Writing Wednesday: To Blog or Not to Blog

I enjoy blogging, and I enjoy supporting my fellow authors with reviews, cover reveals, interviews, etc. This is not about whether blogging is a good thing.

Blogging is a good thing.

This is specifically about the April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

What is the A to Z Challenge, you ask? As it goes into it's sixth year, it's hard to imaging bloggers haven't heard of it, but then again... the internet is a pretty big place.

From the A to Z website: 

    " Most of the time if you subtract Sundays from April, you then have 26 days--one day for each letter of the alphabet.  When April 1st lands on a Sunday you begin on that day which will be the only Sunday you would post during that month's challenge. 

        Using this premise, you would start beginning April First with a topic themed on something with the letterA, then on April second another topic with the letter B as the theme, and so on until you finish on April thirtieth with the theme based on the letter Z.  It doesn't even have to be a word--it can be a proper noun, the letter used as a symbol, or the letter itself.  The theme of the day is the letter scheduled for that day."

I've participated in the Challenge a few times in the past, like the first few years when I was new to blogging and didn't have a day job to speak of, and it was challenging and a lot of fun. I met some incredible bloggers along the way and increased visibility of my own blog. But...

It's stressful. Having to blog EVERY DAY for a month. I feel like I just went through that with the Candy Hearts series, and reviewing and posting reviews for every book in the series. THAT was a challenge. Like another day job almost. Blogging is supposed to be fun, right?

To blog or not to blog for the month of April? Let's rephrase that... to blog ALPHABETICALLY EVERY DAY or not to blog... that is certainly a question. Here's the official schedule, if anyone is interested in participating:

Up for the challenge? Here's the spot to sign up for the seventh annual April Challenge:

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/a-z-challenge-sign-up-list-2016.html

As I write this, there are already 1,179 blogs participating. So many that they've instituted categories to help you find like minded bloggers to visit (you're encouraged to visit and comment on at least 5 blogs a day. It's a great way to find new bloggers you like, and new followers for yourself.)

I'm still trying to decide. I have a few weeks to make up my mind.

Good Luck to all the A to Z Participants!

Good Luck to all the A to Z Blog Challenge participants!

(April never seemed so long...)

Puppy Tales: Wherein Puppy Is So Glad We're Not Doing A to Z

With too much on my plate this spring, I've reluctantly decided NOT to participate in the Annual A to Z Blogging Challenge. I had a great theme and everything picked out, but alas, it didn't work out. Next year.

The one who's happiest with my decision is Puppy. She feels I tortured her enough last year to last for a long, long time. At least through this April as well. So I thought, to honor the sacrifices she made for art in 2012, I will re-post some of her favorite letters this month as well.

Even though I'm not playing, I think we're up to "K" today. So here goes....

 (Ate it. she Actually Ate the letter A. It was the last one she Ate.)

 (Bored. By day two, she was already Bored.)

(Chagrin. the emotion that filled her when she realized I wasn't giving up.)

 (Don't Do this to me, she says. you can see it in her eyes.)

 (Everything got worse when mom made her wear the letters...)

 (Friends help make everything more bearable.)

 (Go away already, she says.)

 (Heavy sigh as she fills the Hallway with Her Huge self.)

(I, as in the letter, seems to have been lost...)

 (Just let me sleep...)

(Kan't you see I'm still sleeping?)

HAPPY A TO Z 2013!

An Award for Friday - Every Friday Should Get One!

Jaye Robin Brown over at Hanging on to Wonder has awarded me the Kreativ Blogger award.

The rules of this award are that I must tell you ten random and unknown facts about myself and then spread the love by passing on the award to more bloggers. So here goes.

