Wednesday 1 May 2013

The End of the A to Z Challenge, links and reflections.

The A to Z April Challenge is done for 2013 and I survived: yay! For those who didn't get to do it this year, it's a lot of fun and there is some really helpful advice to get you going. Well worth participating.

This is my reflections post and I thought I'd put up my table of posts for easy access before I get on to my thoughts.
April A to Z Challenge Posts
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
01
A
Android
02
B
Bard
03
C
Cakes
04
D
Death
05
E
Effect
06
F
Favourite
Me talking about my favourite fictional androids.I wax lyrical about Shakespeare.Links and info about some of my fav cake recipes.Weird and wonderful murder mystery deaths.A discussion of special effects.A few of my favourite things.
07
/
08
G
Giggle
09
H
Harry Potter
10
I
Imagination
11
J
James McAvoy
12
K
Krypton
13
L
Love
Some things that amuse me.My love of Harry Potter.One of a writer's most important tools.About one of my fav actors.Superman, his home and his weakness.A great and tricky gift.
14
/
15
M
Marvel
16
N
Natasha
17
O
Otherworldly
18
P
Publishing
19
Q
Q
20
R
Romance
Why I love the Marvel universe.A post about me :).A short fiction inspired by the word.The ups and downs of publishing.James Bond's QRomance is a wonderful thing.
21
/
22
S
Sex
23
T
Tom Hiddleston
24
U
Unicorn
25
V
Vampire
26
W
Werewolf
27
X
Xenomorph
A discussion of sex in fiction.Another of my fav actors.A mythical creature for which I have a soft spot.A short vampire inspired story.About my fav fictional werewolves.Who doesn't love an Alien?
28
/
29
Y
Yellow
30
Z
Zeus
Simply about the colour yellow.A short humorous story about gods.




Reflections

I have enjoyed this challenge a great deal and have seen some wonderful blogs and met some wonderful people, however, there were definitely not as many comments forthcoming as I had hoped. I saw the number of visits spike, but very few people left comments, so I had to come to the conclusion, either I writer terrible blog posts or many people don't comment.

I turned of word verification so there were no obstacles, but I'm wondering whether having anonymous comments turned off due to spam, stopped some people bothering.

I still have a lot of blogs to visit, so I hope to still make some new friends. What I did was make an excel spreadsheet of blogs I have visited and then mark if I commented (which I tried to do every time, but there were some blogs I just didn't get, sorry) and if they commented back so I can keep track of people who are into interaction :).

All the advice on the run up to the start of the challenge was incredibly useful, especially the whole, write as many of your blog posts in advance as you can. This was by far and away the best nugget of wisdom ever. I had over half of mine written by the beginning of April and that meant so much less stress so I could concentrate on other projects as well.

One of the things that amazed me was how some people could get so much information into so few words. There were some short blog posts I visited that were simply brilliant (there were others where I thought someone couldn't really be bothered, but let's not dwell on those ;)). Some posts had no more than a few lines, but the pearls of wisdom or nuggets of information were so interesting that the post was practically perfect.

Then there were other longer posts that were simply a joy to read.

The way people had themes was also most enjoyable - so many interesting things to learn.

One thing I would say to those leaving comments, adding a link to your blog at the bottom of your comment is extremely helpful. There were a couple of times I had great trouble finding blogs to take a look at and return comments to. There was a wonderful post about it on the A to Z site, after which I started to add a link to my comments because it makes life so much easier :).

Thank you to the organisers, thank you the ambassadors, thank you to bloggers and commenters; it has been a wonderful April.

11 comments:

  1. Wonderful reflections of a wonderful month.

    Yvonne.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you and thank you so much for all your wonderful comments.

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  2. Great reflection post, Natasha. I enjoyed reading your blog, although I don't think I got around to read it as much as I would have liked to given the large number of blogs on the list. I know what you mean about visits as opposed to comments. One day I had over a hundred visits, but nowhere near that many comments ... but that's okay, I understand if folks are busy or the post just doesn't speak to them that particular day.

    Enjoyed coming in here, and I hope to see around post A-Z.
    Silvia @ Silvia Writes

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for visiting. There are so many blogs I still have to get to on the road trip. With so many blogs taking part it was a bit of an overload, wasn't it :). Comments are love, but unfortunately, sometimes scarce :).

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  3. I noticed a lot of people said they meant to get around more, but were unable to. Maybe that's why fewer comments? I don't know. I'm just thrilled that I got more comments than I expected, so I was happy with that.

    Congrats on making it through.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's also harder to connect with so many blogs taking part. Having now taken part in a couple of smaller blog hops too, communication seems to be better in them.

      I was thrilled with all the comments I received as well and now I'm trying to visit more people on the road trip.

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  4. Well done on completing the A to Z it does make you think more about posts that's for sure.

    Having the Anon comments off these days is useful as there are more spammers making use of this now and it can be a battle staying on top of it.

    And I may be one of the rambling blogs, sorry about that, I am not one for using a few words when I can use hundreds.

    Rob Z Tobor

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    Replies
    1. Oh but the rambling posts were great too - we're bloggers, we love words :). Mine aren't exactly short most of the time ::g::. Thank you so much for visiting.

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  5. Congrats on finishing. Boy are you organized! It bothered me too that commenting was down this year. People are busy, but the whole point of the Challenge was community building and you can't do that without comments, and if you don't acknowledge them, you're not doing your part. Personal opinion...I met some great bloggers too, and couldn't have done it without my Terrific Team!
    Thanks for participating!
    Glad you enjoyed the Challenge, despite those pesky letters that stump us all! Congrats on finishing!
    Tina @ Life is Good
    Co-host, April 2013 A-Z Challenge Blog
    @TinaLifeisGood, #atozchallenge

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you and thank you for visiting :).
      I think that the sheer number of blogs taking part might have intimidated some. It was a bit like jumping in the deep end :). If I hadn't had my spreadsheet I would have been totally confused about where I'd been and what I'd said etc.

      Thanks for co-hosting, the organisation has been great.

      Delete
  6. WOW!! Amazing reflection post!! WOW!! Congratulations on finishing.
    This was my first year.... .but not my last!
    Peanut Butter and Whine

    ReplyDelete

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