In all my years of blogging — and I started in 2006 — I’ve never done a blog challenge quite like this one. A post a day, and every day’s theme has to start with a different letter from the alphabet.

I was going to do this last year, over at The Rock of Pages, and it was going to be all Rock Fiction focused, of course. But then January 2 happened and so very little blogging got done about anything other than my ordeal.

And I’ll be honest: I’d started to move this challenge over there this year, too. And then decided not to, because hey, I’m an editor first and a Rock Fiction lover second. And it’s a greater challenge to come up with topics that are germane to authors for letters like Q and Z and X. And dude. I’m struggling with N right now. N!

So. For you who are new around here, maybe dropping in to see what’s going on at West of Mars and is it really all science fiction-themed and stuff, let me do a quick intro.

I’m Susan Helene Gottfried, or Susan at West of Mars. I’m a freelance editor to authors of fiction. I’ve got some books I’ve published, too, and some more I’m working on bringing into the world hopefully fairly soon. My editing clients hit best-seller lists, and only partly because I am that good as an editor. But partly because like attracts like and my clients are all willing to work as hard as I do to make their books the best possible. And I protect the privacy of the editor-client relationship and the names of my clients. If they want to tell you who they are, they will.

I’m also a champion of books I haven’t edited. I run two features here, when I’m not doing the A to Z Challenge, and both are free to any author who’s not picky about when their post goes up. If you’re an author, I encourage you to take advantage and join the fun.

This month, my posts will come from underneath my editor’s cap. Some may seem familiar to longtime readers, but not all. While the topics may be familiar, none are re-runs; they’ve all been written specifically for A to Z 2017. So I encourage you stop in and send your author friends of all ilk for some editorial advice. I’ve been editing since the early ’90s, so there’s a lot of wisdom I’ve accrued (and yet, I’m still only 35. Don’t think too hard about that.)

There’s more to me, of course, and I encourage you to join us over at Facebook for quickie updates and conversations about books, too. Know that I friend very few people on my personal page, but West of Mars Fans is the spot to talk books and editing and anything else you’d like to. Come join in.

Be sure to leave a comment; I’m old-school, as you can imagine about someone who’s been blogging as long as I have been, and I’ll return any comment you leave. Be sure to leave your link!

You know you’re up for this one!

(Okay, I’ve been scheduling posts for a couple weeks now, so I’ve got one or two up on you… but that doesn’t mean this challenge is insurmountable!)

I first became aware of the A to Z Challenge a couple of years ago. I kept vowing to team up with Jett and do it over at The Rock of Pages “next year,” and then 2016 was going to be our year. We were going to take the plunge.

And then I took a plunge of another kind.

So now that it’s 2017 and I’m picking up the pieces that got left behind in a pool of eye goop (charming, huh? I’ll fess up: there was no pool of eye goop. I’m taking an author’s liberties), and the A to Z Challenge is one of them. Only… I’m going to do it over here, not at The Rock of Pages. Jett is busy and I’d rather put the time in here. I’ve been absent for too long.

Here’s how the challenge works: You blog about something starting with a certain letter of the alphabet every day during April, usually taking Sundays off. Because of the way the calendar worked this year, there’s a Sunday or two that you have to blog on, but… that’s what the scheduling feature is for!

You can read the rest of the details over here, at the post announcing this year’s challenge.

This is a great way to widen your circle of networking contacts, make new friends, and push yourself to accomplish something new. Come join me during April. It’s going to be a lot of fun — and if not, hopefully thought-provoking.