1. I hated the end of The Hunger Games so much I threw the book across the room. Hard. And then went to wake my son up so that he could read it. (The second book hadn't come out yet. Frustrating!)
2. I don't really like Bill Murray, but Groundhog Day is one of my all-time favorite movies.
3. I really do eat M&Ms with my coffee sometimes for breakfast. (It's not just a blogging thing!)
4. One year our swimming pool cover was a vernal pool, and there were thousands of tadpoles. We tried to save as many as we could - we filled four kiddie pools!
5. During college, the only times I ever set foot in the computer center was to visit a friend. I only used an electric typewriter for all my papers.
6. I should never be the Cookie Mom for my Girl Scouts, because I end up eating way too many. Or wait, does that happen to everyone? Anyone? Anyone? Beuller?
7. I can't say I was ever "on tour" with the Grateful Dead, but I can think of a few occasions where I jumped in someone else's car (once I didn't even know the girl!) to travel to a Dead show without a plan or a ticket in hand. It all worked out well, but if my own daughter did that, I'd have a heart attack!
8. My worst job ever was as a temp making cold calls for an office supply company. Kind of like working at Dunder Mifflin on The Office, except not as funny. Not funny at all.
9. I always click on the Google icon when the image is something special for the day. Always.
10. I can't decide whether to buy the latest Sookie Stackhouse (#12!) novel by Charlaine Harris beacuse the reviews I've read are not good. I guess I'm susceptible to reviews after all... I've read all the rest, though, so I think I'm going to have to buy it anyway!

Next, I must pick six of you to pass this award along to.... I've decided to choose 6 new bloggers I've met through April's A to Z challenge...

Libby Heily

My Life as Lynn Proctor

D.G. Hudson - Rainforest Writing

Siv Maria at Been there, Done that.

Jan Morrison - This Crazy Writing Life

and last but not least

baygirl 32 at that girl from around the bay

Technically, I started following baygirl during last year's A to Z, but she's such a great blogger and a great commenter that she deserves this award. (And doesn't already have it, either. I checked.)

So there you have it! Check out these bloggers if they're new to you! And thank you again to Jaye Robin Brown for adding me to her list of 6!

Okay, I'm off to buy the new Charlaine Harris book for my Nook to read this weekend. Yeah, I've been thinking about it since I typed that last factoid and can't get it out of my head. What is everyone else reading these days? (Besides 50 Shades of Grey)

Have a great weekend, whatever you do!

Reflections on A to Z 2012

During April, I had Puppy help me navigate the alphabet, from A all the way to Z. She quickly tired of me and my camera.

But we made it through the month. And through the alphabet. This week, many of the A to Z bloggers are taking time to look back over the month and reflect on what they learned (or didn't learn), what the enjoyed (or didn't enjoy) and what it all meant to them.

1. First and foremost, I learned that scheduling blog posts is the bestest and easiest way to be an efficient blogger. In the past, I've kinda thought of it as "cheating" somehow. I felt that blogging should be an immediate, visceral thing. And it is when you are reading it. But just as magazine articles can be written way in advance of an issue going live and still hold relevance, so can a blog post. The scheduling tool is my new best friend when it comes to keeping up online.

2. Second, I guess I learned people only comment when you ask them a question. Well, maybe not only. But they feel more compelled to write something if you ask them. And I knew this before. But it hit home. An addendum to this is that people will tend to comment if you take time to visit them and leave comments. I had an awful month of busy-busy-busy, and didn't leave as many comments around the blogosphere as I wanted to - or as I did last year during the A to Z challenge. But most of the people I did visit this year came to visit me back. Unfortunately, sometimes I lurk more than I should, or get interrupted before I can finish my comment... or the blogger still has verification turned on and it takes forever and I get frustrated....

3. Third, when someone hits "Follow" and adds to your count, it's polite to go follow them back. I do try to always do this, but in reading the Reflection post of others, I guess not everyone does that. Or agrees with that philosophy? I thought part of the point of A to Z was to drive traffic and expose potential new followers to new blogs. I have made an effort to follow everyone back - if I missed you I didn't mean to! Let me know and I'll be right over to click the button on your page, too!

What did it all mean to me? I was in a blogging slump for sure going into the month, and was completely panicked about making it all the way to Z. Panic kicked into high gear when I realized I would be out of state from O through U and either needed to write those in advance or play catch-up when I returned. The challenge helped me out of the slump and over the hump of "I can't do all this..." , all this having more to do with my loaded plate of everyday life than writing simple blog posts.

We all have too much to do. (And if you don't, go volunteer for something cuz you're lazy.) Writing and blogging has taken the back burner in my world since December, and I realize it can't stay back there forever. We all need to do some things that feed our creative souls, and writing feeds mine a lot more than vacuuming does.

