P is for Plethora: So Many P Words, So Little Time (#atozchallenge)

photo from flikr-
chrisinplymouth's
photostream

The A to Z Blogging Challenge is an interesting beast. There are some letters that I have struggled with and yet there are others where the ideas just come in abundance. I suppose that’s why they call it a challenge.. and challenging, yet gratifying it has been.

“P” is one of these plentiful letters with great topics coming to me without pause. I really didn’t need to plow the dictionary or plunder the Internet for particular subjects. So being the positive person that I am, knowing that I won’t be pilloried by the wonderful blogging population out there and pondering that perchance this post will be pertinent to at least some of you, I have decided to publish a plethora of “P” words.

I have a passion for word play and punning. Some might say that’s a bit peculiar, but I have come to the conclusion that word play and punning are rather popular pastimes. Not one to procrastinate I throw on my pantaloons and pursue my passion with persistance and patience and without pause.

I also have a pechant for rhyming schloky poetry. I have penned a plentiful number of positive and philosophical birthday poems for plutonic pals and acquaintances. Some of them have even thought they were pretty as a picture and have framed them for posterity. They are rather unique pieces of prose and are in no way pedestrian. A poetic portrait, if you will. One day I may even find prosperity through my prose and passions. Pending that, I will have to participate in paid penance…er, employment and persist in perfecting my product part time.

All “P” words aside, I really do love to write funny rhyming poems for friends’ special occasions and love to think about rhyming word combinations and puns. I’d love to hear from you if you (secretly or otherwise) love punning and word play. Let me know what form your punning/word play takes.

Just in case it wasn’t pitch perfect and painfully clear, this post was brought to you by the letter P and the colour purple. It was no problem or painstaking, and in fact was a pleasure to produce.

Alphabetiquette: Blogging from A to Z April Challenge

Having taken the First Step into the blogosphere last week, I decided to plunge right in and take part in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. Starting 1 April, bloggers who have signed up are challenged to write a blog a day for the month of April. Each day has a designated letter of the alphabet and the subject of the blog must start with the designated letter. Sundays, other than Sunday 1 April, are letter free and can be treated as blog free days.

At the time of writing there are almost 1200 blogs signed up for the challenge. It is going to be a huge blogfest and taking a peek at some of the blogs on the sign-up list, the quality is likely to be amazing. The other facet of this challenge is to visit each participating blog at least once during April. As was so eloquently pointed out today, this amounts to about 36 blogs a day.

After blog hopping in no particular order through the sign-up list to kick the tyres, I have come to the conclusion that this amount of blog travel requires structure and organisation. But how? Then it hit me right between the eyes in an obvious light bulb moment. I will begin with the blog titles starting with the letter “A” and work my way through to those starting with the letter “Z”, then move to any blog titles starting with a number and finally any that start with a symbol.

You can sign up to the Challenge at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html.

I would love to hear from any novice bloggers (like me) taking part in the challenge. It would be a great opportunity to get to know each other, practice some alphabetiquette and drop a like or a comment or two. Here’s to a month of blogging from A for Anticipation to Z for ZZZZZZZ… sleep at last!

The First Step

They say every journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step. This post represents the first step of my bloggosphere journey. Like most novice bloggers, I start this journey with a whole lot of enthusiasm, wonder and excitement together with a squeeze of trepidation and many questions. I am hoping that in a couple of years, I’ll look back at this post and see how far into the bloggosphere I have travelled, laugh at what I didn’t know and like a proud parent savour what I have grown and nurtured.

Why this blog? I enjoy the written word and entertaining people. If I can raise an “ah-ha”, a laugh or a smile out of just one person, then it’s a good day. I also love community. Ironically, my love for the written word came long after I left school – my English teachers will attest to that. I remember not so fondly my high school years in English class wondering why the English department had nothing better to do than butcher some great novels. Take Thomas Hardy’s novel, Tess of the D’Urbervilles – a fabulous girl meets boy story. At one point (actually several points, but let’s not go there), Angel leaves Tess and Tess is blue. What an amazing literary coincidence that at the time of Tess’ “blueness” the weather is dank, wet, cold and depressing to match her mood. And just my luck I had to write a thousand words about this very imagery. Why couldn’t Tess just turn up the stereo, listen to her favourite break up songs, eat a tonne of ice-cream, cry her little eyes out and funk out without the appropriate scenery like everyone else? It would have saved me an excruciating thousand words!

Roll the film forward and I am grateful that the love of the written word found its way to my life. This is a very good thing given I have spent most of the last quarter of a century working in a profession where every word counts and a stray “and” or “or” can change the meaning of a document or the course of a transaction (not to mention cost someone a whole lot of mullah). However, business writing is not creative writing and my creative muscle is begging for a regular work out. So the blogosphere it is.

I have called my blog “Raising the Curtain” because through it I hope to find a way to effectively prepare for life’s second act. What happens when you get to the crossroads and find out that the road map which you have been using no longer applies or that life has stopped providing the signage you need to finish your journey? How do you survive middle age and come out bigger and better than before? I don’t have the answers….. yet, but I am hoping to go at least some of the way to finding them through writing, sharing common experiences and humour. I am not a change your life guru or a dream merchant… but what I do know is that a journey shared is more fun than a solo journey and I love learning new things.

So, let’s raise the curtain to the second act. Currently at the crossroads I can see a “Stop” and a “Give Way” sign and a sign that says “U-turn”. None of these seem right. There is a whole lot of fantastic living still to be done and most likely a “Dip” or a “Hump” on the way. I love to hear your points of view, so let’s make this a two way conversation.