Perfect!

Are your posts all ready for the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Are they perfect?  They don't have to be but you want them to be interesting and easy to read so visitors come back again and again. I finally finished my posts yesterday. Not as soon as I planned but soon enough. On IWSG today, I'm sharing some ideas on what to write about on your posts.

A challenge embedded in the challenge for a writer, is to keep working on the WIP while keeping up with the challenge. Fortunately for me this year, my local writer's group is starting another 50/50 on April 3rd. During the 50/50, we all try to write at least 50 words on our WIP for 50 straight days. Prizes are involved. This will keep my writing during April though I'll do more than 50 words each day. I'm working on book #3 in my Galactic Outlaws series. The second book will be going into edits soon.

I was trapped for most of last week in the editing cave for the final book in The Futhark Chronicles, Heir of Futhark. I don't have a release date for it but editing that book one last time saddened me. Even after reading it so many times, I found I could cry again on the two parts I hope make readers of the series shed a tear or two.

Four out of six children managed to get home for Easter dinner this year. Pretty good number since they're all grown up. One had to work and my daughter couldn't make it home from college. She and her roommates were making Easter brunch for themselves. She's not much of a cook so she was in charge of the mimosas. That's my girl.

I'll be back Friday with the letter A. And then it begins. Relax, have fun and don't worry about being perfect.

"A man all wrapped up in himself makes a small parcel." John Ruskin

How will you motivate yourself to keep up with everything else while doing the A to Z Challenge? Did you get together with family for the holiday weekend? Any last minute advice for Challenge participants.

A to Z Theme Reveal 2016

Only ten days to go. How did April get here so quickly? Today is the annual theme reveal for the famous, world-wide blog hop, The A to Z Blogging Challenge. Not everyone has a theme for the challenge. I didn't have a theme the first year but I have every time since. This is my 6th time participating in A to Z. This year I'm stepping back from being an administrator and taking on the less vigorous duty as Ninja Minion. Find other theme reveals here.

And now the theme:

For my 2016 A to Z Challenge, I’m sharing three facts for each letter. The genres I write and love to read are mostly science fiction and high or epic fantasy. In fantasy, there is often magic associated with crystals or metals. They also used herbs both for medicine and for magical spells. Each day I will post a short description of an herb or a mineral you might find in medieval or fantasy writings. For the record, most of the herbal remedies I’ve investigated are not recommended by the FDA. Many are actually poisonous and dangerous. As tribute to my second love, I will post a scientific fact that may deal with physics, biology or health science. And because another name for a writer is wordsmith, each day I’ll share a strange word that I would probably never use in my writing, but that amuse me in some way. So enjoy my trio of quick facts. And don’t forget to visit the IWSG site where we’ll share a writer’s resource for every day of the challenge.

I've had so much fun researching for this but it's the most work I've done for an A to Z Challenge. Even as I write, a few posts have holes in them I need to fill yet. So much of the science is interesting, I get distracted and end up reading on and on about something I didn't know. And I'm horrified that so many of the plants people drink in herbal teas can be very poisonous. I don't think any of the ones I used are considered harmless.

Only one post for me this week. I'm visiting my mother for a day, hoping to cheer her up a little for spring. I also need to do some work on the outside as the warm weather has started the green things happening a little bit earlier than usual.  Not complaining, even if it means I have to start mowing the grass again. Also, I'm doing a final read-through on the last book in my Futhark Chronicles, Heir of Futhark. I need to get it back to my publisher before the week is out.

I'm not posting again until next Monday, so I'll share this fact today:

76% of people eat the ears of a chocolate bunny first.

It gives me a 'good mom' moment every time I'm reminded that none of my children are candy or sweet eaters. No chocoholics at our house. I've never put more than a few pieces of candy in their Easter baskets even when they were little. But at some point when they were all in their teens, they told me how disappointed they were not to get a chocolate bunny for Easter. So now, they all get one every year. Children are strange.

Did you do a theme reveal today? Are you having a chocolate bunny for Easter? Eat the ears first? Did the calendar start of spring coincide with actual spring weather's arrival at your abode? Do you drink herbal tea?

Recovery and Moving Forward

Sometimes the A to Z Challenge feels like such a big project that when you're done you feel like you need some time off. No one can blame you if you do. But I'm not taking any down time. I'm busy working on some of the things I talked about during the challenge to promote my writing and it's working. My sales have been pretty good, actually better than ever for Heir of Futhark and the other books in The Futhark Chronicles Series. Very happy with that.

I also dove right into the second book in my Intergalactic Recon Marines. This is the second book in the series following The Marine's Queen. That book is sitting at #70 in the Kindle Store in its category of romance. Best I've every done.  I'm at about 6K in the first week of writing and I know where it's going so hopefully this first draft will go pretty good. I also anticipate a little more writing time now that A to Z is over. 

All the things I mentioned in my A to Z posts and the wonderful comments I received have really fired me up to get my writing career rolling. As I wrote my posts and read the comments, I started thinking. Why am I waiting until June 7th to get started on so many of these ideas and plans when I could be doing some of them right now.

I'm busy updating a few things and this weekend I'm going to catch up on some reviews for some friends on Goodreads and Amazon. Thanks to all my friends who have given me reviews and the other readers who took the time to write and rate.

I'm trying to use my time wisely on facebook and Pinterest, the only two social sites I visit nearly every day. I don't spend hours on them, usually on a few minutes, but I'm aiming for more short visits. 

In May we do have a few more blog fests coming up. Are you signed up for more blog promotion events? What are you working on right now? Do you have a goal for the upcoming month? Have your spring yard work done yet?