April

My Plan for April

Fandango16 Comments

As you know, I’m unofficially participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April. My plan is to publish my A to Z posts at 6:00 am Pacific time, every day of the month except for the first four Sundays. Doing so will take a lot of time and effort. And unlike some of my fellow bloggers who have already written all or most of their 26 A to Z posts, I haven’t yet started my first one.

That said, here’s my plan for the month:

  • post my daily FOWC with Fandango one-word prompt every morning at 12:01 am Pacific time, as usual.
  • post my Flash Fiction Challenge prompt on Monday mornings at 3:00 am Pacific time, as usual.
  • post my Story Starter prompt on Tuesday mornings at 3:00 am Pacific time, as usual.
  • either suspend my Provocative Question post for the month, or repost previous Provocative Question posts on Wednesday mornings at 3:00 am, as I will be spending a lot of time doing my A to Z posts and may not have time to come up with new provocative questions. Note: if anyone wants to stand in for me for the Provocative Questions posts on the four Wednesdays in April, let me know.
  • post my Flashback Friday post on Friday mornings at 3:00 am Pacific time, as usual.
  • if I receive any interesting, funny, weird, unique, or outrageous spam comments during the week, I will post my Spam of the Week post on Sunday mornings at around 6:30 am.
  • I will try to participate in as many of my usual prompts from other bloggers during the month as time permits.

So blog-wise, that’s what I’m planning for next month. And you know what they say about best-laid plans, right?

AtoZ 2021 Theme Reveal

Fandango28 Comments

In a few weeks I will be commencing my fourth AtoZ Challenge. This is an annual blogging event that occurs each year during the month of April. April has 30 days. Four days in April are Sundays. The English alphabet has 26 letters. Conveniently, if you exclude Sundays, April has 26 days.

Okay, now that we’ve gotten the math out of the way, the idea behind the April AtoZ Challenge is to post every day during the month for this challenge (except for the four Sundays) leveraging the alphabet. So on April 1st, the post should incorporate the letter A. On April 2nd, the letter B, and so on until April 30th, when the post should focus on the letter Z. Get it? Got it. Good.

The purpose of this post is to reveal my theme for your AtoZ Challenge this year. FYI, there are a number of preset categories (or themes) for this challenge that are available when you sign up, which you can do by clicking here. You can choose any theme you’d like, or if you’re like me and don’t want to get pigeonholed into a particular category for your posts because you’re spontaneous and don’t know what the hell you will be posting for this challenge until that same day, you can, as I did, choose “Other and Miscellaneous.” So, in essence, my theme/category is “this, that, and the other.”

Anyway, I encourage you to consider participating in this month-long, alphabetized challenge. It’s fun and, in case you’re going through a case of writer’s block, it gives you something to write about. Just be sure to practice your alphabet and remember to not post for this challenge on Sundays in April.

Return of the WordPress Daily Prompt

Fandango22 Comments

323410D7-DDD3-4DDA-AD37-423EC51FBD4CWordPress is bringing back its Daily Prompt, at least for the month of April. According to this post, starting tomorrow, WordPress will be sharing daily writing prompts over at Discover throughout April.

Why is WordPress resurrecting it’s Daily Prompt? Well, because WordPress says that,

The past few weeks have been tough and painful for many of us. They also showed us that regardless of where we live or how radically our lives have changed because of COVID-19, expressing ourselves and connecting with others can help us navigate difficult times.

So, in case you missed this, I wanted to pass this on to you.

Theme Reveal

Fandango23 Comments

42622C3C-9797-4F89-9DC4-A3E3771A3E0CPromise you won’t laugh at me, okay? Starting next month, I will be participating for the second year in a row in the annual A to Z Challenge. What’s that, you ask? Well, you’ve come to the right place.

It’s really very simple. You start on April 1st by publishing a post with a topic beginning with the letter “A,” and post each day of the month, except for Sundays, all the way to the letter “Z” on April 30th.

Here is where you can find badges and the sign up sheets for the challenge. I hope you will consider participating. It really is a lot of fun.

One aspect of the A to Z Challenge is the opportunity to declare a theme. This theme can be anything from horror, sci-fi, humor, fantasy, photography, politics, mental health — well, you get it — anything.

But I’m not really a planner. My blog is a rather spontaneous, makeshift affair. I have, therefore made the bold decision to not declare a theme for my A to Z Challenge posts. I will wing it, waking up each day during April to come up with an appropriate post topic for the letter of the day.

That said, I will try to maintain fidelity to my mission statement for my blog: to write posts that reflect my personal observations and perspectives on life, society, and politics, and to, where appropriate, to infuse my posts with humor.

If you’re interested in reading any of my A to Z Challenge posts from last year, just go to where I list my “Topics of Interest” listing on my blog and click on the “A to Z Challenge” link.

Written for these daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (laugh), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (makeshift), Ragtag Daily Prompt (bold), and Your Daily Word Prompt (fidelity).

I’m Just Not That Into You

Fandango21 Comments

02D82B19-3E02-48EB-935B-67C8174867F9Dear October,

This letter is really hard for me to write, but I want you to know that it’s not you, it’s me. When we were first introduced, I was hoping that we might fall for each other, but I don’t see that happening and I think it might be best if I leave.

I know you have a lot to offer. I love your weather, it’s close to perfect. And, of course, you’re so colorful; I must admit that you look stunningly beautiful at this time of year. And as a sports fan, October, I have to say that you’re unsurpassed. Baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Wow!

That said, October, there are certain characteristics of yours that I’m not particularly fond of. First of all, what is this fascination you have with gourds, especially pumpkins? Omigod, October, can’t tell you how much I dislike pumpkins. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, pumpkin jam, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin ice cream. Ew, ew, and ew. Enough already with you goddam pumpkins, October.

And you are so high maintenance, October. I feel like I’m always having to clean up after you. Week after week I have to rake you in and as soon as I’m done getting you back under control, we have a blow up and I have to start from scratch again. It’s downright tedious.

And then there’s Halloween. Seriously, October, who’s crazy idea was that? All of these ghosts and goblins, monsters and vampires? And what’s the deal with all of these scary movies you want me to take you to when you’re not dragging me off to one of your kinky costume parties. Of course, October, when you wear your sexy Elvira outfit….

But I digress. Listen, October, it seems that all of my friends are sharing scary stories and those tales are giving me nightmares. And then on Halloween night there are all those little rugrats out trick or treating, ringing my doorbell every two or three minutes, begging for candy corn and fun-size Snickers. That’s so annoying.

But the icing on the carrot cake, October, is that you always seem to give me the cold shoulder as soon as your friend November shows up. November puts a damper on everything.

So I’m sorry, October. I know we’ve only been together for a short time, but it’s just not going to work out. You’re may be great for others, but I’m just not that into you. I do hope you understand. Besides, I’ve actually started taking quite a shine to April. She has a lot of spring in her step, you know?