Interview Time with Laurel Wanrow

Today we have one of my fellow Maryland Romance Writers, Laurel Wanrow! Her debut novel, The Unraveling, is out now!

Hi, Laurel! Congrats on your book birthday! Tell everyone about yourself.

I’ve always loved nature. Since my dad was a naturalist working for the National Park Service, I had lots of early exposure to outdoor recreation through volunteering at the parks, so that’s what I went into to. I met my husband in an astronomy club. He’s a geologist, so we share the same love of the outdoors. I worked at a variety of parks until well after I had kids. When they were small, I wrote a story about a kid avoiding poison ivy at summer camp, but put it aside when our basement flooded. I pulled it out while homeschooling my youngest, finished it and went on to write a novel, then several more… Clearly, I love writing. *Grins* We are still very much an outdoor family: hiking, camping, fossil hunting, gardening…

What are your favorite and least favorite parts about being a writer?

I love creating the worlds and figuring out my characters’ lives and problems, and of course the magic. The magic is really my favorite. For least favorite…things that take me away from writing, like the paperwork and scheduling.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other writers?

Persevere. Early in my writing journey I heard Jo Ann Ferguson give a keynote speech during a Beau Monde mini-conference in San Francisco. Her quote from Galaxy Quest really has motivated me: ‘Never give up. Never surrender.’

That is a great quote. When you're writing, do you prefer silence or to have music on?

I’m a silence person, but my husband loves public radio with classical music. It is so much a part of our household, I often forget it’s on until the hourly newsbreaks.

How’d you get the idea for The Unraveling?

A dream, but also I’d recently read Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series and Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices series. So while working out what that girl in the dream was doing on a farm, I knew I had to make her story a steampunk. Because I’d not read any steampunk stories with rural settings, I could make all the ideas for the machinery my own!

Awesome! Steampunk fascinates me--you must have to have a good imagination to write it. And will The Unraveling be part of a series?

The Unraveling is actually part of a serialized novel—the complete story is called The Luminated Threads. It’s told in three parts, following the same characters, a proper city artist and the shapeshifter she comes to love, and the agricultural magnate who is determined to recruit them into his plans.

So there's lots more to look forward to! Yay! What are you working on right now?

Look at this gorgeous cover!

I’m finalizing the edits for The Twisting, Volume Two of The Luminated Threads. It releases this fall. For a short break at the start of June, I took a Master Plotting class taught by Cherry Adair and spent a weekend working on the outline of two stories in a futuristic duet…also with shapeshifters. J

What genres do you write in? What have your experiences been like? If you write in multiple genres, how is the experience different from one to another?

I write fantasy, but it never seems to be pure fantasy, the kind with a hero on a quest, running into elves, or trolls, rescuing a princess… My settings have that thread of magic, but also one of reality. I’ve used contemporary settings, some futuristic and this set of novels takes place in the past. Since my worlds aren’t completely made up, I always end up researching something. Luckily, I do love learning new things.

The Unraveling started out in a made-up land, but I so wanted the atmosphere to be the Victorian period. It came out English enough a plotting partner said it confused her it wasn’t the UK. With the help of a British friend, I selected Derby. I wrote happily away, looking up historical dress and food and transportation and…let’s be honest: I had to research a lot. The final things to trip me up were simple exclamations! Here’s one: Shoot. Sounds like something a lady might say instead of a real curse, right? Not until 1934. On the flip side, the expression bloody hell is very English and from the correct time period, yet it was considered a terribly extreme expression. So I used it once.

What was your favorite scene to write?

Ah, I don’t want to spoil anything, but this is a fun question! Annmar, the heroine, arrives at her last train station and runs into a bit of trouble with the stationmaster. She’s used to handling difficult clients and remains polite, yet she’s come all this way and doesn’t want to miss her connection. After a drawn-out series of questions that are getting her no closer to having a ticket in hand, it finally becomes clear the elderly man wants to ask a favor of her, a visiting artist, and she has to offer her services.

What scene gave you the most trouble?

Ohmygosh—the first scene! Always the first scene. I must write it a dozen times. I do write it almost first, and that seems to be my problem: I want to tell so many things, too many details, too many new terms. For The Unraveling, I originally had Annmar winding her way through Derby, including waiting for a steam trolley to pass. Then the mechanical feature became a walking carriage that she stops to draw. Finally, I just got her to the steam factory…and new readers complained there wasn’t enough setting. I believe the final-final opening scene has a good mix of setting, machines and Annmar’s dilemma.

