Tripping the A to Z Fantastic

Well, I'm back.

(1000 points to anyone who gets the reference. Not that they're worth anything.)

Taking a break from blogging can be a great thing to do. I love blogging, but there's no getting around the fact that it's a constant demand and drain on your mental resources. Breaks are necessary for me. (After all, I'm a serious introvert.) The trick is to stay away just long enough for the feeling of relief and refreshment to turn into renewed inspiration and eagerness to get back into it.

I think that's where I am now, which is good because the A to Z Challenge begins tomorrow!

Last year I jumped into the A to Z after having blogged for only a month and a half and immediately after having a baby. (Little Corwin just turned 1 year-old yesterday.) I constantly failed to get posts up in time for each of the 26 days, but still I had a blast. So I couldn't resist diving back into the chaos again. I chose a theme last year which I really enjoyed writing about: aspects of worldbuilding and how I was implementing them in my WIP.

This year I've chosen to write about 26 aspects of the fantasy genre that make me a devoted reader and writer of fantasy. Here's what I've got planned:

April 1: A is for Adventure
April 2: B is for Belief
April 3: C is for Creation
April 4: D is for Discovery
April 5: E is for Eucatastrope
April 6: F is for the Fantastic
April 7: G is for Good vs. Evil
April 9: H is for Heroism
April 10: I is for Immersion
April 11: J is for Journeys
April 12: K is for Kingship
April 13: L is for Loss
April 14:  M is for Myth
April 16: N is for Nature
April 17: O is for Origin
April 18: P is for Perseverance
April 19: Q is for Quest
April 20: R is for  Resonance
April 21: S is for Soul
April 23: T is for Transcendence
April 24: U is for Unlimited
April 25: V is for Virtue
April 26: W is for Wonder
April 27: X is for Xenia
April 28: Y is for Yearning
April 30: Z is for Zeal

I'll have a link on my side bar under Topics of Interest (where you can also find a link to a page will all of last year's A to Z posts) for anyone who wants to easily keep up to date on my theme this year.

I hope you'll enjoy this exploration of all that is wonderful about fantasy.

Getting Ready for April...

Hello, all my wonderful friends and readers.

I have been blogging now for a bit over a year and what a year its been. I went into this knowing that blogging isn't easy and assuming that I would be talking into the void with no audience other than my husband for some time. Boy, did you guys prove me wrong.

In one year of blogging I've gain 259 followers and published 121 posts which have garnered 1415 comments. And I've been having a blast the whole time.

All of this was possible because of you, dear readers, and I cannot thank you enough. You continually give me the support and encouragement to continue this crazy journey toward publishing my work. I doubt I would have had the momentum to keep going this long if it hadn't been for this blog and the feedback I get here.

So, once again, thank you.

But now, I'm going to take a little break. I've signed up for the huge and awesome A to Z blogging challenge coming in April. It's going to be a mad month of nearly daily posts and a signup list that will almost surely be over the 1000 mark to go through. So I'm going to take these weeks leading up to the challenge off from blogging. I'm going to prepare some posts in advance and finish the short story I'm working on. Then, hopefully, I'll be ready to dive right into the insanity without loosing mine. I don't want to end up burned out afterward like last year. (Though admittedly, last year I went into it as a brand new blogger with a brand new baby. I was NOT prepared.)

So, TTFN. Ci vediamo. See you soon.