Looking Back: the A-Z Challenge

Thought for the day:  No job's over 'til the paperwork's done.

Hmmm, so what do I think...?

Okay, so technically, it isn't  paperwork, but the organizers of the A-Z Challenge did ask us to dish up some feedback about our experiences with the challenge. So, here goes:

Overall, the challenge was ... what can I say? ... challenging.  (Go figure.) I completed all my A-Z posts in advance, and had the foolish notion that I'd be able to skate through the month with only minimal time on Blogger, and thus, would have a lot more time to spend on my real writing. (i.e. the long-suffering WIP)

HA! NOT!!!

I also had the rather deranged delusion that I'd have plenty of time to make a quick fly-by in-and-out visit to all of the participating blogs.

Again, HA! Not even CLOSE. I ended up visiting maybe half of them.

But both of these issues are on me. My fault. Turns out, I'm lousy at making in-and-out visits. If my initial reaction to a blog was favorable, I'd fiddle-fart around and read the blogger's profile and a bunch of earlier posts to see if I wanted to sign on as a follower. That took time, but on the plus side, all the blogs I did sign onto are ones I will truly enjoy re-visiting.

So, in a nutshell:

WHAT WENT RIGHT

• I learned to write shorter, to-the-point blog posts. (Caveat: It's unlikely the lesson will stick.)
• I had FUN writing all those posts about amateur radio.
• Evidently, some people had fun reading them, too. 
• I picked up a bunch of new followers, some of whom may actually come back to visit again. Some day. This decade. Maybe.
• Some of the themes followed by other bloggers were downright entertaining, clever, and informative. (Which, of course, meant I had to go back to them again and again. WHAT? I couldn't risk missing something, now, could I?)
• I connected with some truly awesome bloggers. Dare I say, made a friend or two?

WHAT WENT WRONG

• I didn't have enough hours in a day. (Believe it or not, my husband still expected three meals a day, clean laundry, and all that jazz. I KNOW. How cavalier, huh?)
• A number (don't ask me how many) of bloggers who signed up to participate weren't doing the A-Z at all. And some blogs (i.e. websites) were more or less advertisements for some product or service.
• Some blogs warned ahead of time about adult content, and that's fine. However, some others didn't offer the courtesy of a warning, but immediately went into dropping F-bombs and other colorful expressions. My ears and eyes have been around the block a time or two, so it didn't offend me, but there were some very sweet youngsters participating in the challenge, too. Seems to me, if you're gonna participate in a challenge of this magnitude, essentially holding an open house at your blog, you should clean the dirt up a bit, ya know?
• Some of the blogs I visited received little or no comments on post after post after post, so I'm thinking they probably received little traffic. They were good blogs, too, and terrific posts. All that time and effort to write all those posts, and then little to show for it? That must have been very discouraging. 

AM I GLAD I PARTICIPATED?  

• Yep.

WILL I PARTICIPATE AGAIN?

• Not sure, but just in case, I DO already have a couple themes in mind ...

[One thing is certain: I am definitely glad it's over! How about you?]

            Ooops! Time to run. Looks like my cats want some attention...

Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.