Where can we find you on the interwebs?

Website: https://laurelwanrow.wordpress.com/

 (Also gets there with just www.laurelwanrow.com  )

To be notified of new releases sign up for Laurel's Newsletter

 (actual link is: http://eepurl.com/17xRH  )

Twitter:  @laurelwanrow : https://twitter.com/laurelwanrow

Author Facebook Page: Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/laurelwanrowauthor

Goodreads: Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/laurelwanrow

Pinterest: Pinterest  : https://www.pinterest.com/laurelwanrow/

Amazon Author central: https://www.amazon.com/author/laurelwanrow

Where can we find your books?

The Unraveling will be on sale for .99 through June 30^th, at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XGY8QIK

And the trade paperback, 360 pages, is available at Createspace (link still needed but definitely should have in a week!)

 Laurel Wanrow loves misty mornings, the smell of freshly dug earth, petting long-haired guinea pigs and staring at the stars. She sees magic in nature and loves to photograph it.

Before kids, she studied and worked as a naturalist—someone who leads wildflower and other nature walks. During a stint of homeschooling, she turned her writing skills to fiction to share her love of the land, magical characters and fantastical settings.

When not living in her fantasy worlds, Laurel camps, hunts fossils and argues with her husband and two new adult kids over whose turn it is to clean house. Though they live on the East Coast, a cherished family cabin in the Colorado Rockies holds Laurel’s heart.

Visit her online at www.laurelwanrow.com.

Thank you so much for stopping by, Laurel! 

xoxo Sarah

Interview Time with Killian McRae

Hey, everyone! I had the privilege of interviewing another great author--today we have Killian McRae!  

Enjoy!

Hello, my dear! We've known each other for a few years now, but please tell these lovely readers about yourself.

5’6”. Scorpio. I’m that eclectic/artsy/poetry-loving girl you knew in high school. 
:-) Now I write books.

What are your favorite and least favorite parts about being a writer?

It’s the same thing on both sides: inspiration. It’s such a feast-or-famine creature. Either your well is completely dry and everything seems impossible, or your well runneth over and you start having to make personal hygiene-choices in lieu of finding time to write them down.

I can completely identify with that--it's very all or nothing, and when it's "all", the yoga pants go on for days at a time. 

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other writers?

Forgive yourself. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to piss some people off. You’re going to have become a ninja in the art of no. Like the pursuit of any dream, you’re going to have to pay your dues and you’re going to have to make tough choices and sacrifices to feed your art. There will be guilt, both coming from outside sources, and from within. If this is something you’re dedicated to doing, learn to forgive where you fail to please everyone and, most importantly, where you fail to please yourself.

That's great advice! So many people beat themselves up over failures, but failure in anything is inevitable and always passes.  

When you're writing, do you prefer silence or to have music on? What kind?

I prefer to have on music, but if there’s singing involved, it has to be in a language I can’t understand. Otherwise my concentration gets syphons away by the lyrics. I have different genre preferences based on what genre I’m writing. Contemporary romance = jazz. Science Fiction or fantasy = new age or world music (Yasmin Levy is a favorite the last few years). Historical=baroque.  

You're very much setting the mood in your stories with your music--that makes sense!

A Love by any Measure's gorgeous
new cover!

I love reading historical fiction and thoroughly enjoyed A Love by Any Measure. How difficult was it to write in order to capture Ireland and the feel for the time period?

Dialog was the most challenging. I reread some fiction of that period (Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte; A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens) to remind myself of the rhythms of speech in those times. Capturing Ireland, which I’ve been told by natives, was a fluke. I had never been there when I wrote ALBAM, and still haven’t been (other than the Dublin airport for about two hours). I’m lucky that I grew up in an area that was settled by many Irish immigrants, partially because its topography and climate is similar. When I was writing of Ireland, I was thinking of home.

How’d you get the idea for your Pure Souls series?

Honestly, it all exploded into being from that very first line: A witch, a priest and a demigod walk into a bar. I had aspects of Marc in my head for some time. A wiccan catholic priest who fights against demons with magic and is a smart ass to boot? Who wouldn’t want to write about that?

Very true! And will there be more coming along for the Pure Souls series…inquiring minds want to know! 

