Friday, May 11, 2012

The Calm After The Storm

Took me two weeks of blogging vacation after the A-Z Challenge, and I feel like I'm on withdrawal. What a ride April was! And, as hard as keeping up was--the daily posts, returning visits & comments, visiting new blogs--I wish it wasn't over.

This was my first A-Z, and I'll definitely do it again, every year. I'm challenge-driven; I masochistically enjoy setting impossible goals for myself. I honestly expected the A-Z to be harder, to have more trouble keeping up, to find myself slacking mid-month. What I did not expect was the warm welcome of a community, the hundreds of people that stopped by and, either publicly or privately, shared their own thoughts and experiences with me. I did not expect the interaction to feel so real, in spite of physical distance, of only cyber-contact.



I did not expect to make friends. And I did.

The hardest part? Besides the daily-blogging withdrawal, you mean? Not having enough time to edit posts and ending up with pages of rants. I originally intended to keep posts at a max of 250-300 words. Riiiight. Look at the A-Z collection: they're all mostly over 500. Next year I'll make a point to stay closer to 250.

Other notes to self for 2013? Prepare posts in advance. No, really. I said I would for this year, but when April 1 rolled around, I had three posts ready and only two more with semi-coalesced ideas. Preparing posts in advance means I get to spend the whole of April visiting other blogs, which brings me to another hardest-part point.

I think I made it through maybe 500 blogs--more than the recommended 10 daily, but still. The list was huge, and many links led to non-participating blogs. I know it takes a huge amount of time for the co-hosts to verify every single link, and I'd be happy to help next year--maybe a line of communication could be set up so that when someone encounters a non-participating blog it can be reported and the link deactivated (with proper notice or something).

Maria's looking-back post at First Draft Cafe made a great suggestion: group the blogs by areas of interest. Perhaps the sign-up list could request a "Topic" selection, or perhaps the name with which we sign up, the name that will show up on the Linky List, should be required to include a word or two on the blog's theme, or the specific A-Z theme? Dunno, but I think that would make the browsing experience more focused and more interactive, too.

Great blogs I discovered? Too many to list here. Seriously--awesome people, this A-Z crowd, and I have them all to look forward to getting to know throughout the year.

Thank you all--co-hosts, visitors, commenters (yeah, especially commenters)--for making April a month to remember. See you all around the blogosphere!

25 comments :

  1. Thanks to you too, Guilie. I enjoyed all your posts including those I did not comment on. See you in the Challenge next year.

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    1. Bob! Thanks for stopping by, and for reading my posts--even those you didn't comment on :) Hopefully we'll stay in touch throughout the year, and by all means in April 2013!

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  2. I hear ya about the withdrawal. I didn't visit as many blogs as I'd planned. *sighs* Couldn't understand why some with private blogs entered the Challenge. Maybe they forgot the blogs were private.

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    1. I know! I found some of those, too. Oh well :) Thanks for dropping by, Kittie :)

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  3. I've read that "grouping the blogs by interest" suggestion several places and I definitely agree with it. The list was overwhelming and impossible. And while it was nice to blindly stumble across some cool blogs outside of my chosen 'fellow-writers-and-wannabes' niche, I know I missed many of those types of blogs that I probably would have liked to actually visit. Nothing against quilting and knitting and sock-puppets of your pets, and God love you if that's what you want to blog about, but that's not really where my interests lie...

    But it was fun to do the A-to-Z, and I completely agree that pre-writing is the way to go if I decide to do it again next year.

    And -- saving the best for last -- it was certainly great to have met you though the A-to-Z!

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    1. Hahaha... "Nothing against quilting and knitting and sock-puppets of your pets"--LOL, Chris, and yes! Exactly! God love you indeed if that's what gets you in the groove, but with the knowledge we're not going to be able to visit all 1,500 blogs, it might be nice to get the chance to sort by our interests.

      Glad to have met you, too, and look forward to staying in touch!

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  4. I really enjoyed your A-Z posts (though I didn't comment on them all), and am looking forward to your next round of them!

    Though I post a lot less frequently than you, I think our goals are very similar: shorter posts (in my case, MUCH shorter), writing posts in advance. Now that I'm done with grad school, maybe I'll have time to put that extra care into my blog--if I don't end up just using it to write more of my story. But I believe you can do it!

