U is for UNDAUNTED!

Counting today, there are six more posts to be done for this year's A to Z Challenge, those for the letters U through Z. If you've kept up with the official calendar, great! I'm sure most of you got all your entries done and have them showing up on your blog automatically, on autopilot. There are others that are writing two or three days in advance, and even a few hardy souls who are getting the entries written and posted the day they're due.

This is for the rest of you, the ones who are stuck and maybe even falling behind:

Be undaunted! Stick with it! The only way you can fail now is by giving up. Regardless of the roadblocks you've faced this month, you can finish. And you're going to do great.

Stuck on a letter? It'll come to you. Move on to another one. Go back to the beginning and re-read all you've written, and see what suggests itself to you. Start writing down words that start with the letter, and see if you can find a word that can be made to fit your theme. Read what others have written for that letter. Go old school and pull out the dictionary, the thesaurus, the New York City Business-to-Business telephone directory, the good ol' World Book Encyclopedia. Turn it on its head.

You've done too much great work on this challenge to give up now. Your readers are all rooting for you. Hang in there!

Throwback Thursday #AtoZChallenge style!

When I realized that the letter T fell on a Thursday this year I KNEW I had to do a Throwback Thursday (#TBT) post for you all!

So I asked all the co-hosts to send me a link to their very first A post for the Challenge. It's fun to see how long we all have been participating - turns out 2012 was a good crop year for co-hosts - and also how our topics (and comments!) have changed. Click on our links below to take a step back in time!

Check 'em out:
Arlee Bird @ Tossing it Out 
Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh 
Jeremy @ Hollywood Nuts 
Nicole Ayers @ The Madlab Post 
Author Stephen Tremp (Due to a catastrophic SPAM battle with Google, Steve only has his A post from last year :( But we promise he's been around awhile!)
Heather M. Gardner 
AJ Lauer 
Pam @ An Unconventional Librarian 
Matthew MacNish @ The QQQE
Zalka Csenge Virág @ The Multicolored Diary and MopDog 
S. L. Hennessy @ Pensuasion 
C. Lee McKenzie @ The Write Game 
Joy Campbell @ The Character Depot 
Susan Gourley @ Susan Says 
John Holton @The Sound of One Hand Typing 
Lisa Buie-Collard, Author 

I was going to post the #1 single on the charts on April 1, 2010 but it was a song by Rihanna and I made y'all suffer through twerking last week so I didn't think it would be nice to do that to you again :)

And also because it's T and this fits into the Throwback theme, Tina's post welcoming me to Tina's Terrific Team in 2013 after she cajoled me into giving her an embarrassing childhood photo... <3

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Have you checked out our new A-Z merch?

Our hero Amy has made it through 19 crazy letters of the alphabet - will you help her make it through the last 6? Stop by to help her decide what to do!

S is for Signatures!

It came up in the Twitter chat the other day that we should talk about signatures. I know we have left the halfway point behind, but it is something that can still be useful for your remaining visits, and also for the reflections and road trips after A to Z is over!

Signatures are links to your own blog or website that make it easy for people to re-visit you after you comment on their blog. If you don't have one, people have to click on your name, and that either takes them to your Google+ profile, or your Blogger profile (or nowhere at all).

Is that a bad thing?
Well, if you are like me, and have multiple blogs (and not all of them are in the Challenge), there is nothing telling people on your Blogger profile what they should be clicking on. If you don't share your posts on G+, once again, it seems like a dead end to visitors. If you comment on blogs anonymously, you are essentially invisible.
And here is the thing:

We WANT to visit you back!

Visiting back is common courtesy during A to Z. You might not have the time every day to do it, but it is polite to catch up and visit back whenever you get the chance. Leaving sigs in comments also brings new people to your site!

In order to make it easier for people to visit you, you are encouraged to leave a clickable link to your blog at the end of your comment.
You can just copy-paste your blog's URL if you want to.

But if you want to be even more smooth, elegant and helpful, you can create a signature.

