Incredibly, we’ve somehow made it all the way (almost) to the end of March already, which means the A-Z April Challenge is mere hours away. And if that’s not mind-blowing enough, they’ve changed the way they’re getting everyone together this year! Yes, gone is the Linky list (because who needed 2,000 participants easily found in one place) and now, to confuse us all, they’ve decided to go all SoCS style on our asses. Which would be wonderful if only the A-Z Challenge was on a WordPress account… but it’s on Blogger!
So every day we’re to go to their daily post and drop our link in the comments, and look around for other blogs to visit. It’s gonna be a free-for-all! Yay!
Ahem. Where was I?
Oh yes. I’ve decided to participate again this year because self-flagellation extra work is good for me. That, and I miss writing. Seriously, I do. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m at such a loss in the creation department that I’ve started colouring. Colouring!! (Colouring is fun! 😀 But it ain’t working my author muscles.) So I’m doing it. Come rain or shine, flood or drought, high water or hell, I’m going to write a post every day this month except Sundays if it kills me. Because you know what? It’s not even just the writing I miss. I miss you guys!
Are you ready then to find out what my theme is going to be? Are you? Are you sure?
You’re going to have to look at the banner first:
Okay, that took me ten minutes. Is the drum roll almost finished?
My A to Z Theme for 2017 will be…
…
…
RANDOM AGAIN!
I had so much fun with my thesaurus a couple of years ago that I’ve chosen to do it again. This year, when I open my thesaurus to a page with the letter of the day, I’ll write a post based on the word listed second from the bottom, on the right-hand page, in the left-hand column. No exceptions. For those of you who are also playing along, I’ll choose a word to match the letter of the day that the Stream of Consciousness Saturdays of the month fall on. They are:
April 1 – A
April 8 – G
April 15 – M
April 22 – S
April 29 – Y
That’s that then! If you’re joining in on the torture fun this year, let me know in the comments and I’ll make sure to visit you.
Let’s do this thing!!
April 11, 2017 at 4:49 am
My theme is similar but I used a random word generator to give me words. I was ahead of myself with posts scheduled through to K but not sure how much further I will get – my grandson decided to put in an appearance 11 weeks early. Helping out my daughter and her wife and visiting the hospital isn’t leaving me a lot of spare time!
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April 11, 2017 at 10:38 pm
Congratulations, Wendy! That’s awesome. 😀 I think it’s fair to let the A to Z slide for the sake of a new member of the family! 😀
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April 2, 2017 at 4:54 am
I did the A-Z challenge a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, despite being a new blogger at the time!
This year I am feeling a bit bereft as I have not signed up for ANY April challenges!
I look forward to seeing what you come up with Linda, I know it will be
enjoyable as always 🙂
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April 3, 2017 at 6:34 pm
Thanks, Judy. 🙂 You’ve always got SoCS! 😀
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April 4, 2017 at 2:41 am
I know, and I love that! 🙂
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April 1, 2017 at 6:24 am
This seems rather complicated, so I might just add the badge to posts anyway and carry on as usual. I’ve only just finished my own self imposed month of daily posting and didn’t realise this was coming up again so soon, but I’m always up for a challenge.
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April 1, 2017 at 10:16 am
Yay! 🙂
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March 31, 2017 at 1:55 pm
Good luck and congrats on doing another A to Z. I realized that such commitments turn to angst and freeze me. So, no A to Z! Grand plans in my mind, but knowing it would just be well, not the thing to do.
Glad to read how many folks are participating — lots of interesting posts no doubt.
Colouring is actually alright — I have some fancy colouring books (Art Deco) and do find it helps when the words have flown — like mine have now. Waiting for spring migration and hopefully the words will return with the warblers.
Wishing you all the best — you will produce awesome posts!
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March 31, 2017 at 6:43 pm
Thanks, Lorraine. 🙂 Ah, I do hope the words and the birds come back together. Words on wings! 😀
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April 1, 2017 at 12:55 am
I hope so too! Good luck with your thesauraus.
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April 1, 2017 at 10:17 am
Haha! Yeah, I hope it behaves nicely and doesn’t give me any dirty words to work with. 😛
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March 31, 2017 at 1:38 pm
Hi Linda. This will be my third, but hopefully most successful swipe at the A to Z. I have been working overtime to send out Twitter teasers to my theme trying to get readers interested.
