A TO Z CHALLENGE REFLECTIONS POST

     This was my third A to Z Challenge and probably my favorite so far.  I got to not only play historian, but to get creative too.  It wasn't always easy to come up with 21st-century cultural memes that had 16th-century analogues, but I managed.  I guess my underlying goal was to help make people realize that life on Earth has been around for a very long time, that 500 years is just the blink of an eye, and that people who lived in the 1500's thought and felt and dreamed and schemed very much like people of the 21st century do.  It was an incredibly innovative time, bringing huge advances in science, communications, philosophy and the arts that changed the world every bit as much as the Internet has done for you and me.
     But of course, the satisfaction I derived from my own blog posts is only a part of what the A to Z Challenge is about.  The real genius of the Challenge is its focus on interactivity - discovering new blogs and bloggers, reading and commenting on their posts, replying to their comments on your posts.  Because as fascinating as it is for me to discover 16th-century people I'd never heard of, it's maybe even a little better to discover some new contemporaries who love to blog as much as I do.  The Challenge, at its heart, is about creating and sustaining a supportive community, and that's a really wonderful goal.  So once again, I'll thank Yvonne Ventresca, my friend and the very talented author of the Crystal-Kite-winning YA novel PANDEMIC and the forthcoming YA thriller, BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES, due out in October (I can't wait!)  Among the many ways Yvonne has always supported me and my writing career, she was the one who first told me about the A to Z Challenge and encouraged me to participate.  And I want to thank the A to Z founders, hosts, minions and participants for making the month of April so exciting and rewarding!  I'm very proud to be part of this annual adventure.

WOULD YOU CONSIDER AN A TO F CHALLENGE?

     So I signed up for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge - third year in a row.  A pledge to produce 26 blog posts in the month of April, one every day except Sundays, tripping lightly through the alphabet.  And I have my theme, and I love my theme.  But it's March 9th, and so far I haven't gotten past the letter B.
     As I learned from previous challenges, prewriting at least some of your posts is essential.  There's just no way to be able to commit to spending several hours every night, six nights a week, for a month, composing posts.  Life gets in the way.  It's best to prewrite as many posts as you can, as early as you can, so all you have to do on the designated day is hit "publish," sit back, and bask in your glorious productivity.
     Right.  So, as I said, I just finished prewriting my post for B.  The topic I've chosen is requiring a lot more research per post than I was anticipating.  Not going to tell you what my theme is because that's what Theme Reveal Day (March 21st) is for - duh - and if you forced me to reveal my theme before the appointed day, I would unquestionably have to kill you.  But trust me, it's a good theme.  The best thing about it, from my viewpoint, is that it involves a lot of things I don't know much about, so it satisfies my curiosity.  The worst thing about it is that it involves a lot of things I don't know much about, so it requires me to spend a lot of time - time I apparently don't have - researching and writing.
     So I have a modest proposal.  What would be so terrible about an A to F Challenge?  Six perfectly reasonable letters serving as the catalysts to six delightful and leisurely posts?  Who are They to tell me that's not good enough, not challenging enough?  Go ahead, Challenge Police, do your worst.  I ain't afeard.  In truth, I'm thinking primarily of you, the Reader.  The last thing I want is to do is overload your poor brain with more information than it can absorb.  Let's face it: you have enough stress in your life already.  Do I seem like the kind of person who would want to add to it?
     So HA HA HA.  Here it is only March 9th, and I'm already 1/3 done!  I ROCK!!!
     Now, on to C...