This year I had more fun with the A to Z Challenge than I’ve ever had before.
And in spite of the fact I had to do a lot of unexpected traveling due to illnesses in the family, which means I was not a good blog hopper at least two full weeks out of the month, I still met many new bloggers and reconnected with many from prior years.
What didn’t I do quite as well this year? Well, mostly visiting other blogs. I did a few blog-hop binges, but there periods of time I had no computer access.
What did I do better? I found a theme (The ABCs of Behavior and Emotions) and a writing exercise that was so much fun I hated to miss a day. Yes, I still need to go back and write the stories of “Nadine the Naughty Newt,” “Oliver the Ornery Opossum,” and “Polly the Peaceful Parrot.” The titles are the placeholders and as soon as I stop flying back and forth across the country, I’ll finish those stories and announce the links for those who want to see what I came up with.
It was a lot of fun searching for adjectives and animals that began with the same letter and then crafting the little fable-like tale. It was also fun experimenting with a few dark endings.
I tried to follow the best A to Z blogging advice by keeping each post relatively short and making sure it was easy to leave a comment.
The one piece of advice I’d give to next year’s participants is to make each post a stand-alone essay or story. If we want to visit as many participating blogs as possible, and we know we can’t visit all of them every day, we are very likely to skip the blogger who’s writing a tale that begins on day one of the challenge and continues to develop throughout the month. If we catch a post or ten during the month, we might leave a comment, but we will probably never have a chance to enjoy the whole story.
Will I do the A to Z Challenge again next year? As long as I’m still computing, I’ll be on the list.
Pat- I loved checking out your fable for the day and I totally agree about not having ongoing stories. No way to go to everyone’s every day. I did manage to catch a bunch of your menagerie though. Hope your life settles down (and mine too!)
Amazing that you finished with all that, but you did an excellent job. Reading and commenting daily was a chore even for those of us not traveling.
I just learned of your new project with Julie, and look forward to reading your posts!
Congratulations on the completion of the Challenge and the great Reflection Post.
Yvonne.
A TO Z AMBASSADOR.
Considering the problems you had you did splendidly. In fact you did splendidly full stop! Hope the family issues resolve themselves happily.
Hi Pat .. I loved your stories and I know you had masses going on with family issues – so pleased you were able to keep up as well as were able to … and to have the sense to leave markers for NOP was a clever thought.
Cheers to you .. and yes I followed one or two or three with ongoing story lines … but I prefer to read short posts during the A-Z .. Hilary
Pat, I enjoyed your stories and am amazed you kept up with the challenge! I loved seeing your writing talent in action.
Your short stories were great!
It is difficult to come into a full story that continues throughout the month. I followed three only because they were blogger buddies of mine. But I encountered others that I just left a comment for the day and then never returned because I didn’t have a chance to read from the beginning.
Pat – I think you had a truly creative idea for the A-Z challenge this year. I enjoyed reading your stories and you’re right; you did the theme really effectively. I’m looking forward to what you come up with next year :-).