The April 2016 AtoZ Challenge was fun for me right from the start because my theme was:
The Fun in Writing.
Most of my articles were written ahead of time, with photographs attached. That done, I posted my theme on A to Z Theme Day and met some wonderful people who were also using specific themes for the 26 posting days of April.
Once my "
A is for" post went live on April 1st, I visited other sites. I discovered blog posts that were interesting and informative, along with colorful and fascinating photographs. An avid "Pinterest-er", I immediately began pinning my favorite sites and pictures. You can check the board here:
At about the N-O-P mark, I found it impossible to keep visiting the amount of sites I had set as a goal, but I look forward to reading many more of the posts over the next few months.
Never one to let a lack of time keep me from planning a new project, I decided to choose one blog post per day as my blue ribbon choice. It wasn't meant as a popularity contest for "favorite" or "ultimate" or "best dressed" but a choice made on content that
stuck with me or
struck like a lightning bolt in the moment, for whatever reason.
Following are my 26 Red Ribbon picks from A to Z
A is for Attack! First We Take Manhattan
One of the first sites I visited on April 1 was TOSSING IT OUT (no surprise, huh?) by Arlee Bird, the illustrious brainchild of the A to Z Challenge. Call "foul" if you must, but the featured songwriter, the song, and the videos in Arlee's first post gave the feeling that the rest of us were left to catch up (for the day.) Arlee's theme, MANHATTAN, drew me back to his site day after day.
Sarah Zuma at THE OLD SHELTER chose Jazz Age Jazz for her theme. I enjoyed many of her posts during April. Blues was the most succinct title for B-Day and my favorite post of the day.
C is for (Songs that begin with) C
John Holton's THE SOUND OF ONE HAND TYPING hooked me with his post for Day 3.
Along with his post, I chose Can't Buy Me Love by the Beatles as my favorite song for the day.
Damyanti Biswas's theme for AtoZChallenge was the non-profit
Project Why. She described Cat Didi as a super Ambassador for Project Why. (Didi is the term younger siblings in India use to address their elder sister.)
What drew my attention in Shilpa Garg's A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE! was her word to the wise meme. I even had to tweet it! For her theme, Shilpa chose Cultivating Happiness.
F is for Friends http://thetintrunk.com/ This post by Sarah Vanshi at THE TIN TRUNK gave me goosebumps (chills) as I read through the article. She was so subtle when revealing the punchline of her story that I had to read it twice before believing what she'd said.
G is for Girl Teams http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com/ Okay, I suppose you won't believe I didn't choose by the blog title.
But Zalka Csenge Virág, Storyteller from Hungary, offered excellent reading choices today and one in particular caught my attention. (Check it out!)
H is for Helicopter Ride Over Kauai
http://playoffthepage.com/2016/04/h-is-for-helicopter-ride-over-kauai/ I've always been afraid to take a helicopter ride over any of the Hawaiian Islands, so I am deriving my enjoyment from
Mary Aalgaard's photographs on PLAY OFF THE PAGE.
I is for Ice Cream https://thewhitescape.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/i-ice-cream/ (My Writing Workshop) and
https://olduvaireads.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/atozchallenge-i-is-for-ice-cream-sandwich/#comment-9103 (Olduvai Reads). Ding-ling-ling! Ding-ling-ling!
Two people chose Ice Cream as their topic for I-Day (at least, two that I came across.) My love for ice cream is double that of most any other "sweet" that isn't made of chocolate, so it seems fair to choose two blue ribbon winners for today.
J is for Jurassic Park http://ptdilloway.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-to-z-challenge-jurassic-park.html For entertainment value, Michael Crichton never let me down. And the movies spun off from the novel are my idea of eye candy! I could watch those dinosaurs all day!
K is for Krli-Q and Knightsbridge https://kincavelkorner.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/a-z-challenge-k-is-for-krli-q-and-knightsbridge/ KINCAVEL KORNER writes of Lady Kell of Kincavel. I felt "kompelled" to choose this for K-Day!
L is for Love http://truestorieshonestlies.blogspot.com/2016/04/l-is-for-love.html
This post on the blogsite TRUE STORIES, HONEST LIES contains an excellent article for speakers about loving your audience and connecting with the people through love and understanding. As a never-ending struggling member-speaker of Toastmasters, I found this advice warmed my heart.
M is for Mango http://unrulednote.blogspot.in/2016/04/i-dont-know-if-this-one-counts-for-poem.html Ah, memories of mangoes from the unruled notebook in prose poem style. It has everything rolled into one short entry. Perfect.
