Join me for the 2012 WordCount Blogathon!

It's that time of year again.

May 2012 represents the 5th year of Michelle Rafter's 

WordCount Blogathon. Here's sample of this year's badge:

It's also my 5th year participating. We started getting 

our badges three years ago, and they've added an extra 

ounce of fun to the month-long event.

If you haven't been around long enough, let me 

share with you that the annual May Blogathon

offers a whole new dimension to BIKE WITH JACKIE.

I use the 31 days of daily blogging to focus 

on a theme. Since I've recently gotten the sense

knocked back into me, I'm choosing the "bike"

as my theme this May. So I'll be blogging about

all things bike-related. It'll help me stay focused

on the bike, and it'll give you a greater 

appreciation for what those two wheels really mean. 

Expect to see photos of bike imagery I have collected

over the years. Expect to read about other bike blogs,

maybe a few interviews and guest posts. Expect to find 

out what the bike means to the folks I follow on Twitter. 

And when Haiku Day rolls around, you can expect 

to read more Baiku, instead.

It'll be a fun month. We'll keep it upbeat, and 

I'll toss in some inspiration for you as well. You'll 

also be introduced to a whole slew of blogs you 

might not have visited otherwise.  

To find out what exactly this Blogathon is, click on 

the link above. It'll take you to the registration

page, where, if there's still time, you can sign up. 

Also, Michelle invited me to guest post about the event

last week, and she ran the post yesterday. Visit her site 

to find out why I keep signing up for the challenge.

And be sure to keep coming back here to read

all the about the bike. Lance Armstrong may say in 

his book that it's not about the bike. But I say, 

yeah, it really is. 

See you in May when you'll find out what I mean. 

Where to host the random book giveaway

Today, we officially celebrated the end of the 2011 WordCount Blogathon with a Twitter party. Participating bloggers met on Twitter.com at 10 a.m., PST, to discuss what we loved and hated about the blogathon. We discussed what we learned and what we could learn more about. But I'll leave the serious wrap-up of what happened and who said what to Michelle Rafter; she'll blog about it tomorrow.  I just wanted to announce the cool thing that happened to me at the party.

I seized the opportunity to offer a book giveaway. I've done this before, at real parties. But without the inspiration of Jennifer Willis I might not have done it this time. I hadn't even thought of it, till I saw that she was giving away of copy of her new book, Valhalla. So I figured I could add to the fun, diving in at the last minute with a book giveaway of my own and a surefire winner on board. Michelle always offers prizes at the end of the party, anyway, so it makes sense to celebrate with our own creations and expertise. Seems to make the whole affair more personal and appreciated.

And it took the sting off my last giveaway that flopped. If you'll recall, I had a giveaway in early May here. When the winner didn't step up to claim her prize, that contest fizzled out, and I didn't have a back-up plan. Lesson learned: always have a back-up plan. That being said, today's Twitter party became my back-up plan without me even realizing it. Plus, I managed to find another guest poster in Willis. We'll work that out in the future, I'm sure.

Until then, let me congratulate the winner of my book, Backroads & Byways of Arizona. I'll be mailing a signed copy to Kim C. who is known as @mymommynme on Twitter. In the blogging world, look for her fitness tips. Congratulations, Kim. I hope you enjoy the book.

And thank you to all who joined me here during the 31 days in May. We did it! And now we can take a well-deserved break.

Blogathon 2011 Begins

Let the 2011 WordCount Blogathon begin.

Expect things to start heating up this month as I take the plunge yet again and participate in Michelle Rafter's amazing month of super-sized blogging. Click on the link above to learn more about it. And note that Ron Doyle has done it again as well. He's the guy behind the Blogathon logo designs. You can see his first from last year's event on the right-hand side of this page. Scroll down if you need to. This year's is hot pink and really brightens the page.

A list will likely go up soon on Michelle's page, so be sure to visit her link to find out who else is participating. You'll likely see many of them here as the month progresses. I'll post the list as soon as I can. But the month is beginning on a busy note, so bear with me as I get started. The first week might be a slow one. And then again, it might not be slow at all. I'll tell you more about why later.

Meanwhile, you may like to know that this month I'll focus on writing about joy...What is it? Where do you find it? Why doesn't everyone feel it? And how can you go about bringing more of it into your lives. Those are the questions I'll be asking you and posting about here. It's part of a new project I'm working on, so I hope you'll join me.

Till tomorrow.

Haiku Day: Inspiration in a poem

Thanks to Twitter, Michelle Rafter, our blogathon cheerleader, says haiku has made a comeback. After all the hard work we've been doing for the WordCount Blogathon this month, she says it's time for a break. So today is Haiku Day!

If you haven't written one in a while, don't remember writing them from your elementary school days, or aren't even sure what they are, here's the quick refresher Michelle provided:

Haiku is a three-line poem encapsulating one thought in approximately 17 syllables broken down as follows: 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables. Her example:

First sip of coffee
Recharges my batteries
Now the words will come.

For more inspiration, visit The Haiku Foundation and read through the poems in its archives. If you're any good at this, you could win a $25 prize from DenverPost.com, which publishes the poems regularly.

Meanwhile, here's my take on the poetic form:

Water everywhere
Flooding my ugly backyard
Hoping grass turns green

Can I prompt you into trying your hand at the haiku game? If so, post yours below.

Inspiration continues...

Just to let you know, I've updated the list of blogathon participants. We're past 100 members now!

It's truly amazing that in just three years Michelle has grown this event from somewhere in the 20s to such a vast number of bloggers. If she keeps this kind of growth up, she'll be the next Peter Shankman--only for blogs.

