2015 April A to Z Blogging Challenge

The 2015 April A to Z Blogging Challenge has been both inspiration and tyranny. And I’m going to miss it.

Writing every day, except Sundays, has been interfering with my progress on Dead and Gone, the second novel in my Sci-Fi/Murder Mystery series. But I’d be lying if I said I haven’t enjoyed the daily distraction.

Using the alphabet as a prompt has been really useful. Last year I had more trouble thinking of topics that fit the daily letter. Maybe I tried too hard. This year has been no trouble at all.

Also, this year I was willing to use quotes from Murder on Ceres for three of the days – R, S, and T. Last year I felt each day should be something completely original. Not a reprise of something I wrote before.

And the best difference was that I didn’t end up in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy, like last year. Emergency appendectomy? What other kind of appendectomy am I likely to have? And once having had it, it’s unlikely I’d have another.

Clear thinking equals clear writing, right? Right.

The best part of the blogging challenge is reading other people’s blog posts. The organizers suggested we read at least five other blogs each day, starting with those right around us on the sign-up list.

It took me a few days to find my friend and fellow William Bernhardt writing student Sabrina Fish. But find her I did, and glad to see her at that.

I feel like I’ve found a new friend in the Retired Librarian from Scotland. Her daily list of valuable things about a library reminded me of the Edmond Public Library in Edmond, Oklahoma, my own favorite library. And her quotes from people whose names started with the letter of the day sent me back to some writers I’ve long loved, but hadn’t read in a while – Archibald MacLeish, Lemony Snicket, and more. Oh yes, and Carl Sagan whom I keep close in my thoughts and on my bedside table.

There was the blogger who is a Rockies Fan so I know he either is now or sometime in the past has been a neighbor of mine. And the young woman in India who so beautifully describes places I had not known I would like to see. And the Daily Ghost Post from Storytelling Matters.

And. And. And so many more!

So, 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge – how was it for me? Good! Very Good! How was it for you?