N is for Nose Jobs http://theartofnotgettingpublished.blogspot.com/2016/04/n-is-for-nose-jobs.html
Some of the details in this article actually made me cringe. That definitely deserves a blue ribbon! Thank you to Susan Brody at THE ART OF NOT GETTING PUBLISHED for an article well researched and written.
O is for Observe http://ellasedge.blogspot.com/2016/04/o-is-for-observe.html As the stress of working on all my projects for April started to take its toll, I stopped to read the post on ELLA'S EDGE and felt myself relax. At that point, I decided to enjoy each hour and let everything fall into place naturally. Blue ribbon posts deserve blue ribbon awards!
P is for People https://thebookwranglerreviews.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/p-is-for-people/
THE BOOK WRANGLER intrigued me because the actions in this post are so not me. If I were sitting next to a family on a train, I would have my nose buried in a book, not discussing the book. I know, I need to change!
Q is for Quebec National Historic Site Fortifications http://www.yellowmellowlife.com/fortifications-of-quebec-national-historic-site/
I love all history of old Quebec and Bhawna from YELLOW MELLOW LIFE has posted some fascinating history and photographs of the area. But what captured my attention was the comment that after Britain invaders took over Quebec they finished building the wall to protect the city from the Americans. Sound familiar?
R is for Reviews
http://www.melissasugarwrites.com/2016/04/the-truth-about-amazon-reviews-how-to.html
Melissa Sugar over at HAVE YOU HEARD posted an enlightening guideline for book reviewers that is not only a tutorial for those who have questions about how to submit a review, but is also a great benefit for authors who are unable to express these same thoughts themselves. (Not saying I'm in that latter category, or anything.)
S is for School Days http://smidgensbitsandsnippets.blogspot.com/2016/04/school-days-school-days.html?showComment=1461322201771#c5511099367219362156
This is my favorite post today because it brought back pleasant memories of my much younger years in grade school. Thank you to Paula and her SMIDGENS, SNIPPETS, AND BITS.
T is for Truth https://architar.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/truths/ Apparently, this prose poem by Archita on A JOURNEY CALLED LIFE was just what I needed to read at that moment. It captured my attention with the first line.
U is for Under the Surface https://amywilloughbyburle.com/2016/04/25/u-is-for-under-the-surface/ This topic from Amy Willoughby-Burle struck a strong chord with me. My genealogy research sometimes crosses over into my novel writing. Getting into the hearts and souls of the people who populate the plot is one of the most entertaining parts of writing. (That was an accidental alliteration; so was that!)
V is for Vinyl Records http://justmeandrandomstuff.blogspot.com/2016/04/v-vinyl-records.html JUST ME AND RANDOM STUFF Yikes, the memories! I had a stack of vinyls as tall as me! Country Outlaws: every Waylon album; R&R, Elvis since Blue Hawaii and G.I. Blues; The Beatles, Ricky Nelson, Brenda Lee . . .
W is for Writing Groups https://writerszenblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/w-writing-groups/ I agree with Trisha Faye at WRITER'S ZEN BLOG that a writer's group enhances an author's life. My regret for the day was that I didn't think to write about my writer's group: Waikiki Word Wranglers!
X is for Xenophilia http://bev-thebevelededge.blogspot.com/2016/04/x-is-for-xenophilia.html My attraction to this post in THE BEVELED EDGE was that, while it was about yoga, it didn't require me to do yoga. Xenophilia is an attraction toward foreign countries, peoples and cultures.
Y is for Yes http://storydam.com/2016/04/29/writing-tips-y-is-for-yes/ The advice at STORM DAM
(Everyone has a story . . . what's holding yours back?) is to say YES rather than cowering behind an immediate "no". Sometimes you do want to leap before you look.
Y is also for Young Adult Books at GIRL WHO READS.
http://www.girl-who-reads.com/2016/04/y-is-for-young-adult-books-atozchallenge.html I admit my choice is based on the photo of the girl wearing "tennie-runners" (yes, that's what we called them) in black and white. It also contains a great listing of YA novels.
Z is for Zebra Birthday Cakes http://www.moonrisemusing.blogspot.com/2016/04/zebra-birthday-cakes.html Several people chose Zebra as their Z-Day topic and it is always a joy to see zebras. But the set of pictures on MIDWEEK MUSINGS tickled me pink.
I'll be tweeting the above links in June . . . just for the fun of it.
If you add your link to the Post a Comment section below, I will visit and tweet your site also!
American Pain by John
Temple has a 2015 copyright. In it, the author lays bare the facts about pain clinics
and “pill mills” in the United States. Addressed are the loopholes that led to
the widespread use of oxycodone and the brand-name drug OxyContin, in Florida
and Kentucky, and around the nation. Meet users and abusers and losers. But
don’t jump to any conclusions about “druggies” just yet.
