Guest Post from Hilary Melton-Butcher

     Today we have a creative diversion of ideas.  Just for fun here are some A to Z's from Hilary Melton-Butcher from Positive Letters, Inspirational Stories

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The A, B, Cs of collectives nouns ...

Those wonder words that evoke disruptive thoughts in our minds such as  a murder of crows ...  here’s my list:

Aurora

Polar Bear

Aurora of Polar Bears

Bellowing of Bullfinches

Convocation of Eagles

Dole of Doves

Skylark

Exaltation of Larks

Flush of Ducks  

                  

Gang of Elks

Head of Curlews

Impalas

Impalas ... ah! A couple of ...

Journey of Giraffes

Kindle of Kittens

Leap of Snow Leopards

Murder of Crows

Nye of Pheasants

Obstruction of Dons

Parliament of Owls

Quiver of Cobras

Pochard

Rush of Pochards

Sedge of Cranes

Trip of Dotterels

Unkindness of Ravens

Vagary of Impediments

Worship of Writers

X for I don’t know what!

Yakkety yak ... a herd of

Zealish Zebras .. live in small harems, or larger herds

What else can you think of to help Lee in his build up for the A – Z April challenge ... any other collectives that amuse you? 

Cheers – Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge starts next Sunday!  Are you ready?

Getting to Know Your Hosts - Alex

ABOUT ME

Name: Alex J. Cavanaugh
Blog: Alex J. Cavanaugh
Other Online Info: Twitter and Goodreads
Publications: CassaStar and CassaFire

10 GETTING TO KNOW YOU QUESTIONS

1. What is the most daring thing you've ever done?
Starting a blog! And launching the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Really, I'm not much of a thrill seeker.

2. What is your favorite article of clothing?
T-shirts and lounge pants. Although I do look sharp in a suit!

3. What is your favorite monster?
Godzilla

4. If you had to dress up as your favorite literary character, who would it be?
Agent Pendergast – black suit, black shirt, black tie, and black shoes in a black Rolls Royce!

5. What is your favorite fairy tale, urban legend or nursery rhyme?
Crop circles – so fascinating.

6. What is a cause near and dear to your heart?
PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Arachnids (Don’t squish – catch and release!)

7. What's the strangest item you've used as a bookmark?
Do Sticky Notes count?

8. Do you have any nicknames? What are they and how did you earn them?
Ninja Captain Alex – and that was given to me by my blogger buddies!

9. Name one habit you want to change in yourself:
Is perfectionism a habit? Because sometimes I wish I could scale that back a bit.

10. Tell us something interesting or shocking about yourself:
Believe it or not, I never wanted to be an author!

SOME A-to-Z QUESTIONS

1. What was your favorite A-to-Z post from 2011?
Probably the first one of the Challenge, the Letter A Last year my theme was to feature blogger buddies and for A it was Chuck’s Apocalypse Now and RaShelle’s A No. 2 Pencil Stat.

2. What brought you to the A-to-Z originally? Tell us about your first A-to-Z:
I found the Challenge a few days before the first one began in 2010. I was struggling as a blogger and decided what the heck, I’d give it a try. I made fifty new blogger buddies that month and my blog was off and running!

3. Are you doing a theme?
Oh yes! Big surprise…

4. Are you writing & scheduling posts in advance?
Of course!

5. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet, and why? What letter do you like least?
Well, C is rather easy for me. (I wonder why?) X is probably the biggest challenge.




I hope you've enjoyed these questions and answers. Don't forget, you are welcome, even encouraged, to ask any additional questions you might have in the comments section. Or feel free to answer the questions yourself! We won't tell.

Nicole from Madlab Post with A to Z Survival Kit

        Nicole from The Madlab Post returns with part 2 of her survival tips for the A to Z.  She's talking about stuff bloggers should be doing Challenge or no Challenge.   You can let us know what you think in the comment section.


        
 Save your blog posts on an external CD-R or Drive

       Those of you who have a habit of writing your blog posts within the post editor should carefully consider either copying and pasting the text into a word processing document or writing the post in notepad or MS Word, etc. and then pasting what you wrote into the post editor. Doing so can prevent the annoying setback of losing everything that you just wrote when your computer crashes or when your internet browser freezes or when the blog page you are working on suddenly reloads itself because you mistakenly clicked on the reloading icon in the browser or hit a shortcut key to go open another web page by accident…silly, I know, but as the saying goes…shit happens.


       The key takeaway here is to do your best to minimize the risk of this same shit happening to you while you’re Blogging from A to Z. Have a way to access your 26 blog posts and any related media (photos, URL addresses to online references where you found information pertaining to your posts, documents with ideas or schedules for you’re A to Z blogging tasks, etc.) anytime and anywhere.

Reach out to Fellow Participants for Help

        Arlee, Alex and the other Blogging from A to Z hosts do a great job of helping Participants with navigating the challenge with ease and they probably answer dozens, if not hundreds of questions and requests during the challenge. The thing that many fellow bloggers may forget to remember or not realize is.....the hosts are blogging too and maintaining the backend of their own blogs while also managing the front-end and backend of the A to Z challenge, which is a LOT of work.

       I mentioned all of this to say....don't underestimate the abilities of your fellow bloggers and A to Z participants when it comes to seeking help with some aspect of the challenge that you don't understand, seeking morale support, troubleshooting or any other need that you may have that is related to the challenge.

      Doing so can give the hosts more room to focus on their main tasks at hand, which are making sure that the A to Z Challenge is operating as smoothly as possible.

Have Alternative Means to Access the Internet

        Last week, I woke up and found my internet access gone. This must be a mistake, I thought. After all, I paid the damn bill. After troubleshooting, checking plugs, restarting a modem, etc. I finally called my internet provider, who told me that there was a power outage in my area due to some problems with their equipment on their end. They expected to have the service restored in 48 hours…..a length of time that seemed like FOREVER to a multitasking, freelance writing, Netflix streaming, work-at-home Twitter-addict like me. Imagine if something like this happens to YOU during a time when you need internet access the most. This is why bloggers can benefit from having alternative sources of internet access, just like it is important to have a substitute blog.

      Get a public library card that allows you to sign up for time at a computer station within the library, find a friend or relative who will let you use their computer to publish your blog posts or visit a local coffee shop that offers free WiFi. Maintaining resources for internet access also helps you travel more without having to be stuck in front of a computer for 26 days. Right now, I know of at least two retail stores and a bank in my city that provides free WiFi. You know what this tells me? It tells me that I can perform many of my Blogging from A to Z duties while running errands outdoors….all in the comfort of a local Starbucks or Greyhound bus. So, if you lose internet access, wherever you normally get it, there is no need to fret. Just buy a latte’ and keep it moving!

Do YOU have what it takes to Survive the A to Z Blogging Challenge?


        Whew!  I have experience with some of these things that Nicole mentions here.  Which of the above tips have you tried if any?  Are there any other suggestions that you have to offer?


         Here's another one of the video's Nicole submitted to the A to Z Video Contest.  Prompts for the second half of the alphabet:

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