There are at least two more installments coming in the series, but I don’t know in what order. It depends how much writing I get done this summer. :-) One will be out for Christmas, though. It’s actually a prequel novella about Jerry and Riona’s relationship the first time around, when Jerry was sent by Lucifer to be a spy and Riona had no idea of her destiny to be a Pure Soul. The other book, The Devil You Know, will finish off the series, and is more focused on Marc.

Sweet! I know the readers will be excited. What are you working on right now?

Time hasn’t changed me. I’m still a gal that likes to have a few projects up and running at once. I’m mostly finished now with The Guardian, which is a sequel to my first book ever, 12.21.12: The Vessel. I’m also working on the Jerry-Riona novella and another project I’m not yet ready to discuss in public, but fans of the Pure Souls will probably like it.

You write in a few different genres. What have your experiences been like writing in such a variety?  How is the experience different from one to another?

I’ve always had an eclectic personality, and this shakes out in my writing too. I’m naturally a smart ass, and I really get to draw on that when writing books like those in the Pure Souls series. But I’m also a huge fan of history and speculation, so when I approach historicals and SFF, my voice becomes much more serious. Romance is the hardest for me, as I’m not a big believer in love, but still long for it, in a stupid, womany way.

What was your favorite scene to write in any of your books?

The Thanksgiving scene in Once You Go Demon, because it was just so rife with humor. Half the people at the table were drunk, half of the people at the table had a deep dark secret ready to be exposed, and it was just a ticking time bomb of awkwardness and revelations with a comedic twist.

Those kinds of scenes are always fun to write! On the other hand, what scene gave you the most trouble?

Snapped included several scenes that left me emotionally drained, but I guess that’s to be expected in a book where the hero and heroine both were sexually abused as minors.

That must have been very difficult to channel.

Where can we find you on the interwebs? 

 I’m mainly found at my website, but I’m also pretty active on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AuthorKillianMcRae), Twitter (www.twitter.com/killianmcrae), and Instagram (www.instragram.com/killianmcrae). I don’t use Goodreads too much as an author, but I do use it as a reader. You can find my reader profile here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4389465.Killian_McRae. If you’re into audiobooks, check out my audiobooks review podcast, Audific: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/audific-audiobook-reviews/id989659360?mt=2.

Where can we find your books? 

The availability of my titles varies across sites, but you can find me on:

Amazon           www.tinyurl.com/KillianOnAmazon

BN                  www.tinyurl.com/KillianOnBN

iBookstore       www.tinyurl.com/KillianOnApple

Smashwords    www.tinyurl.com/KillianOnSmashwords

Yay! Thank you for letting me interview you, Killian! 

xoxo Sarah

Awesome Writing in Media, Pt.6: Mad Max: Fury Road

No, I haven't lost my mind, and I haven't been abducted by pod people. A Tomatometer score of freaking 98% fresh can't be wrong. Just trust me on this.

So, full disclosure, I haven't seen any of the previous Mad Max films. I've heard that they're good; hubs has seen them and enjoyed them, but I never had the chance to. Nothing against the movies--it's one of those things where the occasion to watch one never really came up (or there was something else I'd rather watch on). But I love a good action movie as my lucky husband can attest, though, to be fair, I'm game to watch pretty much anything. It's him who doesn't want to watch Sharknado...

The previews for Mad Max: Fury Road all looked as good as any summer popcorn blockbuster could--explosions, ridiculous vehicles, vibrant settings, lots of intense staring. Hubs and I agreed that it was one of the ones we'd see this summer (besides any Marvel outputs) that was an absolute must to view on the big screen.

Sorry, Pitch Perfect 2...you'll have to wait for Netflix.

Hey, stop throwing fruit--I loved Pitch Perfect (the first one), but you really can't argue that it's a must-see for a giant screen. It comes across as good on our television as in the theater. I'll see the second one, don't worry...keep your shorts on.

Anyway, a quick scan of the Internet with the husband's help caught me up on the Mad Max mythology, though it must be said (by me here, and by many others on the web) that you don't need to know much at all, if anything, about the previous movies and the timeline. Fury Road stands on its own, no Googling required, and isn't hard to follow.

In my effort to keep the majority of the posts under the Awesome Writing in Media tag spoiler-free, I do want to concentrate on why I chose this movie to appear in the series.

The writing (Fury Road was directed, produced, and co-written by the creator of the whole damn thing, George Miller), is a prime example of what editors (and writers) always tell you is best: showing, not telling. The dialogue is minimal--there are grunts and noises and spoken words, but actual conversations between characters is rare. Instead, we're treated to a talented group of expressive actors (and let's not forget the stunt people) showing us what is going on.

