YOUR MATCHES ARE READY

IT IS DONE.

It took a while. I had about 315 entries to read and combine using SCIENCE, but your BEDA BUDDIES are now ready to go. And in case someone out there thinks this was RANDOM, I offer the scene from my desk:



100 pages of BEDA BUDDY notes, final draft of Scarlett Fever lurking behind, ready for copyedit

I decided to combine in groups of four—you know, like a rock band! (There's one group of five.) And that way, if a member of your group goes rogue, you’ll still have other members to carry on. I did my best to identify you when just a first name was given. You have to find each other (you’re all on the BEDA BUDDIES discussion on the Ning.)

What happens now is ENTIRELY UP TO YOU. You can establish any routine you want. You can name yourselves. You can spend a week trying to figure out why I put you together (aside from age—that usually played a factor, but there were always other reasons). You can stay together for BEDA, or you can stay together FOREVER! You can start projects, you can do group blogs . . . you can do WHATEVER YOU WANT!*

The only rule is that you have to be respectful of your new BUDDIES. They may not be just like you!

I’ll see you tomorrow with a TRADITIONAL BLOG.

THE BEDA BUDDIES:

Morgan (from the University of Northern Iowa)
Aly C. Kantor
Ashley (from too-close-yet-too-far-away-from-NYC)
Steviethegreat

Kat (from Colorado)
Arka (from "lovely" Missouri)
kaireky
Rowan Clarke

Sarah Goresch
Eileen (from New Hampshire, studying Virginia Woolf )
Alyson (from the University of Kansas)
Katherine (from Indiana, has a notebook/paper scrap collection)

Christina Hicks
Becky (Life in Demin and Flip Flops)
Autumn Hill
Nicola (from Scotland)

Marlee Grace
Missy (from Nebraska)
Ana (who wanted to be in the circus)
Elayne (from South Bend)

Heather (who has an internet addiction)
Kaitlyn (the Canadian vegetarian)
Leah (from the University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Cara (from Scotland)

SpliceGal
Violet Reads
Danielle D. (the vegan)
xLisax

Allison (who is in Mexico)
Claire (who is a Trocker)
Falletron
Meftihe

Oboefae
Lauren (who is in Delaware)
Ayan (from Washington DC)
Zivlok


Mark (from New York State)
rachel_the_huffelpuff
Kelly (from North Jersey)
Keila Diaz

Anna (from New Zealand)
Bobina
MsxBluexSky
Rin Hemme

Alysha Lundquist
Teryn
Sarah Brooke
katiecanflyyy

Christy (from South Florida)
Maddy (who is a huge grammar nerd)
Adam (from Ohio)
Alex (kira902k)

Caitlin (in Liverpool)
Esther Earl
Mary Hadac
Raine (or Lexi)

Karson Reed
Maureen Brunner
Cassandra (from Eastern PA)
Rafia

Margaret
Shecaptain
OSUBrit
Kasey (from Canada)

Georgiana
Margaret Burns
kennie
SweetGirl (Nancy)

Jessie (from Wisconsin)
Madam Rosmerta
Nicholas Schroeder
Anthony Harris

Katie Twyman
Rishem
Patty (from Penn State)
Kristyn Javier Aquino

janitorbud
Ariel (from Minnesota)
Sarah (from Las Vegas)
Sarah Feid

Lauren (in Austin)
Erika Carrubba
Pam McMillin
Beth (in Alabama)

SarahE
dozzzier
Natasha (from California)
Jessica C.

Melissa (from New York)
Gabriela (from Miami)
Max (from The South)
Sarah Cassavant

Alexandra M.
Dr. Rena
Vita Starr
Catherine Norris

Tiffany Schmidt
Andrea (from Louisiana)
Lindsay Payne
Erica (from New York)

Kim Walter
Ana Lorena
Rachel Treadwell
Mónica

Kaiti
Kelly Cochran
Annemazing
Kim Groen

Gabby Cogburn
Rachael (from Maryland who is 18)
bridgette
Kelsey (from Kentucky)

RainbowTapir
Lauren Rodia
Sarah (from North Carolina)
Sarah (from Sweden)

Geri Despain
Courtney (from Maryland)
Josie Baker
Evie (from Connecticut)

Laura (from Maryland, Team Zombie)
Kaitlyn Alexander
Shelby (from Rhode Island)
Bex E

Carina Belles
Rachel (who is a member of the smiley face nose-giving society)
DefiGraviti
Evelyn (from Texas and Wales)

Lauren Horst
Alissa (from Southern California)
Scott (from Canada)
Sugandha

Kelly J. (from Chicago)
letterhead.loyalty
Rochelle (from Virginia)
Regine Riviere