Signatures are HTML coded, which means they show up as clickable links. Mine looks like this:

@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary

In the HTML code, it looks like this:

@TarkabarkaHolgy from

<a href="http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com">Multicolored Diary</a> - Epics from A to Z

<a href="http://hungarykum.blogspot.com">MopDog</a> - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary

You can just copy and paste it, and swap the links and titles for your own!

Make sure you save it somewhere handy (I have it as a Draft in my Gmail box) so you don't have to re-type it every time you go on a visiting binge! You can just Copy and Paste, easy peasy.

Most commenting systems allow HTML, which means your sig will show up nice and clickable. Some might make it show up like the second example (Google+ does that sometimes) but the links are still clickable, and that's what matters.

Happy Visiting!

"R" - Red Pill - Everything that has a beginning, has an end!

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Neo is offered the choice between a red pill and a blue pill. The blue pill would allow him to remain in the fabricated reality of the Matrix, therefore living the "ignorance of illusion", while the red pill would lead to his escape from the Matrix and into the real world, therefore living the "truth of reality" even though it is a harsher, more difficult life.

So we are nearing the end of this challenge, how do you feel? Do you feel as you should have taken the blue pill, the challenge can get even the best of us all. Main thing did you have fun, make some new friends... I did and for that I am truly grateful. Come on over to my site "HOLLYWOOD NUTS", say hello... look around and enjoy the journey.

Jeremy [Retro]

HOLLYWOOD NUTS!

 AtoZ Challenge Co-Host [2015]

There's no earthly way of knowing.
Which direction we are going!

#AtoZChallenge - Q - QWERTY -- [Blogfest Announcement]

Happy 'Q' Day!

QWERTY: is the most common modern-day keyboard layout for Latin script. The name comes from reading the first six keys appearing on the top left letter row of the keyboard (Q, W, E, R, T, and Y) from left to right.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY)

Getting tired of looking at your QWERTY keyboard yet?

Well...tough noogies!

We are not done yet!

Q is only the 17th letter in the alphabet!

You know what's up next? All the hard letters!

Yeah, you know it and I know it!

U, V, W, X, Y & Z!

[add movie scream here]

These letters are going to require lots of finesse and skill, two things I sorely lack, so instead, I'll have to wing it!

Hey, look! Wing it! That's a W word!

Know what? We can't lose!

Can we do it? Yes, we can!

Wait! That's a Y word!

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Special Blogfest Announcement

Blood, Boobs, and Carnage Blogfest!

Hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh and Heather M. Gardner. 

Yes, Blood, Boobs, and Carnage!

Alex used that phrase last year to describe an upcoming movie release. It amused many people, including ME. (Okay, mostly me)  So, naturally we decided to make it a blogfest.

What falls into that category? Here’s a few examples – Conan the Barbarian, Breaking Bad, Fast and Furious, The Watchmen, etc.

Here’s the details, short and simple:

On May 18, 2015, post about a movie, television show, book, or all three that falls into the category of Blood, Boobs, and Carnage. (Or just Blood and Carnage or other mixture.) It can be any genre that fits the bill – fantasy, science fiction, action, adventure, western, thriller, etc. Post the badge and visit other participants.

Sign up below!

Sunday Sunflower #AtoZChallenge Update

          As we head into the final ten day stretch of the 2015 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge, some of you might be feeling a little worn and ragged like my poor sunflower in the above photo.  If you don't know about my sunflower you can read the beginning of the story here as well as the follow-up here.

         I've mentioned previously that I'm not much of a gardener and this sunflower is essentially on its own as it struggles during our current California drought.  Maybe this is what a sunflower bloom is supposed to look like after two and a half weeks, but I wouldn't think so.  In any case, this flower is still hanging in there and hopefully will continue to stand until at least the May 4th A to Z Reflections Post.   This Reflections post has become a yearly tradition of the Challenge and we hope that everyone who finishes the Challenge will join us in this event.  Be watching for more information in the days to come.

Stay Strong!

        My sunflower is hanging in there for April.   Are you hanging in there as well with your posting and commenting?    Maybe your initial A to Z bloom has wilted away some, but we hope you're still meeting the Challenge as it was initially stated.   Since opening day approximately 250 links have been removed from the list due to not keeping up as the Challenge calls for.  We hope you aren't one of them and hope you don't become one of them.

