List-Loving Rosalind Adam Pays a Visit

 

Please join me today in welcoming second time challenge participant Rosalind Adam to the A-Z Blog! She's got some nuggets of truth and hints for you to digest as you prepare for THE CHALLENGE. I meat to shout that, because in the words of my two teen boys, it's going to be EPIC. They'd of course roll their eyes knowing I was using that word, but I do like making them roll their eyes...

So without further ado, glean what you can to better be prepared for April. You've got your badge up, right? You're signed up, right? You've started your networking (the purpose of the challenge – building your blogging community, right?) I think I've used up my “right” quota for the day...

10 Reasons for Loving Lists by Rosalind Adam

1.  When I was a teenager I loved the weekly Top 10 Chart hits, the Top 100 Records of the Year, the Top 20 films and so on. I was obsessed. I kept all manner of lists in the back of my school note book. Now the Internet is full of them so it’s not just me!

2. Today I can spend hours sorting out new playlists on my iPod. It’s replaced the hefty task of shuffling my LPs into preference order. I love the way that Word produces a list of my writing files in alphabetical or chronological order at the click of a button, and don’t even get me started on the lists I create with Excel.

3.  Lists are an excellent way to dump all that rubbish clogging up your brain. I’m always making To-Do lists, and as for shopping lists, they’re a must otherwise I’ll come home with pudding and forget all about the main course! 

4.  Lists of names make compulsive reading, like those Past Presidents on Sports Club walls or the list of attendees at a conference. I always hunt for my name on those attendance lists, even though I know I’m there.

5.  Then there are dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopaedias, I love them all, especially catalogues. I may not need any of the items on offer but I have to pause over the list of small kitchen items because you really can’t have too many grippers for opening jars.

6.  Lists attract our eye, rather like a poem. There can be nothing worse than looking at a page of densely typed words. A list has a visually satisfying shape to it.

7.  When we see an article or blog post in list format, we know we’re going to get brief nuggets of information. There’ll be no rambling or repetition so we feel more inclined to stop and read.

8.  It has been proven that having a number in your blog title attracts more visitors, a ploy regularly used by advertisers.

9.  I’m guessing that most bloggers love to check their stats. Me too. Yet another example of the thrill of lists, and who doesn’t like to watch their list of followers grow? Incidentally, this is a guaranteed outcome of taking part in the A to Z Challenge!

10.  For me the A to Z Challenge is the ultimate in list making. I’ve already started making lists of the A to Z content for my theme and I’m going to include a small list in each day’s post, a list within a list. I will be a truly happy blogger.

Are you making lists to prepare for your A to Z contributions? It’s the only way to survive the month. See you in April. You’ll find me at Rosalind Adam is Writing in the Rain

Thanks Rosalind for being here today. I really like how you took your passion for lists and showed us what an asset that can be as we prepare! 

~Tina, coordinator of guest posters. Drop me an email if you'd like to be one.  tndowney at gmail dot com or the infoaz2013@gmail.com.  I check my personal more often...and I'm info@ email girl, so either way, you're talking to me.  If you want to talk to another co-host, use the contact tab above.

Getting to Know Your Co-Hosts - Shannon, The Warrior Muse

ABOUT ME

Name: Shannon Lawrence
Blogs: The Warrior Muse, Writing From the Peak (as Managing Editor)
Publications: Sunday Snaps: The Stories, an anthology
Other Places to Find Me: LinkedIn, Facebook (blog), Facebook (personal), Twitter (@thewarriormuse), She Writes, Google+

10 GETTING TO KNOW YOU QUESTIONS

1. When writing, do you prefer to compose your first-draft by hand, on your computer, or using Morse code?  While I wish I knew Morse code, I usually compose in a mix of pencil and computer (but never the two together...that would be messy!)  For novel writing, I prefer that go directly onto the computer.  A specific computer, in fact.  For short stories and such, I will often write on paper first, though not always.  It really just depends when and where the mood takes me, and if I feel like paper and pencil or computer keys.

2. Who would win a fight: Jiminy Cricket or Tinkerbell?  Tinkerbell, hands down.  That girl is feisty.  She's pretty scary.  J.C. is a bit of a softie, and I feel like he'd run and hide when he saw the pixie dust flying.

3. Cake or pie?  Cake.  Always cake.  While I won't turn down pie (for the most part), a moist delicious slice of cake is impossible to say no to.