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    1. Thank you, Kristin! I so love your visits :) And I'm looking forward to whatever you do with your blog--more of your story is fine with me, too :)

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  5. I had a blast this year too! I love the community spirit :-)

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  6. Visiting from A/Z post challenge reflections. Congrats on finishing the challenge! I think you did great visiting at least 500 of the many participants! I tried at least 10 new ones a day in addition to the many other blogs I read not involved in the challenge, working full time, etc. It was a wild adventure! Not sure I'll do it next year, but did enjoy participating at least once :)

    may the weekend be a great one!

    betty

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    1. Thanks for the visit, Betty, and congratulations to you too! Yes, it was indeed a wild ride, haha, and glad we met over this challenge. Hopefully we'll see you next year too!

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  7. Your points are beautifully written and relevant. I agree with every one. I'd happily participate in weeding out the non-participating blogs. Also, those writers who simply talk about their book, and the video blogs should be in separate categories. Well done with composing your blogs. Although they might have been too long for some grasshoppers like me. ;-0

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    1. Awwww--Francene, thank you! Indeed, that's exactly the reason why I feel I need to cut my posts to a "manageable" length, so that everyone can read if they want to. I do it myself, too--I land on an unfamiliar blog, see the post runs beyond the screen height, scroll down a bit, and if I can't find an ending in sight, most of the time--unless the post is incredibly engaging, which is rare--I click away.

      Shortening my posts is not just about engaging readers to the blog or gaining followers, though. It's an ongoing exercise for my writing :) Got to learn to be more concise, to master the art of subtlety instead of hammering at the point for an hour and from five different directions. I suspect shortening my blog posts will help me distill the essence of them--and thus make *all* my writing better. I hope.

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  8. Thanks for the reflections, Guilie!

    If you'd like to guest post for us over at www.a-to-zchallenge.com to talk about the AZ challenge, writing, books, or blogging in general, let AZ co-host Tina know at 2012AZinfo at gmail dot com.

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    1. Thanks, Damyanti! Glad you stopped by. I'll be sure to contact Tina--I'm honored! Now I just have to come up with a good topic. Hmmmm...

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  9. Hi Guilie,
    Good to be here via a to z challenge, good reflection. thanks for sharing your experience,
    though i joined i stumbled upon half way
    due to an unexpected visit to my native land Kerala the God's Own Country.
    hopefully I can join in the next challenge'I
    could make many friends here
    happy to join in your blog too
    thanks for sharing your experience.
    Philip

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    1. Hi Philip, and welcome! Glad you liked the post, and I'm so sorry you had to abandon the challenge. Don't worry--next year you'll do great. And Kerala! We were in Bangalore a few years ago, met some great people from Kerala, and everyone said we absolutely *had* to visit Kerala. Unfortunately we ran out of time before we could arrange it, but I'll be back. One day. I'll make it to your native land.

      Thanks for the visit!

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  10. Hey Guilie
    Great reflection post...
    This was my second A to Z challenge - and I'm DEFINITELY doing it again next year... wouldn't miss it for the world...
    I only visited your place about twice during this hectic ride through the alphabet, there were just too many blogs to visit...

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    1. Mish, thanks for stopping by! I hear you--I only made it to your blog a couple of times, too, but I loved the stories I read. The advantage is all those A-Z posts are waiting for me, haha :)

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  11. I didn't do NEARLY enough visiting - having made the challenge extra hard for myself. Next time I'll do simpler posts and get around more.
    Anyway, I'm catching up on that part now!
    I will now treat myself to a sample of some of your posts. Hmmm - what letter to pick ...

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    1. Thanks for the visit! Haha... Yeah, I'm a bit of an overachiever, too :) If we started drafting those posts earlier, though, we'd have more time to visit more blogs. I'm really going to aim for that next year.

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  12. I agree about the making friends part...oh, and I'm another overachiever (but I did manage to stay 5-7 days ahead for most of the month).

    It's going to be interesting to see where the new blogs I've followed take me in the next few months. Some will get dropped, others may not post much and hopefully most will stay on my reader list.

    It was a great experience and I'm so glad I did it! Looking forward to your future posts, too!

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  13. The A to Z was crazy and fatiguing, but a great experience. I'll definitely be doing it again next year. But, I'm with you: more preparation next time! You did a great job, congratulations on finishing the challenge!

    In other news:

    I'm nominating you for a blog award, because I think your blog rocks. Check out my entry on the Kreativ Blogger Award for more info!

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  14. Yay for finishing the A to Z challenge cum laude and participating again every year!

    I'm glad we've met. ;)

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