Monday, May 7, 2012

A-Z Challenge Reflections

Whew.  The challenge is over, for this year.

I had a great time in my first ever A-Z challenge, but it certainly was challenging!  I've never maintained such a rigorous schedule with my blog posts, and I had to do a lot of planning to stay on top of things.  (All this while my students were wrapping up the semester, to boot!)


Lessons Learned:
1. Planning ahead is key
2. Writing posts that require research may take longer, but it's more fun for me (and my readers) to sink our teeth into.
3. Cool people do challenges!  I've met so many amazing bloggers, and I'm grateful for the chance to expand my online circle of friends.  (I even got to meet one fellow A-Zer in person at a writing class last month, which was infinitely lovely.)
4. Writing more posts a week is possible.  I don't think I'll post every day, but the challenge showed me how to step up my game.
5. Writing with a theme helps prevent writer's block.

What a great experience.  I will certainly plan to participate next year!


I'm considering writing on a theme each month, to help give my posts cohesion.  What do you think?  Any thematic suggestions?


Oh!  While I'm asking: who wants to do a guest post for me? :)

16 comments:

  1. I concur with #3! I have met incredibly cool people by doing the A to Z challenge! I also like the idea of monthly themes--I participate in the weekly Orange Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday, but a monthly focus would be helpful too.

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    1. I've seen the Wordless Wednesdays, but what are the Orange Tuesdays?

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  2. I agree with all your points. I found that it's helped with creating more of a theme overall for my blog. I did a TV show theme which I figured would be fun and would tie in with my writing gig on another site. Now I want to continue it with more TV themed posts in addition to stuff about books and writing.

    I found your blog in the challenge and I'm glad I did! It was definitely a fun experience.

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    1. That's great that you are going to continue your TV posts! I'm glad we connected: keep blogging and I'll keep visiting! :)

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  3. I completely agree with your third point! I know I never would have found so many interesting people during my own wanderings around the blogosphere.

    I like your theme idea. Good luck coming up with them!

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    1. Thanks, Dana! Let me know if you have any themes you'd like to see!

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  4. This challenge definitely proved that we can do a lot more than we thought we can. And we met many new writers! :) Congrats on finishing it, Jen. And keep blogging!

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    1. Thanks, Vero! So glad we connected last month: hope to hear more from you (and see more of your great stuff!)

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  5. Like you, I found several new friends and a host of new blogs to follow. It's not easy trying to keep up with all my blogs so some will go by the wayside over the next few months.

    Congrats on finishing the challenge, I look forward to your blog posts in the future. I'm still trying to figure out where to head with mine. LOL!

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    1. Donna, that's the real challenge, isn't it? After such a rigorous month, I feel completely unfocused.

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  6. Woohoo! At least we have a few months to recover ;)

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  7. A monthly theme is a great idea... unfortunately, I don't have any suggestions right now though.

    Congrats on finishing the Challenge and good luck with continuing to write/post more.

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  8. I enjoy the spontaneous 'whatever' posts but I'm also thinking of doing theme posts, something vague that may allow branching out.

    I'm so very happy that I bummed into you here. :)

    All around, the support was awesome!

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    1. Vague with branching is good. Me too! :)

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  9. I found one of the good points of the challenge was viewing blogs, like yours, on blogspot. Being on wordpress I didn't get a chance until now to connect with bloggers from this host.
    Also I like the idea of a theme each month but I think my imagination a bit too crazy :p I hope you will check out my blog too :)

    Amy
    amydot90.wordpress.com
    @AmyRichardson7

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