4. Describe the last Halloween costume you wore.  I was a rainbow faerie this year.  I'd intended to go with something different, but found a rainbow wig and colorful wings that I couldn't resist.  Below is a pic of hubby and I (he made that Batman costume).  I also had on rainbow striped leggings.  Fun!

5. Where do you hail from?  All over!  I was born in California, and have lived in Oregon, Maryland and Colorado.  Not as many places as some, but good enough for me.  We've had opportunities to move, but have so far passed them up; some of those opportunities were for overseas.  Maybe some day.  I really love it here in Colorado, though.  I AM a Coloradan.

6. Do you know how to Gangnam Style?  Heck yeah, I do!  I like to bust it out to humiliate my children.  That's why we have them, right?  Unfortunately for my son, he's very easy to embarrass.  My daughter, on the other hand, is impossible to humiliate.  I imagine my son will adjust, as both his parents are smart alecks (I can never figure out the proper spelling for that word...).

7. Where do you go to get away from it all?  I like to hike, and I back up to a place called Ute Valley Park, so I can go there if I need a walk or to hide myself.  If I'm okay with being around other people, but want gorgeous views, I'll go to Garden of the Gods.  It relaxes me.  Both places do.

Garden of the Gods in the fall

Can you see why?  That's Pikes Peak in the background.  I know I'm home when I see Pikes Peak.

8. What makes life worth living?  So much.  My kids, my hubby, my family, my writing, nature, my surroundings, my kitty, my friends, movies, books, the simple pleasures.

9. Who inspires you to write?  My fellow writers.  My friends and family.  My writer's groups.  Nature.  I find my inspiration all around me.  I love writing!

10. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?  Cone or cup?  Sprinkles or hot fudge sauce?  I like anything chocolate, but chocolate and marshmallow make me supremely happy.  I prefer a cup.  I don't like the taste of cones, and I'm always sad when that is the flavor I'm left with.  I prefer whipped cream, hot fudge and a maraschino cherry.  Not the mediciny ones I always manage to get from Baskin Robbins, though.  What's up with that?

I hope you feel like you've gotten to know me a little better!  What are your answers to these questions?  I'd love to see your views in the comments.

May you find your Muse.

Shannon L.
The Warrior Muse

Latest And Greatest With NASA

So what’s the latest and greatest regarding NASA? And why should I care, you ask? Hasn't the shuttling of the Space Shuttle Program and cutbacks in funding and lack of vision from our political leaders made this once awesome organization boring and irrelevant? Well, please allow me dispel these thoughts and take you on a tour of the NASA Web site. 

NASA: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Since February 2006, NASA's mission statement has been to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.” You can check out the latest and greatest in news, missions, multimedia, apps, and other ways to connect with NASA. You can even plan a visit to some of their eighteen facilities across the United States. 

NASA For Students: Have kids? Are you a school teacher, home schooler, or know someone who is? Then the NASA for Educators, the NASA for Students, and the NASA Kids Club and are worth a navigating and Bookmark or save in your Favorites. NASA for Students is broken up into grade groups of: K-4 5-8 9-12 Higher Education Each group has age appropriate links. 

   

NASA also hosts youth ambassadors from around the globe for successful outreach programs. NASA’s Web site is a great site for kids to research homework and for author to research their novels. What about classrooms and partnering with other classrooms around the globe?  

Virtual Tours: Can't work out a visit to a NASA facility? Check out their interactive features such as their Interactive Features and Virtual Tours.  

Connect with NASA: Yep. There's an app for that. Check out the various apps and social networks NASA has such as Facebook and Twitter.  

What's Next For NASA? NASA is conducting an unprecedented array of missions that will seek new knowledge and understanding of Earth, the solar system and the universe. NASA has observatories in Earth orbit and deep space, spacecraft visiting the moon and other planetary bodies, and robotic landers, rovers, and sample return missions. One example is designing and building the capabilities to send humans to explore the solar system and working toward a goal of landing humans on Mars. NASA has a payback on our hard-earned tax dollars, providing great paying jobs, supporting entire communities, and opening doors for incredible future opportunities such as planet colonization and mining asteroids (more on this in a future post). 

Stephen Tremp, author of the BREAKTHROUGH series, has a B.A. in information systems and an MBA degree in global management. Stephen has a background in information systems, management, and finance and draws from this varied and complex experiential knowledge to write one-of-a-kind thrillers. His novels are enhanced by current events at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and other scientific research facilities around the world. These potential advances have the ability to change the way we perceive our universe and our place in it! 

You can visit Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs. 
BREAKTHROUGH and OPENING can be downloaded:  Kindle for $2.99