07 May 2012

A-Z Reflection

A week after the A to Z Challenge, I now reflect on the experience.

Some thoughts on the month-long challenge of writing a post on about each letter of the alphabet:

Did I follow the rules?

  • Yes. I posted every day except for Sunday.
  • I also visited on average five blogs a day.  I did cheat with this since some days I visited up to 20 blogs and may have not visited any on another day.  At the start, I had planned on visiting each blog on the list, but with over 1800, it became kind of daunting and I just went through as many as I could.  I still want to go back through and touch each blog on the list at some point, though.

What were the benefits?

  • I added new followers to my blog.  
  • I had more readers and more comments than I normally do to posts and from some new readers almost every day.
  • I tried to make each post interesting.  Not that I don't do that regularly, but trying to write a post associated with a letter really stretched my thought process on some days.  
  • I learned some new words and have incorporated some of them into my regular lingo, or at least my thoughts.
  • I thought more about what I want to do with my blog.  Would I have the energy to make it bigger?  Do I have the style that would bring more readers and followers?
  • Using the links list, I found some new blogs and am following several that I came across.

Did the Challenge affect the way I blogged?

  • I still wrote the way I write.  I just used some different topics than I might have other wise since I had to focus on letters for the day.
  • I think that since I was writing based on a word/theme for each day that the quality of my writing was higher on some post, but, possibly lower for other days when I wasn't feeling the topic I chose.
  • I still responded to each comment readers posted.  This also led me to finding some new blogs since I like to go to the blogs linked to the commenters' names.  

Am I glad I did it?

  • Yes.  It was a fun challenge and one that I am glad I found.  As days went on, I started to try and think ahead to different words or ideas I could use for future letters.  It really made me focus ahead of time on what I wanted to write.

Would I do it again?

  • Maybe.
  • It would be another challenge.  Even more so since I wouldn't want to use any of the same concepts for the letters.

What's next?

  • I am continuing my daily blogging with NaBloPoMo.

37 comments:

  1. It was a great experience! It was very hard to visit all the blogs, I didn't even come close, but I will try to visit more! Thanks for stopping by my blog!
    -MJ

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    1. It was really hard to visit others, especially as I started getting busier with work as the month progressed! Good luck visiting the rest... I will continue to read a few each day until I have seen them all.

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  2. I'm glad to hear that you had a great experience.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  3. I enjoyed reading your posts and look forward to any furture challenges you decide to take on!

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    1. Thanks!! I am still looking for more challenges to try after this NaBloPoMo is finished at the end of May.

      Thanks for continuing to read and comment!

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  4. I completed the A-Z challenge and forgot to post my reaction. Oops! I'm also participating in the NaBloPoMo for May. What WAS I thinking? LOL

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    1. It's not too late to post your reaction! Congrats on completing the challenge!

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  5. "I started to try and think ahead to different words or ideas I could use for future letters. It really made me focus ahead of time on what I wanted to write."

    I found that the further I went, the more I was just focused on getting the next one done. But I definitely planned less than many.

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    1. I think having a theme would help me plan more ahead. Some days the advance planning was just a day. Though for some letters, like Z, I had at least the word planned when I was still early in the alphabet.

      Thanks for reading!

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  6. I'm glad it was a good experience for you. I am still going to visit blogs signed up, if it takes me all year!

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    1. Thanks for stopping in.

      I, too, will continue to read the blogs on the list.

      I am starting with all the ones on the reflections list and then will go back to the original list.

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  7. Thanks for visiting my blog and your comment; I have to say it was quite an adventure with the challenge! And then I read your post that you moved during it and now you are doing NaBloPoMo. Wow that is an accomplishment in itself!! Good luck with it!!

    betty

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    1. Yeah, the move added a lot of stress, but it also helped me focus so I had some posts planned for the days I would be without internet.

      Thanks for the compliments!

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  8. Hi, a,eye!

    Glad you found my blog. I am now one of your followers!

    Very informative reflectins post! It's always a plus to learn new things and to meet new people!

    Hope you will continue to stop by my blog as I will continue to stop by and visit you!

    Glad to have meet you!

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    1. Thanks! I will continue to check out your blog, too!

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  9. Me too joined in NaBloPoMo. And, just like you me too started blogging everyday. Love the way you write. Thanks for visiting my blog.
    It is a great pleasure to find like minded people. You are doing an amazing job of visiting and supporting fellow bloggers. wishing you great success.

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    1. Thanks! I love reading other bloggers' work!

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  10. I liked how you described the pros & cons to the challenge. Excellent. And you're doing NaBloPoMo. Cool!

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    1. Thanks! I think that I am so used to daily writing now that NaBloPoMo was just the logical next step after the Challenge.

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  11. I enjoyed your description of your 'reflections!' Thanks for visiting my blog. I too, found more pros than cons in doing the a to z, much more actually. I don't know if there were any cons come to think of it. I also found people through their comments on other people's blogs. That was cool! Enjoy your day!

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    1. Thanks! I have really enjoyed finding other bloggers' work. It was a such a large pro of the Challenge and I really hope I can see the rest of the links I have not seen yet.

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  12. Congrats on successfully completing the Challenge. I will have to explore your blog now that the Challenge is over and the pressure to write and click around is off.

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  13. I was the same way about my blog visits - I might go a few days without visiting, and then I'd set aside a chunk of time and go to town. It almost became like an addition "just one more!" And I also learned a lot about my blogging style too, so it was really helpful and I'm so glad I did it, but I'm also not 100% sure I'd do it again - it was draining. :-)

    Congrats on meeting the challenge!

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    1. Thanks for coming through and commenting!

      It really did become a "just one more" for me when I did my bulk reads of blogs! Glad you learned about your style as you did the Challenge and I hope you are refreshed a bit from the draining month of writing!

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  14. Thanks for sharing. I love it! I need to do the same visiting at least 5 blogs per day. --My followers are way down there :-)

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    1. It does help to visit other blogs! Thanks for stopping by!

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  15. I didn't find your blog during the A to Z challenge but I'm going to look through your posts. I think we'll be finding blogs that we missed for ages but good to find new ones.

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    1. Thanks! I'm trying to do the same through the Reflections and original list.

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  16. Well done for finishing the challenge!

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  17. I'm glad you had a positive experience with the A to Z Challenge. It's daunting, but that's what a challenge should be.


    Lee
    An A to Z Co-Host
    Tossing It Out

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    1. Thanks! And thanks for co-hosting this Challenge!

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  18. Congrats on finishing the challenge. I agree, the list of blogs to visit was daunting, but we have all summer to stop by everyone and say hi.

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    1. Very true! I'm still going through a few each day now. Thanks for stopping in.

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