What is the A to Z Challenge, 2013 Golden Globes and Critic’s Choice Awards, Ninja News, and More Pondering and Blog Questions

What is the A to Z Challenge?

It’s posting every day in April except Sundays (we get those off for good behavior.) And since there are 26 days, that matches the 26 letters of the alphabet. On April 1, blog about something that begins with the letter “A.” April 2 is “B,” April 3 is “C,” and so on. You can use a theme for the month or go random – just as long as it matches the letter of the alphabet for the day.

There were one hundred of us for the first Challenge in 2010. Last year, over 1700 participated. And on January 30, the list will open for signups for this year’s Challenge.

For a more detailed account than that, visit the A to Z Blog.

That first Challenge changed my blog forever, so I hope many of you will join us this year!

The Golden Globes and Critic’s Choice Awards

Last week, I made my predictions in certain categories for the Academy Awards. Since the Golden Globes and Critic’s Choice Awards often foreshadow the Oscars, thought I’d show you where the awards fell in the categories I selected:

Golden Globes -
Best Picture, drama – Argo
Best Director – Ben Affleck, Argo
Best Actor, drama - Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln / Best Actor, comedy or musical - Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Best Animated Feature Film – Brave

Critic’s Choice Awards –
Best Picture - Argo
Best Director - Ben Affleck, Argo
Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Supporting Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Best Animated Feature - Wreck-It Ralph


My predictions for the Oscars:
Best Picture - Lincoln, but Argo would be cool.
Best Picture - I picked Spielberg, but note that Ben Affleck is not even nominated
Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Best Animated – anyone’s game

And at this point, it really is anyone’s game.

And I would like to point out that Looper won Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie at the Critic’s Choice Awards – yes!!

Anyone want to take a guess on who will win the Oscars now?

Ninja News

Lynn Rush’s latest, Tainted, is available now. Congratulations, Lynn!

Stephen, Mark, Elise, and CM are hosting the Re-Introduce Myself Blogfest on January 28. Many new bloggers joined the community last year, and this is a chance for us to re-introduce ourselves to our followers. Visit any of their sites to sign up. (And Stephen suggests keeping it to one hundred words. That’s easy!)

JL Campbell is doing something special to celebrate her upcoming release – “The Love…The Second Time Around Celebration dovetails with the theme of my-soon-to-be-released novel, Retribution. Help me celebrate by submitting your most interesting stories of people taking another shot at a relationship.” It’s February 1 – see her SITE for details.

Patsy Collins’ new romance is out – A Year and a Day. You can purchase it on Amazon US and Amazon UK. Congratulations, Patsy!

18 Things by Jamie Ayers will be released on January 24 – and she’s holding a huge celebration: “Beginning January 17th until release day, January 24th–I’ll be hosting the What Are Your 18 Things Blogfest. All you have to do is blog about things on your bucket list.” And the prizes are amazing! Check it out HERE

Yvonne Lewis posted a special thank you poem for me for directing people to her new site and look at the image she chose for it. Yes, I am a video game. Thank you, Yvonne!

More Blog Questions and Ponderings

Thanks for suggestions for the blanks in my manuscript last week. It probably would be better if I left a place holder for each name rather than a lot of blanks. Of course, that all depends on whether I write another book…

Why do some people never respond to comments? Most of you said you did visit the blogs of those who leave comments on your own, but why do some people never visit commenters?

Some of you asked about using Google Reader and how to do folders – I will post about that very soon! (As you can see, I am running out of room…)

And finally - commenting times. Now, I know there’s a time difference. But some of you are up at midnight during the week commenting! Don’t you people sleep? 10:00 is my bed time – no way I could stay up that late. (Even my clones are tired.) You guys must be Energizer Bunnies or something.

Ready for this year's A to Z Challenge? We're already posting tips at the A to Z Blog. Surprised by the Golden Globe or Critic's Choice winners? Care to change your Oscar predictions? Excited about the new books and blogfests? And what about commenting? And you late night commenters? Do you sleep?