Twitter Monthly Challenge: Three Years Later!

June 23, 2014 was the beginning of a brand new trend for Twitter users who write.

High school English teacher and YA writer Kristy Acevedo made out this tweet that would be called the Twitter Monthly Challenge with the hashtag #JuneWritingChallenge.

Who's in? JULY WRITING CHALLENGE! Starting July 1st, write 500 words minimum each day for 31 days. #Julywritingchallenge #amwriting

— Kristy Acevedo ☮️📚 (@kristyace) June 23, 2014

Everyone had followed suit with the word count of 500 or more in a few days. Writers had begun sharing advice, motivation, musing about their favorite genres, and research complexities. The action would continue with #JulyWritingChallenge that would bring together all writers on Twitter.

Three years later, more challengers have come.

The task of being a Writing Challenge hashtag leader requires a daily commitment, as well as organization to keep track of progress from other challengers.

The rules are to write at least 500 words per day and post your results each day using the current hashtag.

As a participant, I will say joining the challenge has given me the motivation to start writing after a while and connecting with published or soon-to-be published authors. But I'm not the only one having fun with it. Here are testimonials from my compatriots:

I remember being one of the first who signed up. It's been helpful and rewarding.

-Nina Lake

Monthly writing challenge keeps me on track. It's so refreshing!

-Wendy Turner

I'm so grateful I found this writing group. Great people. Finished my book & the rewrite because of the Writing Challenge! Happy I found it.

-Christina Quesada

The Writing Challenge gives me an achievable goal, despite the challenges of writing, kids, and a full-time job.

-Brie Paddock

I've written 500 words every day so far this year. Never in my life have I been so motivated to to dedicate time to my writing.

-E.K. Moore

There you have it! The amazing results from our Monthly Writing Challenge. Are you a writer looking to get pages written? Come answer the challenge at our website!

 

 

 

 

#FolkloreThursday: Bastet

Welcome back to another edition of Folklore Thursday on my blog site. This week it's the Egyptian goddess Bastet.

 In Egyptian mythology Bastet was a cat-headed goddess and a solar deity until Greek influence on Egyptian society, she became a lunar goddess associated with the Greek goddess Artemis. *During the  2nd Dynasty (2890-2686), Bastet was either a wild desert cat or lioness, and only became associated with the domesticated cat around 1,000 BCE. She was commonly depicted as a woman with a head of a wildcat, lioness. or a domesticated cat.

Bastet was commonly paired with Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess of Memphis, Wadjet, and Hathor. Her title was "avenger" god sent to lay waste to Egypt's enemies as one of the "Eyes of Ra." In according to legends, Bastet was called the "Daughter of Ra", a designation that placed her in the same ranks as Maat and Tefnut.

The cult of Bastet was centered in Bubastis from the 4th Dynasty. Bubastis was the capital of Egypt for a dynasty during the Late Period, where a few kings took her name into their royal titles.

They were made famous by the traveler Herodotus in the 4th century BCE, when he described his annals one of the festivals that takes place in honor Bastet.

And that's that for this week! Be there as I explore more folklore and legends this month.

*Encyclopedia Mythica

#FolkloreThursday: Daeva

Greetings, friends.

In the spirit of the Twitter hashtag #FolkloreThursday I'm blogging about various names found in world mythology and folklore each Thursday. I begin with the Persian demons called the Daevas.

You may remember them from the season one episode of Supernatural entitled "Shadow" where they were being summoned by the demon Meg for her evil purposes. Let's take a deeper look at these creatures, shall we?

*In according to Persian myths, Daevas are Zoroastrian demons that cause plague and disease. They are the male servants of Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), and the female servants are called the Drugs. Together they fight Ahuru Mazda and his Amesha Spentas.

Together with the Ahuras, the Daevas were a classification of gods and spirits. In later Persian religion they were degraded to a lesser kind of beings, called demons. The word "devil" is derived from their name.

The seven archdemons of the Daevas are Aesma Daeva, Aka Manah, Indra, Nanghaithya, Saurva, Tawrich, and Zarich.

That's it for this edition my Folklore Thursday blog and I'll be back next week.

*Encyclopedia Mythica

What I'm doing for 2017.

Okay since everyone's got goals for 2017, I'd like to share what I'll be doing this year.

• Read Young adult fiction and comics.
• Make a budget plan.
• Reach out to five people.
• Volunteer at a community event.
• See a show at the Civic Center Music Hall.

And that's all for ya, cats.

Where'd He Go?

Hey, everyone.

*Looking at my calendar*

Wow, I had no idea it's been a month since my last post. For anyone who's wondering I've been a very busy man with a few projects in progress. I'll keep you posted.

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