Tags
A to Z Challenge (2016), blogging101, Creative Writing, Journaling, Reflections, Uncategorized, Writing 101, Writing Prompts
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This was my first time doing the Blogging From A to Z Challenge. I had just finished up a 47-Day Lenten challenge and was feeling pretty burned out. But I’d been looking forward to this since I heard about it after the fact last year. So I jumped in with both feet!
I leaned two interesting things right off the bat. THEME is very important. I picked “feeling words” as a hat tip to my wonderful daughter who is such a great mom and is always saying to her boys when they get frustrated or tongue-tied: USE YOUR WORDS. I wanted to pick words that went with “I feel (felt, am feeling, etc.) _________, and follow it with an anecdote from my life about that word. It turned out to be a bit harder than I thought! So I reckon it’s important to be careful of the theme you’re choosing for this challenge. Make sure it’s broad enough.
The second thing was, I’m not good at planning ahead. I’m definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type scribbler. (In writing I think they refer to that as being a “pantser.” 😀 ) That tends to make my blog pretty eclectic, and I like it that way.
I thought it would be easy to quickly visit five blogs a day after doing my post, but I made it a point to leave comments instead of likes, and found that took me a great deal longer than I thought it would. (I shouldn’t be so gabby!) Instead of the 150 blogs I was shooting for, I only managed 72. And talk 
about diverse! I “learned things,” as Special Agent Dwayne Pride might say on NCIS: New Orleans. I wish I had time to follow every site I visited.
As it was, I ended up following three new ones and I picked up over twenty new followers. That was an added bonus. And everywhere I went, folks were so courteous and interesting. What a great bunch of people to do this challenge with. Plus the folks who were “making it work” (a Tim Gunnism from Project Runway — I’m a diverse TV show watcher,. 😀 ) were right there when I had a question. Thank you, guys, for your diligence.
In looking back over what I’ve written I thought, I ought to put these in a binder or something and keep them all together. They represented a lot of memories, vulnerable stories, and a great deal of hard work.
All in all I was very pleased with my experience and definitely am looking forward to doing it again next year!
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Picture Credits:
Seat of My Pants — spock-in-fast-motion.deviantart.com
Bloggers — qualityguestposts.com
Impromptu Promptlings 
Though I have participated four years in a row, never before has the idea of the theme for the challenge loomed larger. I visited many blogs in the middle of things and couldn’t tell head from tail about what they were doing. In the middle of a story for instance. I great idea, but not for this particular April event when people are dropping in, getting a feel for what you are doing, moving on. Though I loved my hotels & inns, architecture, historic posts, I will be sure next year to continue the idea of what WORKS for the Challenge, not just normal blogging. Hope you will take what you did this year and build on it. Cheers.
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Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting, Stepheny. I know what you mean about it being hard to figure out where some folks were coming from or going. It made me wonder if I should mention the theme at the top of each blog like: Feeling Words — How’d it make you feel? Would that be a better way to do it, in your opinion?
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Picking a theme is hard! Some are too narrow and some are so broad you could write thousands of words each day! Congrats on completing the challenge 🙂
Debbie
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Yeah, I found that out the hard way! I’m already thinking what I would do next year. I didn’t make it by your blog yet, Debbie. I’m still working on visiting. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and comment.
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Feeling words – very handy for writers. Good theme! Yesterday I listened to another great podcast by The Creative Penn. Her guest was author C. J. Lyons talking about how to improve emotional impact in your story. Here’s the link in case you have a minute or 51 to check it out 🙂
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2016/05/09/writing-emotion-cj-lyons/
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Thank you, Lissa! I WILL take the time to check that out. I’ve heard of that podcast but never listened to it. (I have to listen on my computer and I tend to fall asleep sitting still if I’m not doing something! shakes head…) Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate the link.
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I think you did amazingly well for a first-timer, Calen. I didn’t get to read all of your posts yet, but I will. They usually do a RoadTrip so that you can get around to other blogs you might have missed during April. Not sure when they will post about that. I look forward to returning here and reading all of yours in upcoming days. I am already thinking about what I want to do for 2017. I know I will again challenge myself… maybe doing the two blogs again.
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Girl, you were a glutton for punishment doing two of those suckers! 😮
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*laughs* it helped to schedule the one ahead of time.. that way I could just concentrate on the fiction.
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I almost forgot about this, until I saw your post here. Thank you for that reminder!
You did a great post here about your experience.
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Feels like a repeat of Z.
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How are you? ^_^ It’s been a long time!
