Tuesday 5 May 2015

Wendy's Waffle - A - Z Challenge Reflection

Firstly a big thank you to everyone involved in the setting up and ongoing maintenance of the challenge.  It was good to know someone was watching over us and dropping in with encouragement along the way.  I don't know how you manage to do the challenge on top of hosting/visiting etc. (And some of you have more than one blog!)  Well done!

I signed up to the A-Z Challenge in an attempt to get back into the habit of blogging.  It certainly achieved that because I managed to get to Z and hopefully the momentum will continue.

I worried at first that I might be out of my depth in that there were so many people taking part, many of whom were either published writers already or aspiring to be. I write so that makes me a writer, but not in that way.  My blog is more a memoir for me and while I try to make it humorous when I can, sometimes it's sad.  However I soon found other bloggers I could relate to and felt less of a fish out of water.  

I chose to have a theme (Family and Relations) which helped.  I planned what I would use for each letter in advance so I had a list of topics that I'd given some thought to but I hadn't put anything in writing before starting the challenge.  Some days it was a challenge to get my post done on the day but I think there was only one occasion when I was posting it just after midnight!  (I do burn the midnight oil quite a bit.)

The good things about the challenge:  
  • it challenged me
  • I found lots of interesting blogs to follow
  • it made me more critical of my writing - I found myself editing my posts, correcting grammatical errors and generally trying to improve them
The hard things about the challenge:
  • trying to visit  so many blogs and keep up with the daily posting
Things I'd do differently:
  • prepare my posts in advance
  • include more pictures. (Actually it would probably be more accurate to say some pictures as this is something my posts were totally lacking.)  
  • I'd also try to have something interactive in the posts to encourage more comments.
Would I do it again?  Yes!

5 comments:

  1. I'll be looking out for your posts now and wouldn't have without the challenge. Glad to have met you.
    And yes... I was a little deterred by how many blogs were just advertisements for books or manuscripts. That's not why I blog either.
    See you soon.

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  2. Congratulations on getting there. I got as far as Q and I cheated doing that!

    I really wish I could get back into the daily blogging habit but there just never seems to be the time.

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  3. Just now getting around to visiting the blogs in the challenge. April was a busy month for me. Congrats on completing the A to Z Challenge! Looking forward to next year! See you on the Road Trip!

    Mary www.JingleJangleJungle.net

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  4. Loving your theme :) I think it's really interesting seeing what everyone chose for their themes! I didn't have images either, but I will have next year!
    Popping by on the A to Z Road Trip
    Debbie
    www.myrandommusings.blogspot.com

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  5. Hello there.
    Congratulations on completing the challenge! My theme was "Things around my home". I took all my own photos except one. This alone took me forever...some letters were all but impossible to find photos for! I pre-wrote and pre-scheduled my posts knowing I wouldn't have to worry about each day since it was impossible for me to be online everyday. I agree visiting and commenting consumes a tremendous amount of time, but at least you can move at your own pace during the road trip, which is where I'm popping in from today.

    Entrepreneurial Goddess

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