My friend, Susan Oloier, told me about the A to Z Challenge.  It sounded, well, sort of intimidating and scary to blog every single day. But, if there's anything that motivates me, it's fear.  I've had my death writer blog up and running (if you can call it that) for a few years, but I will be the first to admit that I'm kind of a dumb ass when it comes to blogging.  It's not that I don't know how to write, it's just that blogging and doing it well, is a much bigger can of worms.  First, you have to have content.  Check.  Then you've got to have followers.  Um, I think I had maybe 25 people who followed me publicly at the start of this challenge, but most never said a word.  Heck, I don't know if my followers ever read any of my posts.  If there are no comments, I have no way of knowing.  It's kind of sad, actually.  It's like throwing a really great party and only your mom shows up.

"Great dip, honey!"

On day one of the challenge, I started getting traffic.  And people commented.  So, in return I went to their blog and commented.  You know, the whole "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours," kind of thing.  And by doing this, I found a few blogs and people that I really liked.  Some people came back to my blog fairly regularly and it made me feel like a freakin' rock star.  Others, I just saw once and they were gone.  Eh, it's kind of like life.  You win some and you lose some.  I'm guilty of this too.  Don't take it personally.  My head it still spinning from all this reading and commenting and trying to keep up with life at the same time.

I realize that some might find my examination of all things related to death to be kind of a downer, so I get that "following" my blog might be construed as something weird.  But, I'm happy to say that I picked up about 55 new followers.  I have no idea how many people subscribed to my blog by email as I don't know how to check this.  If you do, please let me know.  I am laughably naive in regards to technology.

I did not visit every single blog in the challenge.  Yes, time was an issue.  But if I am going to be completely honest, and I usually am, I am attracted to blogs that are a) humorous, b) informative and c) something I want to be informed about.  It would have been SUPER cool if this challenge had been organized by topics or genre.  I know, that that might limit people in their exploration, but for us folks that have limited amounts of time (who doesn't) it would have been more effective.  Yes, it's fun to pop into five random blogs per day, but some blogs had a very small niche and I felt like, well, I really have nothing to add to the discussion here.

"Just stopping by on the A to Z challenge. Come ready my blog."

Commenting.  Well, I tried to comment as much as I could, but I didn't want to get inundated with emails, so I didn't sign up to see if the blogger responded to my comments.  I apologize in advance if you maybe posed a question and I never came back.  Truly, this experience was like blogging 101 for me, or maybe revisiting junior high on some level.  I felt bad for not reciprocating on some blogs, especially if they commented on mine, but I did interact with people if they showed up on my blog.  And that's where I think a blog becomes interesting--in the discussions.  I am so appreciative of every person that read my words and took the time to compose a thoughtful response.  You all rule!

I had a wonderful time.  I flexed my creative muscles and now I'm looking towards the future of this blog to make it a place that people want to visit.  My plan is to do two posts a week.  That would be reasonable and sane.  On the other three days, I'll visit other blogs.  Slowly, but surely, I hope to gain readership so if and when my book ever comes out, I can say "Death Becomes Us" is in print and you can buy it here.  I'll even sign it and send you a bookmark.

I don't know if I'll do the challenge next year with this blog, but I think I may do it with my next book project about religion.

A is for atheist

B is for Baptist

C is for Christ

D is for....you get the point.

Thanks for stopping by!

Z is for...

I am so saddened that this A to Z challenge is coming to an end.  My life had purpose and direction in April. Okay, I wouldn't go so far to say that my life lacks purpose and direction, but sadly, most days I don't do a lot of writing.  And I'm a writer.  So what's the problem? It's not writer's block; it's more like, what's the freakin' point block?  On April 1, 2012 I had like 24 followers and very few of them ever commented on my blog.  It's really difficult to put words out there when you know no one is going to read them or comment about a post.  Most days I'm like, hey, I've got laundry to do and groceries to buy and kids to entertain, so why write? Especially about death? It makes most people uncomfortable.  But through this challenge, I have found a few people who actually appreciate my effort.  And that makes me INCREDIBLY HAPPY!
My plan for May is to market this here death blog.  I want guest posters.  I want to do Q&A.  I want to promote others who are also writers.  I want to capture that excited feeling I had each morning when I saw that I had comments.  (If only I could sell that feeling I'd be a bazillionaire!)
Okay, so now the fun of April is over.  For everyone who stopped by and said hello, even the quiet stalkers, I appreciate you.

So what's my Z?

Bear with me a moment while I tell you a story...

Halloween is my favorite holiday.  Always has been.  It probably has to do with the fact that I spent most of my life as the girl who sat in the back row of class hiding behind a wall of frizzy hair or eating my lunch in the library because I felt weird and uncomfortable eating alone in the cafeteria.  Halloween is that one glorious day when the socially awkward get their chance to be someone else for a night.  And to top it all off, there's like a ton of FREE candy.  So, what's not to love?
For most of my life, my once yearly Halloween costume involved dressing up in a sexy costume.  (Yes, I'm one of those women. I know, I know.)  I could go into a full psychological profile of why I went that route, but I don't want to go way off topic here.

Z is for ZOMBIES!

This year I decided to embrace the fact that I was not the cute young thing that I used to be.  My Halloween plans involved trick-or-treating with my two kids and I didn't feel like being the pathetic mom in a bunny suit wandering the streets of suburban Texas with her offspring.  So, I went full on scary and had a blast.  I scared children.  I scared a few adults.  And best of all, at the end of the night as I was taking out the trash and two costume-less teenage boys were wandering past my house with pillowcases clutched in their grubby teenage hands, I growled "Want some Candy?"

And they said, "No, thanks."  But I lumbered towards them with my bowl of M&M snack packs and made them take it.

So, what's the moral of that story?

Everyone is afraid of death (zombies) but the sooner you embrace it, life becomes a lot more fun!

Y is for...

YUCKY!

I'll be honest.  I am writing this post sort of late in the day under the influence of a few drinks.  It is Friday, after all!  And it's after five-o'clock, so it's all good.  Y is a challenging one for me.  I was just going to write "You are going to die one day."  And that was going to be the whole post, but I had a feeling that that might be perceived as rather cold and that isn't the impression I want to leave you with when we're almost done with the challenge.

So, then I pulled out my trusty dictionary and started perusing through the words and "yucky" stuck out.  Why?  Well, sometimes death can be yucky, especially for the ones who have to deal with the aftermath.  I followed a crew of firefighters for about three months (only went on three calls because I am the white cloud) and I heard tales of "stinkers," or people who have died and nobody finds them for awhile. I hate to break it to you, but after we die, we smell REALLY BAD after a few days of decomposition. Not even a "stick up" is going to help.

I also interviewed a bio-hazard cleaner.  He showed me the difference between a hand gun and a shotgun and what it did to a room.  He didn't want anyone to end their life, but if they did, he would prefer that they use a handgun.  I saw the difference.  One room maintained an air of tidiness, while the other looked like Jackson Pollock had a can of red paint and went nuts on it.

Okay, enjoy your breakfast or lunch or dinner or whatever.  Take time to smell the roses.  And have a bitchin' summer!

And this is why Pamela shouldn't drink and blog.