A-Z Reflections #AtoZChallenge

 

First off, I would like to thank our fabulous A-Z hosts for all their hard work.

Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Jenny Pearson at Pearson Report, Matthew McNish at The QQQE, Tina Downey at Life is Good, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Elizabeth Mueller, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Karen Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small. 

None of this would be possible without them.

The end of April is always bittersweet. Although it's nice to return to a normal blogging schedule, it's fun to see people's A-Z posts as well as their themes. I noticed a lot more themes this year, and I had my own theme to write flash fiction within my fantasy world of Foxwick.

 

So the A-Z Challenge helped me create a flash fiction collection.

I tried to write all my flash fiction pieces before April 1st. Let's just say I was scrambling to finish them during that first week of April. Then, I edited them for the blog and proofread them for publication. I created new names because of the more difficult letters, such as Javen, Orin, and Quaylin. Through all that, I was working on my novelette Fighting Gravity, which officially was released May 1st.

Let's just say next year I won't try to release two books practically the same month as the A-Z Challenge.

I completely failed getting to a lot of blogs, but I'm so glad I got to the ones I did. If for some reason I'm not following you back, please let me know in the comments. I like to follow back, but sometimes I miss people.

There were a few blogs I read all their 26 posts.

Alex J. Cavanaugh - He featured bloggers and more!

Christine Rains - She had an awesome paranormal romance story. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next to Abby, Demetrius, and Tawa.

Fairview - She also was writing a paranormal story, featuring time travel.

Clarissa Draper - While she was gearing up for the release of her mystery novel, The Sholes Key, she gave us a real-life mystery every day.

Rachel Morgan - Rachel's Creepy Hollow series is fantastic, and she wrote flash fiction involving the creatures of Creepy Hollow.

Many more I dropped in when I could.

I also participated in the challenge with my book reviews blog, Surrounded by Books Reviews. My main reflection is there, but I featured authors every day, and it was a lot of fun learning about them.

I really did enjoy writing to a theme. I think next year I might write a YA Fantasy continuing story about Eirwyn. Her character fascinates me, and I enjoyed learning more about her through writing the flash fiction. I would also like to write the posts sooner, i.e. having everything written by early March instead of early April.

I want to plan less for April, so I can visit more blogs next time.

I'm not sure how the hosts could do better than they did for the challenge. Maybe if there were categories instead of a massive list, it might be easier to find bloggers with similar interests. At the same time, I do like the randomness of the massive list.

I can't wait for April next year!

Reflections - A to Z Blogging Challenge and Crusaders

Thank you, Elizabeth Mueller, for the blog award!

Yes, if you were anywhere around the blogs in April, you might have come across the wonderful craziness of the A-Z Blogging Challenge.

I completed my posts early and had them set to go on their respective days. I read as much as I could of other people's blogs and commented when I could. I must admit I failed when it came to getting around to everyone's blogs. Granted 1300 blogs is a lot, but I still feel bad. April came with its own types of craziness. I'll do better next year. *crosses fingers*

I enjoyed the posts I read. It's amazing how we can come up with such different ideas for each letter...and even the same ideas for some. I already have plans for what I might do next year (I'm leaning toward 26 days of flash fiction) and possibly 26 days of book reviews/promotion on my book reviews blog.

I think I should start writing those posts up now. *laughs*

I want to thank everyone who participated and planned this wonderful challenge.

It also turns out that April 30th was the end of the Second Writers Platform Building Crusade. It was great fun. I did better about getting to everyone, but I didn't get a chance to comment as much as I wanted. (I really need to get better internet at home.) It was so much fun, and I loved participating in our challenges. Then again, I'm rather fond of flash fiction, which is what I wrote for each one.

Rach will be hosting another crusade in August-October. I don't think I'll be participating in that one. It's not that I don't want to, but I won't have the time. I need to polish up Virtuoso then, send out query letters to agents, attend the James River Writers Conference, and plan my NaNoWriMo novel for November 2011. I do encourage everyone to join the crusade at least once. It's a lot of fun.

At the end of January, I had 50 followers. Yep, I just celebrated it with a contest. Then I became a Crusader and joined the A-Z Challenge. As of this moment, I have 274 followers. That's an increase of 224 blog followers in three months.

I'm still in shock over it and very grateful.

Thank you.

Personal Thursdays: Reflection

http://www.forgettingourselves.com/

I suppose birthdays do this to people. They make them think about where they are, where they thought they would be at this age, and where they're going.

Ten years ago, I would've said my being a writer was crazy. At the tender age of nineteen, I wanted to be an actor/opera singer. I thought I would be married by now, living in NYC or London or Paris. I would've been on Broadway or the Met. Oh, yes, I was ambitious and had goals that shot to the stars and above. I studied to be an actor/opera singer, but then things fell apart. It didn't bring as much joy, and the road looked to be so hard. I had to admit although I had some talent, I wasn't good enough. I knew this.

Plans changed.

Today, I'm single, still living at home (don't make enough to live on my own and have too many bills...yes, those student loans kill you), and I'm a full-time library assistant by day, a part-time freelance editor (often by day and night), and a writer (day and night). It's not what I had planned, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

As for the future, I don't know what will happen. Ten years from now, I hope I'm still writing. I hope I've paid off my student loans and tried not to acquire more. Oh, shiny MFA in Creative Writing and/or Masters in Library Science, you tempt me so. It'd be nice to have a place of my own for my books and I might live there too. *laughs* It'd be nice to have a novel in the library/bookstores/etc.

Turning 29 wasn't bad, and I am really looking forward to 30. I feel like I'm at a good place in my life. Now, if I could just stop wanting to rush things to get that novel ready to submit to agents. True, I have time, but I would like to reach that step before 30. *grins*