And show they do.

We don't hear Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa telling us that she's devastated about a new piece of information she's learned (sorry, I did promise no spoilers); instead we see her fall to her knees, face and body racked with emotion.

We don't hear Imperator Furiosa say what she intends to do, or why she's gone off track with her war rig; instead the reason is told to the audience through exposition.

We don't hear the reason Mad Max is, well, mad; instead we see the horrifying images that haunt him through violent, detailed flashes.

Mad Max: Fury Road is the best example I've seen in a long time of minimalism, at least in actual dialogue and writing. Now, that's not to say that there's no plot; that couldn't be further from the truth. The plot is heavy and driving, very like one of the intimidating vehicles seen on screen. The whole thing is a spectacle, and one of the most satisfying movies I've watched in a while.

It's a testament to George Miller's skill and vision that this movie (which, from what I understand, had quite a few bumps along the way to getting made) is as amazing as it is.

Have you seen Mad Max: Fury Road? What did you think?

xoxo Sarah

Five Tips for Success as a Self-Published Author (and giveaway!) by Susan Kaye Quinn

Five Tips for Success as a Self-Published Author

by Susan Kaye Quinn

Can you spot the self-published titles?

Hint: they all are.

(Caveat: A.G. Riddle started out indie but is now published through Amazon's 47North imprint along with Marko Kloos)

The truth is that self-published titles now regularly top the charts - if not outright dominate them. Successful self-published titles have great covers and lots of fervent fans - often the only way to distinguish them from traditionally published titles is the publisher listing in the description (and the price - indie titles are usually less than $5.99 for single titles).

How do you become one of these successful indie authors? Hard work, luck, and educating yourself about how the indie marketplace works.

Here are FIVE TIPS to get you started. For a full run-down on how to launch your indie author career, see my Indie Author Survival Guide (Second Edition now available). To take your indie author career to the next level, pre-order my For Love or Money: Crafting an Indie Author Career (releases 7.14).

TIP #1: Study the Bestsellers - In both craft and business, studying successful people will help you discern the ingredients of success. Always be striving to take your craft up a level - by craft I mean storytelling, not just the way you string words together. Because as much as we like to disparage that poorly written erotica book at the top of the charts, I guarantee that good stories well told actually do sell. (Alternatively, if you want to chase the latest trend, that's possible now  - there's no sin in giving readers more of what they want, but it's nowhere near as easy as you think.) As far as business, look who is selling in your genre and what they did to get there. Don't follow what people say - look at what they actually do. The actions of successful people often fly in the face of conventional wisdom. (I welcome you to look at my own path to success as well as many other indie authors - often the most successful are not the ones offering advice about it! #yesIseetheirony )

TIP #2: Be a Professional - Don't dabble. Don't dip your toe into indie publishing with a short story that's not going to sell. Go full cannon-ball jump into the pond with professional covers, formatting, editing, the works. Make sure your novel can comfortably sit in the top 100 of your category. This will require up-front investment, but most books can be well-published for under $1000 - and I know of no other legit business you can start for that little money invested. Don't skimp. (Note: on the other hand, don't throw money away on a $3000 cover that will be hard to recoup; be sensible.)

TIP #3: Launch With a Series - You don't have to pre-write an entire trilogy and release the books one month apart... but that's an option now, with indie publishing. If you can write a novel in six months, you could publish the first book, then write and publish Books 2 and 3 within a year. I've seen both models be successful (note: don't wait more than six months between books). Make the commitment to quickly build a backlist and get books into readers' hands. Delivering three connected novels to readers within a year is a strong way to launch a career (note: I'm talking novels here, not novellas or short stories or serials - those are fun, but not career-launchers).

TIP #4: Launch in Amazon then Go Wide -  There's a lot to learn in indie publishing, so staying focused can be key to staying on track - plus launching a new series in the Kindle Unlimited system gives new authors/new series a boost in visibility. Use this to get your footing. Then, when you've established your brand as an author, you can expand to the other retailers (Nook, Kobo, iTunes, Google Play). You'll be a veteran at that point and in a good position to weigh the pros and cons of exclusivity vs. reach.

