AtoZ Blogging Challenge or How I Spent My Spring Vacation

The brainchild of  Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out





Last week I gave everyone a hint about my THEME this year. 

Here it is:





I'm long and short and carry loads far bigger than most things my size.
I twist tongues, delight people who see me, and reveal so much about the inner life.

When I'm in good company I'm exciting, but when I'm not, I soon lose my sparkle.

I have a very large family and a long history.

What am I?





















ANS: Words . . . and here's my first word of the month.





Avuncular







Portrait of an Old Man with a Boy, Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1490, Musee du Louvre, Paris.







This has a wonderful sound that kind of pats you on the head. That's exactly what you want the reader to feel--a pat on the head--a kindly uncle you can rely on for his understanding. 




My agent excuses my writing sins with an avuncular, "Writers will be writers." Thanks agent with a heart.




Now you know where the word "uncle" comes from!




What's an A word you like to feel on your tongue and use in your prose? Oh, and if you've got a  moment this week, hope you'll click onto my link (see right margin) and enter to win a signed copy of one of my books. I'm doing some spring cleaning!



*Brought to you by:






The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers)

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Leave it to Livia (Livia Peterson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)








We also have a Facebook page, email address 2012azinfo@gmail.com, and the Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.  Join in. 









Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12