Firstly, it's eight years since I last participated in the Challenge. Quite why left it so long I'm not really sure, though some of those years were quite lean in terms of blogging. Sadly Facebook became my main thing followed by Instagram. Things came to a head in 2019 with a record low of just 13 posts for the whole year. At that point I seriously thought about giving up on the blog.
Thankfully the blog survived, Instagram was culled and I made an effort to use FB a lot less, sadly I keep failing in this but I do keep trying to reduce my time there. I have at least removed the app from my phone so I'm on it a bit less these days.
I guess my motivation for revisiting the A to Z Challenge was to get back in to the habit of blogging regularly, though the pandemic had already played a large part in this. Whatever the reasons, I'm glad I did it and I'm pleased with how the blog looks with an additional 26 posts.
On to my reflections proper...
My theme was Random just like my first A to Z back in 2012, mainly because I never gave myself enough time to sit and think about it and plan it, and before I knew it the Challenge had begun. Next year I need to put some planning in ahead of time, not just to come up with a theme but to construct some intelligent posts.
Only once in the Challenge was I ahead of time (see pic above), I had published my T post and had U, V & W sat ready to go as well as having ideas for X, Y & Z. That was a good feeling. I also on one occasion had failed to post for three days (G, H & I) so was scrabbling to get those posts together, so much so that I thought about giving up. I 'm glad I persisted but also know that a bit of planning could have averted that mini crisis.
All in all it was a lot of fun and as ever the highlight was visiting other participating blogs and getting to read some good and interesting stuff. It was also nice to receive comments on each post, it can be a bit demoralizing at times when there is no feedback on posts, so for one month in the year it's nice to be spoilt by so many kind comments.
Receiving more comments than normal was definitely the best part of the Challenge whilst stressing about posts especially once I was a day or two behind was by far the the least enjoyable part, but hopefully I can rectify that in next year's Challenge.
Here's a quick overview of my posts:
All my A to Z posts can be seen on the A to Z tab at the top of the page.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
This Reflection Post is part of a series in the Blogging From A To Z Challenge, April 2021.
I think this is the best side of the A to Z: it's a challenge for ourselves. Well done for completing it!
ReplyDeleteA very good Reflection post Dino and some excellent subjects you wrote about. I've done every one challenge except last year, in fact on the very first challenge I was the first ever to sign up.
ReplyDeleteMuch water have flowed under the bridge since then but hopefully things will improve.
Take care.
Yvonne.
Great recap! CONGRATULATIONS!
ReplyDeleteGlad you came back to the challenge!
I've added you to my giant A-Z blog roll on the Pattern blog (no pressure, ha).
I wouldn't fret about the "lean" years, I've had a few myself. And I pretty much cease all blogging August through December every year.
https://repeatsamb.blogspot.com/2021/05/atozchallenge-2021-conclusion.html
https://www.anne-m-bray.com/blog/168371/atozchallenge-2021-conclusion
I'm starting the Road Trip early, to be able to read the blogs I didn't visit during the challenge ;) Oh you started with the last letters first? It's fun to know everyone's strategy, if there is one!
ReplyDeleteWell done on your challenge ;)
Good that you didn't give up. I have mentioned you in my reflection post. https://suestrifles.wordpress.com/2021/05/06/reflections-on-the-a-to-z-challenge-2021/
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