Blogging From A to Z

Dear Reader,

Foolishly, I have embarked on a blogging challenge. The challenge revolves around the alphabet and the month of April. During the 30 days of April this year I will post 26 times, one for each letter of the alphabet. To find out more about this check out the A to Z Challenge website.

Last year was my busiest year of posting, amassing a spectacular sum of 33 posts for the entire year. On that evidence attempting to prepare 26 for just one month sounds a little ambitious.

Of course a challenge such as this appeals to the Idiot in me. Within my psyche there is a generally ignored piece of my character that pretty much stays quiet but occasionally causes me an inordinate amount of irritation. The Idiot in me changes my life, but because of the nature of the Idiot, these changes come as a result of significant effort. 

An example... 

When I was 17 one of my colleagues suggested I should take part in the local half-marathon. There was only about  four weeks to go to the event, I was unfit, unprepared and spent most of my evenings drinking and smoking. What I should have said to my much fitter and better prepared friend at this point was "No. As much as this sounds like a jolly jape, for me running 13 and a half miles through the city of my birth holds about as much appeal as smashing my head repeatedly with a lemon wrapped round a house brick." What I actually said was "Yes, why not, sounds like a giggle. I will buy some shorts or something." This was the Idiot talking, who was incidentally, not the easiest to dissuade. Because of the Idiot I ran three half-marathons, all of which were long painful experiences that I have tried to suppress from my memory. My much fitter and better prepared friend always finished  in front of me, a long way in front of me. That being said, I did get slightly quicker over time. If the Idiot had not spoken I would never have completed a half-marathon.

The Idiot has made me do many things in my life and this blogging challenge is just the latest in a catalog of endeavors that I must now complete because the Idiot in me said "Yes." 

At the end of April, when 26 posts are done I might say something along the lines of "Viva La Idiot!" Currently, however, it is early February and I have been fighting a chest infection for over two weeks. I don't feel like saying "Viva" anything. 

I spoke to the Dear Lady Wife who thought that the challenge was a little bit like revising for exams. When pressed further it becomes clear that revising (and by extension any other sizeable project) cannot begin without the ingredients listed below.

• Graph Paper
• Highlighter Pens
• Acetate Pens
• Biros
• Pens
• Pencils
• Pencil Sharpener
• Tape Measure
• Saw
• Screw Driver
• Tin Of Tuna
• Torch

Armed with all of the above you are ready to embark on a "project", and a project this will certainly be. I have been to the stationary shop, the DIY shop and the supermarket and I am prepared. I've actually bought several tins of tuna, some for the cats and some for me. I hope I have enough, the cats suffer rapid sense of humor failure when tuna supplies are threatened.

The real purpose of this whole endeavour is to do something for the wider blogging community and to support this a new tab will appear on the blog shortly after this post. It will list all of the blogs that are taking part in this years' challenge. Click on some and take a look, you may find something you like.

More soon  Dear Reader.

xx