Will I do this again next April? I'm not sure. Maybe? Next April is so far off my radar at the moment I can't even contemplate it in any meaningful way. Besides, didn't the Mayans say the world is ending in December...?

Will Puppy let me take more pictures of her with the alphabet? Probably not. But there are other ways to work with letters, and I'm already thinking about it... so maybe Puppy and I will try again next year. Or maybe we'll have to make friends with a whole new alphabet worth of dogs. We'll have to wait and see.

What did you think of A to Z 2012? Was it what you expected? What did you learn?

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter Z !

The Letter Z

Can you believe we made it all the way to Z? AmaZing! Puppy is utterly exhausted by her alphabetic efforts, as am I. Huge round of applause goes out to everyone who participated this year in the A to Z Challenge... and for those of you who didn't blog but kept up with the posts - think about it for next year! It's lots of fun and creatively stimulating... and exhausting, yes. 

Thank you very much to the wonderful bloggy hosts who came up with this idea - click on that AtoZ link on the left to go to the homepage and leave your thanks, too!

Happy End of April to All!

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter Y

The Letter Y

Puppy says, "Y oh Y are You torturing me? Isn't April over Yet??"

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter X

The Letter X

The Letter X marks the spot.... in this case, it's showing Puppy where she hid all those bones she buried over the winter months. Under the picnic table. Which I'm going to need to move and smooth out before we can hope to use the table for anything other than a hiding spot....

I'd say Bad Puppy, but look how happy she is with the whole thing. How can I resist?

Where do you like to hide your treasures? What does X mark in your world?

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter W

The Letter W

Puppy's favorite W has to be Window. As in the bedroom Window she gazes out of While resting, or the car Window she hangs her head from as We Wander about Cape Cod on our various Mom Taxi Missions.

Puppy mastered her Window early on, and learned to press the button to lower it herself.

Thank goodness for Window locks. What Would I do Without them???

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter V

The Letter V

The Letter V could stand for Voracious, as in Puppy's appetite. Or Vivacious, as in Puppy's sparkling personality. Or Vibrant, as she makes our lives with her mere presence. Or Va-Va-Voom, which is what the male dogs at the dog park seem to think of Puppy.

She's happy with all those words, as they are all positive.

V can also stand for Vacation. Our family went on a Vacation to Florida last week, and Puppy went to Puppy Camp. Well, she wouldn't actually go into the kennel, ever again after last year's stay, so we enlisted friends to take on Puppy and Big Dog for a week. Which was okay as we had their dogs for much, much longer.

Puppy enjoyed her Vacation with her friends, but look how glad she is to be home.

Va-Va-Voom.

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter U

The Letter U

This month, the Letter U stands for Universal Studios, where my family just spent a wonderful week on spring break. Puppy might not agree with the "wonderful" part, but she's heard the word enough this month to know it means "away."

It's good to get away.

In the Spring issue of CapeWomenOnline, one of our contributors wrote an article on the importance of getting away to recharge, refresh, and regroup, before the busy summer season on Cape Cod. If you have a minute, check out Jen Villa's story at www.CapeWomenOnline.com - and while you're there, check out the rest of our fabulous articles and stories.

(and more on Universal Studios later, I'm sure!)

What did you do to recharge and refresh this year? Vacation or Stay-cation?

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter T

The Letter T

"T" is The first letter in my daughter's name, and also her nickname. If you ask Puppy about the letter T, more Than likely, she'll go find my daughter, whom Puppy Thinks is Terrific.

In The following video clip, she's playing lead guitar with her band, Blond Persuasion, which doesn't start with a T but is featured Today nonetheless, in honor of my daughter.

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter S

The Letter S

In Sticking with one of my running themes this month, the Letter S is going to Stand for my current project, SON OF A MERMAID, which will hopefully be out on Submission really Soon. Several other bloggers in this blogfest are posting excerpts, etc. every day So I don't feel like I'm cheating. (Only a little.)

I'm posting a Short excerpt from the Second chapter, about the nightmares my main character, Shea, has been having.

From SON OF A MERMAID, 60,000-word YA adventure:

The blue-green coolness swirled around him as his body tumbled down through the water, arms and legs flailing as he struggled to hold his breath. Millions of tiny bubble of precious air traced the path of his descent, escaping from his clothing and through his nose.

