

What does boarding this Zeppelin mean?

The road trip, unlike the main challenge, is ALL about visiting other blogs to comment.
Please don't drop your link and then not participate in the "hop" part of this blog hop.

How fast does the Zeppelin fly? That's up to you.
Visit one blog a day. Visit 20 in a month. Visit them all in February because you're snowed in and remember this exists.
It's all good.

❗Signing up for the Road Trip is a commitment that you will continue to hop to other blogs on the road trip from May thru March.

That gives you ten months to visit these blogs!
Please, first comment on the person's linked A to Z blog post, and then consider surfing to the person's latest post to comment there as well.

Be sure to include this phrase in your comments:

Stopping by from the #AtoZChallenge Road Trip!

Why is there a Zeppelin for a road trip? Wouldn't that be an air trip?

Because the Road Trip was mentioned on the Z post.
You know what large dirigible balloon starts with Z?
Zeppelin.
Maybe next year we'll ask Jeremy for a Zamboni.
Then we can road trip on ice! ⛸️
Or a Zenvo. 🚗

Here's the link to the Zeppelin landing zones to visit on this road trip:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gsYsms4WCsjtZ3VNBtRJuwMkQ3DxZ2O0MaGQ51NTEtY



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

Guest Post from Winner C.E. Flores

I was honored to be awarded a guest post with the A to Z Challenge folks today. I’d like to talk a little today about how participating in the A to Z Challenge has strengthened me as a blogger and writer.


I’ve participated twice from beginning to end. This year I was hesitant about signing up. I had several other writing obligations and just wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep up the commitment. I’m glad I did.


I choose the topic Blog to Book Project: How to turn your blog posts into a book. During the course of writing these informative posts, I learned even more about the publishing process. Of course, now I’m applying those useful tidbits to my own blog to book projects while I turn this series of posts into an ebook and maybe even an ecourse down the line.


I have also participated in the A to Z Challenge as part of a blogging group. The SOTB Bloggers  Bloggers blogged Mexican adventures last year which we compiled into a FREE downloadable ebook that you can get here. (https://survivingmexico.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/playing-tourist-in-mexico-1555546160.pdf)


This year, we tried to be proactive and scheduled our first Writing Challenge in March in order to get a jump on our A to Z posts for April. We were a little overly optimistic with our goals, but most of us managed to meet at least 50% of them. In a few weeks, I hope to have our joint efforts in the 2019 A to Z challenge converted into an ebook, so stay tuned!


So here’s my fun A to Z list of what I learned from participating in the A to Z Challenge both as an individual and as part of a group.


A--Alphabetical creativity. Some of those letters are tricky!
B--Blogging stamina.
C--Commitment.
D--Determination.
E--Editing skills.
F--Writing is Fun!
G--Group effort makes a long list shorter!
H--Huffing and puffing along certainly encourages Humility!
I--I can do it!
J--Just about half-way!
K--The Key is organization!
L--Letters make for random and awkward order for some topics.
M--Made it to the middle positive Mindset!
N--Need to work on days off to get these posts finished!
O--Organization is key!
P--Persistence.
Q--Quality and Quantity are both important.
R--Research skills!
S--Spell check is life-saving!
T--Blogging challenges are Therapeutic!
U--Never Underestimate what you are capable of!
V--Value the process.
W--Write like you are a real Writer, every day!
X--eXcited to read other blogs!
Y--Yippee, the end is near!
Z--Zounds! Finished!

-- C.E. Flores

SURVIVOR badge

The team needs your feedback!

https://forms.gle/k4UpJgaTpca5venR7

That's the link to the after survey.


It's much shorter than last year's survery. Please take a minute to fill it out. There's a chance to win a guest post. Thank you!



HTML code:
<a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinN-p-H5-BFJnGj6qpEmAA3pu2P8uZ4EQ7EcpLcsooBPoTIH_5Nduzpf9mVY9S2zgGsQB-ZqFWwyrgTaDKodk5AiRb8IYHhJEjOsKguXKffIg8DO05O_9a4Y1sBroqrHLMMZTyzB7u9bM/s320/badge.jpg" height="300" data-original-width="450" data-original-height="750" alt="#AtoZChallenge 2019 Tenth Anniversary badge SURVIVOR badge"/></a>

May 20 is the sign up for the road trip!

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

#AtoZChallenge Reflections 2019

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.

The Reflection post is a tradition here at the A to Z Challenge. It gives us a chance to look back at what worked, what didn't, what we've done, what was learned, and where we hope to go from here. Take your time and think. After you've posted, add your direct link to the list.

This year, in honor of our anniversary, here's a list of ten questions you might use for your post:

1. What did you love about the challenge this year?
2. What would you change about it?
3. What was the best moment for you during this year's challenge?
4. What is the best comment your blog got during the challenge, and who left the comment?
5. Will you do the challenge again?
6. Was it well organized and were the hosts helpful? (Did you fill out the after survey?)
7. How did you and your blog grow, change, or improve as a result of this challenge? Did you find new blogs out there to enjoy?
8. Were you on the Master List? (If you did the challenge last year, was it better this time without the daily lists?)
9. Any suggestions for our future?
10. Any notes to the co-host team? A word of thanks to Jeremy for all his hard work on the graphics? A picture with your A to Z shirt, if you ordered one?

This list is just a suggestion. Follow your heart and mind as you reflect on the challenge.

LINK TO REFLECTION SIGN UP:
https://forms.gle/qWu8NmVgitt9CBiK6

If you're participating by posting a REFLECTION post, do so there.

DIRECT link to your Reflection post, please. (Not to your blog or main website, but to the post!)
Closes May 17.

LINK TO REFLECTION LIST:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BakdXuadi9VJE1JM3mcnR9H8ooleTRoX9JGHlF-OYy4

To find, and hop to, all the blogs officially participating in REFLECTIONS, click the above link.

HTML code for the reflections badge (for those who wish to use it)
<a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/" Target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOD6U5DCjNhlF6ReezBvYYfOIHWEYph9bcyYeaA0c5e53s0h32fXpfkvgsv4tz0TiCw7jmGR6D9dYSAI9b48jCSo7-VxkXDpuWSQud1M7oAASLXq6bi3lVyjzHJxLwSo7UeE9_ovH7L1I/s320/reflection.jpg" alt="#AtoZChallenge 2019 Tenth Anniversary Reflections badge" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="930" width="500"/></a>



The team needs your feedback!

https://forms.gle/k4UpJgaTpca5venR7

That's the link to the after survey.


It's much shorter than last year's survery. Please take a minute to fill it out. There's a chance to win a guest post. Thank you!

SURVIVOR BADGE IS ON PAGE 2 OF THE SURVEY!

May 20 is the sign up for the Road Trip! Mark your calendar.

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