Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)
Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)
Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)
Life is Good (Tina Downey)
Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)
Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)
The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)
The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)
Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller)
Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson)
No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)
You guys are amazing!
My experience with the Challenge was phenomenal. I wrote a paranormal romance story that stretched out over the month. I never expected the reaction I received. I hoped I could entertain a few people, but wow. I'm at a loss for words. So many people loved the story. It makes me blush, feel warm and fuzzy, and boosts my fragile writer's ego. Your comments and encouragement made me smile every day.
I wasn't going to publish my story after the Challenge, but so many of you are encouraging me to do so. So with the help of my fantastic friend and critique partner, Cherie Reich, I'll be self-publishing the story. It will be cleaned up, a little will be added, and it shall be named Fearless.
(This little self-publishing bit will be practice to prepare me for my series of novellas.)
I just have to get a good image for the cover. Does anyone have a stuffed hippo willing to do some posing for me?!
What I loved about the Challenge: Meeting people and discovering new blogs. Seeing what surprises my friends had in store. The writing advice and awesome stories. Learning new things. And, of course, the comments on my blog.
What frustrated me about the Challenge: While the good greatly outweighs the bad, a few things made me relieved the Challenge was over. It consumed a lot of my free time. There were so many blogs to check out, I didn't get a chance to visit them all. I couldn't keep up with visiting people from the Challenge and visit the blogs I regularly follow. I'm afraid those who didn't participate in the Challenge might have felt a bit neglected, and I'm sorry.
What might help those frustrations: Perhaps the Challenge could divide the various blogs into groups. I'm not sure how you would want to do this. Maybe writers, photographers, artists, jewelers, etc. Or by general themes like stories, poems, photos, people, trivia, movies, etc. Though I was happy to meet all sorts of people, I was most looking to meet other writers.
Will I be doing the A to Z Challenge again next year? Yes. Most definitely yes.
YAY for publishing the story! I will definitely buy that, I loved it! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks! You've been a great encouragement. :)
DeleteOh my lord! So glad you're publishing the story. Already clearing a room for it on my book shelf.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely cannot wait to see what you will write about next challenge!
Thanks! I have no idea what I'll write next year, but I like to surprise myself too. You've been an awesome cheerleader.
DeleteCan't oblige with the stuffed hippo, but good luck with the self publishing.
ReplyDeleteI think Abby and Demetrius deserve to be published - great idea. And since I didn't get to see the end (because I didn't have internet access), I'll wait for the book! I'm like you, I just didn't have the time to get round everyone. It was fun though!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm happy you enjoyed it. :)
DeleteYour story was awesome! Let us know when it is available. And sorry, no stuffed hippo...
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'll keep you all updated. I'll find a hippo somewhere.
DeleteYay! I'm glad you're publishing the story. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you'll be publishing your story! I completely agree about the positives and negatives about the Challenge (though the positives outweigh the negatives.) I had a lot of fun doing it, but didn't have enough time to visit as many blogs as I would have liked.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It's always a time issue. Yet I'm happy to have visited as many blogs as I did.
DeleteYou should self publish it! Let me know if you'd like a cover artist! I get my images from Dreamstime.com and do all my covers for free just for fun.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the offer. I might take you up on that. I have two images I want to try to photoshop together, but we'll see if I can do it. It's not going to look like a romance cover, but Tawa is one of the stars! It'll fit the mood of the story.
DeleteTry Deviantart, some artist may be willing create a hippo of your choice just for credit.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with publishing. I hope to be able to buy the book.
Thank you for the idea! Hopefully I'll be able to get all together soon. :)
Deleteoh that's so cool--i am so happy for you---happy hippo hunting!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the challenge and best of luck with your story!
ReplyDeleteI do know that Jaycee DeLorenzo is having a sale on her cover work to go to RWA Nationals. Maybe she can help you.
http://blog.jayceedelorenzo.com/2012/05/may-i-tell-you-something-about-me.html
Congrats on the challenge and thanks for the support.
Heather
I actually saw that on Jaycee's blog the other day. Thanks for the suggestion!
DeleteYay! I can't wait to help you self-publish your stories. As for the hippo, you could look on Amazon for the image you are considering or go to the toy store with a camera. It might be weird, but that's okay.
ReplyDeleteI did get the perfect image of a hippo from Amazon. Now let's see if I can make it work like I want it to work! I actually considered the idea of going to a toy store. Hehehe!
Deleteyour story was definitely top notch! i enjoyed every segment of it!
ReplyDeleteYou really ought to publish the story. It was so, so, so fantastic. I volunteer to help you launch it. :)
ReplyDeleteThank goodness AtoZ is only once a year. It's great, but time-consuming. I feared neglecting people, too, and I probably did.
Thank you so much! I'm trying to slowly make up for neglecting folk. Yet new stuff keeps coming up!
DeletePS, I thin the image you used in your header would make a great book cover.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read more!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteAwesome that you're self-publishing the story! It was definitely quality writing that deserves to be in a book. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'm flattered you think it so. :)
DeleteI am so happy you are going to publish this story. I did not get to read all of it, but you know I'm going to be grabbing my copy. I still want to get back to all your posts though. We rocked this challenge and I think we can do it again next year. the groups idea sounds like a fantastic one to me.
ReplyDeleteThank you! The Challenge was awesome. Can't wait to see what you have in store for next year.
DeleteThat's so exciting that you're going to be publishing the story! I'm afraid I don't have a stuffed hippo to pose for you, though ;-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, and that's quite alright. I've got the cover nearly complete already!
DeleteVery wonderful! Won't it be nice to have it all in one place in a real live page turning extravaganza? How exciting! Hip-hippo-hooray!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Hehehe!
DeleteI'm stopping by to catch some of the blogs that I missed during the challenge. Congrats on publishing your story! That's great!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I still have to catch on some of the blogs too.
DeleteI thought I'd replied to this before, but see otherwise. Good to meet you along the way. This time I'll drive slower on the 'after A - Z tour'.
ReplyDeletehttp://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.com/
Thanks for popping by! I'm driving slower too.
DeleteCongratulation on finishing the challenge. During the challenge I didn't visit as many blogs as I would like to but, cross my heart, I'm visiting every single one with the reflection post (and I'm almost done, just one more to go)! I am so glad my journey brought me here.
ReplyDeleteEvalina, This and that...