        So how are you doing right now?   Up to date with posts?   On the right letter (tomorrow will be the letter "Q")?  

Don't Slack Off!

         As we find those of you who have fallen behind or just slacked off for some reason you may feel is fitting to not post, we are trying to leave reminders and notes of encouragement to nudge you into catching up or at least letting us know that you are there.  The co-hosts don't want to appear to be insensitive, but keep in mind that this is a challenge and not just some idle blog hop where you put your name on a Linky List and just expect it to stay there.  

        If you are not keeping up, not keeping readers informed about your status if you are not keeping up, and not communicating with the co-hosts when they attempt to find out what's going on, then you will be removed from the Challenge list.  We want to be fair to all participants including those who are faithfully posting according to the guidelines we've set for the Challenge.  When these participants take the time to visit a blog only to find that blog hasn't posted according to the letters or has shown no activity for many days then they are wasting their valuable time because that slacker blogger wasn't considerate enough to keep their blog updated.

        If you look at the instructions in the "Sign up List" tab you will see that we clearly state:

Blogs on the list showing no activity once the Challenge starts or miss five days in a row will be removed. 

We try to show some leniency and compassion for most of you other than the blogs that are obviously only on the list to be on the list and having no intention of participating--those blogs are cut without mercy when we find them.  But the others we try to give a chance before removal.  It would be unfair for anyone to say that the A to Z Team is unfair in maintaining the list to reflect actual participants.  

We're Only Human

       Admitting mistakes can happen, but we do everything we can to correct the errors when they are brought to our attention.   If you feel that you've been unfairly cut from the list then we apologize and hope that you will let us know so that we can do what we can to fix the situation.

        We are still weeding through the list in hopes of finishing with a list of bloggers who mightily made their way to the end.   And I hope that if you are reading this, you are one of those champion bloggers who cross the finish line with your letter "Z" post and stand with us in the winners circle of the May 4th A to Z Reflections Post.

          You are almost there.  You can do it!  Don't give up when you are so close and catch up to the rest of us if you have fallen a bit behind.  This Challenge is doable.

          Are you keeping up to the letter of the day?    Has there been a point during the month where you fell behind or maybe even considered giving up?    Will you be joining us for the Reflections Post on May 4th? 

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P is for Peace, Bugs, and Understanding: An Adventure in Sibling Harmony

It's P Day

Which means P is for Pammy Pam,  

your fave unconventional librarian!

I have a book for you that I think you'll love:

Peace, Bugs, and Understanding: An Adventure in Sibling Harmony 

by Gail Silver, Illustrated by Youme Nguyen Ly

I know you're looking at the title and wondering what in the world the book is about. 

I also know you're loving the adorbs cover as much as I am!

So, here's a recap: Lily and her little sister Ruby are having a picnic when, in typical little sibling style Ruby ruins their checkers game. Lily is irritated at her sister, of course, but after reading a beautiful allegory about her grandfather who must come to terms with his angry feelings.

Lily learns to practice breathing techniques to calm herself and not feel so angry at her little sister too. The process of Metta is kind of like mindfulness, which includes breathing techniques and may help promote forgiveness.  

I love this sweet picture book for so many reasons! First the illustrations are breathtakingly simple watercolors that evoke the feeling of child like storytelling. Second the philosophies are Asian inspired and the people and the culture are beautifully authentic looking. And finally, I love the idea of teaching children (and the grown ups who are reading the book to them) how to channel their anger into positive feelings. 

As the book says;

May you be happy.

May you be strong.

May you be safe.

May you live with peace.  

We all could all benefit from a little more peace, bugs, and understanding, no? Do you have any suggestions for mindfulness for the little ones? Tell me!

Pam, An Unconventional Librarian

O is for Optimism

If you’ve gotten to this point in the Challenge, it means you’re safely over the half-way hump and well on your way to joining the survivor ranks at the end of the month.

Although I intended to write all my posts before April set in, I was caught flat-footed because of a number of other projects I’ve been trying to straddle. At times, panic threatened to set in, but since I’ve done the Challenge for a few years, I was upbeat about the chances of being able to finish.