TIP #5: Never Stop Writing - the single most important thing you can do in your career is write the next book. Generating new IP (Intellectual Property) is the one thing only you can do - the rest can be outsourced. It's tempting to get bogged down in all the latest and greatest changes in the industry, but the biggest lever you can pull to move sales is to launch a new book. Or an entirely new series. You want to study the bestsellers, but always remember: your biggest asset is your uniqueness. Make sure you're continually feeding your creativity, reaching for that next level with your work, bringing out the fullest expression of your abilities. Spend the bulk of your time doing creative work - reading, writing, watching movies, taking workshops, using craft books to boost your skills, exploring new forms, learning how to write faster... whatever works for you to elevate your craft and increase your enjoyment of writing. This is the creative life you want, yes?

I really should have started with TIP #0: Decide What Mountain You Want To Climb - I have an entire section in my Indie Author Survival Guide about making a Mission Statement so that you know you're climbing the right hill before you set off in dogged pursuit of the success you think you want. 

Knowing what will make you happy, then having a plan to get there? That's the only key to success you actually need.

p.s. if all of this terrifies you, I understand. Truly. Watch this webinar on facing your fears and don't let that hold you back. 

Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the Singularity Series, the Mindajck Trilogy and the Debt Collector serial (as well as other speculative fiction works) and has been indie publishing since 2011. She?s not an indie rockstar or a breakout success: she?s one of thousands of solidly midlist indie authors making a living with their works. The Indie Author Survival Guide is based on her experience in self-publishing fiction?the First Edition was published in 2013, the Second Edition in 2015, updated to account for changes in the industry. It?s a guide to help her fellow writer-friends take their own leaps into the wild (and wonderful) world of indie publishing? and not only survive, but thrive. Facebook | Tumblr | Website | All of Susan's Fiction

Indie Author Survival Guide (Second Edition) now available

For Love or Money: Crafting an Indie Author Career - preorder for 7.14

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Ever SEE something that NEEDS to be written?

Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I run across something that just begs to be in a book. Somehow, you're going to shoe-horn that thing into your manuscript, and it'll be better for it.

It could be a snippet of someone's tale of a relative's crazy wedding, or how a friend and her husband accidentally stole their rental car while on vacation, or that "truth is stranger than fiction" story you read in the newspaper about that serial killer.

But sometimes, that thing is visual.  It could be that adorable little old lady in head-to-toe leopard print in the middle of February, or the gorgeous rainbow-colored hair of that teen in Walmart (pro-tip: Walmart is an excellent place to get good character-visual ideas...trust me on this), or the straight-out-of-the-seventies hair-do and outfit of that teller at the bank.

The other day, I saw something that hit me like a ton of bricks.  Hubs and I had attended a family event, and afterward there was a lovely party at a relative's home.  There were a bunch of little ones running around; the oldest were around seven, and the youngest was still in her mother's arms.  There were several little girls were doing exactly what I would have done at their age (around 4ish): tearing around in their sundresses, having a blast with their cousins.

The weather was warm and mostly cloudy, plenty fine for the kids to play outside on the swing set and playscape in the back yard.

We'd been there most of the day and were getting ready to head home when, in the middle of our goodbyes, two of the girls (again, aged 4ish) came onto the wooden deck.  Each of them carried one of two parts of a chain attached to a swing (the kind of kid-swings that adult idiots end up stuck in and then on YouTube), and the swing seat clunked behind them wherever they scampered.

Something about the image of these two struck me as simultaneously innocent and creepy--rather like the twins from Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining.  I couldn't tear my eyes away as they giggled and happily dragged the swing around with them, off the deck and into the yard.  Neither of them pulled harder than the other; there was no tug-of-war, just an odd synchronicity to their movements.  The whole thing seemed as though it would have played out the same way if they'd been hauling a severed head, or the body of a mangled torture victim, or a demon they'd just slain.

I know exactly how weird that sounds, believe me, but I think all writers somehow see the world differently than more analytic types, at least to some degree.  And if I were able to come up with that, think what goes on in Stephen King's brain.  Yeah.  Let that one percolate for a bit...

And no, I can honestly say that I don't see morbid or creepy things everywhere I go. Often they're whimsical, odd, or beautiful. I'm sure no two people would ever see things exactly the same way.

I hope I can fit that image into one of my books, because visuals like that just shouldn't go to waste.

Have you seen something or heard something that just begged to be written? What was it?  Did it ever end up in one of your stories, or if it hasn't, do you think it ever will?  Let me know in the comments!

xoxo Sarah

Tips for Editing Your Manuscript from a Real-Life Editor, Part 11

Welcome back to our (ir)regularly scheduled programming! 

