Aww! It's Good news.....!!!!

DATE FOR BLOG-A-TON 31 : SEPTEMBER 02, 2012

Based on the voting over last one week, we have narrowed down the topic for BAT 31....

TOPIC FOR BLOG-A-TON 31
STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

Sadiya Merchant of Ye life hai....take it lightly! gives us the inspiring suggestion this time around. Thank you.

The dream is having 100 entrants in a single edition! Can we make it possible in this edition? Can we read 100 entrants this time? Spread the word, invite your friends...

RULES

1. You can submit ONLY ONE POST for this event irrespective of the number of blogs you maintain.
2. You are free to give any title to your entry. 
3. You must use the phrase, Strangers in the Night in your entry. 
4. You must justify this theme with a complementary post. To make things easier, you have the freedom to treat it the way you want. Its upto you; which genre of writing you choose, i.e. simple essay-type, article, dialogue, short story (even 55 Fiction for that matter), poem or whatever you feel like.
5. Moreover, its upto you; which mood or tone you choose to set it in, i.e. serious, witty, humour, optimistic or whatever that comes to you naturally.
6. Again, you have the freedom to choose the language of communication. However, we'll suggest you to write in English to put across your views to the maximum members which will also help you when its the time to vote for the BATOM.
7. Other rules regarding the posting will be conveyed to you later. So kindly wait for that notification till Saturday rather than putting up queries right now. If the queries are regarding general pattern of the event, please go through the posts about previous events.

What’s more?

• The GOLD BATOM winner will be interviewed by Blog-a-Ton!
• The winners will be featured on Blog-a-Ton Cover Photo!
• All the participants fan page will be featured with a short intro about their blog here.
• There will be special incentive for the blogger who refers maximum number of Blog-a-Tonics to this edition. He\She will be featured on official Blog-a-Ton Page. If you refer someone or did refer them already in earlier editions, please ask them to specify your name in the code, which will be provided in Rules and Reminder Post! To consider a referral, the Blog-a-Tonics should debut in this edition or they should have participated in only two Blog-a-Ton editions or less than that!

And I'm sure you all have ample time to write it, but you'll have to wait till September 2nd to post it finally on your blog along with everyone else. Best of luck!

Please write your posts on time (September 2nd 00:00:00 – 23:59:59 IST) as the late entries will not be allowed to participate in the voting round (though the links will be added to the participants list).

Encourage your fellow bloggers to participate in this edition. You can share this post on your various social networking profiles through the ShareThis widget present at the bottom of this post.

Looking forward to a good Blog-a-Ton again.
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
Someone is Special

Blog-a-Ton 31 - Topic Discussion, Get ready for yet another SURPRISE!!!!

Let's wish our Marshal Leo a very Happy, Joyful and Prosperous Birthday (August 18)!!

Once again congratulations to all the BATOMS of Blog-a-Ton 30.

Are you ready for BAT 31 and this time with modified rules?

DATE OF BLOG-A-TON 31 : SUNDAY, 2nd SEPTEMBER 2012!

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TOPIC DECLARATION:
SUNDAY, 26th AUGUST 2012, 10:30 PM IST.

SUGGESTION

VOTES

"life is not a joke, stop laughing" - Yatin Khurana

"Strangers in the night" - Sadiya Merchant

Richi Baidwan, Chicky (Kaddu), Dreamer, Shahzeb, muthu, Prasanna Rao, Dilshad, Nikhil, Santosh bs, Vikram Pyati, Diwakar Narayan, Anjali Saini

"Come back and haunt me" - Harshal Gupta

InsanityPersonified, Menachery, Rinaya, TSW, CRD, viva_andya, Apala Sengupta, Shilpa Nair

"It's been a while" - Ash Sharma

Animesh

"Finding shades of grey within black and white!" - Vipul Grover

"Give me a break!" - Jaishree Srivatsan

Deepa, Leo, Mak, Scorpio, aativas

"I too have a love story" - mahesh

RaNiii

"Tide will turn" - Karan Shah

Rajrupa

"Ambition is the last refuge of failure - Oscar Wilde" - lIl hIgH

Please go through the following rules before suggesting or voting

• We have changed the format ONLY for this BAT.
• In place of a general topic, we will have a phrase (3 - 8 words at the max), say for eg., "Life is a roller coaster ride!" or "Love makes life beautiful!" or any to write upon.
• The participants will have to take inspiration from the phrase and write their posts including the same.
• Each member can suggest only one suggestion.
• The suggestion should be inspiring enough so that more and more Blog-a-Tonics can participate.