Eyes wide even as the water rushed past, he watched a huge school of shimmering minnows part down the middle as they swam around him, surrounding him like a silvery box. Turning his face upward to the surface, he could see the blue sky receding further and further as he sank deeper into the water’s depths.

 

His throat and lungs burned from the effort of holding his breath. Darkness pressed hard against his eyes, and swirls of strange colors danced in front of him as his whole body strained against the lack of oxygen. 

 

I need to breathe, he thought wildly, his whole body feeling like it was on fire. I can’t hold out much longer. His feet finally hit the mucky bottom with a thud, coming to a stop as the mud swirled around his legs.

 

There, hovering before him in the water, swam a beautiful woman with flowing golden hair… and a green fish tail that sparkled with golden flecks among the scales. 

 

A mermaid.

Her big green eyes looked so familiar, just like the ones he saw in the mirror every morning. She smiled at him, reaching out to take his hand. His head pounded as searing pain ripped through his throat, as if his entire body would tear apart any second from the effort of holding his breath.

The mermaid squeezed his hand and nodded. The pain receded as Shea stared into her eyes, lost in their green depths. As she nodded to him again, he opened his mouth to exhale the stale air that pounded like a jackhammer in his lungs. Large bubbles rushed to the surface as he struggled to breathe, but there was no air to be had. Only salty ocean water rushing in to fill his mouth, his lungs, his body...

Shea woke with a start, clawing at the sheets and disoriented for a full minute before remembering where he was. At the Hansen’s house. Because his own home – the farm where he’d lived and worked all his life – was gone, swept away and crushed by the freak tornado.

 

And his dad was nowhere to be found.

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter R

The Letter R

Puppy agrees with me when I tell you that the Letter R stands for Reading, Reviews, and Royalties. All writers know how important good Reviews are. But Reviews aren't enough.

 

My two published novels garnered wonderful Reviews from critics and book Reviewers. But sales didn't naturally follow. People don't troll Review sites to find new authors, usually. At one site, my first novel got a better Review by half a star than Charlaine Harris's latest Sookie Stackhouse book - and yet she's a gazillionaire, and my last Royalty check was for sixty seven cents. Really.

So maybe good Reviews don't automatically translate into Royalties, but what about bad Reviews? Would you ever consider buying a book that got panned by Reviewers? Probably not. I know I wouldn't - my novel-buying funds are too limited. And you know what they say about Karma, what a bitch she can be. So I hesitate to ever post Reviews that are bad. As in, I Read the book but didn't really like it. Wouldn't Recommend it. But I'm not going to lie, either. What's the point in posting a Review that isn't true? I'm not getting paid to Review anything, so false Reviews just shoots my credibility and my Reader's opinion of my literary tastes.

What to do? So far, any time I've promised to Review a book, I've Read it. The whole thing. I'm a fast Reader, and love to Read, so no biggie there. But when I don't like the book (or hate the book) I have a problem. I've promised a Review but can't give a good one. Authors all say they want honest Reviews, but Really? I wouldn't. Every book is not going to be my cup of tea - or yours. I have no problem giving a good Review when I like a book, and if you don't agree that's up to you and we can sit down and discuss over wine, like my book club does. But I hate going negative. I'd Rather break a promise to Review Rather than break another author's heart, even a little. If I was getting paid to be a Reviewer and had an obligation to my job, that would be a different story. But I don't. So I won't.

What do you do?

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter Q

The Letter Q

Q is for Query in any writer's alphabet, even those who pose puppies with their letters. Queries - sometimes it feels easier to write a whole novel than the four paragraphs needed to Query an agent, but it's necessary in this business. As I work with new writers, editing their work, I can gauge how "serious" they are about the submission process by whether they've heard of the word. No, really. Some of them haven't, which is okay because their work isn't "there yet" either.

I follow Query Shark to try to avoid the pitfalls of being "that" Query. If you haven't been there, the premise is that literary agent Janey Reid accepts the Queries of brave souls and rips them to shreds to show you what you've done wrong. I also find Matthew MacNish's Quintessentialy Questionable Query Experiment blog to be helpful (and pretty funny now for A to Z fest, if you haven't been there yet, go check it out!)