The Steel Horse Saviors is a story about three civil war veterans who head west in 1866 with their Steam Locomotive to seek their fortune. They encounter a beautiful redhead trying desperately to save her family business.
Joe @ the Fiction Playground visiting from the A to Z Challenge
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March 31, 2017 at 6:45 pm
Hi Joe. 🙂 Sounds like an interesting story. I published my A-Z from three years back. Fun exercise.
I look forward to reading your story. 🙂
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March 31, 2017 at 10:47 am
I glanced at your post this morning and started making all these grand plans in my head about posting every day again and for the exact same reasons you mention, but then, I don’t know. My life is still up and down right now so it probably isn’t the best timing.
Quick side note: I discovered coloring in the hospital while waiting. It is extremely therapeutic and I had forgotten how much I actually love it. 😉
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March 31, 2017 at 6:48 pm
Colouring is SO therapeutic. You can’t think about anything else when you’re doing it. 🙂
I may actually not make it all the way through the month since life’s a bit crazy, but I feel like I have to try. If I don’t at least do that, I’ll have failed for sure.
But you know your limitations! What’s important is that you’re well, my friend. ❤
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March 31, 2017 at 7:09 pm
Things are good, thank god. Good luck to you! 😘
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March 31, 2017 at 8:34 pm
Wonderful, Helen. 🙂 Thank you! ❤
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March 31, 2017 at 10:32 am
I am kind of laying low with respect to some of the weekly themes. So no more challenges for me for now 🙂 But Good Luck, Linda! All the very best!
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March 31, 2017 at 6:49 pm
I’d noticed that! I hope all is well with you, my dear.
Thanks very much. I’m going to need all the luck I can get! 😛
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March 31, 2017 at 9:56 am
Welcome back to another April Challenge. Can’t understand why so many people seem to have trouble commenting on Blogger. But now with the new WP simulcast blog those troubles should be ended. Now we can think up new problems.
Have fun with A to Z!
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
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March 31, 2017 at 6:50 pm
Thanks very much, Arlee! 🙂
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March 31, 2017 at 9:50 am
Wonderful! I like random the best, and will be looking for your posts. Mine will be random music videos, but the Mystery Box Chickens will be back for an encore this year. 🙂
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March 31, 2017 at 6:51 pm
Cool! I look forward to reading your A to Z too, Barbara. 🙂
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March 31, 2017 at 9:18 am
Hi Linda, I’m also doing the A-Z again this year, and have also had issues trying to link up my theme reveal post on Blogger, but I think I’ll just do my own thing and forget about trying to link up each individual post every day – too much headache. Here’s my theme post for this year’s challenge… day one tomorrow! 🙂
https://imageandword.wordpress.com/tag/a-z-challenge/
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March 31, 2017 at 8:43 pm
Cool! Glad to hear you’re joining in again this year, Ruth. 🙂 And no worries about the linking, apparently. They’ve set up a WP account for A to Z. I wasn’t aware of it when I posted. Here’s the link: http://atozchallenge.wordpress.com Hopefully I’ll see you there! 😀
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March 31, 2017 at 8:11 am
I got to the end of the diving board last year, but turned around and crawled back down the ladder. Couldn’t do it, couldn’t post every day. Good luck to you. Random suits me fine, I like random. AGMSY seems like it should be a word. I’n looking forward to the SoCS prompts.
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March 31, 2017 at 8:49 pm
Thanks, Dan. 🙂 I actually thought the same thing when I saw AGMSY. Can’t figure out what it could possibly mean though. 😛
Hope you have fun with the SoCS prompts – I look forward to your posts. 😀
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March 31, 2017 at 5:50 am
I’m doing it again this year! I already have through M drafted, so I’m ahead. I’m doing a serial story this year.
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March 31, 2017 at 8:54 pm
Cool! I’d love to do another one of those, but I’m afraid I don’t have the head for it this year. I look forward to reading yours! I hope I can keep up. 🙂
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March 31, 2017 at 5:03 am
That sounds like fun. I am a big fan of dictionaries, so looking forward to read about what you found.
Eva – Mail Adventures
#AtoZchallenge: Postcards.