• If you like any suggestion, VOTE for it (by giving the name of the person who has suggested it or by replying to their comments) rather than giving a new suggestion.
• In case you have already suggested one but find some subsequent suggestion better than yours, you are allowed to vote for it. But this can be done only once.
• Don't criticize another's suggestion if you do not like it, kindly give a better suggestion..
• Give your suggestions and votes in the comments section of this post. 
• Do not embolden your comment using HTML bold tag.
• Please keep these points in mind to make my job easier. 
• PS: I reserve the right to discard any suggestion in case if it is found inappropriate.

What’s more?

Hmm you have to wait for some more days.. Also,

• All the participants fan page will be featured with a short intro about their blog here.
• There will be special incentive for the blogger who refers maximum number of Blog-a-Tonics to this edition. He\She will be featured on official Blog-a-Ton Page. If you refer someone or did refer them already in earlier editions, please ask them to specify your name in the code, which will be provided in Rules and Reminder Post! To consider a referral, the Blog-a-Tonics should debut in this edition or they should have participated in only two Blog-a-Ton editions or less than that!

Encourage your fellow bloggers to participate in this edition. You can share this post on your various social networking profiles through the ShareThis widget present at the bottom of this post.

Looking forward to a good Blog-a-Ton again.
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
Someone is Special

Blog-a-Ton 30 Results - Ready for the surprise???

I thank everyone for participating in this special edition. It was exciting, fun and happy to read 36 entrants. I thank every one again for making this edition a success. Out of the 36 entrants, 22 of you returned to cast your votes too, and in total 94 cheers to decide 9 winners, and we had a tie for bronze between seven Blog-a-Tonics and in the end, I had to caste my vote - the tiebreaker vote to decide the winner.. Also, 28 participants have garnered at least one cheer under their name. Way to go.. Congrats…

As this is a special editon, we have 3 winners in each category.. Enjoy Blog-a-Tonics.. I hope the winners and participants will love this..

The results of Blog-a-Ton 30, here is the list of participants and the cheers they garnered:

Click here to view an enlarged image

Out of the 36 entrants, 22 of you came to vote, 94 cheers, 9 winners and 28 participants have garnered at least one cheer under their name. Way to go.. Congrats Blog-a-Tonics :-)

As evident, here are the nine Blog-a-Tonics of the Month. Just Click on their names to read their respective entries.

GOLD BATOM	GOLD BATOM	GOLD BATOM
C Suresh	Kappu	Leo

SILVER BATOM	SILVER BATOM	SILVER BATOM
Menachery	Muthu Kumar	Shasiprakash

BRONZE BATOM	BRONZE BATOM	BRONZE BATOM
Simran Kaur	Sapna	Vitthal Patil

Congratulations to the winners (C Suresh, Kappu, Leo, Menachery, Muthu, Shasiprakash, Simran, Sapna, Vittal Patil). Kshitij, Manasa, Panchali and myself, we were tied for bronze till the very end but I'd to decide only three :) Anyway, better luck next time for all of us..

Winners can drop an email to any of the marshal id's to claim their badges.. Keep writing..!!!

You all can also read the voting comments now. Just click here to find who all voted for you or liked your entry and what they had to say about it!

and... do you know who is lucky enough to get featured on Blog-a-Ton page....

Click here to view an enlarged image

Congrats SiS, oh yeah, it's me.. Happy to get an opportunity to get my blog posts featured on Blog-a-Ton Page for this month. Finally, after losing bronze two times continuously, Now, I can smile happily :D

Wanna get featured for a month?? Start referring your friends for Blog-a-Ton!!!

Stay tuned for BAT 31 which is set to begin soon.!

A Reminder - Have your number of participations reached 10??? Then you are eligible to be included into the List of Veteran Blog-a-Tonics.  Just drop a mail to "marshal@blogaton.in" & "pendownmythought@gmail.com" with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send Marshal and Co-Marshals that single link).

Hope you all enjoyed this special edition!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
Someone is Special

Time to cast the vote for your BAT 30 favorites...

Voting ends at 01:29 hrs (IST) on AUGUST 13, 2012. Remember, that means time stamp of your comment can be at most 01:29 and not 01:30.

The curtain closes on a successful edition of Blog-a-ton, the 30th one. The number of entrants this time was 36, which is damn good. Thank you all!

We had 36 blog-a-tonics enter within the stipulated time. All 36 Blog-a-Tonics are eligible for voting. So feel free to vote for your B-A-T 30 Favorites.

Click here to check the fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this edition of Blog-a-Ton along with the direct links to their posts.

Three Cheers for all the Blog-a-Tonics.

Please follow the following rules while voting.

1. ONLY THOSE BLOG-A-TONICS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR VOTING (i.e., Contesting for votes and voting for others) WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THIS EVENT WITHIN THE STIPULATED TIME.

