Letters Entertain You: A Word from Arlee Bird

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         Are you having as much fun with the alphabet as I am?


         I've been preparing my A to Z posts and having a great time with it.   I think I've come up with some fun A to Z posts for April and maybe some surprises.  Since last year I'm sold on the idea of preparing posts ahead of time so I can do more visiting come April.


          Alana Garrigues talked about the idea of preplanning in her A to Z guest post this past Monday.  If you missed Alana's post, it's well worth your time to go back to visit it.   She provides some excellent tips on how to tackle the Challenge and breaks things down into some easily digestible bits.


           That's the way Alana operates.  Visit her blog Writercize and you'll see what I mean.   I had some fun with one her writing exercises the other day when with a tip of her hat to the A to Z Challenge she posed the following:  

       Write a 26 word glimpse of a story or poem in which each word begins with a different letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, from A through Z. 

           With my mind filled with thoughts about the A to Z Challenge, I offered this: 

        "A big challenge daunts everyone. Forget gentility. Have 

intrepidation! Just keep laconic. Make notes or prepare quite 

rigorously. Such tactics unleash victory. Winners--Xerox your 

zeal!"

           Alana suggested I put my attempt here which was exactly my idea as soon as I had finished writing it.   See how much inspiration the alphabet can offer.

           The biggest A to Z news this week was the announcement of the A to Z Video Challenge.  If you like to make videos I encourage you to try this.   

          Contrary to some of the comments we received, making a video such as this doesn't have to require immense video making skill or many hours in creating a video.   You can make a pretty decent video entry in an hour or even less.  Try it--you might like it!   And the more entries we get, the more fun prizes we'll come up with.

           So there you go.   Lot's happening in Alphabetland.   The April Challenge sign-ups are now only a week away.   Are you ready for the fun?

           

Related articles

• A to Z The Writercize Way: Helpful Tips from Alana Garrigues (a-to-zchallenge.com)
• We Interrupt This Program For A Very Special Announcement! (breakthroughblogs.blogspot.com)
• Awesome Stuff and the Big Announcement! (alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com)
• Kibbles and Bits (breakthroughblogs.blogspot.com)

Pearson Report weighs in on prepping for a Challenge

Last April was my first attempt at doing the A to Z Challenge.

I signed up on April 1st; I had only found out about it on March 30th.

By letter “C” I had my groove on and was letting the juices flow.

Having no time to prepare for the challenge I was clearly at a disadvantage - my day to day activities did feel the pinch and sleep was lost in the process...but, By George I sure had fun!

Is it necessary to have your posts finished and ready to hit the Publish Button well before April?

Some say yes, I say not completely...let me explain.

It is a challenge set forth for the month of April, to be done in April...so why all the fuss about having everything finished before the Challenge has even started?

Well, I imagine getting organized early falls into a few areas of concern; finding a theme; having the available time; commitment to a day job; family obligations; other interests...and so on.

All of these areas do affect how much time we spend blogging and therefore a little preparation can go a long way in helping us participate in a Challenge that has very clear time constraints, without messing up our lives completely. Right?

It’s no different than preparing for your first marathon - you don’t just lace up your runners, arrive at the starting line and run twenty-six mile without some preparation.

Key word here is “preparation”; so when April 1st rolls around you can enjoy the process of “doing” the Challenge because you are ready, organized and have prepared for it.

Now, that being said, I will have much, if not all, of my “stuff” done because, as a co-host, I want to spend every free minute, in the month of April, visiting YOU and reading your posts!

What are your “preparation” strategies for this upcoming A to Z Challenge?

Are all of your posts finished and ready to go? If so, what will you be doing in April? 

Happy Blogging!
JENNYPEARSON

Inspiration for your posts

Hey A to Z bloggers! 

I am really excited to be a part of the team this year and I am looking forward to the challenge in April.  And that is just what I am here to talk about.  (Well of course it is, what else would I talk about on the A to Z blog?) 

I know that there have been many comments since the A to Z team was announced this year that bloggers were terrified to do the challenge.  Lots of us (myself included) aren’t/ weren’t sure what to blog about starting from A to Z.   And I also know that many participants from last year gave encouragement saying things like ‘Once you know what you want to blog about, the rest is as easy as the ABC’s!  (Okay I don’t know if anyone Actually said it like that . . . but you get my point).

Well after all the encouragement I forced myself to buck up and think of some really good idea’s to blog about.  And guess what!  It worked!  I know what I am blogging about for the entire month of April.  And I am here to help you get some ideas. 

What helped me was thinking about what I have posted about before, what posts of mine have gotten the most attention and what information I have that I can give that no one else can.  My entire alphabet of posts for April are all based on Inspiration. 

Another example:  I found a blog all about camping and hiking and doing things related to that.  The person running the blog talked about doing the A to Z challenge and that all their posts would be camping related. 

So there are two examples to help you out!  And here are just a few ideas’ you could use:

Favorite Books/ Authors, Mythology, Mythical creatures, Music, Movies, Writing Experiences, Fairies

Dragons (Yes I am pretty sure you could write 26 posts about Dragons and/or Fairies alone.  I know I could write at least that many on Dragons)

Hobbies (of any kind)

The list is never- ending.  If you truly cannot think of anything to write about, read the dictionary.  (That’s always fun whether you’re doing it for research or fun anyway, and you would be amazed at how many words you can find that you never heard before!) 

Best of luck!  I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with in April!

Konstanz