A to Z: 26 Reasons to Sign Up for the #atozchallenge
Some of you may be aware that after much dithering, I’ve signed myself up for the madness that is the A to Z Blogging Challenge in April. The challenge: to post everyday except Sundays throughout the month, and to blog thematically from A to Z. This challenge has been running for a few years now, and the numbers of participants grow exponentially each year.
Now, with a full-enough plate on my hands already, what with prepping for the release of Oracle, writing Labyrinth, my usual blogging schedule, work-related writing assignments, reading and reviewing commitments … why would I further subject myself to the tortuous commitment of posting daily all month?
Well, apart from the obvious (because it’s FUN!!), here are 26 other reasons why I signed up for the A to Z Challenge … and why YOU should, too! (It’s an A to Z of reasons–see what I did there? 
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Achievement: if you beat the challenge, you get crowing rights!
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Big ideas could spawn from it (see D. Biswas’s awesome flash fiction collection, A to Z Stories of Life and Death).
Challenge: who doesn’t love one?
Discover new blogs to follow.
Experience of posting regularly and to a theme.
Followers will flock to you!
Growth: both as a blogger and a writer.
Help is at hand for the tough letters (see here)!
Imagination: it will run wild!
Join the party; so far, over 680 bloggers have!
Kill some time … that is, if you have any spare time to kill!
Losing the Challenge is not an option!
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Meet new blogger buddies!
Network with fellow participants.
Opportunity to expose your posts to new audiences.
Prompts can help generate new ideas for posts.
Quick posts are fine; you can write as much or as little as you like, as long as you post about the day’s letter!
Routine: this Challenge will definitely help you get into one!
Support is always at hand from fellow A to Z-ers.
Themes: want an extra challenge? Blog to an additional theme! Mine will be an A to Z series on crime writing. Stay tuned!
Unblocks any writer’s block, and lets your creative juices flow!
Variety: you can post an article, essay, short story, flash fiction, poem, book review, guest post, interview, news report, recipe … anything!
We’re trying to hit 1,000 participants by March 1st! Who’s with us? 
Xpand your social platform.
Yammer on about just about anything, as long as it fits the theme! For example, see what I did with my ‘X’ reason? ‘X’pand? It’s not considered cheating, so you can play around with it!
Zabernism? Why not? Let’s see how many ways our fellow participants can find to tackle the tricky letters!
Convinced? Sign up for the mayhem here!
Butt-kicking bookworm. Displaced Malaysian. Writes crime & thrillers. Debut novel ORACLE will be released by J. Taylor Publishing on 30th July 2012.
This is a great post!!! I’m so happy you decided to take the plunge. FUN will be had by all!
Yes! But first, I’d love to see the finals of your WRiTE Club first.
I won’t be joining the challenge because I’ve got other things on my plate but I follow of a lot of bloggers who do regularly participate. It’ll be fun to cheer you guys on!
Jai
I’ll be there. Tried to get out of it but they wouldn’t let me.
Ack, I gotta get busy writing those posts!
Thanks, Jai. Will need all the moral support I can get!
I’ve been contemplating the A-Z for a while. Maybe I’ll give it a go.
Go on! Then us two A to Z newbies can muddle through things together.
Oh man! You nailed it, J.C.
Thank you, Matthew!
Hi JC. Good luck with the A-Z! I’m just getting back to the blog after a bit of an absence, and A-Z is just a little bit too scary for me, but it does look fun.
Can’t wait to read Oracle
Welcome back, Tony! Hope the move went well and you’re settled into your new home. Looking forward to more updates from you now!
We’re loving it here, many thanks. I’ll be around a lot more now
Awesome list! You should do a guest post at the A to Z blog.
Would love to if you will have me.
Zabernism? Hahaha! Great post, JC.
Why not?
Beats the obvious biological words beginning with zoo-: zoophyte, zoology, zooid … can you tell I like my Z words?
I’ve signed up for the first time this year too. This post makes me smile, I like your imagination
Thank you Sarah, and from one A to Z newbie to another, good luck and see you in April!
What a fun take on the post, JC! I don’t think I can handle it (I tried last year and made it halfway) but I’ll enjoy rooting for all of you and what you come up with!
Aloha
Toby
I’ve got a strategy going that will hopefully work. Am pre-writing and scheduling the posts as we speak. Yes, we’d love for you to drop by and offer moral support!
I’ll be participating. Going to be fairly interesting too. Going for a theme myself. Let’s see what fun we can have
Ooh, I’m looking forward to finding out what theme you have in mind.
Hi JC, I’m just visiting from the 4th Writer’s Platform Building, and I’ve tagged you with eleven questions you may or may not care to answer.
Find the questions at my post here – https://hunterswritings.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/tagged-and-tagging/#more-443
P.S. – I’m already signed up for the A to Z, but just have to laugh at the L for Losing is not an option threat/promise/motivator/call to glory.
Haha, thanks, my fourth tag so far!
Yeah, I kinda got a bit stuck on L, of all words: you get to “Lord” over people? We “Love” it? None seemed right. When I thought of “Losing”, it just felt right.
If I weren’t already signed up, you would have convinced me.
Look forward to reading your posts in April, Susan.
Definitely an inspiring post and motivating, JC!
I found the link to this post through Twitter because I’ve following the updates with hashtag #atozchallenge.
It’s my second-year of taking on the challenge on ABCing through the month of April. A tip I learned from last year, and taking advantage of this year is pre-writing and pre-scheduling post. This way, I have more time and focus to get to know other participants like you!
Great idea! That’s what I’m doing as well! And is it bad that I also have a vague idea of the kind of posts I’d like to do for next year’s challenge?
Zabernism! What a lovely word
I’m signed up, too. See you in April!
Awesome! See you in April!
Looking forward to April! It’s going to be great fun this year!!
What a fun breakdown of an event that has me both excited and terrified at the same time. It will be my first year, and I can’t decide whether to go with a theme or let my ramblings fly free.