2. Since this is a special edition, you can cast upto 5 votes or cheers as we call them, and of course you can not vote for yourself. In short, you are allowed to vote for one, two, three, four or five entries. All your votes will carry the same weightage.

3.  Your Voting Comment should start as follows:

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Eg: I participated - Someone is Special - Shades of Life

I vote for -  1. BLOGATONIC NAME; his/her post = BLOGATONIC NAME-POST TITLE 2. BLOGATONIC NAME; his/her post = BLOGATONIC NAME-POST TITLE 3. BLOGATONIC NAME; his/her post = BLOGATONIC NAME-POST TITLE

Code:

I participated - <a href="YOUR POST LINK">YOUR POST LINK</a>

I vote for - 1. NAME OF THE FIRST BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST TITLE</a> 2. NAME OF THE SECOND BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST TITLE">HIS/HER POST TITLE</a> 3. NAME OF THE THIRD BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST TITLE</a> 4. NAME OF THE FOURTH BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST TITLE</a> 5. NAME OF THE FIFTH BLOGATONIC YOU VOTE FOR; his/her postlink = <a href="HIS/HER POST LINK">HIS/HER POST TITLE</a>

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There is some specific logic behind the above code. So please fill the parameters highlighted in red as mentioned in the code only.

Remove the extra code in case you are voting for less than five entries.

3. While voting for a Blog-a-Tonic, use his/her name as provided by him/her in his/her participation entry and not his/her profile name.

4.  Post your vote in the comments section of this post.

5. All your votes should be posted in a single comment. So, take your time - go through all posts - only then decide your one or two or three or four or five winning entries. In case you vote separately, only the first comment will be taken into consideration.

Now coming to the other rules:

• Voting ends at  01:30AM (IST) on  MONDAY, August 13, 2012.
• I have started moderating the comments and won’t display the voting comments till the end of this process to keep the result secret till its conclusion.
• After the voting code mentioned above, you may also add the reason, why you voted for a particular post to help others know what you expect as a reader. Moreover, you may also mention the other posts that you liked though you can vote for just one of them. 
• A THOUGHT: Be it Elections or Blog-a-Tonic, it is your duty to vote, because you have the power to select the winner, so please DO NOT WASTE YOUR VOTE.

The Votes will be discarded without any prior warning in case they are not sufficiently compatible with the rules.

A Reminder - Have your number of participations reached 10??? Then you are eligible to be included into the List of Veteran Blog-a-Tonics.  Just drop a mail to "marshal@blogaton.in" and "pendownmythought@gmail.com" with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send Marshal that single link).

Remember, the time stamp of your comment can be at most 01:29 on AUGUST 13, 2012 and not 01:30 on August 13th.  

Let the best entries win this edition..!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
Someone is Special

Rules and Reminder for Blog-a-Ton 30

Let’s start the celebration... Blog–a–Ton! is aging three now! Wow! Exciting!

The dream is having 100 entrants in a single edition! Can we make it possible in this edition? Can we read 100 entrants this time? Spread the word, invite your friends...

Publish the post on 5th AUGUST, 2012 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs (IST)!

Date for Blog-a-Ton : 
5th AUGUST, 2012

As you already know, the image for Blog-a-Ton 30 has been finalised as:

Shades of Orange by Harsha Chittar
Courtesy - Curious Dino Photography

Please follow these rules while publishing your post and thereafter:

• You can choose the title for your post as you wish.
• This image should be an integral part of your post.
  

• The post should start with this code. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode:
  
  <div style="text-align: justify;">
  <blockquote>
  This post has been published by me as a part of the <b>Blog-a-Ton 30</b>; the thirtieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <a href="http://blogaton.in/"><b>Blog-a-Ton</b></a>.
  </blockquote>
  </div>

• The post should end with the following code. It also contains the credits to creator of this image and hence, is very important to be displayed to prevent any copyright infringement.   Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode:
  
  <div style="text-align: justify;">
  <blockquote>
  The <b>fellow Blog-a-Tonics</b> who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective <b>posts</b> can be checked <a href="http://www.blogaton.in/2012/08/rules-and-reminder-for-blog-ton-30.html"><b>here</b></a>. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <b><a href="http://blogaton.in/">Blog-a-Ton</a></b>. I’m thankful to BLOGGER NAME, who introduced Blog-a-Ton to me, and I debuted in XX edition. </blockquote>
  </div>
  
  <b>Credits </b>
  
  Image - <i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj38HLOTWI0ZRYWxQWteCml-2eV_QI1yxu4i5AqtFMvVDUrG5EUPYuyLnwWY8xfeP7nx0hrsad5VuXTfPNhY3xJsKAK0YfY8oun5XuDfYiUUlWFpihgSQ7nYPOuXvBftCBpGvj5ECaDl9Y/s640/_DSC5783_w2.jpg">Shades of Orange</a></i> by <i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/10596722078024031693">Harsha Chittar</a></i>
  Courtesy - <i><a href="http://curiousdino.blogspot.in/">Curious Dino Photography</a></i> via <i><a href="http://www.blogaton.in/">www.blogaton.in</a></i></div>

• Publish the post on August 5th, 2012 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs (Indian Standard Time)

• After publishing it, do not forget to leave the link in the comments section of this post.