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I know. I love your blog but had to give some up as I was following 80+ and you can’t give any of them the attention they deserve then. So I purged about half of them and stayed with my older ones. Yours was one of my casualties.
BUT! I’ve decided to try to check on my likes a few times a week and see if I can do it without feeling overwhelmed again, so I will be back around. You are one amazing poet. I was also thinking of having one day a month where I showcase a “local” poet in conjunction with my Friday Favorites post. You’re on that list along with Scott Summers, Plate, Lori Carlsen, Judy Dykstra-Brown, and others. So be thinking of yir favorite poem to post!
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Oh, that’s alright. 🙂 I’ve been away a lot, and just returned.
Sure, sure. I’d be honoured. 🙂 Have a good day. ^_^
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You did amazingly well, particularly as you didn’t do any forward planning. Neither did I – I didn’t even read the small print, so I was unaware until about day twenty that I was meant to have a theme, so I won’t be doing a ‘Reflections’ post. I want to forget the whole thing, and perhaps do it properly next year.
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Well, a theme wasn’t required. Only if you wanted one or wanted to blog with a group under an existing theme which they publicized. The codes for those were just to help you find them in the reader. So nope, girlfriend, you didn’t need a theme. I think it helped to make me focus, though I didn’t do one of theirs, even though the way I described it in an intro blog didn’t make it broad enough. So you HAVE to do a reflections blog, girl!!! I’ll be so disappointed if you don’t. You did such amazing pieces!
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And I thought I had found a get-out clause! 🙂
I can see you don’t want me to flunk it, so I’ll get onto it today 🙂
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Good!!! We won’t post them to their site until Monday. 😀
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You did well to visit as many blogs as you did! Well done. Great advice as I am already thinking ahead to next years, or even looking our for another challenge. Am now concentrating a bit more on my other blog. Blessings Joy
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The new one you just started?
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Well started it 2 years ago but never really wrote very much. Having discovered many self development/spiritually focussed blogs as part of the AtoZchallenge, as well as Raili’s Circle of Friends, it has given me ideas to continue with it, and see how it goes. Blessings JOy
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Lol, went to click like after your post and clicked it on my own comment instead !
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I read a lot of different people’s AtoZ posts and found them fascinating in their variety and styles. But having just completed two intense Blogging university courses, I couldn’t dredge up the energy to dive in again. Yet I felt a bit rudderless after it all finished, like something was missing. I think Fim mentioned that sort of feeling too after she finished her challenge round. will have to think about it for next year.
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Must looking into the Blogging Uni. Can you tell me more about that pls? Blessings Joy
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Word Press offers free training courses in a range of different subjects to WP bloggers. They have just released some new self directed ones too. They are well worth doing. Learn heaps. To keep abreast of developments. Pick up new followers, find interesting new blogs to follow yourself. Click to follow the Daily Press – here’s a link to the home page. http://bloggingu.wordpress.com/
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Thank you, maybe see some familiar faces there. Blessings Joy
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I did, and made some lovely new friends too.
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Rail’s right, Joy. The classes are great. Not sure how the self-directed ones will work without a forum to be attached to, but when they come up with a new one I haven’t done I’m going to give it a shot. The forum was where you met lots of people. Spiritual Dragonfly is doing Writing 101 at the moment. You could ask her how she’s liking it. I’ve done five classes now.
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That’s been my experience as well. Trying to self- direct to come up with something to write about is difficult after being comfortable with someone else telling you what to do. I thought maybe the answer was to have mini-themes, so I started Journey 2016 and looked for specific kinds of subjects. Not worked with it enough to know how it will turn out. I felt just like Fim. But my blog is pretty eclectic. I prefer that. So I felt safe jumping right onto A to Z after 47 days of Lent. Don’t get discouraged and give up! My guess is that’s why so many people drop off the blogs after the classes. The mantra becomes NOW WHAT DO I DO? Btw, events help A LOT. I have a Tuesday one and a Friday in, and participate in other folks’ in between. At least you get posts up that way.
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I have no intention of giving up! Blogging is very purposeful for me, and like yours, mine is eclectic. Many of my posts I am guided to write. There are times when I sit down to write and have no idea what it will be. It emerges from somewhere. I like to think my Soul has a hand, foot, or whole Being in it 🙂
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I got Mother’s Day gifts today. Two books with 800 prompts between them, and one that is story starters! I had to laugh because, of course, the books were copyrighted. But I read some of the prompts to Drollery and said, didn’t I JUST say that the other day? Why in the world would they think no one else would say this stuff or ask these questions? It was almost ludicrous. LOL
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