A is for Apple (#AtoZChallenge)

 A honeycrisp apple from an organic food farm co-op.
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Is For Apple

       An apple a day is some good healthy advice that has long been cited by those in the know.  I've heard this since I was a kid and that's been some 60 years ago.   My father loved apples and it seemed like we usually had apples around the house.  If he saw a roadside stand selling apples we'd invariably pull over and when he resumed driving he'd be chomping away on an apple.

        As for me I can't say I've been quite the apple fan that my dad was.  Oh sure, I like apples just fine, but my preference is to carefully cut them up in neat slices and eat them piece by piece.  No major chomping for me.   The apple variety that I've been mostly buying and eating over the past couple years is the Honeycrisp apple--sweet, juicy and utterly delicious.

        I'm maybe not eating the apple a day as suggested by health experts, but I've been eating more apples than I used to.   Now if only those Honeycrisp apples weren't so darn expensive!

This Is A to Z!

        No I didn't accidentally post early.  What I did was set my timer for 5 minutes and then I started writing in stream-of-consciousness style about a commonly stated "A" aphorism.   I could have posted about any "A" topic that popped into my head.   For that matter I could have done a post about "aphorisms".

         The point of all this is to refute all those who say, "I don't have time to do A to Z in April."   Five little minutes is enough for any average writer to come up with something.  We're not expecting every post to be a work of genius (though genius is always welcomed and admired).

         So you think you don't have time to come up with a post every day in April.  I've just demonstrated that it can easily be done in five minutes--or ten minutes if you include this explanatory tag to my example post.  I'd be willing to bet that a good many of you could come up with a much better post than I did here.  Take the Challenge and prove it.

         Now you have no excuses.   Go to the A to Z Blog Sign up List and add your blog.  You can do this.   You can do this very easily.

         Now what's your excuse for not doing the A to Z Challenge?    Do you think that everything you post needs to be a work of genius?   Do you ever participate in timed stream-of-consciousness writing exercises? 

 

        

   The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge begins this Wednesday April 1st!  The sign up list is still open!

My Point of Decision: Summer Blogging Plans

Lead the way, Happy (Seven Dwarves Topiary, Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2012) (Photo credit: ohhector)

            Remember when I said I was going to be doing shorter blog posts for the summer?    Over the past few weeks some of you might have been wondering what happened to those shorter blog posts that I was promising.   I've been laying some long complicated posts on you readers and a certain lack of comment participation has reflected this.   To be sure, I've been getting some of my best comments ever in the past several posts, but they've been coming from fewer commenters.   If you weren't involved in any of those discussions I think you missed out on some very interesting content.  Of course you're always welcome to go back to those posts and read some of the great comments that I received on what I think were posts on interesting topics.

          In any case, I said "short posts for the summer", but it hasn't been summer yet.   Now it's here.  The days are longer, but my posts will get shorter.  And perhaps stupider at times.  But that's okay.  After all it's summer and who needs to be serious in the summer?

         There will also be fewer posts.  I will continue to participate in the Battle of the Bands on the 1st and 15th of the month.  I will also post on the first Wednesday in order to be a part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group.    And I will post once a week on Wednesdays except on those weeks when there is a Battle of the Bands post on the day before.

          All I can say is that I'm going to go with the flow.  It's possible that I might add a post for something special or to announce the Battle of the Bands results.   Things will go back to normal in September.  Unless this new schedule becomes the new normal.

          That's what summer looks like for me--how about you?   Where will you be going during the summer and what will you be doing?   Do you have any blogging schedule changes in store?

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Blog Boggled: The Long and the Short of It

        I've been talking about changes and today I want to talk about one that I'm considering--shorter blog posts. 

        During most of my blogging history I have typically been posting 1000 word blog posts  Recently, I have been cutting down to 600 to 800 word posts.  I am thinking that sometimes I may resort to 100 to 300 word posts (a collective sigh emanates). 

         I often put a lot of time and effort into my posts, including the actual writing and at times a fair amount of research.  But I wonder if it's worth it.   I realize that a long post also requires much effort on behalf of the reader, but sometimes I feel it is necessary to go long in order to get across a point I'm trying to make.  The question remains:  Is my point really that important in a blog post?

          How about you?  Do you do much research for your blog posts?  Is a blog post really worth much time investment?   Do you tend to jsut skip over a blog post that you feel is too long?

And now continued from my Saturday post:

Patricia Stoltey awarded me the Creative Writer/ Liar Blogger Award where I was supposed to make up  5 lies and 1 truth:  I did and there weren't many guesses so I thought I'd give it another chance since I spent at least five minutes of my time coming up with these stories.   On Wednesday I will reveal the truth and the lies.
Which do you think is the true story?

1. I was once a roadie for the Marshall Tucker Band (a popular country rock band in the 70s)

2. I was the salutatorian of my graduating class in high school.

3. I have hiked the entire Appalachian Trail.

4. I performed in a circus that featured Ted Cassidy and Jackie Coogan from the television show "The Addams Family".

5. While rafting down the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon, the raft I was in capsized and I broke my leg, necessitating a helicopter rescue out of the canyon.

6. In the late 70s I spent one season working as a featured magic act in a carnival sideshow.

There you go -- which one is true?