What's Next?

May 3rd A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post

        As the A to Z Challenge winds down I'm sure that many of us are thinking about WHAT'S NEXT?   The most immediate thing on my mind, and I hope on yours as well, is the May 3rd A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post.  I think most of you are aware of this, but if anyone has missed what this is then I will once again explain.  On Monday May 3rd we are hoping to have anyone who would like to join us, challenge participant or not, to post their thoughts about the A to Z Challenge.  Just tell the rest of us how you felt about it:   How it helped you or hindered you, what you liked or didn't like, your favorite posts or blogs--anything the you would like to say about this challenge and if you would like to do it again some time in the future.

       Now I am not a very technological sort, but hopefully I've correctly installed a McLinky in my Side bar that also has a Blog Hop feature.  From the way I understand this, if you will be participating in the May 3rd Mega Post then enter your information onto the list, which will open Sunday May 2nd, and if you would like you can add the same McLinky so it will appear on your blog with the same information.  Theoretically all participants should be able to hop from one blog to the next to see what is being said in the Mega Post.  If I don't have this right then please let me know.  Those of you with McLinky Blog Hop experience may want to check what I've done and let me know if I got it right or need to fix it.  You should be able to add your name to the list until May 5th to account for any stragglers.  I'm looking forward to learning some new things about blogging and hearing some fun stories on Monday May 3rd.

And After the Mega Post?

         What's next for me?   It's back to what I was trying to do before this Challenge suddenly flew into my life.  I plan to continue to post daily on my regular schedule at least until September 20th, which will be my first blog anniversary, after which I will have to reassess whether or not I want to keep up a daily schedule.  I want to at least be able to brag say that I blogged everyday for one full year.

          I will try my best to continue visiting the blogs I follow and commenting on them.  As you are well aware this is a daunting and time consuming effort that can interfere with other projects, but I do want to maintain my contacts with all of you.  Of course, I will always try to acknowledge those who comment on my posts first, so I hope you will try to stay with me as well.

         Then I have my father's autobiography that I was supposed to compile back in January.  This is a project that became delayed when I "lost" the manuscript.  I finally found it again at the beginning of March and began scanning pages.  I still have a way to go on that project.  I'm also behind on completing my 2009 NaNo novel, A Desert Place, which I'm really hoping to have wrapped up by the end of June. I'm sure I could find more to do, but that should keep me pretty busy I'd say.

        How about you?  What are your plans now that you will not have the challenge to take up your blogging time?  

How About Another SMALL Project for May?

         Before the A to Z Challenge even came into my mind, I was working on another collaborative effort with my blog buddy Stephen T. McCarthy.  Stephen had proposed a comparative blog study of our fifteen favorite music albums-- not just a list, but an in depth examination of the fifteen albums that we would want with us on a desert island and why.  Stephen and I, as well as many of his regular readers, enjoy music and we enjoy hearing about what other people like because it broadens our knowledge of music.  This was the plan that Stephen came up with back in March and I have been working on my list since then.

        We have had such a good time blogging with all of you A to Z'ers that we've decided to extend an invitation for all of you and anyone else who likes this idea to join us in the blogfest, FIFTEEN FANTASY ISLAND FAVORITES,  on Monday May 17th.  We would like to limit the list to fifteen but if you can't think of that many then 12, 10, or whatever number you can think of will work just fine.  It will be your blog post so you can certainly do whatever you like, but if you would like to have a guide like we will be using you can refer to Stephen's Best Album Cover Post .   It would help that for each album you post a photo of the album's cover, the album's title, artist, and date of release, followed by a brief paragraph explaining WHY you have chosen it and maybe a short description of the type of music it contains.  As far as genres are concerned, everything's acceptable: Classical, Country, Rock, Jazz, Blues, Movie & Broadway Theater Soundtracks, "Greatest Hits" and "Best Of" compilations, you name it.

        Presentation can be in any format.  You can be as creative as you care to be.  Turn your list into poetry or a short story if you like.  Make it an autobiographical account of how this music has influenced your life.  Create a video of yourself talking about it or put together a photo or art montage that tells us about your list.  It all comes down to one day's post and you can make it as simple or complex as you like.

        We want to learn about some music we might have missed.  I already know that there are a lot of music fans in the A to Z Challenge because many of you have done posts about music already.  Now let's focus on getting to know one another better by the music we like and what that music means to us.  Are you with us?  I hope so and I hope we can get a lot more folks to join us on this one since the time commitment is nothing like Blogging From A to Z.

        If you would like to post on the May 17th FIFTEEN FANTASY ISLAND FAVORITES you can leave a comment below.  Later you can add your name to the McLinky that I will put up after May 7th (if I got that McLinky thing right).  We hope you will all join us and spread the word!
 
Monday, May 17th Fifteen Fantasy Island Favorites   A McBirddogg Production