I've been on the fence as to whether to participate in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge. Then, lying in bed last night at 3am while trying to get back to sleep (because I have a dog with a four hour bladder that has to pee in the middle of every darn night), I realized it really bugged me to skip a year. I've been doing this challenge since 2013. Did I really want to break my streak now? Now, when my word for the year is speak? No, sir, I did not. So while I won't promise to return every visit, I'll do my best to be as social as possible with what time I have available.
Deciding factors in the decision to participate:
• Missing a year did really, really irk me.
• My elderly mother in law is doing much better after three weeks in a physical rehab center and is back living in her home. I'm still on high alert on her care, but she's in amazingly good spirits (like happier than I've seen her in the twenty-two years I've known her) so we'll see how it goes.
• I don't currently have any scheduled author appearances in April, though I need to prep for a big one (Penguicon) in May.
• A Broken Race has been redesigned and formatting on the ebook is nearly done for the re-release.
• Destiny Pills & Space Wizards is print ready other than the inside illustrations that I'm waiting on from my daughter. Guilt tripping mom time!
• I finally received edits on Trust, but have yet to open that file. Look at me procrastinating.
• The two author events I'm organizing this summer are moving along. One is almost filled so I can get to work on the table layout and marketing. The other is still in the sign up phase, though that deadline is in April so that may suck some of my time.
• The more I tried to talk myself out of doing it, ideas for blog posts kept popping into my head. Thanks, stupid manipulative subconscious mind.
So there. I'm doing it.
And the theme is.... All about writing with a smattering of marking tips and bits about my books.
Why? In working with my local writing group and considering all I observed at the writing workshop I was on a couple panels for recently, I discovered that there is a ton of knowledge about writing that I assumed everyone knew, but sadly, that is not at all true. So this April, we're going to cover an array of things, some of which may seem basic, or not, depending on where you are in your writing journey.
There you have it. I hope to see you in April. Good luck and happy writing.
