A Brilliant Conspiracy

A-to-Z Reflection [2016]

Eleven days after the great event seems a reasonable period of time for honest reflection on the Blogging From A to Z April (2016) Challenge. It’s also a good moment to respond to a friend nominating me for The Liebster Award, as that poses some A to Z and blogging questions. However, that will be tomorrow’s post so stayed tuned to this channel.

So first my thoughts about this year’s April Challenge.

After my first two years, 2014 and 2015, I wanted to do briefer posts that would be quicker to read. As I said in my Blogging from A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal 2016, I wanted something different, tighter and more cryptic. In that I succeeded, but in my desire to produce something ‘challenging’, I chose to write an episodic mystery that created more work. Each episode consisted of one word for each of the letters of the alphabet, commencing with the letter of the day. Of course, I imposed other rules and then as a bonus, had a ‘horse of the day’, and a ‘daily poison’ – again from A to Z.

I did succeed in writing all but a few posts in March, so succeeded in reaching Z and the end of April. However, I struggled to read a lot of other blogs each day – probably about a dozen or so – in addition to the other posts that I follow.

I loved the variety of A to Z blogs out there, and I intend to explore some more in the months ahead. I’m incredibly impressed at the depth of talent in the blogosphere.

My IWSG blog post last Wednesday expressed my concern at making comments, even during quieter periods. So I’m in awe of those that multi-task successfully throughout the Challenge, and don’t believe in clones.

My Liebster comments tomorrow will highlight those bloggers who impressed me, and I admit that I found many individual posts invaluable as well as informative. Maybe I will learn from them in my approach for the 2017 Challenge.

I won’t be giving up blogging quite yet, as doing the A to Z Challenge holds the MaelStrom MonSter at bay by keeping my brain active and distracted.

As for the A to Z Team, they did an excellent job – as always. So a special thank you to those that worked hard to make it possible, from the co-hosts to their helpers/assistants. Here they all are.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal 2016

April and the A to Z Challenge is drawing near, so today I’m posting about the Theme I intend to follow for the Month of April on Writing Wings.

The Challenge runs over 26 days – with Sundays off for good behaviour – and each day will be based on the alphabet, from A through to Z.

In previous years, I have chosen themes that were linked to Work In Progress… and I rambled somewhat. So I wanted something different, maybe tighter and more cryptic.

So “A Brilliant Conspiracy” was born.

This is a short saga based around the following ‘Blurb’.

Archibald Brewster claims detective expertise, frustrating genius hospital intern Jamila Knox.

Luckily, muscles never obstruct progress.

Questions remain, silently taunting, until vengeance wakes xenophobia-yapping zealots.

Inspired by this mystery, I will post a brief episode in “A Brilliant Conspiracy” on every day of the challenge, from A through to Z, each one starting with the relevant letter.

Each episode will consist of one word for each of the letters of the alphabet, initially in alphabetical order. As each letter is ticked off, I will then use it anywhere in the following episodes. For instance, Day 3 will start with ‘C’ for ‘Confessions, and somewhere I will use A and B – possibly for ‘Archibald’ and for ‘but’. By the time the mystery reaches Z, all the other letters will be in non-alphabetical order. That means 26 posts, each one of 26 words.

As a bonus, Archibald will pick his ‘horse of the day’, while Jamila will assess a ‘daily poison’ – again from A to Z.

I’m attempting to concoct these cryptic episodes in advance, but it’s proving tough. So if I fail to complete this challenge, then this will be, “Another Baffling Confusion”, especially if there is no Z.

Why not go visit the others on the linky list to find out what sort of posts you can look forward to elsewhere.

You can also visit the A to Z Facebook page where you’ll be able to see what everyone’s posting about. And there are the A to Z pinterest boards, the G+ page, and Twitter where the #atozchallenge tag rules.

See you on April 1^st when Archibald and Jamila embark on their adventure.