#A-Z Challenge Reflection

And so another year of A – Z has flown by and, again the variety of writers participating amazed me. This was the fourth year I shared April with other bloggers as we wound our way through 26 letters of the alphabet.

Themes of poetry, recipes, cancer journey journaling and everything between provided great reading. The challenge was not what to read but finding the hours to do justice to the efforts of others.

April was our final month of a twelve month road trip around large swathes of Australia. My posts related to our travels as we coddiwompled our way up and down the country. Here are the links to individual posts.

• Adelaide
• Buildings
• Cairns
• Dalby
• Emerald
• Fringe Festival
• Greenock
• Hervey Bay
• Ingham
• Jurgens Sungazer
• Kingston SE
• Library
• Maleny
• Normanton
• Orchid House
• Phillip Island
• Queen of Parks
• Roads
• Streetscapes
• Tanunda Chateau
• Umpherston Sinkhole
• Valley Barossa
• Wattle Point Wind Farm
• X Marks The Sweet Spot
• Yarrangobilly Campground
• Zee End

And now for my reflection.

THE GOOD

March was a productive month as I scheduled posts. The idea was to spend April visiting others and commenting.

The challenge has me back in the groove of writing daily. Sometimes that’s here, other times it is in my digital journal both of which had fallen behind.

Sharing elements of our Big Fat Aussie Road Trip with a wider community was great. I enjoyed looking through my photo archives to find the right picture for the posts.

The new-to-me blogs I committed to helped me grow as a blogger. I’m always interested in different styles of writing and these blogs showed me that.

THE BAD

A frustration for me was navigating between the Master List, Facebook and the A-Z Blog. Trying to find information of where to post links to daily writing was a rigmarole. By the time I figured it out days had passed which meant I was posting links to the A-Z FB page late.

For me, Internet connectivity in rural Australia was a barrier to blog hopping. I was able to load up my WordPress Reader with new-to-me blogs before we hit connectivity dead spots but it was a poor alternative to daily visits.

I did not post to my Facebook (FB) page since that platform altered the FB/Wordpress linking protocol. But, I did manage to post links to the A-Z challenge FB page and that was where I found my month’s reading. It meant other blogging platforms didn’t feature in my reading list. Again, I will catch these as I take part in the A-Z Road Trip – a first for me. Please don’t write me off, I will get there. The snail also crosses the finish line.

I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

The truth is I wasn’t the kind of blogger I want others to be: read, stop long enough to leave comment and come back. My bad.

Comments, views and visitors were WAY down on previous A – Z Challenges. I’m putting this down to my not getting around many sites because of connectivity issues. Another factor was limiting most of my reading to WordPress bloggers.

… which is why I’ll be embarking on a road trip of another kind for the rest of the year.

WILL THERE BE A NEXT TIME?

I’ll see how the Road Trip goes.

THANK YOU

I have written about my frustrations and things I could have done better. What I have yet to do is thank all those who worked behind the scenes. Getting the 10th Anniversary Challenge up and running can’t have been an easy task. Especially when people like me complain.

Next time I’ll request help more often. When I did ask, the response was timely and helpful.

NEW SITES FOR THE BLOGROLL

I committed to a few new-to-me blogs and will continue to follow these.

• Zombie Flamingos: A lifestyle blog but so much more besides
• Josna: Tell Me Another: Stories, and facts, of Refugees, immigration and cultural displacement spoke to my heart on many levels. I can’t leave this blog alone.
• Keith’s Ramblings: Keith’s theme was children’s stories and has captured the child’s voice. A great read through the month.
• Astrid: A Multitude of Musings: A rare and honest insight living with disabilities.