Katie C. (from Orgeon)
Roberto Croconski
William Redd
Katy (from Rhode Island who works in theater)

Stephanie (who is 14)
Nadia Almasalkhi/Murti
Keegan (from California)
Kate Awesome

Devyn (who is stressful)
Meghan (from Philaelphia)
Mitali Dave
Aubrey (from Peculiar)

Megan May
Maggie (from Texas)
Beth (from UW-Madison)
Holly Hill

Sarah (from Washington, likes rare diseases)
Gel
toastnuances
Tesse Nickerson

Lori (from Birmingham)
Jeannette (from North Carolina)
Elizabeth Creaghan
Megan Boehmer

Epiphany Renee
Emanuel Rabina
Kaitlyn (from the University of Michigan)
DeCoolz

Jessica Fitzgerald
valerie2776
Joey (from Australia who is a girl)
Laura H. (from Canada and Germany)

Erika (from YAthenaeum)
Rebekah (from Lexington, Kentucky)
Alec J Garcia
Danica (A.K.A. Diamond D)

Raven Zoe
Shoelace Communication
Michael Weems
Fiona (from Missouri)

lisa pizza
TJ Deschler
Chris Hall
Ronda (with no H)

Michelle Elise
Casie (from Iowa)
Ashleigh (from Oklahoma)
Arletta Davis

Rachel (who is a freshman in college and theatre geek extraordinaire )
Roxanne (from Indiana)
nosidam
Rachel (who is from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh)

Ashley (from Rhode Island)
Samwisegirl12
Caitlin Anderson
Leah (who was a gymnast for 14 years)

Emily Oliver
Brittaneee
Marissa
CeliaAnn

Laura (who loves Broadway and Doctor Who and is a junior)
Jaitee Beige
RebeccaBecky
Kali (from Washington State)

Chelsea (who is random and a late bloomer to the BEDA)
Caroline Streich
Sarah C. (from San Fransisco)
Nomi Bear

Gilly
Allison Seward
Addie (from Oklahoma)
Cecily Hager

Joseph Herbert
Awhina
Molly (who studies everything environmental)
Jennifer (from Toronto)

Kaylin (from Pennsylvania)
Anna (from New Zealand)
sephiagirl
Sydney Smith

Ryan Leys
Kat van Horn
Kaedtiann
SkyOfInk

Tranquilily
Pippa
Hannah Rebecca
Casey Kehoe

Amber H.
Bdirginator
fuzzynerds
Cristina (from Las Vegas)

Kristina (from Colorado)
sarahstarface
Amy Barker
Emily C

Katherine Hardman
Sierra
Dimitra
Ellen R

Austin
Ellie (from Michigan)
DontMindManda
Melanie Ann

Sae
Jessica Tangert
Sydney
Rachel (from the Midwest USA)

John Gleeson
Kat (from the Bay Area)
Dancesinrain
Catharine (from Michigan)

katiezell
Maddi Neww
HannaH
Whoislucy

Julia (from Northeastern Pennsylvania)
Ami (not her real name)
Becky W.
Jacquelyn

Allyson (from Illinois)
Katie (thiscrackeddarkness.wordpress.com)
Hope
Sophie (from Baltimore)

alyssa danielle
KATY!
Emily Skeen
Cody Wild

Julia (from Canada)
nicole c
Riane
Alison (from Alabama)
Julia Rios

Madi
Lindy
MissJo
Aimee (who lives in a tiny town)

Supernovagirl
Tobias
Rebecca L.
Jordan Cwierz

Ingrid Helene
The Book Monkey
Nicholas Schwab
Catherine (from Louisiana)

Meaghan (from Connecticut)
Jennifer Parsons
Bryanne
Katie (from Chicago)

Tenley Nadine
Allie b.
Kat (from Phoenix)
Emily Rose

Katee Robert
Luz "Lightbulb"
Tali
Manar

Jennifer Cliff
ephemerling
Carrie Nicole
Amber (geckobird.livejournal.com)

Summer
Nicole (from San Diego)
Lauren (who is a Twilight nerd)
Riordan Brown

Tara (from New Jersey)
TJ
Reese
Sadie;-)

Gabriele (from Indiana)
Ellen (from Alabama)
Colleen J
Kait V.



* For example, if you want to give paperback copies of Suite Scarlett to your new friends as gifts, I certainly WILL NOT STOP YOU, even though that might bring the TRAPEZE for me.

ASK MJ: BUDDY UP

Rainbow asks: I know not everyone does their BEDA blog every day, but I didn't do mine yesterday, and now I feel TERRIBLE. How can I redeem myself?

