So is truth really stranger than fiction? We'll Blog-a-ton to find out!

So we've voted over the past week, and 24 of you (including one late voter) have come here and supported a favorite topic. That's nice. I wish to see all of you in ten days time for our 37th edition of Blog-a-ton, to be on March 3rd, 2013.

DATE for BLOG-a-TON 37:

MARCH 03, 2013

TOPIC for BLOG-a-TON 37:

Truth is stranger than fiction

This is how voting went over the last week for the 15 phrases given as options.

Our dream is to have a hundred participants come in one day and take part in an edition of Blog-a-ton. Let's hope we can do it in this edition! Thanks for the support as always.

The rules for Blog-a-ton 37 are:

• You can SUBMIT ONLY ONE POST irrespective of the number of blogs that you have.
• You can give your post any title that you wish to.
• The phrase "Truth is stranger than fiction" must be a part of your post.
• You must justify this phrase with your post. You can do it with any type of post (i.e. Poetry, Fiction, 55 fiction, dialogue, Essay... etc). You can also choose to make it serious, humorous, tragic, romantic... whatever setting you'd love to give.
• You can write in any language as well, but since most Blog-a-tonics would prefer English as their language of communication, we'd suggest that too, so your post reaches a wider audience, and help you when it comes to Blog-a-ton 37 voting time.
• The other rules (viz. header & footer to put in your post, the way to submit it on March 3 etc.) will be conveyed to you on March 2nd. So kindly wait for that notification then 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.

The winners of Blog-a-ton 37 will be featured on the Blog-a-ton Facebook Page cover photograph.

We're giving you ten days to write your post this time, as opposed to the six previously. So you have plenty of time to write it. Please publish the post only on March 03 and not before. The aim of Blog-a-ton is to have many people posting on the same theme on the same day, and that day is March 3rd 2013 for Blog-a-ton 37!!

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,

Leo

Welcome to BAT37, it's topic voting time.

DATE OF BLOG-A-TON 37 : SUNDAY, 3rd MARCH 2013!

---

TOPIC DECLARATION:
THURSDAY, 21st FEBRUARY 2013, 09:00 PM IST.

---

Hello to all new people coming by, welcome back to the old hands returning to Blog-a-ton. I’m Leo, and I’m one of the marshals here.

We’re into edition 37 now, which will happen on March 3rd, 2013. I hope your association with our monthly day of writing continues and that you are enjoying yourselves by writing and reading other Blog-a-tonics as well.

---

The way we usually go about on Blog-a-ton is that we have a call for topics (a 3-8 word phrase) and then by voting, we decide on one of the topics as the topic for the month. After that, we give you a week’s time to write your post incorporating the decided phrase in it. Then, on the first Sunday of the succeeding month, you will publish the post on your blog, with our preset header and footer and come to Blog-a-ton and link your post in a comment.

It’s a one-day event each month, and our aim is to get 100 participants in one edition. The week after the Blog-a-ton day will be for voting for 5 of your favorite blog-a-tonics from the edition.

---

This time, i.e. just for Blog-a-ton 37, we’re doing things a little differently. We’re not having a call for topics; rather we’re having a secret ballot voting to decide our topic this time, from a set of 15 common phrases.

Here’s the way it’ll work.

The phrases are:

01. As cool as a cucumber
02. Beat around the bush
03. Dead as a doornail
04. Fifteen minutes of fame
05. Fight fire with fire
06. In the nick of time
07. Let there be light
08. No laughing matter
09. On cloud nine
10. Out of sight, out of mind
11. Pigs might fly
12. Straight from the horse’s mouth
13. Truth is stranger than fiction
14. Two peas in a pod
15. What’s in a name?

If you are unfamiliar with these phrases, you can look up the meaning at The Phrase Finder.

• You can vote for any one phrase from the above list.
• I have started moderating comments, and will reveal the votes only at the end of the voting period
• If you want to change your vote during any time of the week, you can do so, but you are allowed only one change-of-vote. I’ll consider only the second vote in that instance.

• The voting period is from 12th February 2013, Tuesday to 20th February 2013, Wednesday 11:59PM IST.
• The topic that gets the majority votes will be announced on 21st February 2013, Thursday as the Blog-a-ton 37 topic. In case two or more topics are tied at the end of voting, my vote as Marshal vote will decide. This time, we are giving you 10 days to write your post.
• The date for Blog-a-ton 37 is MARCH 03, 2013 SUNDAY from 12AM to 11:59PM.

Looking forward to a wonderful Blog-a-ton once again…

Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,

~ Leo ~

And the winners, Blog-a-Ton 36, are...

Twenty eight entrants, and from them,14 returned to vote for their favorites. 22 out of 26 entrants garnered atleast one vote, which is nice to see. Hopefully, in the next edition, both the no. of entrants as well as no. of voters will increase. I thank all who participated in this edition to make it successful.