But I'm also in the process of Querying right now, and am going to share my own Query here. Questions, comments and suggestions are all welcome!

Query:

Dear Agent of My Dreams,

The nightmares started after the tornado devastated the Maguire’s Oklahoma farm, leaving fifteen-year-old Shea an orphan. But the bad dreams have nothing to do with twisters – it’s the ocean that haunts him. When the grandmother he’s never met arrives to take him back to Cape Cod, he needs to confront his fears and figure out what really goes on under the waves.

Kae belongs to an undersea world hidden from drylanders. A servant to the Princess, she knows the upcoming royal marriage is the only way to end the bloody war that has raged for decades. Only two things stand in the way of a lasting peace between the rival clans: the ambitions of the foreign Regent, and the rumors of a bastard child. She knows he makes her heart race, but could Shea also be the son of the Princess?

SON OF A MERMAID is a 60,000-word YA adventure set on Cape Cod and in the depths of Nantucket Sound.

I’m the editor of CapeWomenOnline magazine, living on the shores of Cape Cod with my husband, three kids and two big dogs. My publishing credits include two small press romantic suspense novels, Unfolding the Shadows and Perfect Strangers, and numerous magazine and newspaper articles.

The first ten pages follow within this email as suggested in the guidelines on your agency website (or whatever your website suggests, I'll do it!) Thanks for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

A to Z blogfest: The Letter P

The Letter P

So of course in Puppy's alphabet, P has to stand for Puppy. My Puppy. Even though she turned two at the end of January, she still thinks and acts like a Puppy so much of the time.

But two years ago, she was a mere handful of fur...

Cutest. Puppy. Ever.

Her favorite Puppy Place was to curl up at my feet under my desk as I wrote on the computer. At her current size, her head alone fits there, but back then she was the Perfect foot warmer...

Of course, now her favorite Puppy Place is the beach. Our beach or any beach on Cape Cod. Or any beach in Plymouth when we go to visit Grandma. This Picture was taken at Nauset Light Beach, in Eastham. Doesn't she look like she Belongs there?

Do you have a Puppy or a Kitty? What's their Perfect Place, the Place they love to be? At your feet or in the ocean? Or both?

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter O

The Letter O

Oh dear, I'm Out Of ideas, and Out Of time to think Of a subject for this post. So maybe I'll just pose Puppy with the letter and people will be laughing and won't notice I've totally fudged On discussing a subject that Opens with the letter O.

Have a great Tuesday!

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter N

The Letter N

Puppy says, "No, I will Not keep posing with your silly letters!" Poor Puppy, so hard being the spokesmodel for the entire alphabet... So we'll give Puppy a rest today, and say N stands for my son's band, NonCompliant. They've been playing together since 2008, a great feat for them and for all of us parents since None of them are out of middle school yet. My son will be the first to move on to high school... Next year.

Here's a video clip from their last concert...

P.S. Check out my new Navigation buttons, top left corner! I saw them on Matthew MacNish's QQQE blog and had to have them ;-) If you want to grab them too, visit Marcus at Writing Investigated and grab them for yourself! Don't worry, he makes it easy to steal ;-)

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter M

The Letter M

The Letter for today is M, which goes along with feeling Mad and Manic all week long. But it's the weekend, and the start of the kids' spring break vacation, so I need to let it all go.

What better way to cheer up than M&M's for breakfast, right? My favorite breakfast of champions!

And yesterday I finished the total revision/rewrite/revamping of My Manuscript, so no More time to Mope. Time to Query - even though that's a Q word...

What do you do for a pick-Me-up? (Besides Martinis or Mojitos, which are a bit inappropriate in the Morning!)

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter L

The Letter L... is for Louie!

My sister came down for Easter with her puppy, Louie, who's only 8 months old. Puppy and Big Dog both Love Little Louie, and haven't seen her since December. They Liked the fact that she's getting Larger, but Let me tell you, she was more timid with my Puppy than she was when she was Little. Back then, she'd jump all over Puppy. This visit, it took her Longer to feel comfortable. But she got there, and the dogs all had fun.

Now Louie has Left for the farm, and Puppy is Left feeling Lonely. Hope Louie comes back again soon to play!

Now Louie has gone back to