• Use the following code to provide direct link to your post.

<a href="ADDRESS OF YOUR POST">YOUR NAME - YOUR TITLE</a> 

It will look like this: Someone is Special - I ♥ Blog-a-Ton and will link to your post.

As we are celebrating our 3rd Anniversary, so we marshals thought of some special rules

• The BATOMS blog post will be featured on our official Blog-a-Ton PageM
• All the participants will be featured with a short intro about their blog on a separate page.
• There will be special incentive for the blogger who refers maximum number of Blog-a-Tonics to this edition. He\She will be featured on official Blog-a-Ton Page. If you refer someone or did refer them already in earlier editions, please ask them to specify your name using the above code! Thanks in advance!

Please follow this rule to ensure easy navigability to your post.

•  Use your complete name to prevent any confusion and mix up with other bloggers.
  
• Remember, you can not post more than ONE entry.  

• In case you post your link after the stipulated time, then your submission will not be considered for voting. 

• Return between August 6th 18:30 IST and August 12th 18:30 IST to vote for your favourite post. A separate notification for the same will be posted upon the conclusion of the event. So do not vote till then. Just enjoy reading the various entries, keeping in mind your favourite but worth-winning ones.

DO NOT USE THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS POST FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. If there are any queries, ask them in the comments section of previous post.

...HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY...

Looking forward to a read wonderful passionate Blog-a-Ton writers post again!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
Someone is Special

Let's sketch our imagination

DATE FOR BLOG-A-TON 30 : AUGUST 05, 2012

Based on the voting over last one week, we have narrowed down the image for BAT 30....

IMAGE FOR BLOG-A-TON 30



Shades of Orange by Harsha Chittar
Courtesy - Curious Dino Photography

A tie in voting between two images, and the Marshal's vote decides it. The image for BAT 30 is as above, and it was suggested by Leo of I Rhyme Without Reason. Thanks for making this inspiring suggestion.

The dream is having 100 entrants in a single edition! Can we make it possible in this edition? Can we read 100 entrants this time? Spread the word, invite your friends...

RULES

1. You can submit ONLY ONE POST for this event irrespective of the number of blogs you maintain.
2. You have to use this image in your post , get inspired by the image and justify its presence there with your words. You have the freedom to pen down a prose or poem. If it is a prose then it can be simple essay-type, article, dialogue, short story (even 55 Fiction for that matter), or if it is a poem then it can be a Free Style, Sonnet, Villanelle, Shadorma, or any form of poem (PS: The poem should be minimum of 5 lines) or whatever you feel like.
3. Moreover, its upto you; which mood or tone you choose to set it in, i.e. serious, witty, humour, optimistic or whatever that comes to you naturally.
4. Again, you have the freedom to choose the language of communication. However, we'll suggest you to write in English to put across your views to the maximum members which will also help you when its the time to vote for the BATOM.
5. You are free to give any title to your entry. 
6. Other rules regarding the posting will be conveyed to you later. So kindly wait for that notification till Saturday rather than putting up queries right now. If the queries are regarding general pattern of the event, please go through the posts about previous events.

What’s more?

Okay, I’m not going to end calling it as surprise! Here it is,

• The BATOMS blog post will be featured on our official Blog-a-Ton PageM
• All the participants will be featured with a short intro about their blog on a separate page.
• There will be special incentive for the blogger who refers maximum number of Blog-a-Tonics to this edition. He\She will be featured on official Blog-a-Ton Page. If you refer someone or did refer them already in earlier editions, please ask them to specify your name in the code, which we will give in Rules and Reminder Post! Thanks in advance!

I know you have less time to write, but I feel that's where the challenge is. Best of luck and wait till August 5th, 2012 to post it on your blog finally along with everyone else.

Please write your posts on time (AUGUST 5th 00:00:00 – 23:59:59 IST) as the late entries will not be allowed to participate in the voting round (though the links will be added to the participants list).

Encourage your fellow bloggers to participate in this edition. You can share this post on your various social networking profiles through the ShareThis widget present at the bottom of this post.

Someone is Special