The results of Blog-a-Ton 36, here is the list of participants and the cheers they garnered:

Click to view an enlarged image

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

GOLD BATOM	SILVER BATOM	SILVER BATOM
Maliny	Asteria	Mixi

Congratulations to the well deserved winners (Maliny, Asteria and Mixi). Odyzz, Sapna and Panchali were also close to winning this time. Anyway, better luck next time..

Winners can drop an email to any of the marshal id's to claim their badges.. Winners will also be featured on Blog-a-Ton Cover Photo. The photographs will be taken from their respective blogger profiles. Keep writing..!!!

We also welcome Rinaya Jena into the Blog-a-Ton veterans list as she finishes her tenth entry with us this time.

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!

The Top Three contributors are

aativas

31

Someone is Special

23

Leo

23

Stay tuned for BAT 37 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" & "leonnyes@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 edition!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
~ Leo ~

So which (n)one did the best?! Voting time for BAT36

Voting ends at 20:00 hrs (IST) on FEBRUARY 10, 2013. Remember, that means time stamp of your comment can be at most 19:59 and not 20:00.

The curtain closes on a wonderful edition of Blog-a-ton, the 36th one.We had 28 entries this time. I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for participating! Do comeback and vote for the entries worth winning!

We had 28 blog-a-tonics enter in this edition within the stipulated time. Only those 28 Blog-a-Tonics are eligible for voting. So feel free to vote for your B-A-T 36 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 to 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. SEEING THE POSITIVE RESPONSE FOR THE INCREASE IN NUMBER OF VOTES IN THE LAST THREE EDITIONS, I'D LIKE TO IMPLEMENT THE SAME IDEA OF FIVE VOTES IN THIS EDITION AS WELL, AND HENCEFORTH NUMBER OF VOTES DEPENDS ON TOTAL NUMBER OF ENTRANTS. In this 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 be as follows:

---

I, BLOGGER NAME, participated.
My Blog-a-ton 36 Entry Is Here: BLOGATON36 ENTRY LINK

I vote for:

1. BLOGATONIC 1 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 1 ENTRY LINK
2. BLOGATONIC 2 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 2 ENTRY LINK
3. BLOGATONIC 3 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 3 ENTRY LINK
4. BLOGATONIC 4 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 4 ENTRY LINK
5. BLOGATONIC 5 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 5 ENTRY LINK

The voting format has been simplified for assisting you. Replace "BLOGGER NAME" by your name, and "BLOGATON36 ENTRY LINK" by the direct link to your BAT36 Entry. Likewise, for the votes, replace "BLOGATONIC 1 NAME" by the name of the entrant (as used in his/her participation entry) and "BLOGATONIC 1 ENTRY LINK" by the direct link to that blogatonic's BAT36 Entry. Votes NOT IN THIS FORMAT will not be accepted.

For eg: A valid vote can look like this:

I, Aativas, participated.

My Blogaton entry is here: http://thistimethattime.blogspot.in/2013/01/188-fear.html

I vote for the following:
1. Panchali: http://panchalibolchi.blogspot.in/2013/01/land-on-fire.html
2. Dilip Patel: http://indiaicaremovement.blogspot.in/2013/01/deaf-world.html
3. Leo : http://artofleo.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/when-a-rose-was-born/
4. Cherry Blossom: http://life-and-its-color.blogspot.com/2013/01/and-world-was-silent-again-for-lalit.html
5. Amit: http://theshittanalysis.blogspot.in/2013/01/this-society.html

---

4. 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.

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

6. 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  20:00 (IST) on  SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013.
• 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 for three of them. 
• A THOUGHT: Be it Elections or Blog-a-Ton, 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 "leonnyes@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 19:59 on February 10, 2013 and not 20:00 on February 10, 2013.  

Let the best entries win this edition..!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
~ Leo ~

Rules and Reminder for Blog-a-Ton 36

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

Publish the post on 3rd FEBRUARY, 2013 anytime between 0000 hrs and 2359 hrs (IST)!

Date for Blog-a-Ton : 
3rd February, 2013

As you already know, the topic for Blog-a-Ton 35 has been finalised as:

"and then there were none"

Please follow these rules while publishing your post and thereafter:

• You can choose the title for your post as you wish.
• You must use the phrase, "and then there were none" in your entry. 

• 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 36</b>; the 36th 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>. The theme for the month is "and then there were none"
  </blockquote>
  </div>

• The post should end with the following code. If your participation count is less than or equal to three, then replace BLOGGER NAME and XX with the name of the person who introduced you to Blog-a-Ton and your Blog-a-Ton participation count. If it is more than three, then just update the count. 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/2013/02/rules-and-reminder-for-blog-ton-36.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>. Introduced By: BLOGGER NAME, Participation Count: XX </blockquote>
  </div>
  
  

• Publish the post on February 03, 2013 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: Leo - Welcome to Blog-a-ton! and will link to your post.

What’s more?

• The winners will be featured on Blog-a-Ton Cover Photo!

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 February 4th 20:00 IST and February 10th 20:00 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 WRITING ...

Looking forward to a read wonderful passionate Blog-a-Ton writers post again!
Poetically Yours,
Co-Marshal,
~ Leo ~