#DailyWings: “The days are long, but the years are short.”
-Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project
If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know that I haven’t been blogging as much this month because I’ve signed up to participate in April’s A to Z Blogging Challenge! For this month-long blog event, “A to Z” bloggers are challenged to write a blog post every week day for the month of April, with each day focusing on a letter in the alphabet (there are 26 weekdays in April and 26 letters…get it?). This particular blog challenge, founded by, typically garners more than 1,000 participants. I’ve been following “A to Z” for quite a few years, but I haven’t had the courage to sign up until now.
For my own sanity, each “A to Z” blog post won’t exceed 500 words. My main goals for participating in this challenge is to 1) interact more with you all and the rest of the blogging community, and to 2) simply have fun writing.
Today marks the April A to Z Theme Reveal Blogfest, in which “A to Z” bloggers finally announce the theme they will be adopting for the month of April. To make this experience more engaging, I decided to ask for help from you all on social media in helping me decide my theme. Here were the four options for themes that I asked you all to vote on:
- Flash fiction using prompts
- One long fiction story broken up into 26 blog posts
- Memories, or anecdotes from my childhood in the form of creative prose
- My 26 best writing and blogging tips (1 tip per blog post)
Without further ado, here is my theme for “Blogging From A to Z 2015”:
In another decade, I was an expert apple picker. Like my haircut? #throwback
Coming in with the highest number of votes, childhood memories was the most popular theme among the more than 30 people who provided their input! Single fiction story came in second, and flash fiction and writing tips tied for third.
In addition, here were just a few of the other ideas for themes people suggested:
- A to Z on acing college the first time around (while still having fun and looking good doing it)
- Combine them all!
- Do a frame story that includes elements of numbers 1 and 3 and your readers could try to guess if it really happened to you or not 2)
- Make 26 flash fictions that can stand alone, but also are a cohesive story if you read them all
Thanks to the A to Z blogging community and all of you – my readers – for all of the votes and and incredibly creative ideas and advice you shared with me! The four themes that I settled with were all ones that I felt like I’d be able to run with and enjoy writing about for a whole month. Now that my theme is out, I’m going to spend the last few days of March carefully sketching out my “A to Z” game plan. As I’m sure many of you know if you’re veterans of the challenge, writing 26 blog posts in a single month – again, every single week day – is nothing short of formidable, and it’s going to take a lot of hard work for me to pull it off.
Since this is year one for me, I know that I may not do everything perfectly this first time around – but I’m sure as hell going to do my very best. In the meantime, please let me know in comments down below if there are any particular childhood memories you’d like for me to talk about in upcoming “A to Z” posts in April. I need to brainstorm ideas and would love to know what y’all would want to read about!
Are you participating in “Blogging From A to Z” this year? Have you done it before? Let me know what your theme will be!
Glad you decided on a theme! Looking forward to reading your posts and learning your deepest childhood secrets!
Haha thanks so much Heather! I think childhood memories should be easier to write about, at least compared to some of the other possibilities ;) Looking forward to the Write on Sisters A to Z blog posts as well!
Aww, this should be a fun theme :) I am glad people voted for it.
@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary – Epics from A to Z
MopDog – The crazy thing about Hungarians…
Me too, quite honestly! :P A couple of the other options would have been much more challenging to do, like the long fiction story broken up into 26 chapters, or posts. Whew! Maybe next year lol. I think I’ll have fun with childhood memories.
Good luck with your challenge. =)
~Patricia Lynne~
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
Thanks so much, Patricia! About to head over to your blog and see what your theme reveal is ;)
What a great theme! I subscribed to your blog and I’m really looking forward to reading all of your posts and learning about you. Day by day.
This is our, http://www.thechinesequest.com first #AtoZchallenge and we are excited to participate!
Thanks, Mee! I guess we’re both making the leap and doing A to Z for the first time! Your blog is very unique; I’ll be sure to visit and see what your theme is :)
Good luck with your A-Z challenge! I’ve never actually been able to complete one of those in the allotted time. LOL! You’ll have fun and be amazing, I’m sure!
Aw, I appreciate the encouragement Elisabeth! I’m a little nervous about the prospect of having to blog *every* weekday during the month of April, but after years of watching other people participate in A to Z, I’m determined!
Wow. Good for you for giving this a shot, Wendy. I look forward to learning more about you this way! :)
Thanks Sara! We’ll see how all of this goes *crosses fingers*
What a cute idea to have others vote for what your theme would be for A/Z! Good one they picked too! I’m sure it was fun to remember the memories you are writing about! Enjoy the challenge!
betty
Thanks, Betty :) I wanted to make this blog event a little more interactive rather than just participants reading the whole time without having a part in shaping the experience, you know? I’m going to try and incorporate a giveaway as well this time around, just to keep it fun and exciting for everyone!
Look at that precious little girl! I’m hooked already on your theme!
Life & Faith in Caneyhead
I am Ensign B ~ One of Tremp’s Troops with the
A to Z Challenge
Thanks Barbara! <3
What an adorable and fun theme. Wow, you are going to put a lot into your post and still manage to keep them at or under 500 words. I like that. I wish I could write with such brevity. It takes true talent. I am looking forward to reading all of your post. I really liked your idea of having readers vote on your theme. Very creative, indeed.
I am having a little mystery game for my crime fiction theme. There will be weekly prizes for solving daily clues and a grand prize at the end of April for solving the big crime. I hope you will stop by.
http://fictiontoolbox.blogspot.com
Haha well that is the goal, but we’ll see how I actually do! Brevity is so important in good writing, but SO hard to achieve, especially when you’ve got word limits. And thank you! Like I mentioned above to Betty, I want A to Z on my blog to be interactive and fun for readers; I want to make them feel like they helped shape this experience :)
And the mystery game sounds so fun! I’ve never been that great at solving mysteries, but I’ll be sure to bookmark your blog! Checking it out now~
I had so much fun cruising around your site! The make-up challenge was very cute.
Love your idea for the theme. As far as suggestions…maybe a time you were lost or lost something, maybe a time you were scared?
I appreciate your kind words about the makeup challenge, Deb! That post took a lot more time and preparation with Andrew than I thought it would, but it was worth it! And I’m glad you like the theme. THANK YOU for your suggestion! I can’t really remember a time when I was lost, but I think I have just the memory for “losing something.” ;)
Hi Wendy,
Nice to be here today, The opening day of this years Challenge.
Glad to read your theme reveal. indeed this is a wonderful concept to write on!
Good selection of themes
Keep writing
I am Philip from
J L Campbell’s Joyful Brigade
Keep writing
Good Wishes for a Happy Blogging,
~ Phil