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Every day I’m Shufflin’ - An A-to-Z Challenge Theme Reveal
Monday, March 23, 2015 at 9:00AM 
“Freddy vs. Jason” scratch art by Scott Dyer, whose latest work includes Mystery Box sculptures made with single playing cards from theory11’s collaboration with STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS director J.J. Abrams. Today is the day where I join hundreds of bloggers who are letting our readers in on what we have in store for the 2015 April A-to-Z Challenge.
Having previously gone with a theme for three consecutive years and also winging it once before, I’m aware of the advantages as well as the drawbacks to both sides of the “theme or no theme?” coin.
Since then, I’ve made a wish, threw that coin in the magical fountain of nonconformity, and here is what washed up on nearby shores:
A Mixed Bag of Tricks
My editorial calendar for April basically consists of me pulling rabbits out of hats while blogging through the alphabet. In other words, my theme is to not have a theme at all and just write about subjects that I would normally post here anyway. While the title of this theme is inspired in part by the randomness of subjects I’ll be writing about, it also serves as a nod to the card shuffling wizards at theory11 who demonstrate that great art can even change the way you eat Oreo cookies.
It still helps to have a sense of direction, even with no theme. Keeping this in mind, my upcoming A-Z posts are prompted by blogging ideas from Sara Lancaster at No. 2 Pen. Needless to say, I think my handful of years participating in this blog hop makes me pretty well versed in the overall A-to-Z blogging experience. Thus, I do not take the benefits of having a theme for granted. To that end, I’m using the best of both worlds so my blogging can still go according to plan, without me having to do too much of any planning at all…if that makes any sense.
You can expect to read about a myriad of topics including: unorthodox parenting advice, Rocky Balboa, poetry, being a superhero, hacking your movie theater experience, random acts of kindness and switching careers.
Some of my A-to-Z Challenge posts will be lengthy while others come in shorter than a paragraph or two. Most are on the verge of being medium sized blog posts. One thing to count on is they will all be related, in one way or another, to the hypnotic world of motion pictures. I plan to enjoy this versatile ride through the alphabet and I hope you do the same, whether that’s here or on your own blog.
Today as the A-to-Z community discloses our top-secret blogging strategies for April, I’m also happy to announce the release of theory11’s vintage Contraband book lamp!
The Contraband book lamp with a hidden safe is available at theory11.Made with an Edison light bulb, two 50 year-old books and an antique power switch, this functional lamp is full of surprises. Individually handcrafted by illusion engineer Ryan Edwards, the lamp slides open to reveal a wooden storage compartment, filled with four decks of Contraband playing cards.
theory11 also indicates that the deck contains secret imagery hidden within the interior design of its gold and black foil tuck case.
“There isn’t a set of playing cards with this degree of detail and execution,” says Acquire Magazine.
Who do YOU think would win in a street fight, Freddy or Jason?
How much progress have YOU made in YOUR blogging plans for April?
What was the most recent card game YOU played?
Reader Comments (31)
For not having a theme, you've hooked me with your "non theme." I will be back all during April to read your post. The unorthodox Parenting Tips is enough to bring me back.
Jason ... Hands down!
See you in April. Thank you for co-hosting this cool and awesome challenge.
Now THAT is a theme that's very intriguing!!
I will be participating in my first #AtoZChallenge. I hope that you like Chinese food. If you do, please check out my blog at www.thechinesequest.com - an hour later you'll want to come back and read another article! ;)
Hi
Love your "theme" for this year. I am actually doing a theme for the first time, so I hope it won't be stressy, but I can see how it could be. Rockie Balboa and random acts of kindness? You have a fan!
A surprise every day - that sounds like fun!
I think you're very brave winging it! I planned for almost a week to make sure I could come up with a post for each letter before I even committed to doing the challenge. Really looking forward to it though :)
Did you post on the topic of "unorthdox parenting advice"? Think I'll need to check your A-Z record from April >:)