Well it's been a week since the end of the April A to Z Blogging Challenge. It's probably a good thing that it ended when it did because it's now the end of the semester and time for finals! As part of the challenge, however, it is... suggested that everyone do a review of the experience today, so here's mine!
I originally signed up for the challenge as a way to get me blogging on a regular basis, and yes it certainly worked for the month of April. Unlike a lot of the suggestions on the main page for the challenge, I neither wrote a full list of my chosen topics, chose a theme to write around, nor wrote any posts ahead of time. That probably made my life a little more hectic than it necessarily had to be, but it worked out so I guess I'm okay with it.
I did have some topics before hand, but as the challenge progressed I actually became quite picky with them and most of the pre-picked topics were thrown out in favor of ones that I thought of on the day. I really liked doing this because it made the blogs a little more spontaneous, I think, and more enjoyable for me to write. Take my D post, I thought up that one in the shower and typed it up in about 20 minutes! The hardest thing about that post was tracking down all the pictures. And everybody LOVED that post, myself included. So yes, some of my best work is definitely spur of the moment.
The thing I probably enjoyed the most was the response from my new reader base (and my old one). Yay! It's always reassuring to know that people actually enjoy what I'm writing, especially when I don't personally know most of them.
I started the posts with a very tenuous theme, that being things that related me to other people. Avatar: The Last Airbender = roommate, Binturong = colorguard instructor, Chickadee = Grandma Kenney, MCKD = Dad and friends, etc. But right around 'I' was when I started to deviate. 'I', 'J', and 'K' can be tricky letters if you ask me, and my inspiration only went so far. I did try quite hard to stick to my 'theme' but some posts just got away.
All in all I enjoyed the Challenge, as it certainly was challenging in the way I went about it. At this point in time I have every intention to participate again next year, and maybe then I'll have a bit more structure to my posting. And then again, maybe not.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who went into the challenge fairly unprepared; I think that made it more fun. :-) And your D post is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteDropping by from the reflections list; it's nice to meet you.
I think going in unprepared is the best way--that way you can always surprise yourself!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to have found you!
I went into the challenge the same way you did. In fact, it never even occurred to me to follow a theme or a predetermined list of topics. That doesn't work for me when I read, so it likely would not have worked for writing. I completely flew by the seat of my pants, and in the end, it produced some good stuff, some average stuff, and a smattering of great. Overall, I'm happy with the outcome, and it was a total blast.
ReplyDeleteLooks like your challenge was a success :)
ReplyDeleteDamyanti
#atozchallenge co-host 2012
Cruising around on remote control and trying to catch up, that seems to be a challenge in itself :)
ReplyDeleteI hope you continue to post regularly. It was great to finally meet a blogger in my area of the country!
ReplyDeleteI also had some pre-thought out words and abandoned them at the last minute to write something completely different for a day.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your future writing!