1. Just because April looks pretty clean on your calendar and you sign up for the A to Z April Blog Challenge 2011 doesn’t mean all hell won’t break loose sometime during the month. My month of chaos began April 1st and threatens to continue all month.
2. Because of No. 1, Alex J. Cavanaugh’s approach — writing his blog posts ahead of time and pre-scheduling them to publish — would have saved me a lot of grief. Alex, I sure wish with all my heart that I had followed your great example. I’m still hanging on with a wing and a prayer, but I think I’m going to make it to Z.
3. There are so many amazing bloggers participating in the A to Z that it’s going to take months for me to visit them all and read their challenge posts. To those who have left comments and followed my blog so far, I will reciprocate.
4. The originator of this challenge, Arlee Bird, and his 2011 team deserve a huge round of applause for their creativity and hard work. Stand up and take a bow, folks!
More from my site
Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Review of Mariano’s Crossing, a Novel by David M. Jessup
Dreams and Writing by Fred Lichtenberg, Guest Blogger
Do Authors Need to Build a “Brand”? … by Jacqueline Seewald
Monkey Balls and Book Titles
A Copy of Tattered Legacy by Shannon Baker was won by……
White bricks and hollyhocks
I might have been able to commit to the vowels, but I would have included Welsh ones.
I’ve also prepared some posts in advance, just struggling with ‘X’ and I don’t want to cheat by making ‘X’ the second letter in the post!
Duncan In Kuantan
I’ve learned a lot and have enjoyed the challenge of thinking of places to go with the letters. Just realized that I’ve messed up for tomorrow because my pre-posted blog is actually about a person, not a place. But he’s so connected to places in our history, maybe it’s okay.
It has to be completely impossible to get to all those blogs this month, but I’m doing it a few at a time. Thanks to Arlee and Alex and others who’ve made this possible.
Thanks, Patricia, for the great points you’ve made and for having the darling cat photo at the top of your site for inspiration!
Monti
NotesAlongTheWay
Sorry, Patricia! You’ll be ready for next year though. 5000 bloggers participating…
And don’t worry – I’ve only visited a third of the list. Still working on it.
I wrote a week’s blogs at a time, the preceding weekend, but even then I changed some when I got to the day itself. I wondered, though, if I’d make it through the month, but here we are, with just a week left, and I’m determined to complete the task, despite the hardest letters in the alphabet!
LOL — Oddly enough, I was considering about T is for Three Cups of Tea. Your idea sounds a whole lot easier.
Oh, dear. Feel better. Tomorrow just post a picture of a cup of hot tea.
Thanks for great comments everyone!
L.G., did you really have to remind me I said that? I do need to eat my words, although I doubt they’ll taste any worse than anything else right now. My croup has even messed up my senses of taste and smell.
I agree with all you have written Patricia,
Although I wrote mine out ahead of time I didn’t pre set them to be posted so I was half way there.
Hope you are feeling better.
Yes Arlee and friends do need a round of applause,
Yvonne.
I agree with all of these points! I jumped in sort-of-last-minute, and I’m flying by the seat of my pants. There are so many great blogs I’ve visited, and every day I find more.
All in all, this is a very fun challenge, and I’m glad I’m muddling through!
I agree. This Challenge has been fantastic! So great to meet so many interesting bloggers.
I am so grateful I took Alex’s advice and pre-wrote and pre-scheduled my posts. Never would have made it thru otherwise. Just too time-consuming. Kudos to Alex and Lee and the other co-hosts. It’s been so much fun meeting new bloggers and reconnecting with others.
Karen
Excellent post. I couldn’t agree more!
(I wish I’d prewritten my posts, too!)
I seem to recall a RMFW exclaiming on the Chiseled Rock blog that the A to Z challenge was “easy”. Not that I would make you eat your words, but here’s a spoon.
Ha! Just kidding. It’s been a blast. Challenging, yes, but also lots of fun and I’ve met the best people ever. Glad I did it.
I have been pre-posting a few at a time and I’m still not finding enough time to get around to everyone.
Amen to all of these, especially #2. If I had done this, I could have made it through the Challenge, at least as far as posting goes. But as for commenting…couldn’t do it. Congratulations to you. You ARE making it.
Ann Carbine Best’s Long Journey Home
Agreed on all four! I did pre post a couple blogs. I really should do it for next week, but I like coming up with a blog post on a whim, secretly 🙂
Greetings from a fellow A to Z blogger 🙂
The pre-posting would have been good lessons for all of us.
Wagging Tales – Blog for Writers
Sorry about the deletion–not enough coffee to type I guess. Wat I tried to type was… It’s been an experience. I’m glad I didn’t miss it. There are times though I feel I’m not quite serious enough with my posts.
Have a great weekend!
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Pat – The A to Z blog challenge is really interesting, isn’t it? And I’ve been learning an awful lot from it too, including things I’ve learned for your contributions :-).