An Alphablog

I haven't written any stories in a long time. I have them in my brain, but my hands haven't been cooperating these past few weeks.

Instead, I've been obsessively reading A Song of Fire and Ice by George R. R. Martin. I finished A Game of Thrones, and now I'm about halfway through A Clash of Kings. My sister texted me to tell me not to get overly attached to any of the characters, since apparently anyone can die at any time. Fair enough...but if they kill Arya, I will be furious.

I did sit down to write a blog post a few days ago, but I got distracted and played Plants vs Zombies for nearly five hours instead. I couldn't sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing little waving plants and flaming peas flying through the air.

Still, there will be writing a-plenty in the next few weeks. I signed up for the Blogging From A to Z Challenge. The idea behind the challenge is to post 26 times during the month of April, with one post for each letter of the alphabet. Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking. I have a hard time keeping up with posting weekly; posting 26 times in the next month may very well be un-doable.

But I'm going to try.

On April 1st, I will begin the Clay Baboons alphablog. Here's the tentative title:

A is for Alien Abduction
26 Things That Annoy Me, Confuse Me, Creep Me Out or Otherwise Make my Life More Difficult

Catchy? Maybe? Hey, I said it was tentative.

In the meantime, enjoy these posts that I didn't write (but wish I did). Please note: some of them are old. I haven't linked to other people's awesomeness in a while. Sorry.

First of all, thanks to Anne at Writing by the Numbers and M at Feed me a Stray Cat for giving Clay Baboons blog awards. I am honoured and touched and basking in warm fuzziness!


Ash-Matic Does Affection for Animals
from Ash-Matic Does Things

Ash-Matic loves animals. Pretty much any creature is in danger of being tucked under his t-shirt while he runs down the road squee-ing. Just don't ask him which animal is his favourite. This post made me laugh out loud more than once.


A Boy That Men Make Drive
from Gweenbrick

When he was but a lad, Gweenbrick learned to drive from an ancient enraged cyborg who hated him on first sight. The traumatic experience ended with him huddled in the back of the car with a sobbing German exchange student. Let this serve as a cautionary tale for all of us.


Why the Pretty White Girl YA Book Cover Trend Has to End
from Hello Ello

You know how sometimes you find yourself nodding along and saying "yes" to your computer screen as you read? This was that post for me. Walk into any book store and you'll find an ocean of young adult books, most of which seem to have a picture of a generic pretty white girl splashed on the cover. It's time for the book publishing industry to move past this trend and embrace diversity.


Big Steve
from Southern Fried Children

"Big Steve was a back slapper, a hand pumper, and a chronic high fiver." Kelly is a true story-teller. This funny-sad-sweet description of an obnoxious, endearing oaf of a man tugged at my heart. Please note: that isn't a picture of Big Steve. It's a picture of Kelly, who writes Southern Fried Children. Just to clarify.


Bullies, UFOs and Me
from Crack You Whip

Tracie has a gift for tackling serious issues with humour, grace and hilarious illustrations. In this funny-sad story, she shares some of her childhood experiences with bullying. Research has shown that bullying will stop when adults in authority and peers get involved. Be a part of the solution.



Like a Filthy, Dirty, Disgusting, Obsessed, Dedicated, Fat Mannequin with a Cheap, Dusty Wig
from Super Earthling

You know how sometimes you get so involved in something that you forget to wash your hair for nine days? And then you want to go out, but you don't have time for a shower, so you just slap some powder on your head instead? Well, this post is about that.




Bad Friend
from http://www.booksofadam.com

In this illustrated story, Adam faces some hard truths about his eight-year-old self, including the fact that he was sort of racist and sort of sexist and a pretty crappy friend. This post is both funny and a little bit sad. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable at times.



Raining on his Parade
from Catalog Living

Catalog Living is one of my all-time favourite blogs. The author uses the fictional Gary and Elaine to show us just how ridiculous staging and catalogs can be. Her posts are short and to the point, with only a photo and a caption in each one. This post made me laugh out loud. And I laughed out loud again while linking up to it. And now I just laughed out loud again while thinking about it.