The answer, Rainbow, is not to feel bad at all!

I’ve been seeing comments like this a lot, people saying that they’ve failed. You can’t fail Blog Every Day April. You can’t really FAIL anything you write (or record)—and if you COULD fail, it certainly wouldn’t be by missing a day or two.

A lot of people ask me . . . “mj,” they say, “how did you become a writer?”

I became a writer by just trying every day. I went through many periods of trying to write every day before it clicked and I wrote every day, naturally. I think this is how you do everything, really. You simply try again the next day. Life, careers, projects, books—they’re all a long series of “next days.”

So throw all of those bad feelings and worries out the window! They have nothing to do with BEDA. If you want to do it, just try again tomorrow!

To HELP with this . . . I am introducing the BEDA Buddy system.

THIS IS HOW IT WORKS:

1. First, you have to become a member of the MJ Ning, if you aren’t already. This takes about 5 seconds and is free.* Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to talk on the forums and access all the other fun bits of the site.

2. You go to this discussion on the forum—the one called BEDA BUDDIES. Once there, you tell me a few (just a few) things about yourself. You must do this by MIDNIGHT on THURSDAY, April 16th.

3. On Friday, I sit and ANALYZE all the profiles and put people into teams of 2, 3, or 4 (or any other number) as I see fit. These are now your BEDA BUDDIES. You can give yourselves a name, establish your own routines . . . but you make a commitment to help each other to the end. You’ll provide encouragement and help, read each other’s blogs, and comment.

Now, invariably, someone is going to write to me on Monday or the week after and ask if I can still buddy them up. And I’m afraid the answer will be no. I will be putting an INTENSE EFFORT into matching everyone up (TO THE MAX!), and once I’m done, I’m done.**

At this exact moment, about a hundred people have already signed up, so there promises to be an INTERESTING MIX. Because BEDA is about more than just blogging every day—it’s about getting to know other people.

So get over there and REGISTER NOW!



It’s time to MAKE A BEDA BUDDY!

Melissa asks: Maureen, I don’t know what to write about. You’re a writer. Maybe you could give us some writing prompts to help us along on BEDA? We send you questions. Maybe you could send us some?

Of course I can! Here are some things YOU can answer in your blogs:

1. Have you ever had any embarrassing obsessions that went a little too far? Has anyone ever caught you swinging around a pen like it was a sonic screwdriver or a wand? Ever get caught with the SPARKLY makeup on? Worse? We want to know. Really.

2. Find something really wrong on the internet. (Look hard, you will find SOMETHING.) Tell us why it is wrong.

3. Write about your day from the perspective of someone who is observing you and thinks you are up to something. Like, someone who suspects you of murder. See if you can make yourself suspicious . . . of yourself.

4. You must watch tv, right? You know you’re being advertised to. What ad annoys you the most—not because it’s just dumb or repetitive—but because you can tell that some ad executive thinks they understand YOU. But they don’t. And you hate them for their cheap attempts.

5. Ever KNOW you were about to make a major mistake and felt yourself being inexorably compelled to do the thing anyway? Yeah, we want to know about that.

6. Imagine that you never had the internet. What would be different for you?

7. What’s the one thing you do that you are convinced NO ONE ELSE in the world does?

8. Or, just feel free to tell me something you think I need to know.

Stayawesome asks: What is one thing you never want to do? Why?

The list is long, stayawesome. But I’ll tell you one thing—I don’t want to go to trapeze school. I know that many of you will look at that link and think it is AMAZING, but I look at it and think how very glad I am that I am not doing that. Because to me, that is a prime example of a bad idea. Who wakes up in the morning and thinks, “Hey, you know what I should do today? I should climb up a really high ladder to a platform. And then I’ll jump off the platform! But it will be okay because I’ll have a stick! Except . . . I’ll let go of the stick!”

Not me, I’ll tell you that much.

But negative things can also be used as rewards. For example, I could use NOT going to trapeze school as a bonus I’ll pay myself—or, as another way of looking at it, as a punishment for something good happening.

Say, for example, that everyone went out and got some Suite Scarlett paperbacks and it ended up on the bestseller list. Well, sounds like I’d have to go to trapeze school if that happens. But if it DOESN’T, I’m totally off the hook.

See how that works? I get awesome rewards like that all the time. Try it for yourself! Set up something horrible you DON’T have to do if you finish BEDA!




* Well, I own your soul once you sign up, but it doesn’t cost any ACTUAL MONEY.
** As such, Friday's blog is likely to be a listing of partnerships and teams, since that's going to take me a while.