Optimism counts for a lot in anything we do. If we tackle challenges with a positive attitude and the feeling that we will be successful, then we’ve already won. Negativity tells us what we can’t do, but optimism says hey, I’m here, ready to make the most of each opportunity.

I know we’re on the side of having positive energy, right? So on we go to the next letter and the next ... you get the idea.

What are your strategies for keeping a positive frame of mind and believing for good things?

N is for Not Giving Up

Yay! We're halfway through the challenge! How's it been going for everyone? Have you made new blogging buddies? Found some great themes you can't wait to check in on every day? I know I have! 

And yet, as fun as A to Z absolutely is, it's not called a blog challenge for nothing. It's meant to test you blogging perseverance. Twenty-six posts in one month is no small feat. And it's around this point in the challenge when bloggers tend to start running into walls here and there. Again, I know I have. 

But try not to lose sight of the goal here. A community of bloggers, coming together to push themselves and one another to blogging excellence. And you can do it. Just keep plugging away. Trust me, the harder it feels right now, the greater the reward when you finally cross that finish line at the end of April. 

So congratulations for NOT giving up on the A to Z Challenge. You're a survivor, you're gonna make it! And we'll be there waiting for you when you reach your goal!


A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy can be found blogging at Pensuasion. 

"M" Marketing Experiment - With AtoZ Gear!

Greetings AtoZ Challengers, We are at the half point of the 2015 A to Z Challenge and we thought those who are going to the finish line might like to tell the world and show your support. We thought those "SURVIVORS" might like to get your very own design by myself and supported by the Hosts of this challenge. Here is where you go "CLICK HERE".

We are trying our very first "Marketing Campaign and Experiment", see what the possibilities might be and thought we would share it all with you. I have been working with this company "NEATOSHOP" for a few years and they are one of the top in their business. So show your support, wear this proudly and enjoy the remaining A to Z Challenge. We will answer questions, so if you have some please ask...

Jeremy
AtoZ Challenge Co-Host
HOLLYWOOD NUTS
http://www.beingretro.com/

Let's have a dance party!

Congratulations, everyone! You're almost halfway through the Challenge! How are you feeling?

I think... it's time for a dance party!

Let's dance! Let Loose, and check out the dancers in this incredible A-Z of dance video:



Keep it up, y'all :)

AJ Lauer blogs at her author site. Her theme this year is interactive fiction, so you should stop by and help shape the story she's writing this month. Her book Armageddon: Pick Your Plot is available on Amazon, and you can get a free prequel to the book by signing up for her email list!

She's also interviewed as the L post today at Lloyd of Gamebooks (so many L's!!).

K is for Karma

Karma: Hindu and Buddhist ethical doctrine that the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence will decide their future fate. 

A common theme to theories of Karma is its principle of causality. Basically, good actions lead to good effects and bad deeds will produce bad effects. We have similar terms. You reap what you sow. Point a finger at someone and you are pointing three back at yourself. 

I try really hard not to judge. But I have to admit, when I see something bad happen to a person who is a real jerk, well, I’m glad I was there to see it. Like the time a total jerk in an expensive suit verbally abused a woman in line at Starbucks. When he left a car drove through a large puddle of water by the curb and drenched the guy head to toe. Karma, baby. Oh yeah. 

K is for Key Cards: Don't forget to stop by my regular blog for another intersting post regarding Key Kards by Clicking Here.

Question: Do you believe in Karma or that a person reaps what they sow? Or is this just a bunch of superstitious hooey that is scientifically unfounded?

Stephen Tremp is a Speculative Writer and blogs at Breakthrough Blogs. His theme for the 2015 Blogging A to Z Challenge is The Supernatural and Paranormal. His latest work, Salem’s Daughters, is due for release Labor Day Weekend 2015.

Sunflower Update

           Here is the updated sunflower photo taken on Saturday April 11th.  It's looking a bit raggedly perhaps, but still standing strong.  Hopefully I'll have a good harvest of seeds from this flower.  For those who might be wondering what the heck this sunflower photo is all about you can find the story at A Special A to Z Tribute.