As always, the links to the other parts in this series are at the bottom of the page.

This is Part 11: Sit on it.

No, I don't mean that in a weird rude way. 

We, as authors/writers/whatever you want to call yourself, are generally too close to our own writing to get any perspective.  You know how when you read a book (doesn't matter what kind) and can pick out errors? That's because you're a set of fresh eyes on it. 

And with our own manuscripts, there comes a time when you're literally unable to continue editing it because you're too close to the story, characters, and everything else.  At this stage, it's extremely frustrating--and bad for your manuscript--to keep going. Trust me on this. 

So, in order to get something close to a fresh set of eyes when you're the only one around to edit your manuscript, or before you send it to an editor you've hired, or what have you, you need to distance yourself from your work.  Let it sit for a while.  

The time period can vary from author to author; I prefer at least a couple of months; some authors I know let it percolate for a few weeks while they draft or outline another story. I'm aware of others who got to the point where they hated their manuscript, set it down for a year or more, and finally picked it up and edited it into something they were happy with.

I've recently started on what I feel will be my final run-through (before any kind of publication, self or otherwise begins) on my novel, Fate's Awakening. This is the first time I've really--really--looked at it as a whole in a number of months, and I'm surprised that I like what I've written. It's getting a few tweaks here and there, but nothing major (at least until it hits another editor).  See, the last time I looked at it, I hated it. I wanted to hit delete on the whole thing, and that's how I knew it was time to step back.

So, if you're done with your manuscript, schedule some time to take a break from it and sit on it for a while. Work on something else, then come back to it.  It'll do wonders.

I know this one was a shortie, but, as always, I hope it was helpful!  Let me know what your ideal "sit on it" period is in the comments. I know it's different for everyone!

xoxo Sarah

Other posts in this series:

Part 1: Look it up!

Part 2:  Read it out loud.

Part 3:  Have someone who knows what they're doing read it.

Part 4:  Consistency, consistency, consistency!

Part 5:  Dialogue tag...you're NOT it!

Part 6: Pick the right word to say what you mean.

Part 7: Adverbs--Kill it with fire!

Part 8: Editors Aren't Perfect

Part 9: Frequently Seen Errors (FSEs)

Part 9.5: FSEs Pt.2

Part 10: Editing and Writing Reference Books

#AtoZChallenge Wrap-up!

                                   

Okay, folks! It's been a bit since the final post for the 2015 A-Z Challenge went up, and all of the participants have started to recover from their blogging-induced carpel tunnel.  So I wanted to write a bit about how the challenge went for me this year and what I discovered.

First of all, I wrote all of my challenge posts in their entirety ahead of time and scheduled them to go out at the same time each day. Yep. I was "done" with the challenge by March 31st, and you know what? It was super relaxing. It gave me more time to explore the other blogs in the challenge, and didn't leave me scrambling for time and content at the last minute. In past challenge years I've done several entries at a time (maybe a week ahead at most) but never the whole thing in advance. And if I do the challenge again, I will do it the same way...advance planning for the win!

Secondly, I enjoyed having a little key that bloggers could use to identify the main content on their blog if they chose to.  I tagged mine on the sign-up page with a "WR" to signify that my main content was about writing. A lot weren't tagged, and that's okay, but it allowed me to check out other blogs with content I might find interesting.

Thirdly, Google+ is super irritating when, apparently, it's the only thing you can use to comment on certain Blogger blogs that have it enabled. I will likely cave and make a G+ profile, but I shouldn't have to have one to comment on a Blogger blog (which is the platform my blog runs on and is freaking owned by Google anyway). If I go to comment on a Wordpress blog, yes, I should have to make an account to comment, but not for a Blogger blog. I get that no one wants to be on Google+, but don't be so desperate, Google. Seriously. Not cool.

Fourthly (is "fourthly a word? It doesn't look like one...weird...), I wished I had more time for reading other blogs, but there's never enough time for that. When I did have time to read, I attempted to hit up 10+ blogs instead of the 3-5 per day recommended, but I always felt bad if I couldn't get to it. I did my best to comment and say hello on each one I visited as well.

Fifthly, each and every comment on my posts made me smile! I loved seeing that someone had liked one of my letter posts, and it's always encouraging to read a kind message. So thank you.

Well, that's about it for me!  How'd the A-Z Challenge go for you?

xoxo Sarah