Challenge, Hop, or Blog by Helen Henderson

 

Windmaster Legend by Helen Henderson
Click the cover for purchase information

 

After the past year, and since this is April (more on that below), one topic seemed a natural to write about, "Challenging oneself as a writer."

 

One definition of a challenge is, "a call to take part in a contest or competition." This is especially appropriate for April. For the past two years, the month has been dedicated to posts based on the AtoZ Challenge. Like the name implies, each day during the month of April (except Sundays), bloggers write a post using a different letter of the alphabet as the topic. Which got me to thinking about challenges. Instead of my usual focus on history, this post is more of my philosophy as a writer. 

 

As a rule I don't like to write about myself, nor reveal too personal details, so these challenges can be, yes, I am going to say it, challenging. However, that doesn't apply to the characters whose tales are told in the Windmaster Novels. Their words, actions, dreams and fears are all fair game.

 

Where the AtoZ Challenge is once a year, writing challenges can also be weekly, monthly or even daily. Since romance tends to fight fantasy for top element in my works, I also participate in various writing hops for romance writers. One monthly hop has a topic that you have to write to. The weekly is more challenging in that each author chooses the subject. Other hops start with inspiration suggestions. Some are book related, others can be more personal. Answering an inspiration doesn't necessarily mean you will write a full-blown post for release. The purpose is often is to help a writer break through writer's block or a dry streak, expand their horizons as a writer, or just to journal a thought or two.

There are different reasons to do a challenge, sign up to receive inspirations, or participate in a blog hop. It can be to get your books in front of readers by having other authors in your genre list your name and topic on their post. A reader goes to their favorite author, then hops from one to another post in the list. Hopefully they will stop at yours and something will catch their fancy. When there are several hundred participants organized by genre (and a downloadable list that can be customized,) the potential recognition and exposure is significant.

 

How do blog hops and challenges try a writer? Working an excerpt into a post based on the letter of the alphabet, a specific word, or topic forces you to look at your writing from a different perspective. And to make the posts more interesting, finding or creating appropriate images.

April isn't finished and there are still several more posts to go. Click on the link to my blog to check out the excerpts and posts that go from A to Z and to see if I make it through the entire alphabet. And be sure to check back here, because as I said the month isn't over yet and there are still interesting posts by other BWL authors.

 

To purchase the Windmaster Novels: BWL

 

~Until next month, stay safe and read. Maybe use your favorite BWL author's works to help you meet another type of writing challenge, one where you dare yourself to read a given number of books in a year.

Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination.
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Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky who has adopted her as one the pack.