Making Progress

       We are approaching the halfway point of the 2015 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge and it appears that the majority of those who originally signed on to the list are still going strong.  To date we've lost maybe 150 of those who originally added their links to the list.  Most of those either backed out and asked to be removed or were Link List opportunists who had no intention of participating.

         The A to Z Team of co-hosts and their assistance teams have been busy scouring the list for bloggers who have fallen by the wayside and stopped posting or never started.   We are trying to keep a clean list so you don't have to waste your time on the non-participants.   I think overall we are doing a better job than any previous year of keeping the list cleaned up.   Still a few get missed.  Some of you have been reporting problem sites to us and that has been a great help to us.  Feel free to let us know if you run across a site that you don't think should be on the Linky List and we'll check it out.

         Just a notice to those of you who have fallen behind but don't wish to be removed from the list quite yet.  At least update your blog with an A to Z post and if there is a problem note that in your most recent posts so we'll know what's going on with you.   We don't like to have to remove links, but in fairness to everyone else if you aren't keeping up with the Challenge then you shouldn't expect the rest of us to be reading old posts.

           Also, there are some blogs that can be a bit confusing to the new visitor.   Make sure it is clear on the landing page that you are participating in the A to Z Challenge and be sure that each A to Z post is clearly identified with tags, a badge image, or a mention that your post is A to Z related.  This is especially true if you do multiple daily postings and your A to Z posts get covered up by other posts.

          I applaud this year's team and helpers and all of you bloggers for helping us maintain the list.  And a big acknowledgement goes to Alex J. Cavanaugh for maintaining the list so well along with all of the other things he's got going with his blogging and book release.

Interested in an Official A to Z 2015 T-Shirt?

          This week be watching co-host blogs and this site for a special announcement about an A to Z souvenir that will be offered to show your support and participation in the 2015 A to Z Challenge.  We've been asked about T-shirts in the past and this year we're going to run a marketing test to see what kind of interest there would be in this.    Be watching this week for the official announcements.  I believe we'll start seeing something on Wednesday April 15th.

          Have you been keeping up okay with A to Z this year?   Have you found many sites that need to be removed from the list?     Is an A to Z Tee-Shirt something that might interest you?

Related articles

• NeatoShop Spring Sale: Get Free Shipping Worldwide!
• A Special A to Z Tribute: Tina Downey
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J: Juggling

Don't be as useless as a muggle,

A hundreds things you can juggle.

Dozens of balls to toss and keep in the air,

Doing laundry so you have something to wear.

No time to go to bed and in your pillow snuggle,

Get to that blogging, lots of comments to juggle.

Don't forget to go to work and earn money,

Living in a tent or your car isn't funny.

Being tired and stretched thin makes you lovable,

Hugs to those who can juggle and adorable.

Eat something good and exercise shouldn't be a miss.

Talk to your family and give them some a nice kiss.

There are hundreds of blogs for you to see,

Drink lots of wine, coffee or iced tee.

This blogging party is so much fun,

Even if you can't meet everyone.

How many different things to you juggle each day? What life issues are getting in your way? Your comment doesn't have to rhyme like my post. Your visit is what counts the most.

I is for Inspiration

What inspires you?

The A to Z Challenge is off to a great start, and blogs all around the world are booming with the alphabet. We are already done with Week 1! But what happens if you suddenly find yourself without inspiration for the next day's post?

First and foremost: Do NOT give up! The A to Z community stands behind you, and we all want you to keep blogging :) Just imagine how many people will come to your blog before the end of April.

Here are some things you can do for inspiration:

1. Stop worrying and visit some blogs! Their themes and topics might spark a new idea in your head.

2. Look at some random word generators and word listings. Keep clicking away, something is bound to come up!

3. Listen to some music! Music is great for inspiration, and also a great topic. Think in songs, not words!

4. Open up a thesaurus, or, even better, a dictionary. Take an adventurous trip into another language! There are so many words out there waiting to be discovered by you...

5. Don't take yourself too seriously. It is okay to stumble, even if you are following a theme. Make it playful and funny, and move on. You'll pick the serious stuff back up tomorrow.

Happy A to Z!