Blog Love (With enough to go around to everyone!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

To all of us from Jules at Trying to Get Over the Rainbow

       Jules wanted us to spread the Blog Love by displaying the lovely Pass the Love 2011 Award.  So thank you Jules and thanks to all of the wonderful bloggers and other readers out there who keep me motivated to keep posting on Tossing It Out.  

        I likewise want to give a very special thanks to the many participants of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge who have been helping us get the word out to others about this incredible blog event.  I've already posted previous thank yous here and here.  Please visit these blogs, leave a comment, and follow them if you haven't done so already.

Here are some more:

Special post:

Laura Eno at A Shift in Dimensions gave the Challenge a complete post and added the badge.

Ella from Ella's Edge gave a great testimonial about the networking power of the Challenge.   We should be hearing more about this from her on Alex's blog.

Elizabeth Twist gave us a boost with her post on February 1.

Cherie at Surrounded by Books had a post on January 31 that I had missed.

Rachel at Rachel Morgan Writes put a very clever A to Z themed post.


Badge in Sidebar:

Michael at In Time... his motto is "Creativity is a terrible thing to waste" --a rally cry for some creative A to Z thinking?

The Golden Eagle at The Eagle's Aerial Perspective has added her support.

Clarissa Draper's blog, Listen to the Voices, has the badge on the sidebar.

You'll also find the badge at Halloween Overkill in addition to all sorts of Halloween related things.

Melissa from Melissa's Imaginarium  has the badge on display.

Katie O'Sullivan put the badge on her sidebar early on and I missed it in my earlier thank you posts.

L.A. Colvin at First Draft on Life, Literature, and Lunacy is displaying the badge.

Kristal at Kristal Lee Romances--where love is Magick .

M.J. Fifield at My Pet Blog put the badge not at the sidebar, but smack dab can't miss it big on the top of the page.

Niki from Wool'n'Nuts is joining us from New Zealand for the second year.

Robyn at Putting Pen to Paper has last year's badge up but it links to the 2011 announcement so that works too.

The badge is also on the sidebar at Rachel Morgan Writes , another new participant in 2011.
 
Special Mentions:
 
Holly Jones from On.... makes mention that she is participating in the Challenge
 
Everybody's favorite champion of being naked, Hart from Confessions of a Watery Tart, included the Challenge in a big way on her post called Grow Your Blog.

Ciara at New Kids on the Writer's Block gave A to Z a special plug.

Madeleine at Scribble and Edit featured the Challenge.

Jeanmarie is A Writer in Progress who will also be progressing through the alphabet in April.

And Blog Lovin' Doesn't Stop There!


         Like I said above, please stop in to say hello, thank you, or whatever to as many of these as you can.  After all, the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is about networking and making new blog friends.  And speaking of networking, don't forget some other challenges that are going on or coming up.

       Rachael Harrie at Rach Writes has spearheaded the ambitious Writer's Platform Building Crusade.  The sign up list is now closed but that shouldn't stop you from checking in with those who are participating to follow their progress.  Many who are signed up for the Crusade are also Blogging from A to Z including Rachael herself.  Between the two events I think we are going to see some serious blog growth and networking happening between now and May.  Thank you Rachael and good luck to all of the Crusaders.

       Coming this Wednesday is The Bernard Pivot Blogfest brought to us by Nicole Ducleroir.   Now I'd never heard of a Bernard Pivot before but his questionaire is relatively simple and enjoyable.  There's a whole bunch of us already signed up for this and you can sign up too by just clicking on the above link.  More networking and getting-to-know-you type fun.

             Larry Cavanaugh is going to host the SUPER 8 DEBUT ALBUMS BLOG HOP on February 28.  This will be his first hosting of a blog event and I hope everyone will show him support in this endeavor and of course follow his blog while you're at it.

        Which brings me to the guest spot that my A to Z Team mate Alex Cavanaugh did on Stephen Tremp's Breakthrough Blogs.  Alex offers some great arguments as to why bloggers should become involved in different blog events.  If you missed this post and you're still sitting on the fence about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge, I suggest you read what Alex has to say about the topic of networking through something like this.   A special thanks to Stephen Tremp for giving Alex this opportunity.  Stephen's been a big help in getting the word out about the A to Z Challenge and I have a feeling we're going to be hearing a  lot more from him on the subject.

