Monday, April 30, 2012

A to Z Challenge Recap


So I spent the last month participating in the A to Z Challenge, writing posts everyday (almost) and now I'm locked in the habit of making sure I have something for tomorrow. But my brain is fried. I'm wiped out from doing letters everyday. One thing for sure, however, they were a good writing prompt. I always had a start on what I would write about. Except for Y day. I was down to writing "Yikes!" as my post until my sister sent me a poem about using spell checker. Go to Y HERE.

I think my favorite post was A, with Loretta Stephenson's art work, from Art By Retta. We got to see a painting being born and I compared it to how writers develop their work in literature. You can read about it HERE. Of course, Loretta finished off the A to Z Challenge with a guest post about Zombies, Zucchini and Zebras. My favorite part of the entire post was her comment about what it had to do with writing: not a zappin' thing!

Now that the challenge is over, you'll be seeing a little bit of everything from me. Expect to see some excerpts of stories I'm working on, and a report from the classroom. I'm halfway through my writing class and am learning a lot about both poetry and prose. My teacher, Kitty Lion, is a published author and great with expressing her ideas. She is both challenging and encouraging and helps us take the bull by the horns to get the most out of our writing.

One more thing I wanted to report to you. I had the opportunity to read an excerpt of my work aloud in class the other day. Up until now, I've been pretty shy about sharing my work. Oh, yes, I have a critique partner who I trade with, but this was an entire room full of people. My hands were shaking and the sweat was pouring off me. It's a good thing I was sitting down, because my legs weren't very stable. But after all that, I discovered it wasn't so bad. And, they liked it! Oh, I got a good critique on my writing, but overall, it was well recieved. It was an excellent experience that I reccommend to all writers. What have you done lately? Share with us?



6 comments:

  1. Ha! You writers ought to give out the RASSO Award!
    (Read A Short Story Outloud) You earned it. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rettakat: Ha! The RASSO Award! And I would step up to the podium and demurely bat my eyelashes, as I smile and say, Thank you, I deserve every piece of this! LOL!

      Delete
  2. Hi Karen. I enjoyed stopping by your blog to read posts during the A to Z Challenge. Today I stayed away from the computer most of the day. Did some catch-up work around the house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susanne: It seems the whole month of April I was staying up late to finish everything. But now, I have some breathing room, but I find I want to make a post, even though I'm not sure of the direction. It's time to sit crossed legged under the trees and wait for inspiration, I guess! LOL!

      Delete
  3. Practise makes perfect or so they say. I've enjoyed reading about your unique ideas during the AtoZ challenge, Karen. They really are quite fascinating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I hope my ideas weren't too unique. lol! They are just some of the things I've picked up along the journey of learning to write. Learning is what is emphasized, of course!

      Delete