B as in Boy-o-boy-o-boy!

         Boy-o-boy-o-boy, I was supposed to do my "B" piece on Babylon today.  Then yesterday there I was babblin' on and on.  A comment here and a comment there-- Old MacDonald's got nothing up on me. I must say, as my jaw drops, I am amazed by the kick-off for this Blogging From A to Z thing. There is a huge amount of talented bloggers participating in this challenge and I so glad to see all of the participation.

        Regular readers of this site know that usually on Fridays I post something related to mysteries, dreams, or strange stories.  But all I can thing about now is this challenge--what in the world happened?  In a way it is related to mysteries, dreams, and strange stories and more.  I just made a simple statement last Saturday that to celebrate my 200th follower I was going to Blog From A to Z in April and challenged anyone who wanted to join me. Just a little itty-bitty double dog dare-- guess you gotta watch out for those kinds of dares cause crazy things can happen.

           And really it is quite beautiful and amazing to see how bloggers from all over the place have come together to make this an exciting event.  At last count we had 70 blogs from 8 different countries committed to participate in this challenge.  I have no idea how many states or provinces are involved.  Of those who committed to participate it looks like most have submitted at least one post so far.

           The range of subjects and styles is quite incredible.  We have literature in the form of poetry and several styles of prose.  We have art, craft, and travel.  We have blogs that are very funny and some that are deeply serious.  Many are Christian blogs.  It's like walking into a bookstore and just browsing through all the different genre aisles.  I hope everyone is taking the time to sample and savor many of these blogs.

           I wish I could tell you about all of them because they are all really good, but I will tell you about a few that stood out for me and hope you'll go back to take a look if you missed them:

Stephen McCarthy's Stuffs --  I was laughing so hard that tears were starting to well.  Stephen is so funny as he recounts how he and I first "met".  He even managed to scrape up a rare photo of yours truly which he dug up off of one of my past posts.  He has a wacko writing style that is fun, but he can also get deeply serious when he wants to.  Can't wait to see what he comes up with for the next 25 days.  You must read this blog. 

Gems on Glamour--  This is one of those blogs that I probably never would have found if not for this challenge.  Marsha is an artist and a custom jewelry maker.  There is some beautiful work displayed on this site.  But even the writers will appreciate her reflections about the nature of art and what art is.  Are you an artist?  Go to Marsha's site and see what she thinks.

Time for a Bucket List --  We have several poets in our challenge.  I mention Yvonne's site often here and there are some others that I hope to mention in future posts, but today I want to recognize Margaret Hall's beautiful and haunting poem "Abigail".  If you enjoy poetry I think you will enjoy this poem.  I'm new to this site and I don't know what else she has in store for us, but hopefully there will be 25 more entries of something worth checking out.

B-e-ing Transformed --  Bud Ezekial offers a 5 part series on the letter "A" which he actually started on Wednesday.  This is a raw, deeply moving message that comes from within  and guided by a higher power. Bud has a powerful story to tell which he plans to reveal to us over the next month.  I encourage you to at least listen to what he has to say and leave him a message of support.

Blabbin' Grammy-- Blabbing is one thing she's good at, but she's also good at cooking, taking care of Gramps, and making you feel at home.  Start reading her site and you'll swear you're sitting there on her front porch in a rocker down in East Tennessee.   She fill you in on what's happening back home, recollections of days gone by, and her general outlook on life.   And she's an ex-schoolteacher so she's no dummy.

Wool'n'Nuts -- Niki always looks like she's posting a day ahead of most of us, but that's because she's in New Zealand and she is a day ahead of us.  You may have already seen her comments on your posts which means you've probably already visited her site.  But if you haven't you ought to stop by and see what she's offering up today.

The Alliterative Anomorph -- Coming to us from Greece, this one lives up to her name.  She's had a lot of you stop by already, but if you haven't yet, you really must.  Her alliterative post for the first day was pretty darn creative and fun.  Can she keep this up for 25 days?  Watch and see.

       Like I said, I wish I could just keep going to highlight all the great stuff out there. Check the sidebar on my site and see who's doing what.  I will try to give mention to different blogs now and then and let me know if your feeling neglected or anything and I'll try to fix that.

         This challenge is bringing about some pretty cool activity. If you want to read a fascinating story about something this challenge has already brought about, check out the story on Shannon's Site because it's pretty incredible.  And I want to give Shannon a lot of credit for trying to help me with her research and emails to me about putting up a McLinky.  I still have not done anything about this and I like to explain why.

        This challenge has gone bigger than I had ever expected.  I am trying desperately to get bloggers in who want to participate and comment on the folks that are posting so no one will think I've abandoned the project.  I follow the comment activity on every site I leave a comment on with the end result being 100 to 200 emails each hour.  I have been so busy following progress, commenting on sites, and doing my own blog post that other things have become secondary.  In other words, it's become like a job--since I started this thing I am now the administrator.  So bear with me Shannon and anyone else who feels I've neglected them.  I think I need an assistant.

         So that's why the past couple days and today I am just shaking my head in wonderment and saying "Boy-o-boy-o-boy!"   So far this challenge looks like a real success.  And I'm not taking much credit for that--I just made the double dog dare.  You fantastic bloggers are doing all the work.  Make sure you let each other know and hang in there!