It's the second week of May already and I think I've finally recovered from the A-Z Challenge! This was my sixth year participating and as usual it was both fun and challenging! I got the chance to meet a number of great new bloggers and there were a lot of posts I really enjoyed.
Every year I tell myself I'm going to write all my posts in advance and every single year I fail to do that. Even though pre-writing would make the Challenge much easier for me, I think I've just come to the realization that part of what I love about the Challenge is the writing every day and the kind of frenzied pace that my mind is forced to work at in order to get my posts done. I don't have time to second guess my topic for the day or to spend the day researching instead of writing, I simply have to go with my gut and write.
This year I had a lot of pictures that I needed to include in my posts to show the place or places I was featuring. This took a lot of time and I wish I had at least planned out my photos well in advance, as that was more time consuming than the actual writing. So that's my number one time saver for next year, take all needed pictures and organize them in advance.
My biggest regret every year though, is that I don't get to visit enough people on the list. I know there are so many great posts that I just don't have time to see. The first year I joined, there were only a couple hundred people on the list, but now with over 1300 participants it's practically impossible to get to everyone! When I come across a theme I like, I want to keep going back to read their next posts which makes getting to new people harder.
I'm thinking maybe next year I'd like to add links to my favorite bloggers' posts of the previous day to try to get the word out for more people to connect and find one another. Because aside from the writing, the best part of the A-Z Challenge is to meet new people and experience life from their point of view for a moment.
Thanks to all of the Co-hosts this year for running a great Challenge!
Have a great week!
Kathy :)
Adding the links is a good idea!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I have to pre-write and pre-format, plus find all the images I need and size them accordingly. I did everything but the last item and then had to frantically run through all of my images and get them to the right size.
Alex- haha, yeah, there's so much more to posting than just the writing! :) I had to search through my pictures everyday, because I didn't organize them in advance and it took so much time, time that I could have spent visiting people! Hopefully I'll get it right next year!
DeleteThat's a great idea to add the links to other bloggers next year. Your posts were fun to read and you could be named an Ambassador for Cleveland. :) Also love the doggie style bits LOL.
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie! I hoped Rory pics would bring a smile to people's faces!
DeleteThat's definitely my favorite part--meeting new people. I've only done it twice and a half, but I LOVE the A to Z Challenge. It didn't fit into life this year, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteMeeting new blogging friends is my favorite part as well! Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteIt is VERY hard to find good blogs in that huge list. Lots of spammy blogs now. I would love to see a list like that! I won't be participating again, but I'll certain read the posts, especially if they're good.
ReplyDelete