I hope you are all as amazed as I am. Michelle Rafter, today, you are my inspiration!

The May Blogathon is back!

Tomorrow is the big day--the start of the 2010 May Blogathon. Initiated three years ago by Michelle Rafter at WordCount, this is a special event for writers who met on FreelanceSuccess. We wait for this event. In fact, some of us, like me, CAN'T wait for it. So I've initiated a few extra blogathons on my own, as some of you may know.

For those of you who don't, tomorrow begins 31 straight days of blogging. A group of more than 70 freelance writers will take on the challenge this year to blog once a day for the month of May.

Michelle has organized another great event this year; she's offering prizes, blog post ideas, special days for guest blogging--and so much more. She even had one of our fellow blogathon participants, Ron Doyle, design the official blogathon badge (see above). That's a first this year. So I'm inspired just thinking about all that waits ahead for us.

If you're asking: what's the point? The point is to help us all find ways to make the blogging experience work for us, both individually and as a group. Whether that means showing us that we can blog regularly without it killing us, that we can find time to post comments on other blogs, that we can learn new blogging skills (how do create video, for me, some day) or that we can attract more readers, that's what the blogathon does. It opens up room for more creativity. It allows us to find new ways to share a message. It gives us the opportunity to provide information to our readers that is valuable, entertaining and informative. By inviting others to participate with us, we can't help but take on the challenge to grow and learn.

That's what happens during the blogathon.

I hope you'll stick around for the next 31 days. You're going to meet new people, learn new things, and hopefully be entertained.

My theme for the month--INSPIRATION--comes from the ASJA writer's conference I just attended in New York City. I want the inspiration to continue, beginning tomorrow.

See you then.

Join us in the fun--It's Another May Blogathon!

The fun begins today!

Online friend and fellow freelancer Michelle Rafter has initiated the second annual Freelance Success Blogathon. (She calls it the WordCount Blogathon, as that's the name of her blog, and she's the founder. I refer to it after the site where all the writers congregate, and where it all began. At any rate, for the next month, those of us who belong to this professional writers' site we lovingly refer to as FLX will be blogging daily, or at least be making the attempt to do so. And since I've been in limbo for the past month, it's perfect timing for me to get back on track here at BIKE WITH JACKIE. I've been having way too much fun as @bikelady on Twitter.

According to Michelle's list, we have about 29 people participating (I think there are more.), including some non-FLX freelancers who signed up through WordCount. She says there's always room for more. If you care to join us, let me know, and I'll pass your name, your blog's name, and the URL along to the rest of the gang.

If there any typos, we'll try to correct them as we move forward. Michelle did her best to compile the list. And note: This is my first official post for the May Blogathon.

Here's how it works, as I recall. Each one of us on the list below posts the names and URL's of our blogs on each site. Then we attempt to blog every day during the month of May. During this time, we also attempt to visit each other's blogs, read the posts, and post comments. If you join us, you'll likely get pulled into the energy.

With bloggers who write about anything and everything (good/bad parenting, recipes with yummy pictures, writing about writing, books that travelers read, self-help and spiritually empowering topics, creativity and crafts, etc.), it should be a fun month. Be sure to check in, visit the other blogs below, and tell me what you think.

Here's who will be joining us:

Vera Marie Badertscher - Travelers Library - Books and movies that influence travel.
Heather Boerner - Serenity for the Self Employed - Advice for the self-employed among us.
Jane Boursaw - Film Gecko - May Movie Madness and other film-related stuff.
Danielle Buffardi - Horrible Sanity - Random thoughts of a mother and freelance writer.
Sona Charaipotra - Sona Charaipotra on Entertainment and Travel and Food.
Rosie Colombraro - Trust the Universe - There is always a Plan B.
Sue Dickman - Life Divided - Food, gardening, travel, books and more.
Jackie Dishner - BIKE WITH JACKIE - Improve life with BIKE, the spiritual navigation tool.
Kelly Estes - Big Government in Your Wallet - A political blog
Jennifer L.W. Fink - 'Bout Boys - With 4 boys between 11 and 3, this writer knows her subject.
Sydne George - I'll Have What She's Cooking - Good eats.
Debra Gordon- Wine on Tuesdays - About wine and the drinking thereof.
Nancy Hall - Floating Ink - How to fit making art into your every day life.
Heather Holliday - Zazou Marketing - Putting your best words forward.
Elizabeth Humphrey - The Write Elizabeth - Introducing creativity into daily life.
Leah Ingram - Suddenly Frugal - Tips for living well frugally.
JoAnn Jagroop - This Dame Cooks - Recipes from Alaska to the South Pacific.
Lisa Mann - Sonoma on the Cheap - One of a series of "On the Cheap" travel blogs.
Amy Rauch Neilson - Amy on Amy - She launches officially this month.
Jennifer Netherby - Jennifer's Writing Blog - Musings of a freelance writer.
Sarah E. Ludwig - Parenting by Trial and Error - A real parent's blog about parenting.
Kate Reilly - Polka Dot Suitcase - Finding fun in everyday life.
Melissa Sais - Digital Mom - Raising kids in a digital world.
Brette Sember - Martha and Me - One Martha Stewart makeover every day.
Jodi Torpey - Western Gardeners - Jodi's gardening blog.
Sarah Webb - Webb of Science - Where science meets life.
Kathy Summers - Eco Pregnancy and Baby and Health Writing Hints.
Joy Manning - What I Weigh Today - A weight loss success blog.
Michelle Rafter - WordCount - A really helpful writer's blog.

Till tomorrow, happy blogging, everyone!