The A to Z Blog Challenge Begins

MONDAY, APRIL 1st:  The Letter "A"

A to Z Challenge

I couldn't resist. When Rebecca Bradley, a crime novel writer I "met" during NaNoWriMo 2010, blogged that she was going to do this month-long blog challenge...well, off I went. I was the 1,103rd person to sign up (there are now 1,759) and here I am, on the first of April, wondering if I've lost my mind yet again.

Why did I sign up for it? I asked myself a few times over the past two weeks. The answer was easy, even if the execution of the month month of blogging didn't sound easy. But, hey, I'm just finishing another Deepak Chopra 21-Day Meditation Challenge, so why not?

And, I had been wanting, intending and even planning to go back to regular blogging. Not because I believe I have particularly wonderful things to say to the world at this time--I just wanna finish my novel!--but because I like the focus that the various challenges, courses and on-line projects I've done over the past two years bring to my writing life. So why not?

This blog, ReedWrites, is about my writing life. Which is actually, though filled with fits and starts over the past two years while I wasn't blogging, going pretty well. I am liking it and more determined than ever that this is what I do. I simply want to do it more and better--and think this challenge can be one more good way to do what I love to do and add another good habit at the same time.

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge, which you can read about here, asks two simple questions: Can you post every day except Sundays during the month of April? And, can you blog thematically from A to Z while you do it? (In a happy coincidence, most Aprils, with Sundays subtracted, have 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet.)

Using this premise, then, today is April 1st and I am beginning with the letter A and it's something related to my theme which, very loosely, is "my writing life". I thought about choosing "Attention", which is something I struggle with endlessly, but it was too convenient to simply begin with the A to Z Challenge title itself to get myself fired up. And so I did. And now I am.

The point for me, like so many things in life, is simply to do it. So I am doing it. Not making a big deal about it, just setting a timer and telling myself I'll write till the bell rings and it ought to be under 500 words. The rules say it doesn't even have to be a word to meet the qualification--it can be a proper noun, the day's letter used as a symbol, or the letter itself.  Latitude. I like latitude. It's good for Attitude. It's only the first and I've got a good Attitude.

Oops, there's the bell. Day 1, Letter A, job done. Thanks for reading! Oh, yeah, one more thing...

The ulterior motive disclaimer: It's common wisdom that authors need an on-line presence and ought to get more followers to that presence. So, if you arrived here, you're qualified! Please feel free to Share, Tweet, Follow, Sign-up or click on whatever button in the right-hand column strikes your fancy. With my gratitude and a deep bow.