          I will have a special post this Friday February 18th with some more great A to Z news--don't miss it!

The White Rabbit button comes to us courtesy of Jeremy at iZombie.  We're going to experiment to see if we can solve the mystery of followers whose blogs are missing--or are they?   I've put it on my sidebar directing new followers to a welcome page where I request them to leave a comment with a blog address.  We'll see if this helps.

Be sure to visit some or all of the blogs listed above and show them some blog loving.


******

After a Meaty Week.....

             This has been one meat filled week on Tossing It Out.  This upcoming week I'll change the subject.
I hope more of you will join us on Monday for The Soundtrack of Your Life Blogfest.  You can read about it at the top of this page and sign up on the Linky List.  As of the moment I am writing this we have thirteen participants so we have space for you.  Tell us about you and the songs that would accompany a recap of your life.

           The rest of the week I've not planned yet, but I'm still trying for shorter posts.  I seem to have a problem keeping my word count down. I'm still working on this.  Do you ever feel that your posts are too long?

       I was so delighted to see an acknowledgment given to me by Mary at Giggles and Guns.   Mary featured a post around a comment I had made on a topic that I know is familiar to many of us--finding motivation and inspiration to keep writing.  I usually don't have that problem, but I guess that also kind of goes back to my long-winded blog posts.  It's such a pleasant surprise to visit a blog and find yourself featured in a post.  Thanks, Mary, for the ego boost.

       Then there's someone who's been getting his name in many other blogs this week after the trailer for his upcoming book was released.  Most of you probably already know Alex J. Cavanaugh's great blog and have probably already seen his book trailer, but in the event that someone out there has missed it then check it out:


       My good wishes to Alex and to his book CassaStar which will be released in October.

       Speaking of books and authors, Stephen Tremp's adventures in publishing are almost as exciting as his book Breakthrough which is soon to be rereleased.    Not a typo--- re-released!   If you missed Stephen's story check out his blog--it's an interesting story.

And now let the games begin:
          I was tagged by Jules at Trying to Get Over the Rainbow. It started a little iffy for me when I saw that she had disclosed the contents of her purse. To my relief she asked me to empty my pockets. Okay that's easy enough--not that much there.  I normally only deal with four pockets.

         Pockets have always been an important part of my clothing. I must have a pocket in my shirt and don't often wear the few pocketless shirts that I do own. My pants must have ample pocket space--never know what I might have to carry. Here's the rundown of what I usually have in my pockets when I leave the house:

        In my shirt pocket I have a rarely used cell phone just in case I need to make a phone call; a business card holder that currently holds cards with my blog address just in case someone is interested; and, of course, a pen just in case I need to write something down.  Eventually I hope I will require different business cards where the blog address is just a part of the whole, but currently that's all I'm advertising.

I use three pockets in my pants.  My back pocket contains a well worn wallet with ID's, credit cards, and other cards that I occasionally might need.  I've had this wallet for several years and will probably use it until it's about to fall apart.  In fifty years I think I've owned less than ten wallets.  I like to get maximum mileage out of them.  They're kind of like a pair of shoes that really get comfortable.  I hate to toss them out.

My left pocket contains keys for two cars, a front gate, and my house.  Car keys have gotten so much more complex than they used to be with alarms and keyless ignitions and all.  I used to carry a pocket knife in my key pocket.  Now the keys are about all my pocket will hold.

I rarely use cash, but I always like to have some just in case.  Now most places will accept credit cards no matter how much you're spending so I use them for nearly everything.  The cards I use give me points for each dollar spent and I can redeem those points for nifty gift cards, free hotel rooms, or cash rebates.  It actually seems like a better deal if you pay off the balance every month like I do.  The real problem is that in using cards the companies and the government can keep track of every dollar you spend, what you buy, and where you are when you buy it.  That seems pretty scary, but they can find out this stuff regardless.  It's all spooky, but is in line with things predicted in the Bible.  Guess that's getting off track and is a topic for a future blog post.

           And that's what's in my pockets most of the time.  Thank goodness Jules only tagged two people so I'm going to do the same.  And since they both seemed to think it was funny that I got tagged then I will tag:

Alex J. Cavanaugh  and Yvonne at Welcome to My World of Poetry. 

Have a great weekend!  Stay cool if you're where it's hot, and if you're where it's cold then I wish I had your weather.