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March 31, 2017 at 8:59 pm
Thanks, Eva. 🙂 I’m looking forward to yours too. I love postcards. ❤
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March 31, 2017 at 2:53 am
Interesting theme. Looking forward for the challenge to start 🙂
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March 31, 2017 at 9:02 pm
Thank you, Bernadette. 🙂 I’m looking forward to it too!
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March 31, 2017 at 2:19 am
Great that you’ve decided to be a part of the challenge. Me too will be there.
https://radhikasreflection.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/theme-reveal-for-the-a-to-z-challenge/
see you tomorrow! Good luck Linda 🙂
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March 31, 2017 at 9:04 pm
Good luck to you too! Thanks for stopping by and leaving your link. 😀
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March 31, 2017 at 1:42 am
Good Luck Linda!
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March 31, 2017 at 9:05 pm
Thanks, Ritu. 🙂
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March 31, 2017 at 12:17 am
It takes me at least ten minutes to add the damned, I mean blessed, widget every year. Good gravy, I bout go mad!
I’m DELIGHTED you’re playing, because I was counting on you for my SOCS! Please, please, please! Save me one day a week! Thank you so much! I am grateful!
Random is where it’s at for me, and I dunno if I can be troubled to link the link… really, on that OTHER platform? LOL Send me strength and I’ll send you assorted coloring pages.
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March 31, 2017 at 9:19 pm
Thanks to John Holton, the link’s easy! http://atozchallenge.wordpress.com is the place to go. It’ll be as easy as ping. 😀 Hope you like my SoCS prompts. 😉
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March 31, 2017 at 9:23 pm
And we link to that daily?
I may not always LIKE your prompts, but they always, always work, Linda, and I am always grateful!
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March 31, 2017 at 9:39 pm
Yes, link daily. Just like JusJoJan. 😀
Awww, you’re welcome, my dear. 🙂
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March 30, 2017 at 11:25 pm
All that hard work yesterday, and you haven’t seen http://atozchallenge.wordpress.com? We’re now simulcasting on WordPress! And you can leave your link on either blog… or you can pingback on WordPress. Go have a look!
I’m fed up with Blogger, too, especially after trying to leave comments using my WP account and my OpenID just to prove it could be done. Turns out, it can’t, not on the Challenge blog, not on my simulcast blog … I gave Google some tersely-worded feedback on their commenting system. But the rest of the team loves their Blogger…
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March 30, 2017 at 11:47 pm
No, I didn’t see it! I’ve been trying to post my link to the theme reveal post since I published this! Ugh! I hope they’ll advertise the WP blog every day.
Thanks so much, John. 😀
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March 31, 2017 at 2:52 am
Yay, Now no more commenting hassles.
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March 31, 2017 at 1:34 pm
Commenting on Blogger works fine *IF* you use your Google account. None of the other options (LiveJournal, AIM, OpenID, or WordPress) seem to work anymore, probably Google’s subtle approach to get people to open a Google account.
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March 31, 2017 at 6:46 pm
Sometimes it works, sometimes it absolutely refuses. Weird.
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April 1, 2017 at 2:44 pm
They probably have some code written somewhere that says to reject all comments made by WordPress bloggers, and they turn it on and off at inopportune moments.
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March 30, 2017 at 11:25 pm
Since I do so much better with a prompt, I’ll play!
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March 30, 2017 at 11:48 pm
Yay! See John Holton’s comment (should be just above yours for a better link to the challenge.
See you in the AtoZ, Dar!
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March 31, 2017 at 12:07 am
Thanks!
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March 30, 2017 at 11:07 pm
They changed my letters again.i meant, a, b, c, etc.
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March 30, 2017 at 11:06 pm
Loved this post, very funny! I thought it was just wring posts beginning wit the letters or having the subject begin with b, so wrote two last month to prepare. But idk exactly, so think I’m in over my head😳Glub, glub, glub
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March 31, 2017 at 9:21 pm
You can now go to http://atozchallenge.wordpress.com and ping back your A to Z entries. It’ll be as easy as SoCS. Yay! Looking forward to your posts!
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March 31, 2017 at 11:13 pm
Thank you. Tried earlier but no luck.This time it worked🤞🏻😄
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